Coming of the Drums rehearsal

Our first Coming of the Drums rehearsal will happen this Friday at Kinbu. We'll be starting at 2pm in the assembly hall. Remember that we still have a few unassigned roles so if you'd like to try out for any of these parts feel free to come along! We'll have extra scripts available for quick auditions. We're also looking for people to be part of the 'general cast' (dancers, warriors etc) and for people to be part of the technical team.

As much as we'd like to see as many of you as possible, please keep in mind that the play is open only for SHS3 students. Students who 'graduated' from our mentoring programme last year will be given priority.

YLMP mentee's feedback questionnaire

As you will already know, we had our last mini seminar for the current programme last Friday. Evaluation is an integral part of the mentoring process, and we have been trying to do that in many ways: the Appraisal Forms, the Assessment Sheets, etc. We developed a feedback questionnaire for mentees to fill out, I thought it would be nice for you to see a selection of their responses (good and bad). Here they are:


How has your behaviour and character changed since starting the programme?

“At first, I used to misbehave in class. I did not know my aim but now I have changed because of the programme.”

“I have learnt to be disciplined at all times. And how to be punctual.”

“It has helped in choosing my future career.”

“I used to think that I was not going to be able to do things the intelligent student could do but now my spirit is high and I have the courage and faith to do things. Through this programme I am doing very well in class.”

“I have really had a great experience as to knowing what I can do even as I am young. I also know that in everything I should think positively and I have changed for the good.”

‘Well to be honest I am someone who is quite shy and with a low spirit but with the help of this programme I have been able to overcome these challenges so I am no longer with a down spirit and no longer shy.”

“Friends say I behave like a matured or elderly person.”


How have your academic habits changed since starting the programme?

“My academic habits have changed a lot because since the programme started we had a lot of talk about how to use our time wisely. I have learnt how to schedule my time especially to learn and to save with the little money I have.”

“My academic performances has really changed a lot, at times I find things difficult but through this programme I believe in the can do spirit and I work towards it.”

“It has helped me to be serious in class.”

“It’s quite normal not all that extremely better but has improved from its previous state. Because during the programme we were taught how to learn and using those methods has moulded me to someone better.”

“My academic habits have improved, examples are elective maths and core maths. I am working hard and I am not giving up until I have gotten what I want.”

“I have been learning hard to improve on my academic performance and to pass my exams.”

“Yes, I was very weak in some subjects but through this I have been able to achieve my goals.”

Developing a culture of reading (Part 2)

Last night, various junior and senior mentors met to decide on which programme we are going to implement at Kinbu. As mentioned earlier, we wanted to pick the most effective and sustainable idea that would benefit the largest number of students.

To start with, everyone present shared their ideas on which idea they thought was the best to implement and why. From this, we came down to about five ideas. In the end, we decided that it made most sense to go with the Library Club idea. A point was raised that it would be unrealistic to target the whole school to begin with. If we're able to implement the club successfully and make it attractive enough, eventually a large number of students would benefit. Better start small with high levels of success than to start too ambitiously and end up with little progress.

Another point was that providing incentives to the students would work well, and this could work quite well with a Library Club. One of the most attractive features of the Library Club is that it is flexible. Several ideas can be integrated together for the Library Club to organise. Out of the ideas we came up last week, these include:

• Termly quizzes/competitions based on set books. Internal (within Kinbu) and external (involving other schools) reading competitions
• Members get exclusive benefits, i.e. watch movies (e.g. The Book Club, The Debaters), go on trips etc based on attendance to meetings
• Have speakers periodically come and talk to students about the importance of reading (e.g. Ama Ata Aidoo).
• Arrange books in order of difficulty. A ‘reading marathon’ could then be introduced. Students must finish one book before advancing to the next. Can create positive competitiveness
• The club could organise writing and debating events
• The library could be emphasised at orientation – new students could be given a tour of library and encouraged to join the library club

Instead of completely scrapping the idea of having students make drama productions from books, we decided that if there was an 'outside' production happening, students could read the book and then go see the play as one of the Library Club trips. This would be at the discretion of staff at Kinbu.

