STUDENT: Nelly Wangari Mbugua

HOME PLACE: Kimende, Kenya

CONTACT: nellykenvo@yahoo.com

PROPOSED PROGRAM: Mass Communication and Journalism

The program I have been accepted to is at Saint Paul’s University, just outside Nairobi, Kenya. The course is four academic years in length. The course has four major topics including: publishing, mass communication, public relations, and development communication.

The school’s website is www. stpaulslimuru.ac.ke

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

I am the first born in a family of four. We all achieved secondary level education, but due to lack of funds and very high prices, it has been very difficult to further our studies.

My parents are small scale farmers. They are not able to raise near enough money in farming for my siblings and I to pursue higher education. However my parents are still able to sustain our upkeep that is providing food clothing and shelter.

It is my wish to further my studies with a degree at St. Paul’s University, coming January 2010. After having been educated I will be self reliant since I will be in a position to get a good job. I will help my parents to educate my siblings to higher level, as well as other students who want to further their studies but do not have the money.

KENVO AND CANADA WORLD YOUTH EXPRIENCE

I have   been a member of the Kijabe Environmental Volunteers (KENVO) since 2005, this was after completing my secondary school. Because of KENVO, I had a chance to join the Canada World Youth program. The program has two phases: three months in Canada and three months in Tanzania. These six months involved, cultural education in peace, conservation activities: planting trees in Canada and in Uvikuita, Tanzania, and generally learning how to become more involved in my community. This was a turning point in my life as I became exposed to and more aware of many global issues that affect our standard of living and our natural environment. Since the program, I feel more prepared then ever to help my community and country sustainably develop. Currently, I have continued to volunteer with KENVO. I have been involved more in rehabilitation of degraded forest areas, monitoring of the forestland, facilitating community workshops, and working at the KENVO tree nurseries, where I pot and prepare tree seedlings. Through my journalism course I will work with KENVO to empower my local community on conservation issues.

REASON FOR CHOOSING THE JOURNALISM PROGRAM:

I have always been interested in journalism since I was in high school. After completing high school I joined the Kijabe Environment Volunteers (KENVO) as a volunteer. This was because I am an environmentalist, so I thought that this was the best place for me to get involved in conservation fully. After sometime I realized that I could combine my journalism interests for the betterment of the environment by studying environmental journalism. Journalism has such a broad sector so I will specialize in environmental issues.

Environmental Journalism involves writing articles on environmental issues, publishing articles, KENVO journals, websites, taking photographs, making movies and creating awareness of many environment issues. By the power of the pen a lot of information can be circulated world wide. Through distribution of movies in form of CDS, VCDS, DVDS, and tapes, the information will be able to reach a large number of people over a short period of time.

After completing my Africa Canada eco-leadership program with Canada World Youth (a six month culture exchange and international education program), I started a dairy farming project with the grant that I obtained. Here I conserve the environment by using organic fertilizer from the cow’s waste. This raises feed for the cow and food crops. This is a good way of conserving but it was not very influential to many people, since I could only reach out to those that visited my farm. Therefore I thought journalism would play a effective role in distributing information on conservation.

Through the media I can reach out to those people that sit on their couches and watch television. I will distribute tapes to the TV stations so they show them to their audiences, which is better than giving action movies a lot of airtime as they may not be of great outcome to the society. We need to save our world as we are against time. If we do not act fast we will live to blame ourselves, as the consequences of a polluted environment will be unbearable. Many people are polluting the environment out of ignorance mainly here in Africa as the rate of ignorance is very high since education has not been taken seriously in the past years.

By under taking this program I will be in a position to write different articles for different people even in my local dialect to reach to people from all walks of life. The articles can be made more practical by holding workshops and seminars.

The environment is at a risk and furthermore time is moving very fast and we have to do anything we can to salvage what is left.

