UNIMA kenya puppeteers have taken environmental conservation education to schools. this is because of the negative effects of a polluted environment to the young generation. The country is facing alot of Air pollution and cutting down of trees which has changed the weather paterns of the country. People have become more hungry due to lack of rainfall or very little rain if it comes. This is an indication that the young generation is more at risk of suffering the consequences of a polluted environment and if action is not taken soon enough by them the world would not be a safe place to live in.

The Team embarked on a project to construct 100 puppets and distribute to schools inorder to use them to educate people on environmental conservation. The puppeteers are on their final stages of construction of the puppets which are intended to start advocating for a safe environment for all from January next year.

These project is meant to train school children on the use of puppets to advocate for a safe environment for all and particularly the young generation which would be more affected by a polluted environment.

Theis is one of the many different types of puppets to be used in the project.

Terorism isa word that makes many shiver if mentioned esspecially if one happensto be avictim in aterrorist attack. 10 years ago Kenya lost over160 people and many others wereinjured in aterrorist attack that happened in the ton centre next to a US embassy. This Brings me to my question why do people have so much unger aginst another person such that he can kill to express his unger. Are there issues about terrorism that have not been brought to light to help people to understand the reason behind one group always trying to hunt the other.

What qualifies an act to be a terrorist acy?

Is alqaeda the anly terrorist group in the world. Why do they huntdown the israelis and theAmericans? what is the History behind the attacks. On the other side the Americans are also trying to fight back. whats all this about?

I believe that for us to be able to fight terrorism well enough these are the questions we really need to get unswers to othrwise our children will always get the wrong information hence making them more vulnarable to terrorist attacks. They will also be involved in blaming one side and supporting the other which really is not what they should be doing.

We need to get these unswers right

Art has been used to highlight and help to solve problems all over the world. Art, due to its ability to educate and entertain has been widely appreciated accross the globe. I have experienced the power of art when it comes to solving problems affecting the kenyan communities. for an artiste to do this effectively he has to understand the issue and understand how it hasaffected the community where he/she intends to perform then develop a performance that will provoke people to disscuss the issues and at the end to find a solution for the problem. A method known as PET (participatory education theatre) is applied in order to help people to disscuss issues affecting them.

Puppetry is one method that has not been very exposed but it has proved to be very powerfull in addressing issues. Puppetry has been used to address a wide range of issues in a powerfull and a very unique manner. Puppets like Marrionettes, muppets, glove puppts, BUNRAKU puppets, Masks, Giant puppets have been used to address various issues.

In Kenya Puppets have been able to bring people to discuss corruption, Conservation, HIV/AIDS, Reproductive health issues, Human rights issuesTherapy in hospitals among others and have proved to work better than any other form of Art.

Puppets unlike other forms of Art is easy to use, does not require many actors to perform, is cost effective, can be developed to target particular characters, is friendly, portable can be used to address issues without fear, is able to break social and political barriers among others.

We offer online training on construction and proper use of puppets in Education.
if interested you can get in touch with me on my Email address:

gatonga2002@yahoo.com

For more information about this you can contact me on that address too.
lets make the world a better place to live in through this powerfull art form

education is meant to help in reducing poverty in the world. with education there are so many things that one can do in order to uplift his/her living standards. In Africa, the number of people going to school has increased drastically and this is a sure sign that in the comming years Africa will be a very developed continent. schools are being built all over i.e. Primary schools, Secondary schools and even Universities. This is trully encouraging.

To the poor this is a blessing but at the same time confusing. this is because most of this people are highly educated but they are still poor. most of them have taken loans from banks and other sources in order to pay for their schooling but in return they do not get any jobs. to get capital to start a bussiness has become almost imposible because of their status in the community.
University graduates are moving all over searching for jobs but very few of them become successfull and the biggest question remains why and they are educated anyway.

On the other hand, the children of the rich become managers of bussinesses even before they complete school, they do not go out to search for jobs but they get them even before they complete education or immidiately after school.
If Education is the key to success then this should not be happening.
I believe its time we gave every one equal chances in the community as a measure for erradicating poverty otherwise education will have nomeaning at all.