The issue of students only joining the library Club for benefits (i.e. to hear speakers, to go on trips, etc) was brought up. We decided that events such as speakers talking about the importance of reading should be open to both members and non-members of the club as withholding this would be counter-productive. However, there will be a 'discounts' based system for events such as trips. The more club meetings students attend, the cheaper the trip will be for them.

Feel free to drop a comment if you've got any additional suggestions.

Sponsorship letters

As you might know, sponsorship letters were handed out to the junior mentors who attended yesterdays meeting. During the meeting, we discussed the procedure for handing out the letters. The guidelines are:

• Junior and senior mentors should only hand out letters to people they know personally
• Mentors should let Foundation staff know where they are taking the letter to before they do so
• Once a letter has been delivered, mentors should please let Foundation staff know so that no one else goes back to the same place
• If more letters are required, mentors can contact the Foundation for another one. This will be given provided that the person they are going to ask has not been given one before

If you were not present at the meeting, you can drop a comment, call or send an email and we will work on getting one to you.

Developing a culture of reading

Last night, the Library campaign group and members of the Support Team met to discuss ways in which we could develop a culture of reading amongst Kinbu students. Like I mentioned earlier, it's all well and good renovating the library, but if the students do not use it our efforts would have been in vain.

We met in order to brainstorm both ways we could motivate students to go to the library (aside from the refurbishment) and also to make reading in general something of a habit. We came up with quite a few ideas, and now we need to pick one main area to focus our energies on. 'Minor' initiatives that will not require too much initial effort to start up can run alongside the main idea. It has to be something sustainable so it can run without Databank Foundation needing to be there at all times (or every time it needs to be run).

We'd like to open up the discussion to all the groups of the Programme. Here is a list of the ideas we came up with:

--> Termly quizzes/competitions based on set books. Internal (within Kinbu) and external (involving other schools) reading competitions
--> Book/library club - Members get exclusive benefits, i.e. watch movies, go on trips etc based on attendance to meetings
--> Notice board in library – announces local essay competitions, new books (reviews), etc. Students have to go into the library in order to check it
--> Have speakers periodically come and talk to students about the importance of reading (e.g. Ama Ata Aidoo). Can also show movies that demonstrate this (e.g. The Book Club, The Debaters)
--> Arrange books in order of difficulty. A ‘reading marathon’ could then be introduced. Students must finish one book before advancing to the next. Can create positive competitiveness
--> Library ‘scavenger hunt’ – event where students must hunt to find specific items in the library
--> Kinbu could join Readwide Club
--> Create a writers and debaters club
--> Organise drama productions based on specific books
--> Reading linked to grades, i.e. have an exam/section of an exam based on a book
--> The library could be emphasised at orientation – new SH1 students could be given a tour of library and encouraged to join the library club
--> Games competitions (e.g. scrabble) twice a term. First prize could be one term’s fees paid, second prize a scrabble game, third prize a citation… etc. There should be a reading based qualification system; the more students read, the more prizes they are eligible to apply for

Which do you think is the most practical, effective and sustainable idea? We'll be meeting up again this Monday (17th May) at Databank at 5pm, and we should reach a decision by then. In the meantime, especially if you're part of the Clean Up campaign or the Support Team (formerly the School Fair campaign), please leave comments with your suggestions. If you prefer, you could email me or Elinam instead.

Student Impact Group: Constitution

A constitution has just been drafted for the Student Impact Group (SIG). This brings us a step closer to empower the body of students to personally address issues that they face in the ways they see fit. We're really excited about this group - not only will it ensure the work and ethos of the YLMP will continue long after the Foundation has left, but it will also help develop a culture of leadership, action and initiative amongst the students as individuals.

We hope to launch the SIG next academic year. Until then, there are still a few details to iron out. Aside from editing the constitution itself, we need to find out more about the current Student Representative Council at Kinbu. We need to assess whether or not it makes sense for these two groups to operate individually or to organise some kind of merger.

I'll update this post with a copy of the draft constitution as soon as possible. Thank you to Mahmoud Jajah, one of our junior mentors, for putting it together.

