African Braids

I have always admired the long African braids I have seen so many girls with. It wasn't until this year that I realised that they are actually fake extensions that are plaited in.
Right from early on the kids have loved playing with my hair and are always asking me if they can plait it- I have spent the majority of the year with my hair in plaits of some description.

Quite frequently I am asked why I don't plait extensions in and so finally I succumbed to it and commissioned one of my students mothers to plait in some 'real' african braids. A number of hours later it was finally done...however my lack of appropriate care (swimming down at the coast, getting sprayed with mud and filling my hair with ceiling dust putting up mosquito nets) necessitated removal after less than a month.

I headed over to a group of girls on the weekend and asked if they wanted to help remove them. They were quick to oblige and started working straight away. Once one had finished removing a piece of the fake hair she asked me what I wanted to do with it. I didn't care about it in the slightest and said 'if you want to keep it you can keep any that you remove'.... next minute, my hair is being pulled from every direction as the girls scramble to remove it all, folding it carefully and packing it away to save for Dec 24th so they can re-use it to plait into their hair and be 'very beautiful' for Christmas.
Brand new a entire head piece costs a total of 90 cents but for a student that is pretty unachievable so they jump at the chance to take, wash and re-use my second hand ones.

Being a student...

I think the best way to really understand something is to experience it personally.

Although as a teacher I have a fair bit of insight into schooling in Kenya there are doubtless things I miss...so I decided to go to school for a day!

I chose a day in the holidays when all other classes were away except form 4 which I didn't have to teach, got myself a school uniform, loaned myself the necessary textbooks and much to the delight of the students I headed along to the form 4 class just to see what it was actually like.

Nine hours later my stomach is grumbling after only having a cup of tea and some maize and beans all day, my head is a whirl of translating skew lines to be on the same plane, the failings of King Saul, the structure
of the DNA molecule, electrolysis of copper 11 sulphate, endangered animals in Kenya and a confused headache from experiencing an hour of Kiswahili grammar (of which I understood 29 words the entire lesson- yes I kept a tally).

I am aware of the anxious rapid heartbeat you instantly get when the Chemistry teacher directs a question at you and you haven't got a clue what he is talking about. The feeling of not completely understanding the Maths teachers geometry diagram but noticing everyone else is nodding and copying it down so you feel like you are the only stupid one who doesn't get it.
The utter confusion when you don't actually understand the language the teacher is speaking in. These are feelings that the students here would experience often!

The education system here requires a lot of hard yards. Eleven subjects for two years and then narrowed down to eight for the next two years followed by 21 examinations at the end of it all. The students here are required to do a lot of memory work and have a lot of motivation to study for something they won't be assessed on officially until four years time.

I don't know how well I'd go in this education system for four years and I'm thankful that I don't have to find out.

After this day I certainly have a new found understanding and respect for all my students.

Challenges of teaching PE!

Unfortunately PE (physical education) is marginalised in Kenyan secondary schools. The focus on academics, coupled with lack of space and resources means that PE often gets neglected. 

Having studied human movement for four years I was super keen to get PE happening in this school, and had brought with me a large amount of sports supplies. Initially I was told I would have to do it during lunchtime but after a bit of negotiating and persuasion I finally managed to wangle one lesson per class per week to do Lifeskills or PE on an alternate basis.

The kids absolutely love it and get super excited when it is time for our lessons and they get a chance to get outside and do something physical. I love teaching them sports like Ultimate Frisbee, Oztag, badminton and Australian Rules rather than the traditional soccer, netball and volleyball as they have never even seen many of these sports and love learning new games.

Teaching a class of form 3s Australian Rules Football last week took an unexpected turn... As usual the kids were getting super involved, the unique and unfamiliar nature of the game was a cause of great hilarity and noise levels and excitement were high. What I hadn't factored in was the fact that form 4s were in the middle of their National Kenyan Examinations (a very big deal). I am racing around refereeing when suddenly I notice a man brandishing a large rifle on the side of the field!

Security for examinations is tight and armed guards come to ensure there is no cheating or adverse examination conditions for the candidates.

It appears my PE lesson is causing the latter.

My usual default is to do whatever men with guns tell me to do, but on the other hand I really don't want to abandon the only PE lesson with this class for the fortnight... so I decide to negotiate with gun-toting-grumpy.

He finally agrees that if we make no noise at all we can continue.

Anyone who has ever played or watched Aussie Rules with a group of novices will know this is next to impossible, however an absolute credit to my students as they are able to play the rest of the lesson in complete silence- a testimony to how keen they are for PE lessons!