The SPAT Project:

SPAT staat voor Sport and Physical Activity en zet zich sinds 2009 in om jongeren met een beperking te versterken door middel van sport, spel en beweging.

Binnen het programma volgen jongeren met een handicap een training van één tot twee jaar, onder begeleiding van ervaren experts. Na succesvolle afronding ontvangen zij een certificaat en kunnen zij als gecertificeerd SPAT-instructeur aan de slag – mét een betaalde functie.

Vind alle informatie hieronder:

Het bericht The joy of movement: SPAT Project verscheen eerst op Circus Hannes.

Lees onderstaande brochure voor alle informatie:

Het bericht Charity fun-day 07/12 verscheen eerst op Circus Hannes.

DATES: 15TH APRIL TO 26TH APRIL 2024

TIME: 0900HRS TO 1600HRS

SPAT training: onder verantwoordelijkheid van Circus Hannes i.s.m. studenten Hogeschool Arnhem-Nijmegen (HAN)

The after-school sports activities that was organized by the spat team both from Kwale and Kinango with the help of Dutch volunteers will be running for two weeks but for only three days in a week that is Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

15th April 2024 – Kinarini Primary School

The day was a success. We started at 0900hrs, we got around 62 students and two teachers. When they arrived we had a warm up dance for around 30 minutes then we divided the students into four group. Each game was running for 40 minutes. Lunch break was from 1245hrs to 1345hrs. we finished the program at 1430hrs but before leaving they again had a dance with the spat team led by June.

17th April 2024 – Ziwani Primary School

The day was a success. We started at 00900hrs and finished at 1500hrs, in between we had 2 breaks, one of 15 minutes to relax and the other an hour for lunch. We got around 45 students, repeated the same games that we did with Kinarini school. We all had fun.

19th April 2024 – Henny’s School

We started the program a bit late due to the weather. On this day we did not only get students from the school but we also invited children from Henny’s Orphanage. The number was quite big because we got around 65 students. All the activities went on well as planned. The program ended at around 1530hrs. 

22nd April 2024 – Kinarini Primary School

On this day we had Kinarini school but they were students from a different grade so the games played were the same. The activities went on well.

24th April 2024 – Ziwani Primary School

The started on very well. The team had prepared different activities from the previous one because the students that came for this event were the same students. To make the day more fun spat prepared four different activities and new topics for the sign language class, everyone enjoyed the day.

26th April 2024 – Kwale Mentally School.

The day started quite early because the students had to be picked up by the centres van. By 0730hrs Jackson the driver was on his way to pick the students who came form as far as Ukunda. By 0930hrs all the students were at the Centre, we had prepared some tea for them and at 1000hrs we began our activities. At around 1330hrs we were through with our activities, had lunch, a dance and the students were taken back home.

Conclusion

The activities went on very well as planned. The SPAT team did an excellent job, they used all the skills that they had learnt all through the training. The children and the teachers also enjoyed their time here.

Kinango team did an exemplary Job especially Mwaka and Amina with the help of their team leader Furaha. Kwale team we have Ngome whose work was quite impressive, Zuma, Marion Fridah and Janet did try too. For the sign language classes we gave the mandate to Nyamvula who is not a SPAT team member to stand in for Emmanuel who was not around. She really did an exemplary job.

By Mercy Heri.

Het bericht AFTER SCHOOL SPORTS ACTIVITIES – KWALE verscheen eerst op Circus Hannes.

Date: 25^th and 26^th October, 2023

WEDNESDAY 25^TH OCTOBER 2023

At around 0900hrs Mr. Anne, Mr. Kidanga and Ms. Mercy started their journey to Kinango School for the deaf; we arrived there at 1030hrs and were warmly received by Mr. Joseph and some of the teachers in the school. The main aim of the visit was to see how the team was doing and bring them games and circus materials that Mr. Anne had brought with him from the Netherlands. He also wanted to visit the schools that the trainees go to for the spat program, meet up with the school’s head and the teacher in charge of games.

Most of the schools had closed for the Christmas holidays, only the students preparing for their national examinations were there. We were able to meet the school heads of both schools that is Kinango School for the Deaf, Kinango Primary School and St. Joseph primary School.

Below are images showing the schools we conduct our SPAT program from in Kinango Sub County:

Upon meeting with them, we introduced ourselves and asked them about the program for the short period that it had been running. We got very positive responses from the school heads and the games teachers, they are very happy with the program, one positive response was that now some teachers and students can learn a bit of sign language.