Does it make any sense to vote? this is the question running in the minds of most people in Kenya today.
People woke up so early in the morning on the 27th of December 2007. the queues were very long and this was a sign that people really wanted to have leaders of their choice to govern this country. other people slept in the polling stations guarding the venues to prevent rigging of any sort, while others had to close their businesses in order to cast their votes. This is really to show their commitment and patriotism to the country. This also was a sign that kenyans gave so much to the politicians

30th December the day when the election results were announced was the darkest day in the History of Kenya. Hoses were torched, buildings brought down, property was vandalized cars were burnt, people were slaughtered, others burnt in Churches and houses. people were being evicted from places they have lived since they were born, schools and churches were burnt to ashes. this was all being done because of this selfish politicians we had sacrificed so much for.
Up to now they have done very little to calm down the situation. even after children and mothers are being raped and sodomized. people who do this are asking for justice to be done but what i fail to understand why somebody should kill another and then seek for justice, personally i have always thought that justice is two way.


Every one in the country knew that the elections were rigged in broad day light.one fails to understand the reason for waking up so early to cast one vote while somebody can rig 500,000 votes this trully was disrespect of the highest order to the voter.

Now the country is so divided that every one is not sure of his neighbor whom he/she has lived with for years as family and friends. tribes are not mixing like they used to, intermarriages between tribes have been badly hit and for those who had intermarried are divorcing on a daily basis.

What i keep asking my self is whether Kenya will ever unite again now that it is comprised of tribes that have turned against each other.
will people go back to their homes again?
Are this politicians really worth to be our leaders really? I doubt

To be continued

Tomorrow the 27th of december 2007 is an ellection day for Kenya. there has been roumors that their would be chaos in the country after and during this ellections. we should all know that this is the last thing we need as a country. We have lived as brothers and sisters since we attained our independence so let us not put all we have achieved to waste. we need each other very much during and after this ellection. we should not allow politicians to divide us along tribal lines. our tribes have been there and this should not be the time to create enemity because of them. Kenyans, let us appreciate the tribes that we have and not to use them to hate other tribes. we should all remember that the most important tribe that we all belong to is kenya. this is to mean that we are all kenyans regardless of whatever region you come from.

let us reject leaders who have been implicated in tribal clashes and any other form of corruption before. they dont qualify to be our leaders.

Any person who brings violence to our people should know that he will one day pay dearly for that and the youth should refuse to be used by any body to fuel violence for his own selfish gain.

Long live Kenya

KENYAN YOUTH

We might have differences of opinions this ellecction year and this is a sign that every one wants the best for our country. this diferences should not tear us apart because we still need each other after the ellections.

Kenyans have always been peacefull and very friendly, this ellection should not make us any different. Youth, We should stay calm and not use the arrows being bought by politicians or guns and swords. Let us refuse to be misused by politicians this time. They have done it before and we have ended up as the loosers.

We have our voters cards which remain the most powerfull weapons against bad leadership and not guns, arrows or any other crude weapons. Let us come out in large numbers and vote for the leaders who are commited to making kenya a beter country for every body and not those who will do any thing to be in power.

Youth lets say NO TO VIOLENCE

&

NO TO INCITEMENT

FOR KENYA IS BIGGER THAN THIS POLITICIANS AND WE SHOULD ALL PARTICIPATE IN MAKING IT BETTER AND NOT DESTROYING IT

World AIDS day is here with us again. This is a day set aside by everyone in the world to remember those who have been infected or affected by HIV/AIDS in one way or another. Children have been orphanned, parents have lost thier children while others have lost friends and dear ones to the scourge. there are those who are living positively with the virus and they have fought bravely to remain strong despite the stigma associated with the virus.

it is so sad that depite all this awareness by various NGOs in the world, there are those areas which have very little knowledge and limited resourses to fight the scourge. VCT centres are every where in the uban but in the rural areas, very little has been done and this has contributed greatly to the increase of HIV infections in this areas. The issue of stigma also needs to be addressed in this areas because HIV is still viewed as some thing for prostitutes and the promiscous in the society.

For us to Fight HIV/AIDS effectively, we need to pass information to everybody regardless of his/her location and take VCT centres to all communities.

I would want to also call upon NGOs not to use this day for mobilizing Resourses for their own gain. NGOs should stop using HIV AIDS infected people to enrich themselves.

As we commemorate The world AIDS day this year let us try to do something about this.

