She helps them pack their lunch in their lunchboxes and put it in their bags.

“Haya! twendeni, twendeni Boi. Sitaki mchelewe kufika shule leo. Basi iko karibu kufika kwa gate!” Mama Boi called out.

“Chiiilaaax….tunaharakisha mum!” Boi giggles as he carries his school bag rushing out of the door.

They wait a few minutes out of their gate and their school bus arrives. They get in and off they go to school.

“Good morning class.” Greeted Mrs. Naisula, the class teacher in Boi’s class.

One thing you will notice about teacher Naisula is her long, black, silky hair and her colorful Mitumba pants! Her style is just….Whoa!

“Today we have a new student joining us in class.” Mrs Naisula said enthusiastically. “His name is Alex.”

“Let us all welcome him and be friendly with him.” She encouraged as the children clap.

Classes go on and the children go out for their short break time.

“Mambo Alex.” Greeted Boi.

“Poa sana.” Replied Alex.

“Najua leo ndio siku yako ya kwanza Roho Safi Primary School, na bado hauna marafiki. Sindio?” Asked Boi.

“Bado, sina marafiki. Wale watoto wengine walikuwa wananicheka juu nimevaa uniform ya shule yangu ya kitambo.” Alex nervously replied. “Lakini baba yangu ameenda kuninunulia uniform mpya leo na kesho ntakuwa na uniforms kama nyinyi!” Said Alex.

“Wachana na hao wasee! Wanabore! Sisi twende tucheze futa!” Boi gleefully replied with his arms streched out towards Alex.

They go forward and play together. The bell rings and they go back to class for a Maths class.

“Lunch tiiiiiime!” Shouted the children as they run out of class to go have their lunch.

“Alex, kwani huendi kukula lunch?” Boi was concerned.

“Sikupatiwa lunch leo, maybe kesho ntakumbusha mama yangu aniwekee lunch.” Alex Sobbed.

“Usijali. Lunch yangu ni mingi unaweza kushare na mimi leo.” Affirmed Boi.

“Leo nakula mchele na maharagwe. Wewe hupenda R n B?”

“Alex, kwani unaenda wapi na Boi?” Mrs Naisula interrupted.

“Boi amesema naweza kukula lunch na yeye leo.” Replied Alex.

“Ukweli teacher!” Boi Babbled.

Boi and Alex head out to have lunch together and get back to class after lunchtime.

“Sssssshhhh! Special announcement. Kesho tutakuwa na holiday. Kwa hivyo hatutakuja shule.” Said Mrs Naisula.

“Yaaaaaay” shouted the children happily.

“Holiday ya kesho itakuwa Mashujaa Day. Nani anajua tunacelebreate nini on Mashujaa Day?” Asked the teacher.

“Teacher, teacher, teacher! Shouted the children in unison while raising their hands.

“Yes, Alex, please tell us.” Said the teacher.

“Tunacelebrate wale watu walisaidia Kenya kupata independence.” Replied Alex.

“Correct!” Mrs Naisula nodded. “We will be celebrating our heroes. Our heroes can be anyone who has helped you in time of your need.”

“Kama Boi!” Shouted Alex. “Leo sikuwa na lunch na yeye alishare na mimi lunch yake na pia nilicheza na yeye futa time ya breaktime.”

“That is good Boi and keep it up!” Mrs. Naisula applauded.

“So as you go home today, remember to celebrate your parents, your househelp and anyone who has helped you in life tomorrow.” said the teacher.

Parents, remember to celebrate your children when they do good! It boosts their self-esteem! 

HAPPY MASHUJAA DAY TO YOU ALL!

The post Boi Is A Shujaa 🦸🏾‍♂️ appeared first on Akili TV.

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So, in a bid to change that, we came up with some saving hacks to help us prepare better financially not just for January, but for every other month. Here are a few:

You Can Save And Still Enjoy Life

Cake is my guilty pleasure. That meant every day after work, I would grab myself a slice on my way home. I was in a dilemma because as much as I knew that I need not be spending that much money on cake, I just could not imagine my days without some. Fortunately, I have found a balance. I now allow myself 3 cake days a week. So that way, I can save some money and still enjoy my cake.

Saving Requires Great Discipline

Of course, saving can be a challenging process that requires a great deal of discipline. If you belong to a chama, then you know what I am talking about. You may forget to changa your money sometimes, other times you have random needs that come up and other times you even question why you’re in the chama in the first place! I know this has been me over the past months but giving up is not an option. You have to keep going! The more you keep at it, the better you become.

Saving is Personal

This reminds me of an episode of Ubongo Kids that I watched on Akili Kids! TV while hanging out with my nephew, where this character called Kibena and her friends were saving up for a school trip. In this episode, one of Kibena’s friends is sad that she is not able to save as much money as her friends who receive more pocket money. But Uncle-T (my nephew’s favourite) is quick to remind her that we all have different saving abilities based on our lifestyle, our needs and income and so it makes no sense to compare ourselves to others. And I thought that was such an insightful lesson.

