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!