Later on we had a short meeting with the trainees; Mr. Anne explained to them what he expects from them, teamwork, cooperation and hard work. He made it very clear to them that they were on training, they should not expect to get any payments during this period, they were encouraged to do their best because next year around June they will be examined and afterwards given a certificate.

Image showing some of the materials Mr. Anne brought with him for Kinango SPAT team and others borrowed from SPAT team Kwale.

THURSDAY 26^TH OCTOBER 2023

On this day we met with the spat trainees from Kwale at 1500hrs, we also wanted to get a review from them concerning their experience since the last training. Mr. Anne insisted again on teamwork, cooperation and hard work. He also made it clear to them that they were on training and should not expect any payment. They were also told that there would be an exam the following year in June; afterwards they would be given certificates.

Both teams from Kinango and Kwale were asked to be making a short report on a weekly basis every, send it to Ms.  Mercy for editing later it will be sent to Mr. Anne for the website, it will also help in monitoring them. Only one school will be featured in a week.

The team asked if they would get some additional materials, some of the materials were not enough when they go out to the fields; there were also two of the materials that needed fixing Mr. Anne took them with him. So far, the team is happy with the program and promised to do their best and improve on their weak areas.

Het bericht KINANGO AND KWALE TRAINEES MEETING verscheen eerst op Circus Hannes.

Monday 7^th August 2023.

All the teams assembled and our meeting kicked off at 00900hrs. Mr. Anne took the day’s program by introducing at least 12 circus games. He taught the teams and later on they practiced what they had learnt. We were also joined by Mr. Flores who is Mr. Anne’s son, he really helped out a lot in teaching one of the games “the diabolo”.

Tuesday 8^th August 2023

The training started at around 0930hrs, Mr. Anne started by congratulating the teams of how excellent they had performed the previous day and also in the past two training sessions. Being the last week of training, the new students were given the mandate to take on the remaining programs with the help of the older members.

The first team were students from Kinango, they chose to do circus games. At Kinarini School there were quite a number of mistakes that were noticed by Mr. Kidanga and Mr. Anne too.

Wednesday 9^th August

In the program they was no school to be visited since they had closed so the morning session was used to do some evaluation from the previous day’s sports. Mr. Kidanga took on the session correcting some of the mistakes they had come across then Mr., Anne wrapped up. The teams then used the remaining part of the day to prepare for the next day’s training which was to be done at Kinarini School.

This time the teams grouped themselves into a group of six because the number of students was quite high and this enabled the new students to all get involved in running the day’s program.

Thursday 10^th August

By 0900hrs all the teams were at Kinarini school prepared and started the games. On this day all the teams did an exemplary job from the organization of the children, grouping them and later on playing. At 1030hrs the team headed back to the Deaf Centre, Mr. Kidanga and Anne were very pleased with the cooperation and teamwork, they commended the teams for that.

In the afternoon at 1400hrs the SPAT team together with other deaf members from the Deaf Centre had a team building day at the Jumbo Hilltop Lodge, they had fun, they enjoyed swimming and drinks.

Friday 11^th August

Since there was no school to go to, SPAT team had a final meeting. The Kinango team were asked to prepare their games in advance then they will be sharing some of the materials with kwale team as Mr. Anne organizes on how he can get materials for team Kinango. Mr. Anne and Ms. Mercy also discussed and saw it fit for Mr. Kidanga to be visiting the Kinango team at least twice in a month and evaluate their progress i.e. the first week of the month and the last week of the month.

The program has been of great help to the deaf youths, they have learnt new skills and also identified new talents that they have.  Mr. Kidanga an old SPAT member has been of great help especially to the new trainees from Kinango, two of the trainees have really improved under his guidance.  

Het bericht SPAT training week 3 Deaf centre – Kwale verscheen eerst op Circus Hannes.

SPAT is a program that involves training the deaf youths to become sports instructors.

SPAT stands for Sport and Physical Activity Trainee.

This program helps them in different ways as stated below:

• To discover their potential and abilities in different sectors.
• Secure jobs thus improving their living standards
• Boost their self esteem thus proving to the public despite their disabilities they are just like them and can work just like them.

The program was extended to Kinango Ward where students from the area met with those from Kwale Ward for the training. The trainees met daily in the morning for training then in the afternoon they wen out to the field to put in practice all the skills they learnt.

