January 27, 2012

CGA graduated its sixth 8^th grade class today. There were 29 students who finished 8^th grade at CGA last year, along with two others that began at CGA but had to finish in other schools for different reasons. This was our largest graduating class. They have been coming to school for the past two weeks as we have been trying to prepare them for the next stage of their lives. Former CGA students who finished secondary last year were teaching them about how to be successful in secondary school. They covered topics like choosing friend, resisting peer pressure, organizing your study times, how to budget your pocket money, being content, getting involved in extra-curricular activities and many other things.

Today was set aside to thank God for what he has done in their lives and also to honor the students and their families for the effort they have made to reach this point in their lives. The day began with entertainment from some of the current CGA students who performed dances, sang songs and recited poems. After that, the students marched/danced onto the stage one at a time while our Principal Mr. Gwalla described them. On the stage they met their parent/guardian who presented them with a certificate from CGA and a Bible from CGA. After that, their class teacher officially released the results for the parents to hear how they had performed as a class. Then special awards were given for the outstanding performers in each subject, most improved, and Top overall. After that Uncle Joe described the gift of the Bible to each graduate and talked about the vision and heart of the school is "To See God's Kingdom Come to Kenya through the Lives of these Children." The final award was for Christian Character. The winners were voted on by the entire CGA staff as well as the class themselves. Esther Atieno and Herbert Ominde were given cash awards for displaying excellent character throughout the year. Two of the students and several special guests then gave speeches. Finally we prayed for the students before releasing people for lunch. The special invited guests, the graduates and their parents were escorted to the office for a special meal to commemorate the occasion.

It was one of the most successful graduations we have had at CGA because of the smooth running of things, all of the staff that pitched in and a wonderful current 8^th grade class that were working hard to set up, decorate, serve food, clean, and so many other things throughout the day. As the current leaders of the school, we hope that they will continue that servant's heart up until the time they graduate a year from now.

Some of the graduates will be joining their new secondary schools as early as Monday, while others are still looking for the right school to join. When you look back at the photos of when they joined CGA 10 years ago, and consider the difficult lives they have had and the homes they come from, it just makes you praise God for what He has done in their lives to help them reach this point!

	English
1	Otieno Joseph Otuoma
2	Ochieng Naomi Akinyi
	Kiswahili
1	Odhiambo Stephen Ogal
2	Ogutu Kevin Okech
	Math
1	Maklago Festus Okinyi
2	Okoth Viona Adhiambo
	Science
1	Keta Clinton Ochieng
2	Not Nicholas Wasonga
	SST/CRE
1	Otieno David Ochieng
2	Oyoo Phylis Akinyi
	Most Improved
1	Ooko Linda Akinyi
2	Otieno Duncan Oluoch
	Top Overall
1	Rapada Collince Otieno
2	Ombori Michelle Rita
	Christian Character
1	Ooko Esther Atieno
2	Herbert Malcolm Ominde

January 27, 2012

CGA hired 4 new teachers this past week to replace the four who had left. It has been about five years since we hired a crop of new teachers, but we were blessed by God to find some excellent ones to add to our top notch staff. We had over 50 qualified teachers requesting for a chance with our school, but we narrowed it down to 16 who looked the best according to the subjects and positions that were needed. Those 16 filled out our official application and from there we shortlisted 8 to come for interviews. Our process is a little long, but very thorough. The first interview was a practical one where we give them a topic and a class and ask them to take 1 hour to prepare a lesson and then we put them in the classroom to see their ability. The second interview is a written exam in a certain subject to see if they have the expertise necessary. From there we shortlisted the five best and invited them back for an oral interview with our panel. In the end, we feel like we have found the best ones available.

Daniel Otieno finished his teacher training in 2010 and has been working in a public school locally where he has been teaching classes with over 80 students in them. He is strong in Social Studies, Math and English in the upper classes. He will also help in training our football teams. Dan is an orphan and is the brother of two of our former students at CGA.

