'Most Innovative Learning Organisation 2020' SME News Award
ENTRIES & WINNERS
Enrties received: 1,650
Number of schools: 24
Countries participated: Kenya, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, and Cameroon
Prizes are supported by Rivers Foundation, The Linbury Trust, and Andrew Skipper (UK); The Nobelity Project (USA); Mabati Roling Mills and Unilever's Heroes for Change (Kenya).
ART - UNDER 25 CATEGORY
1st prize - Ian Banja
2nd prize - Baraka Joseph Mutukua
3rd prize - shared by Lourine Ochieng and Risper Omongo.
POETRY
Felicity Mudis
INNOVATIONS - UNDER 25 CATEGORY
SCHOOL CATEGORY
Anidan School, Lamu, Kenya
Caleb British International School Lagos, Nigeria
Children in Freedom School, Nakuru, Kenya
COGRI, Nairobi, Kenya
Darubini Talent Academy, Kiserani, Kenya
G Thamini School, Nairobi, Kenya
High Hope Academy, Kiambu, Kenya
Langa Langa School, Nakuru, Kenya
R Unit Models International School, Kakamega, Kenya
ART - under 25
POETRY
Patrick Ondegoh
Healers of Soul
Poets are glasses that break
but still fix themselves, alone.
Poets are music that still plays even when the lyrics break down,
in tears and fatigue.
Poets are the nautical miles a sinking ship
covers before it rests on the high seas,
before it drowns untraced in the deepest and mighty of waters.
Poets are the mirrors
that still smoke a bright reflection in a dark room.
Poets are immortal,
but they die a million deaths in their words,
before being inscribed as epitaph.
Poets are love.
Poets are smiles, drawn in art.
Poets are souls that humanity needs.
Poets are beauty, behold.
Poets hold scars as an emblem of time,
Poets are timeless.
But poets are not metaphors,
Poets are poets.
Nicole Saro
Life
I love you, I daresay
With every fibre of my sutured heart
Not because of your many years of service
Nor your countless unexpected surprises
Nor the nights you gave me solace
But how great you make my day.
I love you, I daresay
With every muscle in my curves and edges
Not because you've done something grander
Nor been my closest friend
Nor made my smile bigger
But because, despite the usual storms, you stay.
I love you, I daresay
With every breath there is in my lungs
Not because of your inspiring hope in me
Nor your pushing me to greater heights
Nor your hand in my new-found bravery
But because you've caused me to pray.
Life, I love you, I daresay
With everything that makes me, me.
We are more like a yin and a yang
A knight and his sword
In the way we complement each other
So I love you, come what may.
Lameck Agutu
Dear Belinda
Wanasemanga memories bring back memories,
But zangu zinanijaza worries,
Like a small child I was convinced,
And my heart, mind and feelings to you were fixed,
Thinking that ulinipenda,
Kumbe ni yangu tittle ulipenda.
Your first text still rings in my mind,
Coz I had never received before of that kind,
Kama kibogoyo nilismile,
Thinking deeply what to reply,
Coz girl you were pretty,
Kumbe ni yangu tittle ulipenda.
Nilikuwa confused whether nianze na out,
But again I didn't like place ya mashouts,
Really love is blind,
Coz to you I gave all my mceeing stipend,
And all that you spent,
Kumbe ni yangu tittle ulipenda.
Your cool hug was electrifying,
Without mentioning your colour kissing,
Nilishajua I was into you,
But you knew this was a lure,
Coz zilikuja onekana kama vako,
Baada ya mimi kurealize tabia zako,
Kumbe ni yangu tittle ulipenda.
Machozi yangu bado inatiririka,
Baada ya wewe kunikimbia,
Always cursing the day Mama gave birth to me,
Coz for two semesters I wasted my Dad's fee,
Zeleman kweli hukumpenda,
Kumbe ni yangu tittle ulipenda.
INNOVATION - under 25
Environmental Activist challenge
Letisha Bahati, 20, Kisumu. Recycle: make jewellery out of glossy magazines, rugs out of old clothes, compost out of banana pills, make cabbage cans using old plastic bottles. Educate: organise local exhibitions displaying things made out of recycled materials.
Winnie Sang, 22, Kapsabet. To prohibit the usage of dangerous chemicals in manure.
The School of the Future challenge
Brian Tungu, 22, Mombasa. Ideas include: teaching creative thinking; 3-day school week and 2-day practical; active exchange of ideas between students and teachers; and learning through interactive technology.
Ivana Majale, 17, Nairobi. Ideas include: school where learner generate solutions for themselves and implement them; that gives students 80% control over their learning progress; which is technologically advanced; parents will be considered part of the teaching team; school is a place that nurtures innovators, activists and leaders.
Felix Oyugi, 23, Nairobi. The Kenyan education system is making clones of learners. Teacher should not be simply a source of information but should teach students how to find information and apply it in new contexts.
Young Entrepreneur challenge
Paula Nyandat, 19, Nairobi. Make graphene aerogel building blocks, that are an alternative to concrete blocks and more environmentally friendly.
Danielle Wijenje, 19. Start-up 'Beyond delivery' is an application that connects riders at 5 km radius in a relay style.
Schools - ART
WINNER - Children in Freedom School
AWARDS CEREMONY
Due to Covid, the MASK Awards 2021 prize-giving ceremony took pllace in October 2022 in Nairobi.
SPONSORS
Andrew Skipper
A personal donor
MASK has been awarded:
'Most Innovative Learning Organisation 2020' SME News Award
'Top Website 2022' THEGOODESTATE Award
