Recently, a friend asked me how we trained our two-year-old son Polo to speak full sentences, as her child who is older doesn’t quiet speak full sentences yet. I had no other answer but Mrs. Hirani! It has been very clear to us the tremendous change and growth that we’ve seen in Polo since he joined Madari in January 2007.

Awuor, our older daughter has attended Madari since she was 2. She is now 4 and loves school!

It hasn’t always been this way, though.

In July 2006, we moved to South Africa and were there till the end of the year. And it was while there that it became even clearer to us how good a school Madari was. We enrolled both our children in a highly recommended private pre-school. They were both very miserable. Awuor did not feel challenged or engaged in school at all. Polo, who was attending school for the first time, was very quiet and subdued. We immediately knew something was wrong. Awuor even requested to stop attending the school, as she was bored. For a girl who used to wake up and wait to go to school, it became a daily battle to get her there.

On coming back, we decided that they return to Madari. The difference was as clear as black and white! Awuor was very excited, and even though the time in South Africa had made her lag behind her former classmates, she did not mind getting back at all. By the end of the term, she was back to her usual self. Loved school, confident, and was catching up fast! I credit all this to the wonderful environment at madari, where she is allowed to learn at her pace. Polo finally got potty trained and came out of his shell! Now we can’t stop him from talking! It is as if he is making up for lost time. He has become such a confident “funny man” (as he calls himself).

In Madari, the children feel welcome and comfortable. It is so good to walk in when we drop them or pick them up and all other children will say hello, ask questions… try to help inform our children that we are here to pick them. Even though they are in different classes, they all know each other. The older and younger children get to mingle and talk and play together. In this age when most schools in Kenya are keen on simply drilling children just to pass exams, it was important for us to get our children into a school that gives them a well rounded education. One that would allow them to be children and still teach them the basics needed in a kindergarten. We have no regrets as Madari has provided both of them with exactly this. Madari does indeed meet our children’s needs. They have lots of friends, not just the children, but even name their teachers as their friends when you ask them. Now Awuor is learning how to read and write and we are all excited!

For us, Madari has been our parenting partner. We feel our children’s welfare is genuinely cared for.

Thank you Madari staff.

June and Alvas Onguru
(“Mummy Awuor & Polo” and “Daddy Awuor & Polo”)

srpeponi@nbi.ispkenya.com

Lenana “Chief” Komora
When Lenana was 20 months old, my wife Winnie and I , realized he was in need of a more stimulating environment than what our domestic care manager could provide him with at home. Whenever we would leave for work in the morning, he began to get into the car for the half minute trip to the gate, as we drove off we would see the yearning in his eyes for something more exciting to fill his days. The search was on for the ideal environment to keep him occupied in a positive and stimulating way. Winnie began to do the research. Our quest took her far and wide within and without the area where we live. Our criteria? It had to be: safe, pleasant, have exciting and varied activities, fun, provide room for our son’s character to thrive… I could go on, but I know you understand the struggle a new parent goes through.
Eventually, after going school to school, Winnie bumped into the pleasant and convincing Mrs. Ndesandjo while snooping around the Madari grounds, who proceeded to sell us onto the Madari project hook, line and sinker. And so it happened that in September 2004, when the lad had turned 2 years old, he enrolled at Madari Kindergarten; we couldn’t have made a better choice. On one morning trip to school in a taxi, the driver, already taken in by Lenana’s enthusiasm, said that there would be a visible change in his character come year-end. That statement was prophetic. Lenana, who was an only child at the time, learned how to share his things, play with others, and genuinely greet people he knew when he saw them and those he didn’t with disarming charm and respect. His confidence has continued to grow in leaps and bounds. His ability to fit in, in any environment, with his peers, his parents’ friends, his aunties and uncles, his grandparents and their friends and even his great grandmother is amazing. There was once an outing to a classmate’s farm which has helped him to learn about and appreciate other living creatures. The excitement with which he talked about the cows, this being the first time, he’d actually seen live ones, was infectious. Seeing them again for the first time through his eyes was a re-education for me.
Lenana enjoys his art tremendously: I have several of his masterpieces on my wall in the office. He is at ease with technology, because of the computer classes he attends at Madari. I also remember one morning helping him with his laces and he sucker punched me bang on my forehead, I guess this is from Taekwondo. He loves swimming and sports too.
His latest passion is reciting the alphabet and numbers; this can be quite a treat especially in traffic. You should see the zeal with which he takes to doing his homework.
Madari truly has been wonderful experience for him and for us too. The open door policy, newsletters and socials help us to get to know each other and offer feedback to the teachers.
Since Lenana enrolled, I have and will continue to recommend Madari Kindergarten to any parent.
Keep up the excellent job you are doing with our loved ones and God bless.
Mr. & Mrs. Komora.

31st December 2006
Mrs. Ruth Ndesandjo Madari Kindergarten Nairobi.
Dear Ruth,
REF: TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL
Today is the last day of the year 2006. I sat down and wrote down all the names of the people who have touched my life in a very special way in the last 5 years. Your name kept on popping up in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Yes I will always have fond memories of you and Madari Kindergarten. You brought sunshine to our home that cheers us during the day and its gentle glow keeps us warm at night. My daughter, Raquel Ndumbi, is a “go-getter”, full of confidence in herself and believes she can do anything. This makes her stand out among her peers. Naturally she draws people to her.
This positive approach to life is a landmark that all Madari children have in common.
Raquel would otherwise have been a shy, cautious girl.