Below is a summary of all the activities done during the training session.

Day 1 – Monday 19^th June 2023

The program started well at 10:00am. Trainees were asked to group themselves into four groups with three members each led by their previous student instructors. After the groups were formed, they selected the schools and day they were to visit every day in the afternoon. The schools chosen were;

• Monday – Kwale Primary School for the deaf
• Tuesday – Kinarini Primary School and Kenya School for Intergrated Medicine
• Wednesday – Kwale School for the Mentally Handicapped
• Thursday – Henny’s Academy
• Friday – Ziwani Primary School

From the above list, it is seen that the training did not focus on regular schools alone but involved special schools as well to show that trainees are trained on how to instruct children with special needs.

Each group was to select a game they were to work with for the day. Below are the games they were to choose from: -

• Tag game
• Individual game
• Competition game
• A circus game

 After choosing the game, each team went to organize themselves by collecting all materials needed, practicing how to play before taking fifteen minutes each to teach others on what they had learnt.

 At 1400hrs, the teams started preparing themselves for fieldwork and by 1500hrs they were at Kwale School for the Deaf ready to start the day’s game. Each group worked with 10 students both boys and girls and divided the students as per their game and started practicing the skills they learnt that morning.

Group 1 teaching the students The Whoop Pass Game

Group 2 teaching the students The Bag Run Game

Group 3 teaching the students the Throw Ball Game

Group 4 teaching the students the Spinning Lint Game

After the games, trainees from Kinango interacted with the students since they were new to each other and also considering the fact that they were also deaf. This interaction lasted for about ten minutes and it was the ending of day 1 program.

Day 2 – 20^th June 2023

All the teams met once again, the program started a bit late because of that the trainees were lectured on the importance of discipline, time management being the major point. Team leaders were asked to implement on the above and encourage their members on their discipline and attitude.

Once more the teams had to choose different games, look for the materials, practice the game and later used each fifteen minutes to teach other groups what they had learnt. Being a Tuesday the teams were to go to two schools one a primary school (Ziwani Primary School) and the other a college (Kenya School for Intergrated Medicine), the group that practiced the throw ball game were asked to prepare for the game that they were going to play at the college and they chose volleyball. 

Group 1 chose the Diamond Heist

Group 2 chose Pawn Ball

Group 3 chose throw ball

Group 4 chose throw the ring

At around 1430hrs the teams headed to Kinarini Primary School. By 1500hrs they had all assembled at the school’s field, they went to inform the administration of their arrival and then proceeded to the field for the preparations.

The school gave the SPAT team forty students who were divided into four groups each having 10 students. The trainees started training the students on the games they had learnt led by their team leaders.

Below: Group 1 teaching students The Diamond Heist

Below: Group 2 teaching the students Pawn Ball 

Below: Group 3 Teaching students at Kinarini The throw Ball Game 

Below: Group 4 teaching students Throw the Ring Game

With each group using ten minutes, the trainees did an exemplary job at the field. They exercised cooperation, unity, support and teamwork. At around 1600hrs the program at Kinarini ended and they headed to The Kenya School for Intergrated Medicine. On reaching the venue, they started by doing some exercises with the college students before the start of the game. At exactly 1710hrs, the volleyball match began, the SPAT team did not perform well. They lost to the college students 3-0 respectively. Despite the loss, they enjoyed themselves and interacted with the students. At around 1745hrs all the activities for the day came to an end and each team proceeded back to the Deaf Centre.

Day 3 – 21^st June 2023

All started well and all the trainees reported on time they received a congratulatory applaud from their coach Anne. On this day the trainees were going to a mentally handicapped school and each chose a game, looked for the materials, practiced the game as a team and later used fifteen minutes each to teach the other teams how each game was played. 

Below Group 1 showing other teams The Pass-Through Game  

Below: Group 2 showing other team members The Throwing and Catching Game

Below: Group 3 showing other team members The Tag of War

Below: Group 4 showing other members The Spinning Flag Game

At 1430hrs all the teams had prepared and made their way to the Kwale School for the Mentally Handicapped. On reaching the school, they went to inform the administration of their arrival and later headed to the field for preparations. The trainees faced difficulties in grouping the students into a complete group of ten students each considering their mental condition. When they were put into a group of ten other students would go join other teams thus increasing the number of students of one team or they left their groups to join other different groups.

Some of the students did not understand the instructions given for the game and it was difficult for trainees to teach them.

