Today I finish my diary entry on a much more settled tone. Today was such a learning experience for me with a lot of emotions.
We arrived at school and I was pleased to see more teachers and students at school and ready for school. I was placed in with the year 7s to teach science- first unit? The human body! I felt relaxed as I walked in the classroom and I was even handed a textbook with an outline of what to teach- today's lesson is on the circulatory system and the properties of blood. 34 students and 3 kids had textbooks- challenge number 1. Secondly, around 20 students had pencils… Luckily I was prepared and had all my Australian pencils with me that Debbie had donated from the Tannery. I handed out each student a pencil and I watched as their eyes lit up at their new gift! Amazing about how excited they were about a greys led pencil! Next challenge- no paper. Some students had exercise books, some students had makeshift books they had put together themselves from any piece of random paper they had found, and some students had nothing. Earlier that day I had picked up some coloured speech cards from the supermarket thinking I could use them for a game- but instead, they become the students writing books!
We wrote down notes about the circulatory system and even did a quick activity, reading our pulses before and after phsycial activity. It was fun, and amazing at how much the students wanted to learn. Of course you had a number of students that had the quiet chatter here and there- but mostly they were amazing! I think the Bernard's boys could use some of that focused energy!
My second class, is as told I could do some PE with a junior class- great! Only 30 kids had arrived to school in that class so I was prepared for some good NIH team building and icebreaker games….nope. There were no teachers for classes 1,3 or 5- so the principal decided to put them in with my PE lesson also- which now made everything that I had planned useless! Not only that… They got 2 of the more senior classes to come out and watch- as their teachers had not planned anything either. So my little class of 30, turned into 150+ students very quickly in a tiny little space. It stumped me for a little and I felt overwhelmed with what to do! I had no control over the crowd of students that all wanted to hold my hand or stroke my hair! I couldn't even get them quiet enough to hear a single explanation. Absolute chaos! Luckily, John, my guide from the Karibu group started some swahili songs and the students fell into place for songs around a circle! with lots of laughing dancing and chasing each other in a structured game I couldn't for the life of me figure out! I taught them the chicken dance (to me singing) and I realised I may have hit my low point! I was exhausted! Luckily the bell rang and they all sprinted back to their classrooms.
For the next section, I was placed on a seat outside the classrooms and were bought maths textbooks one after the other.. At first I had no idea why, then I was instructed I had to correct the books and give them back to the teacher before the class was out! I was used as a personal book corrector! I guess they are not silly!
This is also where I saw something that really struck some emotions. As I was correcting books, I started hearing the swift cracks. Lydia, my Karibu friend who was sitting next to me started giggling. She told me someone obviously hadn't done their work correctly… A kid was getting the strap! I was mortified! Lydia told me it was really common and quite normal, she had the strap a lot when she was a school, children need discipline. :/ she preceded to tell me that it is actually illegal to use the strap on children now and that the government had banned it, but teachers still do it as a form of punishment and no one even bats an eyelid. I asked her why no one reported it when teachers do it, but she simply said it was not their place.
I also had a discussion with her about how people become teachers. She told me you needed spirit. No qualifications, no experience necessary. You just have to have the will to teach… Such a different world when you think about all the children checks and qualifications you need to simply be in a class alone with students at home. I guess it gave me a greater understanding of why the teachers are not as efficient as I expected or wanted them to be. It's a tough job, and these people are basically volunteers. Their salary? $50 a month. There is such a shortage of teachers in schools that there is an incredible amount of classes that are teacher-less, so I guess I need to be more appreciative of what the teachers are doing with the little education and resources they do have. If they were not there- these children would not have anything.
I left the school with very mixed emotions. Our next stop… A Kibera slum single mothers group. Duncan, who is part of the Edmund Rice Karibu group runs a young single mothers group that make beaded jewellery to sell. The money is then used to support the livelihoods of the women and their children.