Then there were times when I had to drop Raquel off to school at 6.30 a.m. so that I could attend to some breakfast meetings at work scheduled for 7am. There was always Auntie Miriam or Auntie Damaris waiting with a simile and open arms. They would feed her and put her to sleep before school started. It took such a burden off my shoulders just to know that she was in safe hands.

I fondly remember all the teaching staff and how very gently and yet professionally they dispensed their duty. And Joseph the driver, always on time in his sparkling clean Nissan, picking and dropping the children!

A big thank you to you all. Most of all I remember the sound advice and guidance I received from you. Like the time I was going back to Rwanda for work and I had not shared the same with Raquel. I was hurting so much inside, leaving her and her siblings behind and not knowing when I would be back home. I never realized just how much more she’d be hurting when she came back home only to find me gone and the impact this was to have on her. Thank you for stepping in and helping us both get over that difficult spell in our lives. Thank you for being a counselor, mother, grandma, teacher and a friend to us all.

Yes, I have been touched by an angel….

You!

Love,
Georgina



Dear Mrs. Ndesandjo:
RE: Thomas Mutali

I would like to inform you that Thomas Mutali will not be able to continue schooling at Madari school after the end of second term 2006. The reason is that we, the parents are taking up positions in the U.K. from September  2006. Through this letter, we would therefore like to:
1.Give the notice for his discontinuation; and
2. Request for a recommendation letter from you to facilitate us getting him admission in the next class in a school in the U.K.

For us as parents, Madari Kindergarten has been quite a blessing. We saw the difference that it made to Shadrack (Thomas’ brother who was there up to 2002) when we moved him from a nursery that we had previously taken him to before taking him to Madari. Once at Madari, Shadrack suddenly began to enjoy and look forward to going to school everyday, and then he gradually developed his self-confidence. We have seen the same in Thomas ever since he joined. We have seen the way the children bond and how this continues long after they leave Madari. Somehow, through the school, parents also meet and develop new friendships. We shall always be grateful to Madari for the difference it made to our children, and for the new friends we developed through the school.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you and all the staff of Madari for the continuous support we received  during our six years as parents in Madari.
We wish the school all the best.

Yours Sincerely,
Kingsley S. Mutali.

RICKIT KOCHHAR

When Rickit turned 2 years, like every parent, I was also out looking for the “perfect” school for him. Boys can be very wild and naughty, but mine was nothing of the sort. Rickit was a very shy boy. Scared of everything and everyone outside our home. He would never play with the other children from the neighbourhood but would instead sit all day in the balcony watching them play. This is when I realized that Rickit needed to get out of home, he needed to play and interact and play with children his age.

My first choice was Madari Kindergarten because it was close to home. To be honest, I did not know anything about the school. I met Mrs. Ndesandjo who assured me that she had handled many children like Rickit. Seeing her enthusiasm and her confidence made me sure that Rickit was in safe hands and so in May 2003when he was almost 2.5 years, he started school.

I spent the first four days with him in Playgroup. I was so impressed with the way Mrs. Hirani and her helpers were handling the little children, some of whom were younger than Rickit. The environment was very child friendly with toys everywhere. In the first month, Rickit would cry everyday and at some point I thought that he would never settle down. But Mrs. Hirani was like sunshine on a cloudy day. she would cuddle him and carry him around to the rabbit house and the tortoise and try to give him the security that he was looking for outside home. In fact he grew so fond of her that he’d never leave her side. He gave her our surname and called her “Mrs. Hirani Kochhar”.

Now Rickit is almost 5.5 years. I have watched him grow into a young energetic boy. He has lots of friends and he loves Madari, especially the sand pit and the wheelbarrows. At the end of the day, his clothes are brown with dirt and sand not only in his socks and shoes but also in his hair as though he was summer salting in the sand pit making it clear that he had a great day in school.

Today Rickit is learning how to read and write. He has also learnt swimming, tae-kwon-do and a bit of French. He enjoys the sports on Fridays. This shows that Madari does not only focus on academics but also on other activities, making him an all rounder.

I enjoy reading the newsletters circulated regularly and each time I learn something new as a parent.
I’m grateful to Mrs. Ndesandjo for running such a wonderful institution. Her friendly attitude with the children gives them the confidence and courage to walk into her office and read the books or play with toys showing how comfortable and happy they are with her.
 
Shalini and Atul Kochhar.

Our son Wilder has been attending Madari since September 2005. We came to Kenya from New York City where he was enrolled in a pre-school. The transformation that Madari has made in Wilder is tremendous. In New York, Wilder would wage a daily battle, resisting going to school, and while he adjusted to it, never seemed to truly enjoy himself. At Madari, however, Wilder wakes up in the morning and insists we hurry up and take him to school.

On school breaks he waits anxiously to return and even expresses disappointment that school is not open on weekends. As a parent, it is an immense pleasure to see your child enjoy school and get so much out of it, both socialization and reading, writing and math skills. We looked at a number of schools in Nairobi and Madari was by far the best that matched our needs.

Katherine Snyder