Mzuri sana is a response for habari yako, meaning I'm doing very fine. I have learned over 40 words since I got here! Everyone loves to teach me, and when I actually use the words they get very excited. So I am going to begin by describing my new modes of transportation. First, the mountain bike. I don't think I have ever sat on a seat this uncomfortable. It feels like I'm sitting on a metal pipe, and my sitting bones are really taking a beating. Luckily I'm starting to get used to it a little bit, but it will be an interesting 5 weeks of biking 5 days a week, to and from. Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, I bike about 2 kilometers from the house, to a gate where they store my bike. The ride is BRUTAL! The roads are so terrible that I constantly need to have my eyes on the road to make sure I don't crash into any huge rocks. Oh and there isn't a lot of flat ground, so its either going up up up, which takes the life out of me, or going down hill which is excellent. Luckily, it is about half up and half down to get to the gate, so one way isn't a lot worse than the other. The bike ride up to the nursery school is another story. It is probably about the same distance, but instead of the 15 minutes to get to the gate, it takes me at least 25 and when I get there I am beet red and super sweaty. The ride up there is literally all up hill. Many parts of it are so steep that I have to walk up because gravity makes it impossible to bike up. What makes it even worse, is that both times I have gone up there, 3 or 4 flies have followed me the ENTIRE way. And I cannot stand flies. People tell me to not let them bother me, because there are so many here, but I just can't do that. That ride is easily the most miserable thing that I have endured here. Luckily, coming back is much easier. Except it becomes an upper arm exercise because my hands are constantly on the brakes, which need to be pushed all the way in to slow you down at all. My other new mode of transportation is MUCH better. When I get to the gate, a man named James picks me up on his piki piki, motorcycle, and brings me to St. Andrews. He's a really nice guy and I tell him all about America and he teaches me swahili. Unfortunately my terrible memory makes it hard for me to remember the words he teaches me, so he's always disappointed when he picks me up at the end of the day and I forget half of them. He told me that I'm the first mzungu (white person) that he has ever driven, which I thought was pretty exciting. Here's a picture of me and James!
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| I tried to smile too big which is why I look weird |
So far this week, my teaching at St. Andrews has been going well. On Monday we talked about self-esteem and self-talk, both of which the students have a hard time with. Oh I also thought of a great way (or so I thought) to learn all of their names. I gave them all name tags, and then took a picture of every single student. I'm going through them like flash cards on my computer, and so far I think I know about 5... whoops. By the time I leave maybe I'll know half of the names. Yesterday, we talked about pride and trust. I began the class by discussing two quotes by Wangari Maathai, a wonderful Kenyan woman who passed away a few days ago. I really like both of the quotes so I am going to share them with all of you.
"You cannot enslave the mind that knows itself. That values itself. That understands itself." - Wangari Maathai
"African women in general need to know that it's OK for them to be the way they are- to see the way they are as a strength, and to be liberated from fear and silence." - Wangari Maathai
I am trying to teach my students to make decisions based on THEIR opinions, not the opinions of any one else in Kenya. A key question so far has been asked them why. For a lot of the questions I ask, they do not know why, they just say that is what they were taught. I asked them if they though pride is good, or bad. The entire class said bad, which surprised me, because in America people generally use the word pride in a positive way. Luckily, I had two definitions of the word, and explained to them that it can have two different meanings. I then moved onto the topic of trust, which led to several interesting answers to some of my questions. I asked them who they trust, if anybody, and why they trust that person. About a third of each class said they did not trust anyone, because once you trust someone, they will turn your their back on you. Other people said their friends, God, or their parents. Some of the people who said they trust their mom wrote, "I trust my mom because if she didn't love me she would have aborted me", which I thought was interesting. Some of them said they trusted me which was very sweet. One kid wrote, " I trust Molly Snell, because she trusted our school by coming here and I know she will help me and I can trust her with my problems." I also asked them how many lies you can tell before you become a liar. I first asked the teachers, and all of them said you only get one lie. When I asked the students, they said you can tell millions of lies. The concept of lying has led to a lot of corruption in Kenya, which creates a serious lack of trust. That problem is too big for me to conquer, but I'm really going to try to rebuild trust at St. Andrews if nothing else.I am going to start class on Friday by doing trust falls, which should be fun and helpful for the students. The rest of the class will be small group discussions, giving each student a chance to share any conflict they have had with themselves. I'm really hoping they will actually share, but I have a back up lesson plan just in case.
