Diary of a Day!

I often say that life here is busy, however when people ask what I actually do it can be hard to remember everything...  Every day is different so I just decided to choose a day at random and keep track of the happenings..

Monday 9th June, 2014 

My alarm rings at 6:15 am, I hit snooze and have a few more delicious minutes of sleep. When I wake up the second time I can hear the cook chopping wood outside our door- he arrives well before 5 to get the fires going and make the tea. Bearing this in mind I get out of bed. I make a quick instant coffee and check my emails, the time difference usually means I have more contact in the mornings, but all I have today is another travel warning from the Aus government about dangers in Kenya....

I grab some socks a bucket and the kettle and head out the door to school- when I step outside the door I am effectively 'at school'. As soon as I unlock the library five students appear. A couple of boys with sports injuries from yesterday, a couple of library books returned and a few requests for sticky tape and glue (most kids can't afford their own basic stationary and often borrow from me).
I set up my 'first aid' area, as I have a mother and son with nasty hand and feet conditions that I am treating from the local community who have been visiting every morning. I boil the kettle for warm water and get their bandages and socks out and ready as I do this a few more kids trickle in with various requests.

The bell rings for assembly, I greet the other teachers who have arrived and pass a library announcement to the teacher on duty and then have to leave as I see my patients arrive. It takes me almost an hour to soak, dry and dress their hands and feet. After they leave I quickly sit down to do a little bit of lesson planning, I am interrupted by a student who tells me he thinks he has malaria - a common ailment! I take his temperature and do a malaria test on him, it shows up negative but I give him some pain killers and tell him to come and see me tomorrow.

My form 2 CRE class

Time to do some teaching, Monday is one of my easier days as I only have four lessons + bible studies. I teach a couple of CRE lessons, English and Lifeskills. For bible studies I have two classes combined (over 90 students) they are super lively today and we have some great singing!

In between my lessons one of my students comes to me clearly distressed, she tells me that she has just found out her best friend was killed in a tragic accident in Nairobi, we chat for a little while and then arrange for her to go back to the dorm and be exempt from classes for the remainder of the day. Despite the tragedy she has a very mature outlook saying she knows it must happen to each of us someday but confused as to why it happened at such a young age. Death is so much more of a reality here.

Library time after school

Over the course of the day I have 24 'first aid' cases- a new daily record! These range from jiggers and malaria to papercuts and sore throats, some students are wary to come for first aid and will often come with a friend for support, I try to encourage them to come as soon as they notice something wrong because so often something like a small cut can get infected and bad because of being left for too long.

The final bell rings at 4:05 and instantly I have over 50 students in the library, on computers and reading newspapers and books. I try to do some of my teaching planning and marking but I am constantly busy assisting students. I stay until 6:00 pm and then kick all remaining students out and pop home for dinner.

I am presider for night time bible study so after dinner I race back out and get it going, after this 30 min session I have a couple of kids with cuts and stomach aches. We have baptism study class at our house so I round up some of the more forgetful kids who like to attend (it is a non-compulsory group) and head back to the house. Greg leads the session while I sneakily send some
emails on my ipod. The students leave and I wash some socks for tomorrow, have a cup of tea and head off to bed for an early night. Tuesday is my 'busiest' teaching day so want to be well rested for tomorrow!

The library can be a busy place!