The Theme for this year’s Canada Day Charity Run was “Kenyan youth running to support the community”, drawing participation from over twenty five (25) secondary schools in the Western region and beyond. Students from secondary schools such as Kakamega Muslims, Lions High School-Kisumu, and St. Kalori Lwanga, among others, took part in the 5km run.
Community Education Services (CES) Canada Day run is meant to bring together beneficiaries of the CES Canada education program in Kenya to celebrate Canada Day and increase awareness on the plight of needy students in secondary schools. Led by the CES Kenya Alumni, CES team, students, principals of respective secondary schools and guests took part in a tree planting exercise after the run with over one hundred (100) trees planted in selected areas within the University.
Prior to the Charity run, the CES Kenya team, led by their President, Mr. Michael Frederiksen, paid a courtesy call to MMUST Ag. Vice Chancellor, Prof. Asenath Sigot, on Friday, 26th July 2019. Prof. Sigot said that such partnerships are highly appreciated.
“We can think of other ways of partnering and encourage more research,” said Prof. Sigot.
Speaking during the closing and awards ceremony, the CES-Kenya/Canada President, Mr. Michael Frederiksen, said that MMUST has opened doors for many CES sponsored students who have excelled and continue to give back to the society. Mr. Fredriksen said that he has witnessed the growth of the University in terms of new programmes, buildings, facilities and student enrolment. He noted that every student in Canada earns forty (40) hours of volunteer work before they graduate from high school.
“Students should be encouraged to do more volunteer work as a way of giving back to the society,” he said.
Mr. Jacob Kitari, a part-time lecturer from the Department of Educational Planning and Management (EPM) at MMUST, encouraged the students to work hard for quality grades in order to access quality courses in good universities such as MMUST. Mr. Kitari said that CES Canada Education Initiative has helped many needy students in Kenya, adding that such support is rare to come by.
“Now that we are going towards Competence Based Curriculum (CBC), identify what you are good at and work on it,” he urged the students.
Juma Edwin Nyongesa, Chairperson, CES Alumni Association, said that he was humbled to be a beneficiary of the CES education program. He urged the students to take advantage of the support and work hard in order to join good universities. Mr. Issah Kweyu, from the Department of Health Promotion and Sports Sciences, also encouraged students to try out for Talent Scholarships offered by MMUST and which cater for both
Mr. Shisoka Akaka, from the Games and Sports Department, coordinated the awards ceremony. Trophies and medals were awarded to students who did well in the run and overall best schools. The CES Kenya/Canada President, Mr. Frederiksen was also awarded for his remarkable contributions to education of needy students in Kenyan secondary schools. Mr. Frederiksen said that the Canada Day Run was not a competition but a motivation exercise for the students.