Update: Library campaign

The library team went with a professional architect, Mr Senyo Tetteh (who has very generously offered his services free of charge), in order to get a recommendation as to what exactly needs to be changed, and an approximation as to how much this would cost. Previously we were thinking furniture, new nets on the windows, and tentatively, an air conditioner. Mr Tetteh proved to be very ambitious, and recommended we do the whole works; including replacing the ceiling and floor! We got right behind him on this - the more we're able to do for the library, the more likely it is that students are going to want to use it.

This means we’re going to have to start some serious fundraising! We're waiting for an approximation of the final cost, but it's sure to be quite a lot. After meeting with the Fundraising Campaign group to review our options, we decided that we would be much better off sending sponsorship forms to various companies than we would be having a school fair. Do you have any thoughts or ideas on this issue?

All at the YLMP would like to say a big thank you to Mr Tetteh for all his help and advice on this project.

--Update-->
The budget is in, and at GH¢32,010*, we do have a lot of fundraising to do. Click here for the current post on the budget.

*The original amount was GH¢50,567, but this has now been reduced.

Clean Up Campaign Visit Kinbu

The Clean Up Campaign group visited Kinbu to find out what the current sanitation framework is like. Many people expressed the view that it was not as bad as they thought it would be, which is always encouraging.

It was established that there are currently bins in every classroom as well as two large bins on the school compound. These bins regularly overflow as the current arrangement with Zoomlion is for a weekly collection. Although it would be beneficial to have more than one collection, the school cannot currently afford any more at this point.

The Clean Up campaign are currently investigating avenues for the collection of recyclable rubbish at Kinbu. Revenue collected from this project can go towards funding additional Zoomlion collection days.

For this to be possible, it is necessary to purchase approximately 60 small and three large bins, so that paper and plastic recyclable waste can be collected separately from other biodegradable and non-recyclable rubbish. A proposal has been sent to Zoomlion, and although a response has not been received yet, their CSR department seemed quite excited at the prospect of working with the school. We’ll keep you posted, so be sure to keep checking back for updates!

Student Perspectives – Kinbu Library

A form two student, Elizabeth felt that the library was not an interesting place to be because the books were outmoded, and also not relevant for the courses they studied. She felt that if there were some new and interesting books in the library more students would be encouraged to read. She added that she sometimes spent her break periods in the library. She did mention that the library period had been taken from their time table this term.

Julien Kofie, a second year high school student said he never visited the library because he’d heard the library did not have the economics and geography textbooks he needed. He rather frequented the Ghana Library to study and conduct his research. He mentioned that he would visit the library often if the textbooks he needed was provided.

SHS3 Home Economics student Kafui admitted that she does not use the school library because the books are archaic. She stated that they do not have a library period any more. The last library period they had was when she was in SHS2. She says she would like to see books that are more relevant to her course in the library.

Written by Abena, David and Elinam.

Library campaign visit Kinbu

OK, formalities over. Now it's time to get to the real meat of the blog - and update you on what the 'campaign groups' have been doing. On Thursday the 18th of February, a few senior mentors went to visit the Kinbu Library to get an idea of what needs to be done.

The English teacher Mr Alfred Vaeta kindly took us round. Many mentors made comments about the fact that the library seemed to be in better shape than they had first thought it would be, but there was still a lot that needs addressing.

The first thing we noticed after walking in (after our eyes adjusted to the dim lighting) was that there was a lot of dust around. Despite the fact that the library is dusted every morning, there was dust everywhere. There are no nets on the windows, only rather flimsy looking curtains - an obvious cause. The windows cannot be shut to keep dust out as hardly any of the fans work, and it would get unbearably hot.

Walking around, a few intriguing items caught our attention. Clearly, the school’s storage had spilled into the library, but even that did not explain the presence of some rather fascinating items which included (of all things) a car engine. There were boxes of assorted rubbish, a couple of old speakers, piles of brooms and other cleaning equipment… many things that should have no permanent place in a library. Interestingly we noticed a library store, but this was full of – yes you guessed it – more junk.


There don’t seem to be any plans for these things in the immediate future. Of the several donated books that 'cannot be used by Kinbu students', Mr Vaeta seemed to allude to the fact that they would be thrown away! After calling him on this, he briefly mentioned they could be donated, but many mentors were unconvinced of this.

After talking to the students, it became obvious that many changes need to be made, and fast! You can read a brief selection of their thoughts here.