Kenyan Kids

Already, so often I find the kids here surprise me in so many ways! Such hardy, independent and positive people!

On one of my first days here a large truckload of food arrived for the school. Mountains of flour, maize, oil and sugar in huge buckets and 20+ kg bags. I was helping the workers carry the supplies into the storeroom when a cute little boy about 10 years old appeared, giggling away he jumped into action and tried to lift the 20kg bags, his skinny little arms barely able to budge the heavy sacks. I greeted him in Swahili but he didn’t respond and one of the girls told me that he was deaf and dumb.

Despite the fact he comes from a family in extreme poverty is unable to attend regular school and has so much hardship and struggles in his life he was so happy and such a willing worker. His attitude is such an inspiration!


Another little gem occurred in my year 10 class when a tiny little neighbourhood boy dressed in primary school uniform wandered in. I welcomed him into the room and much to the amusement of the class he came right in, climbed into a spare seat and sat their listening intently for the whole lesson. Such a cute little boy! Never too early to start thinking about further education :)

Sponteneity

One thing I have learnt so far being here is that it isn’t uncommon to be told you are doing something with very little notice! Spontaneity seems to be the way Kenyans like to roll :)

I stumbled across a staff meting prior to beginning the term in which I found out that along with my teaching duties I had been placed in charge of issuing the school textbooks, I was the school librarian, bible studies teacher, in charge of girls football and the running club and would be doing lots of typing for the school.

On the first day of term I arrived at school at 7:30, chatted to the staff as they arrived, still asking lots of questions as I try and figure out exactly how the school runs. The bell rang at 7:45 and the students started gathering around the flagpole for assembly. One of the teachers gestured that he had something to say to me and I went over to him, only to find out that I was to do the opening speech for the start of school! He asked if I could do some kind of bible based talk to begin the year- only 5 or 10 minutes in length.

Around 200 students stare expectantly at the new Australian teacher as I quickly grab my bible out and flick through searching for some suitable theme to began the new year with…fortunately I had some of my favourite passages highlighted and came up with some sentiments about the energy of youth and the importance of giving it their all. The students were all so receptive and welcoming, giving me a huge round of applause and a special welcome clap and stomp :)

The next Monday morning I should’ve been ready for it but it still came as a surprise when I was asked again on arrival to school to do the assembly speech….Lesson learnt- always have something ready to give at short notice! 

Sad Realities

One of the things I noticed on my last trip was how much the students love photos! Without many mirrors around the place at all, many people don’t actually have much of a gauge of what they actually look like.

I decided to print out some of my favourite pictures from my last trip to give to some of the students who I had gotten to know well. One of these was for a first form girl ‘Prisca’ who was one of the most friendly, hospitable and outreaching on my last trip- even to the extent of bringing me her pegs when she saw I was hanging my clothes without them.

One of the other students flicking through my photos stopped when she got to the one of Prisca and I outside the school, ‘this girl got lost’ she informed me in a matter of fact way. I was quite confused as to what she meant and questioned further, only to find out that she hasn’t been seen since August and even her parents have no idea where she is.

So tragic and heartbreaking. Hoping and praying that this beautiful girl is actually ok and out there somewhere! Keep her in your prayers!

The School

                             

The school that I am teaching at has around 30 students who call it home and live here all

year round, but once the school term starts the number of students living on campus extends to over 100 as boarders from all over Kenya arrive. In addition to this, the school has approximately another 100 day students but in contrast to many Kenyan schools the class sizes remain small with around 20-35 students per class. 

Because of the large volume of students living here there is always lots of activity and action. The compound consists of boys and girls dormitories, Justus and Annettes house (the amazing couple who have adopted around 100 kids and set up the school!), the school itself with classrooms, administration block and sports field and the volunteers house where I am living.

The school day in Kenya is quite different to that of Australia, classes start at 8am and go through until 5pm with 10 forty-five minute timeslots. This can mean that as a teacher you teach the same class several times on the one day, which I have been finding quite comical. My fantastic form 2 class (Year 10) who I have been teaching Christian Religious Education and English.

Each classroom is equipped with a blackboard and chalk is issued to all the teachers, I have found out I have some sort of allergic rash from chalk- which considering I fill the blackboard several times in a lesson and end up with chalk all over me it is rather unfortunate! :)

The teaching staff at the school. Myself and Gregg Mogg from Australia and then the remainder of the teachers from the local area. A lovely group of people to work with!

'Smile, you're in Kenya'

'Smile, you're in Kenya!' 

The billboard in the Nairobi airport covers half the wall and despite the jetlag, confusion and uncertainty I found myself doing just that. I am embarking on what will no doubt be a challenging and interesting year, and am super keen to get started! 

The village in which I am working for the year is at least an eight hour drive from Nairobi and so I leave town at 7:00 in the morning in order to arrive in daylight. My driver is super friendly and helpfully stops several times on the trip so I can buy groceries and get a Kenyan phone and sim card organised. Navigating the roads in Kenya is no mean feat as high speeds are regularly stopped by the presence of speed bumps, pedestrians (who cross the highway anywhere they like), trucks, public transport vans that often drive head on into oncoming traffic; and on occasion donkeys and cows which meander onto the highway. No one seems to obey the 'rules' and I wonder if there are even any! 

About 5 hours into the trip my driver appears to be sick of driving and casually asks if I can take over! I had planned on driving in Kenya but didn't expect it to be on my first day in the country! However, I didn't want to miss the opportunity so jumped behind the wheel and navigate the remainder of the way to the village. My driver seemed unperturbed by my novice Kenyan driving skills and said I could manage here no worries :)

The school has changed noticeably since my last visit with a double story dormitory under construction for the many students who will be living onsite when the school term starts. I am shown to the volunteers house that I have to myself until the Moggs arrive in 6 days time. The locals tell me that the power has been out for most of the week, which also means no pump and no water. I unpack by lantern light, padlock the door and head to bed!

Unsure yet as to when and how regularly I will get internet but will post updates whenever I can :)