Cranford Review 2009

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Football Africa: My 14 Cranford Review 2008/09 When Mr Prunty agreed to my trip to Africa my first emotion was to jump for joy. When I landed I thought “Oh no! Where do I start?” For anyone looking to embark on a threemonth venture driving from London to Africa, I’ve got to tell you that there’s a lot of planning and preparation to do; funds for travel, petrol, food, water, accommodation, and in my case footballs. I must admit I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I said I was going to try to set up a link between my school in Hounslow and a school in Africa. The images I conjured in my head were nothing like what I saw and although on the outside you see a designated area, a school sign and a structure of a school site, when delving into the reality of an Ethiopian child’s experience of school, it is quite another story. Through pure determination, a lot of organisation and the help of some very supportive friends, family, colleagues and students, Football Africa departed in February 2009. We drove across the Sahara Dessert through Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Sudan. Sudan was hot. We had a long hot drive to Khartoum, where paradise waited. A warming visit to a Sudanese home led to the offer of much appreciated dates and Nile water. One final night in the desert, the easiest crossing so far, a short drive to Gonda and it was “welcome” Football Africa to Ethiopia. It may have been nights of cockroach-infested walls (sleeping one eye open with my torch on) but I really enjoyed it. The staff and associates from Link Ethiopia (the company that links schools from Europe with Ethiopia to aid the education of pupils) were amazing and helpful for all our needs and questions. We even had our own “tracker” called Million (mum named him after he had a 1-in-a-million chance of survival at birth). He was definitely the man on the street to know. An Ethiopian pupil goes to school in either the morning (8:00am- 12:00pm) or afternoon (12.30pm-4.00pm) because there are not enough schools, space or teachers to teach all of the pupils in a school day. Either side of the school day, the pupils help with household and farming duties. The classes are crammed with 3 pupils to a desk a teacher and a chalk board. The classes are silent and the pupils have to share resources to complete their work. It is quite a different world to that of the students at Cranford. In Ethiopia, out of the 3888 students who go through school, only 230 will take the equivalent of GCSE, A levels and continue to University. It will be a higher percentage of males than females that complete these exams.
Journey of Discovery Things are “tougher” for those pupils who study in Ethiopia but it doesn’t mean that the system doesn’t work and that there aren’t many success stories. It’s brilliant that organisations like Link Ethiopia exist and can create these learning chances, financial aid and links between different people in differing continents. So on to North Kenya over terrible road conditions but amazing wildlife and scenery. The projects we visited were awe inspiring, with model Africans running the show and adding to my list of most amazing people. It is was in Kenya that I found worthy causes to hand out the donations that I received from Cranford Community College and it is here that I would like to recognise those special people that have supported myself and the Football Africa cause. I thank them for their generosity in support and collections by both staff and students. Nairobi took me to St Johns Church where they house and look after orphaned children and a fantastic teacher, Grace, whose school Kitui Village Nursery School had been burnt down. Out of the three classrooms, two were destroyed by fire and for learning to continue they had to share the one remaining classroom amongst the 200 students. It is here that I thank the year 9 students for their valiant effort in collecting pens, pencils and calculators that will contribute to the start of a new school. Vanessa Tutt for her large contribution of pens that were given out along the African roads. Maria Bramwell, Sarah Brackley and Hiruni Galpayage (year 10) who donated football shirts and children’s clothes that were greatly received by the orphans at St Johns Church. The statistics of Malawi are absolutely alarming. There are 13 million people living in this small country (about the size of the UK) with half of the population under the age of 15 and half of the population have HIV. Our trail has therefore led us to many orphan projects where children have been orphaned through the loss of parents to HIV and there have been fantastic projects set up to feed, clothed and nurtured these children into happy wholesome lives. My happiest and saddest time was meeting a class of 78 smiling orphans aged 3 to 5 where we played, ate together and sang songs. It was on asking about the HIV rates in the class and being told that 40% had HIV that hit home and brought tears to my eyes. Africa has both shocked and inspired me as a continent. There are two sides to the coin; where the old tribal traditions still exist and the rise of the Western influences try to over shadow those thoughts of the past. I naïvely went to Africa thinking that I was going to teach them a thing or two, when in fact Africa taught me the most. I realised that we have lost the fuller communities that we once lived in knowing our neighbours, our towns. I realised that we take so much from the earth and at times give so little back. I will miss the smiling faces and waving hands as we pass in the cars. I will miss the landscape, the stars and the sunsets. I will definitely miss Africa for all that it offers and for all that it can. It is certainly a place that is now forever etched in my heart! By Charlotte Kennedy (PE Department) Excellence in all areas 15
Page 1 and 2: Cranford Community College, High St
Page 3 and 4: Social Sciences Excellence Evening
Page 5 and 6: Darwin Celebration Evolution In 200
Page 7 and 8: On Saturday 6th May 2009, six eager
Page 9 and 10: Cranford Art students gain National
Page 11 and 12: My Fulcrum Journey Before I came I
Page 13 and 14: Year 10 Trip To Paris in Spring tim
Page 15: “I loved the experience because n
Page 19 and 20: & PERFORMING ARTS “Drama is my pa
Page 21 and 22: The Search I am a bird, With air sl
Page 23 and 24: Year 11 ROA Evening The Class of 20
Page 25 and 26: High performing Sixth form students
Page 27 and 28: Cranford to the House of Commons On

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