Finally, Jamahs is here...
It was all fun, pomp, color and glamor as Journalists for Media Development in Kenya(JFMDK) and Polish East Africa Economic Foundation (PEAEF) launched its first project.
The launch on the 15th October 2010 was the culmination of the project PEAEF AND JFMDK has been working.
After days of waiting, the event was finally here. October, 15, 2010 it was. 10.30am was the time. Sarakasi Dome was the venue. Jamahs Launch was the event and Journalist for Media Development in Kenya and Polish East Africa Economic Foundation were the host.
Several days before this day, there were a lot of happenings, pressure, time-lines, communication and well... never mind. So many things had to be done including the publication of the club's magazines, event’s preparation among many others.
Anyway, I don’t want to bore with the pre-launch activities. We will do that another day.
Right about now, allow me to take you down to what happened at the Sarakasi Dome in Ngara.
First things first though. The introduction.
If you are an ardent follower of this blog, you may have noticed I did a piece about JFMDK.
‘Recollecting my days’ is what I called it. In that piece, I was telling you exactly what JFMDK is all about and what it has been doing. If you haven't read it then you will need to do that.
However, let’s assume you don’t know about this blog or follow it. So who is Jamahs?
Well, Jamahs (Journalist Aspirants in Media in High Schools) is an ambitious project of Journalists for Media Development in Kenya (JFMDK) and Poland – East Africa Economic Foundation (PEAEF) directed to youth involving setting up of journalism clubs in high schools in Kenya
Through the Jamahs clubs, students are taught civic attitudes, critical thinking, tolerance and forming impartial opinions- in this case using journalism as a tool of building civic society.
It also aims at enhancing the standards of journalism in the country and boosting media literacy among the youth.
Since its creation in early 2010, Jamahs has facilitated the establishment of fully functional journalism clubs in the three schools.
The schools included Olympic High School in Kibera, Muslim Girls Academy in Ngara, Nairobi and Heroes of the Nation in Nyahururu.
The project has also trained teachers in these schools to enable them provide on-going guidance and mentorship in journalism to the club members.
The initiative is premised on the thinking that if students in high school can be empowered to become good journalists, they can have a major impact on their communities today and in the future.
The journalism training is basic but sufficient enough to enable patrons and students to publish a newspaper as a culmination on their ability to transform what they have learnt in to practical use.
The first three schools have published their first edition as is shown in the website;www.jamahs.org.
The site provides a comprehensive and up-to-date online source of information on school journalism club activities.
This site also allows the publication and accessibility of the work done by students in different clubs.
The literary work includes photography, poetry, articles and essay writing among others.
It also creates forum for critics, sponsors, partners as well as member clubs to see what they are doing as well as providing free, accurate and independent information on various journalism activities.
Now that you are aware of Jamahs, this is what went down at the event.
The invites were sent, the venue was set-up, guests attended.
The website together with school club’s monthly publication was launched by the Polish Ambassador to Kenya.
Certificates of achievements were given. Winners of the competition were announced.
Then entered entertainment by the Sarakasi dancers and everything just wrapped up so beautifully and so amazingly.
In brief, it was beyond the cliché; pomp color and glamor. It was informative, educative, involving, entertaining and far more career developing.
The event was not just about pictures and people. It was all about telling the public that there is power in journalism- as was explained by the Polish Ambassador to Kenya.
The launch definitely opened a whole new chapter on PEAEF and JFMDK’s page.