Edwin Odhiambo also finished in 2010 and has been working in various schools since that time. He is young and very energetic, coming from the Lambwe Valley. He will be helping to fill the shoes of Teacher Ronald in the lower primary classes, mainly in English, Social Studies and Bible. Edwin will also be helping train the football teams.

Lillian Asla just finished her training this past August. She hails from a family full of teachers and it is easy to see that teaching is in her blood. She comes to us from just down the road in Sindo. She did poorly in Kiswahili in primary school, but through hard work turned it into her strongest subject in Secondary and Teacher's College. She will be filling the shoes of Mr. Odhiambo and she takes Kiswahili in our Candidate class (8^th), as well as teaching Math and Science in other classes. She is the first Kenyan teacher we have hired who is ready to train our children in basketball.

Quinter Aoko comes to us from Lambwe and she also finished her primary school teacher training program this past August. She will be teaching Social Studies, English and Kiswahili in the middle grades (4, 5, 6) and will be the class teacher in Standard 4. We are very excited to have 2 strong female teachers helping in some of the upper grades because in the past those classes were dominated by male teachers.

We are excited about how God has brought us some young, enthusiastic, and highly qualified teachers. We expect our level of discipline to increase, as well as our academic performance, and most of all, our spiritual growth.

January 27, 2012

On CGA's 6^th graduation day, the school said goodbye to a few of its long serving teachers. Four teachers have left in the past month, but two of those four received a special sendoff on Friday. Cleopah Odhiambo and Ronald Opiyo have taught at CGA since 2007 and have served faithfully through the years. In December they applied for a chance to be hired by the government as teachers in the public school. They were 2 of only 5 new teachers hired in all of Mbita District. Since they have not yet been posted to a specific school, they asked to continue serving this month at CGA as we look for new teachers to replace them. They worked very diligently during this transitional time for us and finished in a very positive way.

The staff was able to say goodbye in the morning after our devotional/prayer time. The children were able to say goodbye during assembly. Finally, the parents were able to say goodbye after the graduation ceremony. Teacher Ronald stated that he will be taking CGA's mission with him into the public schools, which is "To See God's Kingdom Come to Kenya through the Lives of these Children." Both of them talked about their growth as teachers over the last four years, but also about their growth spiritually through their time at CGA. It was very encouraging to our whole staff to hear their wonderful comments.

Mr. Odhiambo has been mostly teaching in the upper primary classes (6^th – 8^th). His area of expertise was in Kiswahili. He took that subject to heights we have never seen before, earning a reputation as one of the best Kiswahili teachers in Mbita District. Last year's class finished 2^nd among 100 schools within the district. He was strict with the children, working very hard while also demanding the students strive for a high level.

Teacher Ronald has been teaching in the lower primary for the past five years. He has been the 2^nd grade class teacher for four straight years, providing our children with a strong foundation academically in Math, Social Studies and Science. He was very loving and friendly to the young students, eager to put his arm around them, encourage them and laugh with them.

Both of them will be dearly missed, but we are also proud of what God has done in them and through them in the past 5 years; and at the same time, excited for what He will continue to do in their lives in the coming years!

January 5, 2012

The 2012 school year kicked off today. The 280 students of CGA showed up bright and early to find their new classroom and new class teachers. Less than ten students missed out on the first day of school after a month of holiday break. The staff has been busy for the past couple of days during staff inservice training and preparing the classrooms and the school for the students arrival today.

The newly selected students, including all of the nursery students, will begin on Monday when they receive their school uniform and officially join the CGA family.

29^th December 2011

The results are out for the Standard 8 National Exams. Twenty-nine students from CGA sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in early November. The exams consist of English, Kiswahili, Math, Science and Social Studies/Religious Education with each subject being out of 100 points. A passing score is 250 out of 500 and a quality pass is considered 300 out of 500. The class mean for CGA was 295.38 which is the lowest CGA has had in the 7 years we have been taking the exam. It appeared lower than normal because there were three students who scored very low which skewed the mean.

Two students scored over 350 marks (Collince Otieno 373 and Michelle Ombori 360). Fifteen more students scored between 300-350. Eight students were between 250-300. Four students were less than 250 marks. They performed best in English, but were very low in Kiswahili. Only Science showed a positive deviation from last year's class.