As I walked in I met a beautiful young mum by the name of Floshy. Her son, Muberak is probably the happiest most beautiful child I have ever met! From the moment I met him I was completed and utterly in love. He is two years old and has the biggest most cheekiest smile in the world! It was really sad listening to some of the mums and their stories. Most of them didn't really tell us much about how they got there but Duncan explained to us that many have had a child after turning to prostitution as a means of getting money, and sadly continue with prostitution as a way of now supporting their child. Again, some fairly strong emotions emerging after today.
Little Muberak seems to have quite the attachment on me and just wanted me to carry him and play with him the entire time. He fell asleep on my lap, he would go for a quick walk, and then he'd come straight back, wrap his arms around my neck and snuggle in. He played games with the others and wanted to high 5 everyone, but he had to do it from the safety of mine or his mums arms. He was just beautiful! He is 2 years old, but he is tiny, and like to chats all the time- he had massive conversations with me in swahili and I have no idea a single word he was explaining to me with such concentration. His mum explained a few of his conversations with me that usually had something to do with observing something such as a light turning on and off, or the fact that his cup had two eyes on it- but most of the time mum was happy to just walk away and leave him with me.
It's strange here, and reminds me a little of the country. Every child born belongs to the community. Every adult, stranger or friend will pick them up, walk around with them, talk with them, discipline them if necessary, and it's all ok- because the child is a child of the community.
Before leaving I was able to get some contact details for Floshy and Muberak and I bought beads for everyone to support their group and said goodbye. This is the first time I have thought very seriously about sponsoring a child. I wish I had more time to spend here. I was very emotionally involved in this program.
Back at home, I decided not to go to the pub with the others. Gabi and I instead went into town to buy sports equipment and posters to donate to St Juliet's tomorrow, and went home to go for a run and a boot camp session with Dani within the Sisters compound. We had many laughs from the cute nuns, but it was worth it- felt so nice to have the heart rate up a bit- but I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow! Good mental health check for me.
Pasta for tea- amazing! We have eaten so much weird and wonderful food it was nice to have some filling pasta- especially after our little boot camp session!
Kenya
We arrived at school and I was pleased to see more teachers and students at school and ready for school. I was placed in with the year 7s to teach science- first unit? The human body! I felt relaxed as I walked in the classroom and I was even handed a textbook with an outline of what to teach- today's lesson is on the circulatory system and the properties of blood. 34 students and 3 kids had textbooks- challenge number 1. Secondly, around 20 students had pencils… Luckily I was prepared and had all my Australian pencils with me that Debbie had donated from the Tannery. I handed out each student a pencil and I watched as their eyes lit up at their new gift! Amazing about how excited they were about a greys led pencil! Next challenge- no paper. Some students had exercise books, some students had makeshift books they had put together themselves from any piece of random paper they had found, and some students had nothing. Earlier that day I had picked up some coloured speech cards from the supermarket thinking I could use them for a game- but instead, they become the students writing books!
We wrote down notes about the circulatory system and even did a quick activity, reading our pulses before and after phsycial activity. It was fun, and amazing at how much the students wanted to learn. Of course you had a number of students that had the quiet chatter here and there- but mostly they were amazing! I think the Bernard's boys could use some of that focused energy!
My second class, is as told I could do some PE with a junior class- great! Only 30 kids had arrived to school in that class so I was prepared for some good NIH team building and icebreaker games….nope. There were no teachers for classes 1,3 or 5- so the principal decided to put them in with my PE lesson also- which now made everything that I had planned useless! Not only that… They got 2 of the more senior classes to come out and watch- as their teachers had not planned anything either. So my little class of 30, turned into 150+ students very quickly in a tiny little space. It stumped me for a little and I felt overwhelmed with what to do! I had no control over the crowd of students that all wanted to hold my hand or stroke my hair! I couldn't even get them quiet enough to hear a single explanation. Absolute chaos! Luckily, John, my guide from the Karibu group started some swahili songs and the students fell into place for songs around a circle! with lots of laughing dancing and chasing each other in a structured game I couldn't for the life of me figure out! I taught them the chicken dance (to me singing) and I realised I may have hit my low point! I was exhausted! Luckily the bell rang and they all sprinted back to their classrooms.
