The 10th KISWCD graduation ceremony was held on Saturday 19th September 2009 at CITY HALL NAIROBI.
The Chief Guest and Speaker was Abbas Gullet.
In his speech read on his behalf by the Deputy Secretary General Dr .James Kisia, he had these words to the graduands;
The community needs your passion and dedication to elevate Kenya from poverty and stagnations” He asked the graduands, not to give up in fight against social ills.
He finished his speech by quoting the words of Mark Twain
Twenty years from now you will be disappointed by things you didn’t do than the ones you did. So throw off your bowlines, sail away form the safe harbour catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover
In his speech, the Director of Programmes Mr. Benjamin M. Mutie enumerated the achievements made by KISWCD in the last 12 years.
He said KISWCD was in the process of finalizing the MOU with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology to offer a selected number of their courses. We do hope to be through with this in the next one month.
Negotiations with Daystar University have begun to enable the two institutions work together in both research and in academic programmes.
He reported that the Commission for Higher Education had validated the following courses offered by KISWCD.
Diploma in Community Development
Diploma in Social Work and Welfare
Diploma in Human Resource Management
With this validation, KISWCD students were able to enroll in all Kenyan universities and also benefit from credit transfers.
He reported that in 2007 KISWCD was able to carry out a graduation ceremony for JRS students who are sponsored by JRS and based in Kakuma refugee camp.
He noted that in October 2009 two graduation ceremonies will be held one in Kakuma and another one in Dadaab.
He pointed out that enrollment of students had been increasing; though in 2009 the levels had dropped slightly due to the current hard economic times.
Mr. Mutie said that the Institution had continued increasing the volume of books in the college library to cater for the increased population of the students.
He said that KISWCD had continued to support Machakos Institute of Technology who were represented in the ceremony by their academic staff.
He was quick to point out that the Institution was in the process of recruiting Constituency Liaison Officers for the 210 constituencies in Kenya who will act as our link persons to oversee all liaison activities, including coordinating KISWCD and MIT activities in the Constituency and who will provide a point of contact for students seeking to enroll in MIT and KISWCD Institutions.
To those graduating, he had these words; “I believe that the various programmes that you went through during your stay in this institution have given you a solid foundation in community work. Allow me to share with you 10 important principles which I would urge you to embrace in the course of your work.’
Be yourself always.
Follow your inner feelings. Learn to listen to the feelings inside yourself; they will ring much louder and more clear and honest than any thoughts that you have. Always ask yourself, “What is the right choice to make in this situation?” then listen.
Pay attention to your thoughts. Do not be consumed by negative thinking.
Accept the truth. I know that the truth is the hardest thing for people to accept. Everything is truth, even the bad things are truth, even lies are truth, you are truth, and truth is truth. So learn to invite it, and learn to accept it. It will give you more happiness and success than you can even imagine!
Don’t push the energy, but Never Give Up. Pull the energy by attracting, and you will experience more success than you even know what to do with!
Badly want what you wish for. Determine your heart's desire and continuously hold it in your mind.
Make a promise to yourself and keep it. Make a pledge to yourself that you will go beyond what you have so far achieved. It takes a lot of guts to keep to your own words but once you do that, you can look up and feel proud of yourself.
Be focused and control your reactions to situations, events, people and your emotions.
Reflect and hold it in your mind. Reflect on the feelings and experiences that come along when you achieve what you have set out to become. Associate the joy and satisfaction that accompany your success.
Maintain your faith.
Having faith and an unwavering certainty will help you decide on the choices to make and the actions to take. With sheer
determination you will chart your own course and move ahead even if other think it is impossible. “
In his address to the graduands, the principal (Mr. Jackson N. Wachira) had these words to the graduands,, “The greatest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets out of it but what he becomes from it.” In line with this noble remark, I urge each graduand to create a deliberate desire to ‘become’ something.