Group 1 teaching the students the Pass-through game being assisted by Kidanga in the first picture

Group 2 teaching the students throwing and catching

Group 3 teaching the students the tag of war

Group 4 teaching the students the spinning flag    

At 1600hrs the games ended and all teams headed back to the Deaf Centre.

Day 4 – 22^nd June 2023

Mr. Anne the instructor asked all teams to do an evaluation of the training from the previous days. Each individual was asked to share something with their fellow trainees. All the members thanked him for the program because through it they found an opportunity to discover various skills that they had. They confessed that at the beginning of the training it was a bit hard but as the days went by they found the Joy of Movement because they enjoyed what they were doing. After the evaluation remarks, the teams were asked to prepare for their games in the afternoon, two of the teams prepared the same game they had played the previous day while the other two chose a new game to practice. The new games chosen were

Match with the ball game and the secret ball game, this was done by groups three and four respectively

Below: group 3 showing the members the Match with the ball game 

Below: Group 4 showing the members The Secret Ball.

Below: Marion looking for who has hidden the ball

Due to unavoidable circumstances, the teams did not manage to go to Henny’s Academy as per the timetable. Despite the changes SPAT team was not discouraged, they stayed at the Deaf Centre and competed against themselves.

Day 5 – 23^rd June 2023

This was the last day of training for week one, and all the activities were taking place at the Deaf Centre. The meeting started at around 1100hrs and lasted an hour. In the meeting, trainees were reminded to play the games that were for the previous day since they had not gone to the field.

At 1430hrs the teams headed to Ziwani Primary School.  On arrival they went to inform the administration of their arrival and later headed to the field for preparations.

Group 1 teaching the students The Whoop Pass Game   

Group 2 teaching the students The Throwing and Catching Game 

Group 3 teaching the students Match with the balls

Group 4 teaching the students the secret ball game 

All the games were a success and all the students enjoyed every bit of it. At 1600hrs, the teams rounded up and gathered their materials ready to go back to the Deaf Centre. They also took a group photo for remembrance since the team from Kinango were going back and would return again in the month of July for the second week of training.

Picture below of all the SPAT team members after their last day of training

In conclusion the SPAT training was a success, the team leaders showed good leadership skills with each leader insisting to their team members to take their training seriously. There were also some challenges where some teams chose the games that were in favor of them other than in favor of the students they were going to instruct, this though changed after Mr. Anne talked to them and the last game the teams chose to instruct were all in favor of the students.

All through the training sessions both SPAT members and students really enjoyed the games, the students complained of having less time to spend in playing the game and asked if the play time could be added to at least fifteen or twenty minutes. Some students also asked questions about sign language SPAT members taught them some new signs. All in all the training was a success and trainees are really looking forward for the next training session especially the team from Kinango.

Het bericht SPAT training week 2 Kwale – Kenya verscheen eerst op Circus Hannes.

Monday 10^th  July 2023

All the teams met at 1000hrs at the Deaf Center. The teams were welcomed back by Mr. Anne, there were also three new members who joined the team, and Anne took the initiative of putting them to the other teams. Later the teams chose their different games that is;

- The Caterpillar,

- The Police,

-  The Big Soccer Match and

- Acrobatics

The school they visited this day was Kwale School for the Deaf. All the teams participated very well in giving out the instructions to the students. The students really enjoyed the games chosen.

Tuesday  11^th  July 2023

At 1000hrs the teams met yet again to prepare for the day’s activities but before that they did a recap of the previous games before preparing Kinarini School. Each team chose a different game, the games chosen were: -

- Three in a Row,

- Fop Ball,

- Work Out,

- Flower Sticks.

At Kinarini Primary School the number of students given was quite high and the SPAT trainees could not be able to manage but thanks to Kidanga who helped sort out the issue. The teams were well organized, handled the children well and they really enjoyed themselves.

Wednesday 12^th July 2023

The day started well but the weather was a bit challenging. The teams prepared for Kwale School for the Mentally Handicapped. The games chosen were a bit different because they were especially for the mentally handicapped children. All the teams prepared well for the games but unfortunately they were not able to the school for the practical because of the weather.

Thursday 13^th July 2023

This day the program started a bit early at 0900hrs because the teams were to play again the games they had chosen the previous day since they had not gone for the practical, within an hour they were all through and at 1000hrs the day’s program started. They prepared for three games and due to this all teams were re-grouped. The games chosen were: – flying ball estafette, ring + pawn game, hula hoop.  The school to be visited was Henny’s Academy. The number of students given were 30, teams were well organized, gave out instructions well and at the end of the session the students really enjoyed themselves.