BENEFITS I WILL GIVE TO MY COMMUNITY

I am  from  Kijabe  location in Kenya,  an area  which  has a population of  about 100, 000 persons it is adjacent to Aberdare  tropical highland  forests. Its cool temperature throughout the year and loam soil favors farming. It has one long rain season and short rain season in a year. Due to high population the sizes of land are becoming smaller and resources are under pressure. People have opted for the forest resources resulting to depletion and unpredictable weather patterns. I believe my education will be empower me to bring different approaches towards conservation and harmonize the relationship between man and our natural resources.

Media is a powerful tool, and when used for the right reasons it can bring tremendous changes towards conservation. One can relay lots of information to wider groups compared to other methods. So I will work hand in hand with KENVO to ensure that we reach more community members both locally, regionally and internationally.  This will go along way in ensuring the KENVO’s mission of environmental sustainability is realized. We will move a notch higher towards saving the world from environment degradation, hunger and drought as well as unnecessary deaths.

The level of unemployment in my area is raising daily, and I believe that my program will involve other people. Some of the community members will be absorbed   in it. This will reduce the level of poverty and the standard of living will be improved, hence the pressure on natural resources will be reduced.

I believe education is power and everyone has the right to education, through this program I will be able to advocate for right to education for all children especially girls. I will also fundraise towards other people’s education through media. The community would have contributed towards my education therefore I will ensure I plough back to the education kitty to sustain it and brighten the future of another person.

My region is very rich in terms of scenic sites, picnic sites, animals and mammals, flora and Fauna, with more than 150 bird species. Through responsible journalism, I will be able to market the area as well as educate the community on the value of sustainable tourism. This will be a source of income to many locals. This will empower the community both economically and socially.

BUDGET

FEES STRUCTURE FOR ONE ACADEMIC YEAR.

	KSHS
Tuition	180,000	Per Academic Year.
Registration	1500	once
Caution money(Refundable)	2000	once
Development	5000	Once
Identification Card	500	Once
Examination	9000	Per Academic Year.
Medical	7500	Per Academic Year.
Library	7500	Per Academic Year.
Activity/transport	12000	Per Academic Year.
Computer fee	6000	Per Academic Year.
Books	5000	Per Academic Year
Total	236000 ($3233 USD)

COURSE OUTLINE

I will be majoring in public relations. This will deal with being a representative of companies and speaking on their behalf. I will also pursue a publishing course this will help me learn of the matters in writing articles, where I will enlighten the community on matters of environmental sustainability. I will do this by writing articles about environmental conservation and giving them out freely.

WHY I NEED FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.

In Kenya the students that have average academic performance are always in greater risk of not furthering their studies. There are five public universities in Kenya and the few who are lucky to be admitted have a chance to apply for loans and bursaries. The private universities (St Paul’s University being one) do not offer financial assistance therefore they are limited to those that can afford the fees. Furthermore education in Kenya is very expensive since the parents pay for the school fees for elementary, secondary and tertiary school for every child.   This has made me delay in furthering my studies as I am the first born and I have siblings who are in school.

Though there are funds given by the government to needy students, it’s not easy to access them since there are many who need it and the priority is given to orphans and those that have serious family problems.

My family is able to contribute some money if given a hand by another party. I have also been saving a small amount of money to contribute to my education. I will  fundraise by involving  my community  to contribute  towards my education because  I will  then give back to them by implementing  what  I have  learned  in my community. I have already fundraised about 100,000 KSH ($1370 USD), but this is not even enough to get me through the first year.

FUTURE GOALS

After completing my studies I would like to fulfill my goals by making my community aware of the fragile status of their natural environment. With the education I will have attained, I will be in a position to write and print education materials like magazines, newsletters, brochures which will involve matters pertaining to the environment. I will also work with the upcoming writers in order to nurture them and their talent for the betterment of society.

Since I can use three languages (English, Kiswahili, and Kikuyu), I will use the local dialect to reach those that are not privileged to other languages.

After securing a job I would like to contribute money to Education is Power to help other needy students to secure the future and realize their dreams in education. I will also encourage other fortunate people in the society to do the same as we will be making a better tomorrow. By advancing education, we will alleviate poverty, improve the standards of living and ease pressure on the natural resources.