This is to announce that Matthew Nzioka Kithyaka has been appointed as the new Director of Starehe Boys Centre.
From 1984 for seven years he was a teacher at Kathiiani Secondary School followed by two years at the Kenya National Examinations council as a National Examiner in Kiswahili. Following this nine year stint in direct education, he joined the Presidents Award Scheme in Kenya in June 1991
He spent ten years as a training officer focussing mainly on programmes for youth leaders – these were mainly teachers.In 2002 he was promoted to an Assistant Director of the Scheme and a year later as acting Director. After a few months, in 2003, he was confirmed as the Director of the President’s Award Scheme. He held this position till mid 2006 when he moved to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Association as the Operations Director for Africa covering programme development in 21 African countries. He joins Starehe as the Director from there.
Matthew thus brings a wealth of experience from his time in teaching as well as in development programmes based on leadership and community service. This experience is in alignment with the core values and ethos of Starehe as laid out by the late founder Dr. Geoffrey Griffin. The management Committee and Trustees of Starehe are confident that Matthew will be able to guide the institution as it embarks into the next fifty years of its journey in creating transformation in boys from disadvantaged backgrounds in Kenya.
The StareheFuture Appeal in the UK is delighted to announce that they have been chosen as one of the Daily Telegraph’s Christmas Appeal charities for 2009!This opportunity will not only help raise vital funds for Starehe, but the increased awareness will also give a massive boost to the success of our Appeal.
The Daily Telegraph will publish at least one article each week about Starehe over the next three months
To read the Telegraph articles, some of which will feature some well-known Old Boys including Julius Kip’ngetich, Professor Magoha and many more, please visit www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraphchristmasappeal or if you live in the UK, pick up a copy of the Telegraph in your local newsagent!
For more information about the StareheFuture Appeal in the UK, please visit www.starehe.org
It's been a busy month at the StareheFuture Appeal office in the UK and I am writing to give you a comprehensive update on all the fantastic things that have been going on with the Appeal, not least of which was our official launch by HRH The Princess Royal on 21st July at Shell Centre, London.
As you all know this year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of Starehe Boys' Centre and we were lucky enough to be able to celebrate twice!
We held an Alumni Dinner on 18th July and were really pleased that so many Old Boys could make it down to London with their friends and family -we are so grateful to all those Old Boys who came along to offer their support and whose hard work leading up to the event helped to raise nearly £2,000, which is enough to provide free places for at least two students for a whole year!
We also held a Champagne Reception at Shell Centre on 21st July, which was very generously hosted by James Smith, Chairman of Shell UK, and our guest of honour was HRH The Princess Royal who is a long-term supporter and admirer or Starehe. The evening was a great success and we have received very positive feedback, which we hope will lead to some generous contributions in the coming months.
This was a particularly significant occasion as it marked the official launch of the StareheFuture Appeal in the presence of old and new friends of Starehe, and the challenge to raise £10 million begins! We are delighted to announce that the Appeal is already off to a flying start, and has raised nearly £500k to date in gifts and pledges.
We have posted more pictures from both events on our Facebook page so please have a look and let us know what you think.
Finally: if you haven't yet seen it our website is now up and running - please go to www.starehe.org to have a look.
Any feedback on the above or thoughts you have about the Appeal would be most welcome. Please either contact myself on the details below or Lisa at
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/ 0207 934 7023.
Thanks for reading and I hope this email finds you all well.
Kind regards,
Lucy
Lucy Fisher Fundraising / Administrative Assistant StareheUK Appeal c/o Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA, United Kingdom Tel: +4420 7934 6930 Email:
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Website:www.starehe.org
Murugu, a tireless fighter in war to improve the lives of the youth
Written by Samuel Gitau Mwangi
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Murugu, a tireless fighter in war to improve the lives of the youth
Ministry of Youth Affairs permanent secretary Kinuthia Murugu, who died on Thursday from injuries sustained in a carjack. Photo/FILE
By OLIVER MATHENGEPosted Thursday, July 9 2009 at 20:54
His trademark “Good morning ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the fresh ministry,” was always Kinuthia Murugu’s opening statement at Youth Affairs functions.
And true to his words, Mr Murugu, who died on Thursday from injuries sustained in a carjacking, spent much of his time shaping the agenda of the country’s youth under the ministry created in 2003.
“We ignore the youth at our own peril,” he often warned.
Mr Murugu has been the only accounting officer at the ministry since its establishment.
It is under his guidance that the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, which has more than doubled from an initial Sh1 billion, was established. More than Sh1.7 billion has been disbursed to individual youths and youth groups as loans.
The ministry has also embarked on an ambitious plan to revamp youth polytechnics after years of neglect.
On various occasions, the PS explained that the aim was to turn one polytechnic in every constituency into a centre of excellence.
Another highlight of his tenure is the Kazi kwa Vijana programme, which aims to create at least 300,000 jobs by the end of the year. It is coordinated by the Prime Minister’s office.
Following the 2008 post-election violence, the PS spearheaded another ambitious programme aimed at reconciling communities.
This was the Youth Exchange Programme where youth switch areas with colleagues from another region for at least three weeks.
The programme has seen youth from Coast, Central, Rift Valley, Eastern and Nyanza provinces interact.
Some of these areas were hotspots in the post-election violence.