My work at the nursery school is very different, and really hard in a different way. Teaching english as a second language to kids who can barely read, and only know swahili, which I do NOT know, is quite the challenge. Luckily I have the other teachers as interpreters, but I can't tell if the kids are understanding, or just repeating what I say and memorizing it. At the nursery school there are two classes. One is just regular pre-school, and the other is pre-k/ kindergarten. The kids in the second class are between ages 4 and 7, and they are supposed to know how to read and write english by the time they enter primary school. I'm not sure that that actually happens. Today, one of the teachers wasn't there, so I was in charge of the pre-k/ kindergarten class for the morning. They behaved pretty well for the majority of the time, but they got a little unruly after one girl got stabbed with a pencil, or so I was told. I had no clue what to do because I know absolutely no disciplinary swahili, so I just kind of went with it and moved on. Another problem is I'm pretty sure that they don't understand that I don't know swahili, so they constantly talk to me in swahili and expect answers. It was a fun morning despite the language barrier, and here is a picture of me teaching them.
"You cannot enslave the mind that knows itself. That values itself. That understands itself." - Wangari Maathai
"African women in general need to know that it's OK for them to be the way they are- to see the way they are as a strength, and to be liberated from fear and silence." - Wangari Maathai
I am trying to teach my students to make decisions based on THEIR opinions, not the opinions of any one else in Kenya. A key question so far has been asked them why. For a lot of the questions I ask, they do not know why, they just say that is what they were taught. I asked them if they though pride is good, or bad. The entire class said bad, which surprised me, because in America people generally use the word pride in a positive way. Luckily, I had two definitions of the word, and explained to them that it can have two different meanings. I then moved onto the topic of trust, which led to several interesting answers to some of my questions. I asked them who they trust, if anybody, and why they trust that person. About a third of each class said they did not trust anyone, because once you trust someone, they will turn your their back on you. Other people said their friends, God, or their parents. Some of the people who said they trust their mom wrote, "I trust my mom because if she didn't love me she would have aborted me", which I thought was interesting. Some of them said they trusted me which was very sweet. One kid wrote, " I trust Molly Snell, because she trusted our school by coming here and I know she will help me and I can trust her with my problems." I also asked them how many lies you can tell before you become a liar. I first asked the teachers, and all of them said you only get one lie. When I asked the students, they said you can tell millions of lies. The concept of lying has led to a lot of corruption in Kenya, which creates a serious lack of trust. That problem is too big for me to conquer, but I'm really going to try to rebuild trust at St. Andrews if nothing else.I am going to start class on Friday by doing trust falls, which should be fun and helpful for the students. The rest of the class will be small group discussions, giving each student a chance to share any conflict they have had with themselves. I'm really hoping they will actually share, but I have a back up lesson plan just in case.
My work at the nursery school is very different, and really hard in a different way. Teaching english as a second language to kids who can barely read, and only know swahili, which I do NOT know, is quite the challenge. Luckily I have the other teachers as interpreters, but I can't tell if the kids are understanding, or just repeating what I say and memorizing it. At the nursery school there are two classes. One is just regular pre-school, and the other is pre-k/ kindergarten. The kids in the second class are between ages 4 and 7, and they are supposed to know how to read and write english by the time they enter primary school. I'm not sure that that actually happens. Today, one of the teachers wasn't there, so I was in charge of the pre-k/ kindergarten class for the morning. They behaved pretty well for the majority of the time, but they got a little unruly after one girl got stabbed with a pencil, or so I was told. I had no clue what to do because I know absolutely no disciplinary swahili, so I just kind of went with it and moved on. Another problem is I'm pretty sure that they don't understand that I don't know swahili, so they constantly talk to me in swahili and expect answers. It was a fun morning despite the language barrier, and here is a picture of me teaching them.
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| My face was still red from the bike ride, don't worry I'm not THAT sunburnt. (not quite) |
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| This is Lilly and she has the BEST smile. Unfortunately every time she smiled another kid leapt in front of the camera |
That's all for now! On Saturday Deb and I have our first official swahili lesson with one of the teachers at St. Andrews! Maybe I will come home fluent. (yeah right) At least I can try! Right now all I know is single words so I sound like an idiot.
ps. I am still being force fed Ugali at St. Andrews. It really is not one of those foods that gets better the more you eat it. I hope you are all enjoying the DELICOUS food that is available in the US :)
Lots of love to everyone!
Molly
Lots of love to everyone!
Molly
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