The German School Nairobi is a central place of life for the students and children. Therefore, it is important for the school to support students and children positively in their development and to give them the best possible start in life.

Puberty is a sensitive time for the youngsters, so it is a special focus in the school career. In this phase, first experiences are made with addictive substances such as nicotine, alcohol, cannabis and other drugs - but in addition there are also substance-free addictions such as media addiction, anorexia and bulimia.

The addiction prevention concept of the DSN is an important component to help children and adolescents growing up and make them strong for life. Central goals in addiction prevention at DSN are:

• Promotion of life skills

• Strengthening the personality

• Mentoring

• Educational work and awareness

• Consultancy

An important partner in drug prevention are the parents, because they are the experts for their children.

Targets of addiction prevention at the German School Nairobi

In order to lead a contented life, it has to give "thrilling" moments in the spirit of happiness. However, it is not necessary to go into situations that are dangerous and endanger your health. The task of the school and the parents is to create a living environment that corresponds to a holistic approach:

• Students get their thrill or happy moments through art, theater, sports, dance and music

• Teaching provides the necessary knowledge to lead a healthy life

• Freedom is offered in which one's own personality can unfold

• There are opportunities to actively participate in a community

• Perspectives are offered

• Positive role models are identified with which one can identify oneself

Sadly, the school can’t promise to prevent an addiction, but it wants to sensitize everyone more and to cooperate preventively. For this, persons of trust such as our social worker, nurse and trusted teachers are named for the students, parents and teachers, and a framework for trusting communication is created.

Prevention

Our prevention work already starts in kindergarten, with a special focus on strengthening self-esteem and promoting life skills. This approach is continued up to the graduation. Life skills can be described as three skills:

1. Self-esteem and self-confidence

2. Social skills and communication skills

3. The ability to live a meaningful and eventful life

Those who have these skills can master their lives so that certain problems, such as developing an addiction, do not arise in their lives. 

In order to do this prevention work, social training offers are made in all classes of the DSN during the class lessons. In classes 5 to 8 that is based on the Lions Quest program called ‘Growing Up’.

Experiential orientation of the class trip in the 8th grade

The class trip in the eighth grade receives an experiential orientation. For example, climbing Mount Kenya provides students with the framework to tackle a challenging task in their class community and engage with their own physical limitations.

School social work

An interface of the drug prevention work is the school social work at our school - here is a focus on strengthening the families immanently. Personal and social skills are trained with the children and adolescents, e.g. communication and social interaction, emotional and stress management as well as resistance to consumption offers. At the same time, educational skills are practiced together with the parents. If necessary, joint conflict resolution instruments are established in joint meetings with families and activities to promote family cohesion are undertaken - family protection factors are strengthened and risk factors weakened.

Students who use drugs at the school are immediately expelled from school.

Our school follows the Kenyan legal foundation, so smoking and alcohol consumption is prohibited at school events and generally across the campus.

For the 4th time, the Anti-Drug-Day took place at the German School Nairobi on Thursday, 11.04.2019. This year's project day was organized by Ms. Seite, Mr. Busch, Ms. Budde, Ms. Pache, Mr. Fanenbruck and Mr. Gehrke. All students of grades 8 to 10 participated. The aim this time was for the students to deal with, discuss and agree on ideas, contributions and demands for a drug-free school.

The day began with a speech about the current situation at the GSN held by headmistress Ms. Seite in the ‘Spiegelsaal’. In order to get the participants in the right mood for the topic, two videos were shown to illustrate that drug prevention at other schools is sometimes defined much more strictly than at the GSN.

The work continued in three groups by making the drug issue - its relevance for family and school - tangible through role-plays. Afterwards the groups dealt with questions about their vision of a drug-free school, which they summarized in group results.

At the end all group results were brought together and summarized for consideration by the GSN addiction prevention concept. The students had a controversial discussion on the question to what extent on the one hand control and on the other hand personal rights of the students can be harmonized when it comes to the prevention of drug consumption and trafficking at school. The pupils' constructive work has led to first results which are now being used by the school for further concept work.

For the 3rd time, the Anti-Drug-Day took place at the German School Nairobi with the involvement of 15 Starkids students.

The day began with the welcoming of all students from grades 8 to 11 by the headmistress Mrs. Seite in the ‘Spiegelsaal’ and a lecture on the measures to be taken in cases of drug abuse at school. Mr. Busch introduced the different workshops and their partly external leaders. He also outlined the past in the drug swamp of the two external artists Patrick and Augustine, who use their experiences to keep young people away from drugs.

Afterwards, the students dealt with the topic of drugs in five workshops according to their interests: The music group, led by Augustine and Erastus, composed a song on the subject of drugs and presented it to all participants in the afternoon with great cheers. In the lyrical group, for which Mrs. Orao and Mr. Königshof were responsible, poems were written and songs by artists who have landed in the drug scene were analysed. Under the direction of Patrick and Mrs. Di Benedetto and with a high artistic level, other students created four paintings with four different perspectives on the drug scene. Another working group, organized by Mr. Busch, dealt with the bio and chemistry of drugs. Here, the participants used plants to explore the toxic substances from which drugs are produced. They also dealt with the effects of specific drugs on the body and the central nervous system. The fifth group, called ‘be in balance’, worked with their participants to learn about the processes that addictive substances trigger in the brain and the leaders, Mrs. Cichon and Mrs. Budde, gave exercises from the yoga spectrum as an alternative for feeding the reward system in a healthy and controlled manner.