Every where around the world people are trying to fight poverty by whatever means possible. In some of the poorest countries in the world, people live with less than a dollar a day while others live on thousands of dollars. in other words the margin between the rich and the poor is unbelievable.
Mothers give birth to young children then they later die because of lack of food, children die of hunger all the time, while others go with only one meal in a day if they are lucky.

good shelter and clothing is a luxury to some people not to mention education and healthcare which are percieved to be for the wealthy in the society.

The question many ask is, is poverty created or has it just happened?

personally, i believe it has been created.

In my country Kenya, the margin between the rich and the poor is huge, and this is atributed to bad governance since independence. Leaders have looted public property including land and other resourses meant to generate income for the country.

currently, the country is going for ellections and the money being spent by leaders from both sides is enough to errdicate poverty in the country completely. Both sides have used "erradication of peverty" as their number one priority when they get to power next year.

what i keep asking my self is, if they can be able to mobilize so much money within a very short time for their campaigns why is it that they have been unable to mobilize resources to bring down poverty all that time they have been in power. Is this just a political talk to get voters to vote for them?
Have people been made poor deliberately so as to be controlled by politicians?

Does it make any sense to move with chopers, other very expensive vehicles and spending Millions of dollars on publicity through the media to woe voters living in poverty?

Africa has always been a field of Violence during presidential ellections. the youth have always been used to fight wars that are started by the politicians yet dumped after the ellections. young people have been misused, misled and their only hope in life taken away. it is time for the youth to stand and say no to violence and exploitation by the politicians for without them the continent will have no future.
Young people, let us love one another and join hands in rebuilding our continent. it has alot of resources that if properly utilized their would be no hunger or poverty.

The media has also been used to fuel violence. irresponsible reporting has also caused chaos in Africa, making people to die for stories that are untrue, the best example being the genocide in Rwanda and Burrundi. The media has always believed that negative stories sell more and faster. this perception needs to be changed, otherwise more and more people will die from this recklessness. Africa will continue to be torn apart if this negative reporting continues. this is an election year in my country and effects of negative ethnicity, violence and and irresponsible reporting are being felt.

we all should take part in stopping all this.

Wake up Africa, Wake up Young people and patriotism is the key to a country,s success.

Mutahi

I happened to be involved in a project with UNICEF in June this year using the Art of puppetry.
I toured several parts of the country with other members of my group accompanied by several officials from Unicef.
I had never known before that child trafficking and child prostitution was such a big problem in the country. Our work was to show real situationsusing puppets and provoke people to discuss them. i was so shocked to see real effects of child trafficking, child labor and child prostitution.
it is so sad that some of the people that we really trust can couse so much harm to our children in the name of "getting them better lives away from home."
Children came out to disscuss just how they were tourtured in the hands of their so called uncles, unties and gurdians. people they trusted so much but they turned to be beasts.
Chidren were beaten up and had scars all over their bodies. this made me to wonder whether we have people without hearts.

the most horrifying one was from a 13 year old child who saw exactly what happened to her being shown in the puppetry performance. The child immideately remmebered where she was before she was rescued by well wishers.
She was being raped almost on a daily basis by the employer who used her as his sex slave. when she tried to report, she was thoroughly beaten, making her silent and accept all the other toutures as they came.

She used to be over worked, sleeping very late and waking up very early. in case of any mistake she would be whiped terribly.

I kept asking my self why.
How much does it cost to protect our own children.
does it really pay to tourture some one that much.
would some body do the same to their own child.

Let us join Hands and protect our children people. by all means lets do so for without them their will be no tomorow and no future for this world.

Mutahi

Family Programmes Promotion Services

Community Health Awareness Puppeteers


The community Health Awareness Puppeteers have since 1994 Promotted health development through training groups in the use of folk media and puppetry for:-

Community awareness and education
Mobilization for participation in development
Behavior change
Entertainment education
Peer education and counselling

CHAPS trains teams in skills to be able to

Conduct surveys for identification of needs and issues
Design and develop messages
Plan communication strategies
Construct and use puppets

CHAPS also offers the following services

Community motivation and entertainment shows
School extension performances
Product promotion
Road shows
Puppet construction clinics

Group building, dynamics and leadership seminars

For more details contact

Program manager

Tel 2715002/2710705/Tele fax 2715115
fppschaps@alphanet.co.ke
gatonga2002@yahoo.com