Friday 14^th July 2023

On this day the SPAT team was to go to Ziwani Primary School. Teams chose to play the previous games that they played at Henny’s but one of the group had to choose a new one since the previous games played were only three to make it four, the new game chosen was Rock, Paper Scissor. Unfortunately due to unavoidable circumstances the games at Ziwani primary School did not take place. Teams were disappointed because they were eager to put their skills in to action but it did not happen.

They are looking forward for the next training session to take place in August.

Het bericht SPAT training week 1 Kwale – Kenya verscheen eerst op Circus Hannes.

Verslag ‘Afterschool Activity’ Lalibela: 29 juni 2023.

Circus Hannes is in beweging.

Het is vakantietijd voor de kinderen in Lalibela.

We organiseerden een sportochtend voor 59 kinderen. 32 jongens 27 meisjes. De samenstelling was divers: uit verschillende grades en er waren 8 deelnemers met ‘special need’, waarvan twee blinde deelnemers. Het is een zonnige dag. Soms zelfs heet als de wolken weg zijn. Het veld is stoffig met redelijk wat stenen, maar vlak en goed bruikbaar voor onze activiteiten.

Het is een SPAT-activiteit: dat wil zeggen dat deze assistenten zijn opgeleid en gecertificeerd. De sportassistenten hebben een ‘beperking’, vaak spier- en of beenproblemen door ziekte, oorlog of een ongeluk. De SPAT-opleiding wil juist voor deze mensen banen beschikbaar maken zodat zij een eigen kunnen realiseren. Onze SPAT-assistenten dienen ook als rolmodel op de scholen, om te laten zien dat een beperking juist mogelijkheden biedt om een eigen toekomst op te bouwen.

De spelactiviteiten zijn voorbereid door onze SPAT-ers. We hebben een opleidingsboek gemaakt voor de SPAT-opleiding met ongeveer 150 instructie kaarten. De opening werd gezamenlijk uitgevoerd: in een wijde kring, kregen de deelnemers allerlei opdrachten om fysiek uit te voeren door Malaku: hij zat in zijn rolstoel; enthousiast draaide hij op zijn rolstoelstoel in het midden van de kring en had zo de groep feilloos onder çontrole’. Wat een prachtige identificatie voor de kinderen om te zien dat beperkingen juist mogelijkheden geven als je gebruik maakt van je eigen kracht. We hebben in 4 groepen gewerkt met 4 verschillenden thema’s: a. spel gebaseerd op samenwerking met een parachute; b: een competitie spel met wedstrijdelement: estafette; c.: een tikspel en d.: circusactiviteiten.

De spelen waren helder georganiseerd, uitleg duidelijk en het was sterk om te zien hoe de SPAT- assistenten de leiding namen en de verdeling in groepen strak organiseerden: hulde aan Malaku en AJoupnesh. Het wisselen van de ene activiteit van de ene activiteit naar de volgende verliep grappig maar zeer gestructureerd via ‘treintjes’.

De deelnemers hebben duidelijk genoten van de activiteiten die in totaal ruim 2 uur in beslag namen. Enthousiasme spatte er vanaf en de twinkeling in de ogen van de deelnemers sprak boekdelen. Een geweldig initiatief om onze SPAT-opleiding op deze manier in te zetten. Mooie samenwerking met stichting Dires en de Long Trail en mede ondersteund door Circus Hannes.

Anne Kuipers

Circus Hannes

Het bericht Circus Hannes in Lalibela, Ethiopië verscheen eerst op Circus Hannes.

Ze zijn er klaar voor. In april reizen 25 leerlingen van het Groen van Prinstererlyceum naar Kenia om vrijwilligerswerk te doen bij het Deaf Centre in het Afrikaanse Kwale. De kosten van 2075 euro per persoon moeten ze zelf ophoesten. Dat gaan ze doen door kleine ondernemingen op te starten. 

Het bericht Leerlingen halen alles uit de kast om reis naar Kenia te maken: ‘We willen dove kinderen uit isolement halen’ verscheen eerst op Circus Hannes.

Click on picture for the video. 

Het bericht Pwani – Reis van januari 2021 verscheen eerst op Circus Hannes.