GOT KACHOLA F.A.M MIXED SECONDARY SCHOOL TRAINING

This is the blog of the Peer Counseling training which was conducted in Got Kachola F.A.M Mixed

STUDENTS DOING MANUAL WORK

Secondary school, organized by the Anglican Development Services (ADS) (Nyanza) and facilitated by the Agape Counseling and Training Services (ACTS). This training was carried out from 19^th – 20^th September 2013.

Got Kachola F.A.M Mixed Secondary school is located in the hilly parts of Manyatta Sub Location, Suna God Jope Location, Suna East Division in Migori County.

THE SCHOOL GATE

The school was started by a community initiative in 2007.  It sits on small, rocky and hilly compound, with one block that houses the Administration Block and the Class Rooms. It had another brick block under construction near the gate with a small kitchen in the opposite side of the administration block, but with no dining hall. The students used the trees shades during lunch time to have their meals. The school had three blocks of latrines, located at different locations, one each for the teachers, boys and girls.

STUDENTS DOING MANUAL WORK

The school was single streamed from form one to form four with a population of 137 students, 69 girls and 68 boys. However, in form one, there were more girls than boys, but the trend was the reverse in the upper forms. The school had 9 teaching staffs, with only 2, the Principal and the Deputy Principal, who were employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).  The rest, 7, were Board of Governors (BOG) employees.

DURING ONE OF THE ENERGIZERS

Being located in a poor community, the school faced a number of economic and social problems. The community around the school practiced small scale tobacco and sugar farming, which was one of the major economic activities in the area. They also practiced subsistence maize and other crop farming cattle rearing. The Suna community also struggled with cattle rustling from the neighboring Kuria community.   This directly affected school fees payment, which was registered as poor, and, resulted in the slow development of the

A STUDENT DOING PRESENTATION

school. The social problems faced included poor attitude of the community members towards the school. This, the administration saw as the main reason as to why the school does not develop easily. There was also sexual exploitation of the girls by the outsiders. Students who were involved in the acts did not take studies seriously and eventually dropped out of school.

However, incidences of HIV infection among the students had not been reported to the school administration. This could be due to the fear of  stigmatization, caused by lack of awareness creation in the area of HIV/AIDS. This, the school administration treated with a lot of caution, as they could be silently on treatment.  

     NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THIS TRAINING

COUNSELING ROLE PLAY

• Awareness creation in the area of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections including reproductive and sexual health.
• The students came to terms with themselves and were able to avail themselves to support their fellow peers.
• From the feed back received at the end of the training, it was evident that there was change in behavior, beliefs and attitude.