Two representatives from the Kenyan Department for Narcotic Investigation were special guests of honour, who gave a plenary lecture on various aspects of drug abuse in Kenya and also clarified the legal situation.

The best    weapons    against    drugs    are    a    profound    knowledge    and    a strong    personality    

Photo gallery here

Auch This  year,    like    every    year,    the    drug    prevention    day    was    involved    in    the    curriculum  of    the    different    classes    and    subjects.    

 We students    still    remember    last    year’s    “Antidrug    Day”,    which    was    an    informative   day    with    plenty    of    talks    with    interesting    people    from    outside    of    our    school    and    classes.  Mr. Wendland,    Anna-­‐Lena, Ms. von    Rensburg,    Mrs.    Moßmann,    Patrick,    Alex,    Augostin,    Michael    and    Mr. Busch organised    the    “Antidrug    Day”    with    the    representatives    of    the    Star    Kids    School  and    the    workers    from    Banana    Hills.   

4th  May    was    a    day    fully    focused    on    drug    prevention.    We    (Classes    8  to 11)  worked    together    with    “Our”    Star    Kids    secondary    school    students    in    4    different  workshops. 

The    first    two    groups    worked    on    music    and    art    projects,    lead    by    Mrs. Moßmann,    Ms.    von    Rensburg    and    Patrick,    

the    third    group,    led    by    Mr.    Busch,    worked on    the    physiological    effects    of    drugs    and    the    identification    of    drugs    in    a    lab

and  the    fourth    group,    with    Augustin    and    Michael,    took    a    closer    look    at    diseases    like  HIV,    Hepatitis    B    and    a    few    sexually    transmitted    diseases.

All these    workshop    groups    worked    with    a    focus    on:    

“A strong    personality    and    in    depth    knowledge    are    the    best    weapons    against    drugs”.  

 The results    of    our    workshops    can    be    understood    well    through    the    photos.    Many  discussions and    group    actions    took    place.    

Summary:  

When we    have    problems,    it’s    good    to    talk    to    friends    and    people,    who    you    trust    out them.    We    know    who    to    talk    to    and    who    will    stand    by    us    and    give    us    good    advice.  We    can  recognize    dangerous    situations    and    overcome    them    with    our    profound knowledge    on    the    subject.    We    can    speak    to    younger    students    and    pass    on    our    knowledge, so    as    to    help    the    future.

 We will    develop    this    pilot    project    with    Kamau    (person    of    reference)    and    the    Star    Kids    to    a    part    of    the    curriculum,    which    will    hopefully    also    be    integrated    into    the    Kenyan    school    system    to    help    prevent    drug    consumption.    In the    name    of    all    the    students    from    classes    8 to 11,  we    would    like    to    thank    the    organizers    of    this    project    and    hope    to    continue    working  constructively    with    the    Banana    Hills    Drug    Prevention    Center.    

The  students    of    class    11

A new substance abuse prevention programme will be introduced at the GSN.

The focus of this new concept will lie in the combination of several subjects which deal with social and scientific education. A further aspect will be the broader discussion of reasons that result in drug consumption.For example, in the science subjects and in Ethics,by using age-appropriate methods, we will address the theory about personality change due to problems in school, at home or amongst friends.We will also look at the effect of drugs on the body and the mechanisms that can be used to deal with social co-existence.

In order to expose our students to life beyond the school gates, in other words to see life in the “real world”, we will attempt to bring our students closer to the people of our host country, and to discuss problems in the context of various cultures. The school’s management team has managed to get in touch with a Kenyan help-organisation, which helpsaddicted teenagers and young adults to find their way back into society. 2 pastors and 2 social workers rent rooms in a small house for this purpose in Banana Hills in Ruaka, and their doors are always open to anyone with any kind of problem.

In these rooms, which incidentally have the characteristics of a small library, people can discuss their problems and urgencies, they can read books, and they can find others who are simply willing to lend an ear. 

Additionally they can get tips on how to overcome problems via group discussions, and in some cases they also get support from the authorities. 

Members of the German School’s Management team (Mr Boddenberg and Mr Busch) accepted the invitation of one of the leaders of this project, Kamau, (who leads the substance abuse prevention programme) to visit the centre, and discussed the possibility of working together at different levels.

We hope to create a concept which will include discussions with both parties, mutual lesson observations and further training sessions for social workers as well as combined workshops.

An agrrement for the co-operation was signed.

The first project will be called the “anti-drug day”, which will take place on the 3^rd of June at the school under the guidance of Ms Weber-Bernardo, Mr and Mrs Busch. 

Students from the German School and from our African partner school, as well as people from the Banana Hills Programme will get together in workshops and group discussions based on the most varied of topics on the prevention and on the problems of drug abuse in our host country Kenya. 

Rainer Busch