For the next section, I was placed on a seat outside the classrooms and were bought maths textbooks one after the other.. At first I had no idea why, then I was instructed I had to correct the books and give them back to the teacher before the class was out! I was used as a personal book corrector! I guess they are not silly!
This is also where I saw something that really struck some emotions. As I was correcting books, I started hearing the swift cracks. Lydia, my Karibu friend who was sitting next to me started giggling. She told me someone obviously hadn't done their work correctly… A kid was getting the strap! I was mortified! Lydia told me it was really common and quite normal, she had the strap a lot when she was a school, children need discipline. :/ she preceded to tell me that it is actually illegal to use the strap on children now and that the government had banned it, but teachers still do it as a form of punishment and no one even bats an eyelid. I asked her why no one reported it when teachers do it, but she simply said it was not their place.
I also had a discussion with her about how people become teachers. She told me you needed spirit. No qualifications, no experience necessary. You just have to have the will to teach… Such a different world when you think about all the children checks and qualifications you need to simply be in a class alone with students at home. I guess it gave me a greater understanding of why the teachers are not as efficient as I expected or wanted them to be. It's a tough job, and these people are basically volunteers. Their salary? $50 a month. There is such a shortage of teachers in schools that there is an incredible amount of classes that are teacher-less, so I guess I need to be more appreciative of what the teachers are doing with the little education and resources they do have. If they were not there- these children would not have anything.
I left the school with very mixed emotions. Our next stop… A Kibera slum single mothers group. Duncan, who is part of the Edmund Rice Karibu group runs a young single mothers group that make beaded jewellery to sell. The money is then used to support the livelihoods of the women and their children.
As I walked in I met a beautiful young mum by the name of Floshy. Her son, Muberak is probably the happiest most beautiful child I have ever met! From the moment I met him I was completed and utterly in love. He is two years old and has the biggest most cheekiest smile in the world! It was really sad listening to some of the mums and their stories. Most of them didn't really tell us much about how they got there but Duncan explained to us that many have had a child after turning to prostitution as a means of getting money, and sadly continue with prostitution as a way of now supporting their child. Again, some fairly strong emotions emerging after today.
Little Muberak seems to have quite the attachment on me and just wanted me to carry him and play with him the entire time. He fell asleep on my lap, he would go for a quick walk, and then he'd come straight back, wrap his arms around my neck and snuggle in. He played games with the others and wanted to high 5 everyone, but he had to do it from the safety of mine or his mums arms. He was just beautiful! He is 2 years old, but he is tiny, and like to chats all the time- he had massive conversations with me in swahili and I have no idea a single word he was explaining to me with such concentration. His mum explained a few of his conversations with me that usually had something to do with observing something such as a light turning on and off, or the fact that his cup had two eyes on it- but most of the time mum was happy to just walk away and leave him with me.
It's strange here, and reminds me a little of the country. Every child born belongs to the community. Every adult, stranger or friend will pick them up, walk around with them, talk with them, discipline them if necessary, and it's all ok- because the child is a child of the community.
Before leaving I was able to get some contact details for Floshy and Muberak and I bought beads for everyone to support their group and said goodbye. This is the first time I have thought very seriously about sponsoring a child. I wish I had more time to spend here. I was very emotionally involved in this program.
Back at home, I decided not to go to the pub with the others. Gabi and I instead went into town to buy sports equipment and posters to donate to St Juliet's tomorrow, and went home to go for a run and a boot camp session with Dani within the Sisters compound. We had many laughs from the cute nuns, but it was worth it- felt so nice to have the heart rate up a bit- but I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow! Good mental health check for me.
Pasta for tea- amazing! We have eaten so much weird and wonderful food it was nice to have some filling pasta- especially after our little boot camp session!
Kenya
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