It’s Never Too Early or Late to Teach Toto How to Save

Start small, for instance, you could let them save that ksh.10 change they remained with after buying milk in the morning. And to prove how serious you are, you could consider getting them a ka-saving tin and then later, once they get the gist of it, you could introduce a piggy bank. This way, you help engrain a culture of saving in your kiddos right from a young age. Moreover, they can later on use some of their savings to finance their own projects and needs, like this guy did in the Math of Savings: Lessons from my Brother.

Which Savings Hack will you be practising this Njaanuary?

Happy Saving!

The post The Math Of Savings: Surviving ‘Njaanuary’ appeared first on Akili TV.

After ruminating on this for a while, I thought we could give her the benefit of the doubt, by concluding that maybe she simply forgot, just like how we simply forget to wash our hands in these instances:

After petting animals

Personally, I am guilty of this. And it’s because I really love dogs. I think they are super cute and so whenever I see one, I normally cannot fight the urge to pet them. And then once all that is done, I continue with my life like nothing happened when really, I should have done something about my hands…

After Touching Garbage

Thank goodness for modern technology, as we now have dustbins that allow us to drop things inside without touching them. And while that’s all great, how many times do we remember to wash our hands after we’ve deposited the garbage into the dustbin? Tafakari hayo.

After Blowing our Noses

Think about how disgusting mucus is. That’s why we blow our noses into Kleenex or handkerchiefs. Yes? But while we were blowing into the tissue or kerchief, we were holding the items with our hands, yes? And yet for some reason, we most definitely will get rid of the tissue or return the handkerchief to its designated area all nicely folded. But do we remember to wash our hands afterwards?

After Visiting the Washrooms

So later on, I met this lady somewhere at our workspace and instead of giving her the stinky eye, I gave her an elbow shake (Good thing we’re not doing handshakes now) but from her facial expressions, she knew that I knew…

And instead of bashing her, I instead challenged her to try forming a habit of remembering to wash her hands every time she leaves the ladies’ room. And since habits are generally formed in 21 days, that’s her Chapa Germs Chapa! Challenge for November. What is yours?

The post What’s Your Chapa Germs Chapa Challenge? appeared first on Akili TV.

Even though I heard all that stuff about saving, I couldn’t really save. I could save for a week, maybe two, but every time I had 20 bob, I bought candy. My brother didn’t; he saved and saved. I thought it was silly! Here I was with candy and he didn’t have anything. Imagine my surprise when he bought a brand-new bike, with his own money! What??? A bike??? It suddenly dawned on me. Saving is the REAL DEAL.

Fast forward to 2020. Now I’m supposed to set the example at home and get the kids to focus on putting their shillings away for a “rainy day”. Some of the key strategies I’ve learnt over the years:

Goal Setting

Using my brother as an example, the reason why his saving skills as a young child were better than mine were, was because he always knew what he was saving for before he started to put the money away. Unlike me who just liked to hear the clink of coin-on-coin when it landed in my Red Piggy Bank, he would compile a list of things that he wanted, and then go a step further to find out how much each cost.

It’s All In The Math

After which he would sum up the costs, then do the simple Math of Multiplication and Division to figure out:

If he was saving sh.20 a day every day, how many days would it take for him to be able to buy that pair of sneakers he had been eyeing, if the shoes cost, say, Sh.1000

The Art of Negotiation

Perhaps too long. Right! But that’s where his negotiation skills came in. Saving sh.20 daily would require him to save for up to 50 days, and that’s roughly a month and a half. But to a child 50 days of saving feels like an eternity. So, what he would do to shorten the days would be to strike a deal with my parents. The deal being:

If he was able to come up with half the money in 25 days, they would reward his efforts by topping up the other half.

Genius, right?

Patience Pays

And so, the journey would begin. Slowly but surely, sh.20 would go into his Piggy Bank every day for a month. And at the end of the month, he got that pair of sneakers! The efforts of his sweat and sometimes tears… because imagine not being able to buy chocolates and replace your ‘banos’ because you’re saving for a pair of sneakers? Si Rahisi!

But eventually his efforts paid off. When he got those shoes, he wore them everywhere. And this taught him patience, self-discipline and accountability. All qualities we would love our children to have.

The best part, as soon as he ticked this off his list, the journey to another bigger and better item would begin. So, while he ended up with a whole Sneaker Collection, I just had coins in a Red Piggy Bank that did not amount to much. Which is why I am taking my kids to him this weekend to learn the “Math of Savings”.

How about you? What tips and tricks have you been using to teach your kids the Math of Savings? What’s funny is I’ve been seeing some Jumbo Junior ads on the Akili Kids! TV Channel and it brings back memories for me. So much so, that I’ve also decided to bring them all to open Jumbo Junior accounts. I wonder if they still have the Red Piggy Banks?

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