director’s News- June II 2023

The Day of the African Child, June 16th- this day has become the one day of the year when the Centre celebrates its culture, traditions, and current achievements.

For this year, the day began with the school and its 3,229 children gathering on the field to participate in activities. The orchestra and scouts had a welcome for everyone, followed by crazy Olympics, cultural dances and a puppet show. A thousand of them went marching around the slum carrying banners and posters highlighting the theme for 2023: "The Rights of the African Child in the Digital Environment."

As is customary in Africa, food played an important role, and the Pankaj Team made sure a large amount of food was prepared for the children. When the children were sent home, the full staff gathered in the hall. Ruben has about 110 staff members, but with the addition of government teachers, partners, interns, and volunteers, the total number reached around 180.

Food set the tone, with grilled goat, ugali, and soda provided for everyone to enjoy.

This significant day hadn't happened for three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and subsequent upheaval and chaos centred in Ruben in 2021 and 2022, which led to the neglect of such events. I was keen to use this day to unite the staff and highlight our vision, values, and actions to move forward. A team of enthusiastic staff shared this responsibility, and after some warm-up activities, a competition for the best-dressed African male and female attire was held, with small prizes awarded.

Two staff members then traced the history of the Christian Brother's Ruben Centre, starting from the year 2000. Key events and achievements were named and recorded on paper along the timeline, which was placed down the middle of the hall. Most attention was given to the past two years, and those leading the process openly addressed the issues of poor leadership, staff conflict, disintegration of teamwork, and low morale.

To emphasize this, all staff who joined Ruben since 2020 were invited to the middle of the hall. After being given a balloon to blow up and tie off, they received toothpicks. The instructions were: "You are all staff, and in this exercise, the person who still has an inflated balloon after a minute can be considered the winner." Chaos followed, and after a minute, all but one balloon were destroyed.

Staff saw the connection between what they had just witnessed and what they had done to each other over the past two years. The question was asked, "Was there an alternative way of acting?"

"Yes, if everyone had talked to each other, planned a response, and held their balloons high, then everyone could have been considered a winner," was the realization. No one had mentioned that there could only be one winner. Staff understood the invitation for how they should move forward. Teacher Grace, who had been at Ruben for 19 years and recently attended the EREBB conference in Dublin, took over and criticized everyone for failing to live out the spirit of Edmund Rice. She emphasized the need to follow his way, as she had seen his birthplace and recognized his humility and compassion for street children in his time.

The director was then invited to take the story of Ruben into the future. He began by acknowledging the centre’s recent history, as it was the 23rd year of Christian Brothers' history. He recognized the key moments captured along the way, highlighting the importance of remembering, celebrating, and mourning over the history. The last two years were particularly difficult, with poor governance and leadership creating a toxic environment and culture. People turned against each other, funding dried up, activities ceased, and people took to the streets. However, despite the challenges, the staff rallied and didn't give up. The noise, confusion, and chaos reached Australia, disturbing the director's retirement. The Brothers declared, "Ruben is too great to go under," and he returned for three groups of people: the donors, the people of Mukuru who needed Ruben, and, of course, the staff who had been lost without guidance.

Those 3 words… GOOD, BAD, UGLY

The good represents what we love, the bad is something we sometimes have to live with, but the ugly cannot be tolerated. However, we must remember and name it to avoid repeating it. While we can't change the past, we can shape the future. The director mentioned that when he was putting together the first five-year Strategic Plan in 2010 and was looking for a day to celebrate who they are and whom they serve, Mr. Ndege (RIP) suggested the Day of the African Child, which stuck. All projects at Ruben Centre focus on children in some way, from discovering them in pregnancy tests to caring for them in the baby care unit and educating them. The people of Mukuru need Ruben Centre.

The director encouraged everyone to celebrate their greatness on this day and use it as an opportunity to shape the future. He then called upon the Human Resources Manager to announce the "Employee of the Year Award." Staff from different strategic goals had met to discuss their choice, and six candidates had been interviewed by a panel of senior staff. Fredrick Mitieng Oluoch, the Centre Occupational Therapist, was announced as the winner, and his achievements were warmly appreciated. The other five candidates were acknowledged as Employees of the Year for their respective strategic objectives. All recipients received glamorous certificates and small tokens of appreciation.

Follow their lead, Their way can be our way. !

Think again of the history, think again of the chaos and think now how we must be if we are not to repeat the UGLY BIT OF THE PAST.

Can we name 3 things that we agree to do now as we shape the future of Ruben Centre.?

Number 4 (Above) Live by the values of Edmund Rice came up so we sang the “Where to Now Edmund” song led by former students of Ruben Primary School and who are volunteering here in the school. Some kids had learnt it when at school.

We now want to make a DVD of this day. We even hired a drone to get some good photos, and of course the music of Good the Bad and Ugly-- Of course referring to the DIGITAL WORLD .

It was now 7.00pm and now evening but it felt like the dawn as staff left with a spring in their steps. They were on their way.

By: Br. Frank O’Shea