Communication

Communication, in all its many and splendid forms,

on display in the Eastleigh Community Centre

We have the joy of working with our Somali friend Zahra who is serving as the community coordinator for the Somali women's groups through the ECC. Zahra recently wrote a report of her activities with the women including a brief description of the ESL program that she serves in with us. With her permission, we wanted to share a short excerpt with you.

"Language is an important part of communication, which forms a greater part of life. Failure of any component in a given community to learn and understand the common language in any setting creates a basis for discrimination. Refugees running from war torn zones and countries find themselves in foreign lands with different people speaking different languages. This discriminates and isolates them from other communities just because they cannot communicate in their language. Somalian refugees living in Kenya find themselves in a land where Kiswahili and English are common. With only the Somali language, refugees find themselves unable to communicate with other people. Access to basic needs from shops and other outlets has for a long term proven to be a milestone. There is a growing need for an organization to help refugees learn the common languages of Kenya. Communities will participate in activities that improve their living standards.

Together with the Eastleigh Community Centre, we have started an initiative through an ESL program.The main aim of the program is to help refugees, basically women, to learn, communicate, and write in English. The program runs two classes with an attendance of sixty women. It has been in existence for four weeks and the beneficiaries have been taught some basic English like greetings and commonly used words. The two classes run from 10 am to 12:30 pm, Monday to Friday every week.

There have been improvements by the students through greetings in English and enhanced confidence among them. Students have been urged to learn despite their inability to read and write."

Please continue to keep this ministry in your prayers. We are very proud of the Somali women who are struggling onward with the English program: Learning a second language is a slow and difficult task. One of the most fun elements of our class is Erica's "Physical Response Activities": Erica will say an English verb in the imperative and act it out: She will say "Stand!", for instance, and then she will stand. The Students watch and listen as she introduces a new verb or two each day and then they will respond as she asks them to "Stand". Erica has introduced dozens of basic verbs and now the students are able to tell her what actions she acts out at the front of the class, for instance: stand, sit, walk, run, read, draw, write, drink, jump, throw, open, close, kick, drive, fly, show me, come, go,... and the list goes on. The ladies fill the class with laughter as they try to keep up with Erica's lightening list of commands "Stand, run, fly, eat, sleep!"