Michelle Ombori had the highest score in English with 78 and the highest in Math with 82. Collince Otieno had the highest score in Kiswahili with 77 and also led in Social Studies/Religious Education with 78. Clinton Omondi and Nicholas Wasonga topped in Science with 74.

By mid-January these students will be receiving invitation letters from various secondary schools and through the sponsorship of CGA will be beginning a new stage in their life by the end of January.

28^th December 2011

The 80 students that CGA supports in secondary school returned to their old school for a week of physical, social, academic and spiritual encouragement. For the first time, 30 CGA students who have just sat their primary school exams and are waiting for their results and hoping to join secondary school in 2012 also participated in the "reunion." As a special bonus ten former CGA beneficiaries also joined in the program which was led by a visiting team of university students that are sponsored by Compassion.

Each day began with a time of devotions, and then they tackled different topics like leadership principles, realizing your dreams, career topics, thinking big, unleashing your potential, family roles, sexual purity, self-identity and self-esteem. They used a participatory style of lecture to keep the learners active and involved.

The reunion is a great time to re-connect with our former students who are mostly in boarding secondary schools. All of them will be returning to start their next year of school at the beginning of January.

Former CGA student Irine Achieng was selected to join the Kenya National Under 17 girls football team. Irine travelled last week to Matuu Girls Secondary School in Eastern Province to take part in the trials along with 80 other girls from all over the country.

She impressed the coaches with her strong left foot crosses and shots.  She will remain there at Matuu to attend classes for a few weeks and train with the team as they prepare for their clash with Nigeria on 21st January in Kenya with the return leg scheduled for two weeks later.  These matches are part of the qualification process for the World Cup to be held in September - October this year.    

Irine attended CGA from Nursery until she finished Standard 8 at CGA in 2009 and has been attending Moi Girls Secondary School in Sindo for the past two years where she led their football team to the Provencal Semifinals last year. We are proud of her achievement.

24th November 2011

The 2011 School Year came to a close today.  It has been full of activities with academics, exams, sports, music, drama, visitors.  And it has had its share of ups and downs, but we are thankful that God has brought us through another year.

The secondary students returning will be very busy during their December break, but the primary school students, teachers and staff will have the entire 5 weeks of break, except for the holiday food distribution for the orphans' families taking place next week.

The next school year will begin on 3rd January, 2012.

After finishing their National Exams, our 8^th grade class celebrated with an overnight party at school. They planned it, raised money for it and carried it out; including inviting the guests, cooking the meal, serving, buying gifts for their teachers and giving them out.

They cooked a great meal with chicken, meat, chapattis, rice, ugali, vegetable salad and many other tasty dishes. After the staff speeches, the students presented gifts to their teachers in appreciation for their hard work. Then they moved up to the upper field to dance and sing around the bonfire. Afterwards, they moved down to the school office to enjoy some movies and play some games. The "night" ended around 8:00 am after they had cleaned up the school. It was a fun night.

They are CGA's 6^th graduating class and are awaiting their National Exam results which should be released at the end of December.

November 19, 2011

A former CGA volunteer teacher graduated from Tenwek School of Nursing this weekend. Mourine Ooro had worked at CGA as a volunteer from 2006-2007 after she had finished secondary school. There was a time she considered going to teacher training college so she could be a trained teacher, but felt God leading her to study nursing. She joined Tenwek in 2008 and has worked diligently to achieve her dream. In August, she passed her National Nursing Exam and has been employed at Tenwek Hospital.

Mourine's entire family, along with several CGA staff members travelled together to Bomet on Friday to share with her on her Graduation Day. They had a special banquet on Friday night for the graduates and their families. The graduation ceremony was highlighted by a great a wonderful message from Pastor Meshack Habib about overcoming obstacles. All of Mourine's friends and family enjoyed a nice meal down by the dam and shared a few moments together before departing.

The CGA family is proud of Mourine's Achievement and wish her the best as she takes the love of God with her in ministering to her patients.