1) My aunt has arrived!!!! For those of you who didn't know, my aunt Liz is going to be here for the last two weeks of my stay in Kenya, and then we are going to spend a week in Paris. It is so great to see someone from home and I'm so excited to share Kenya with her! Tomorrow, she will be coming to St. Andrews with me. In order to really show her what my life has been like, I have arranged for a second motorcycle to bring her to the school and back with me. Luckily, she doesn't have to do the biking part of the journey.
2) I finished grading all my tests on time!!! It only took like 7 hours total. And teachers, not a single one of you send me an email. I am just a tad disappointed, but what can you do. Anyways, out of the 160 tests, over 40 students got an A. Most teachers would say they made the test too easy if this happened, but I am just so excited that they actually studied and are actually understanding what I've been teaching them, so I could care less. On Wednesday I'm giving them an essay which will be the real test of their understanding. Friday is my last day teaching, so technically I need to have 160 essays graded in two days... I think it's time to tell Greg, Deb and Liz that we're going to have one big grading party Wednesday night.
3) Ok this one is the best. On friday, Deb, myself and Peter (the principal at St. Andrews) went into Nairobi and met with a woman named Mary Mugo. She is VERY high up in the education system in Kenya, and she is part of a team that is/ has created a peace and reconciliation curriculum for schools across Kenya. I got to meet with her, and I typed up my whole curriculum and gave it to her to read. When I was told we were going to be meeting with her, I figured they really didn't have much of a curriculum. From my experience here so far, it seems a lot of Kenyans lack the critical thinking skills. Not all of them, but a fair amount. Mary and her team are absolutely an exception to this generalization. She gave me the curriculum they have created and I was blown away. It was 10 times better than anything I have reached, and it would have been really helpful for me to have had when I started teaching! We got to listen to Mary, and her assistants Beatrice and Eunice describe the work they have done, including what they created to help Kenyans who were harmed in the post election violence following the presidential election in 2007. She was a really wonderful woman and it was fascinating for me to hear what she had to say, and incredibly satisfying to hand this very important woman the curriculum that a little 18 year old from America created. And guess what. This isn't the end of the good news. Peter and Deb started talking to her about St. Andrews, and the schools philosophy, and the problems they face, and she said she would love to come out and see the school. She also said that she could get Peter at least 3 government paid teachers which would be EXCELLENT for St. Andrews, because right now all of their teachers aren't even certified teachers and they are paid very poorly. I have never seen a man as happy as Peter was when we left this meeting. Her repeated over and over again, "I am such a happy man right now, I am just thrilled." So even though they probably won't even use most, or any of my curriculum, I was a gateway for St. Andrews to talk to the "big wigs" of education in Kenya.
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| Beatrice, Me, Mary and Peter Don't worry I do have other skirts that I wear, this one is just my favorite |
Alright so thats all of my "tatu zuri" section, now I just have some odds and ends that people might find interesting.
1) In the teacher's room at St. Andrews, there are wasp nets in every corner of the room except for one. One of them is RIGHT over my head, and I am absolutely terrified of bees and wasps. I always have one eye on the nest, and on Friday I finally asked the teachers why on EARTH the wasps are still there. I said in America these things would have been removed/ killed in an instant. One of the teachers responded that they are sacred. Now WHY would any culture make these stupid little things sacred. Being a curious person, I asked this question. Mr. Ondari, the teacher who answered me the first time, said he didn't know. And here, once again, is the lack of critical thinking. But at the same time, traditions were created for a reason, well hopefully, and I have learned to respect them and not question them. Even if it means I get stung. Except that won't happen because when they're flying around I quickly put my raincoat on, hood included so barely any of my skin is exposed. :)
2) At the nursery school on thursday, I put my new swahili sentences to use. For my lesson I turned them around, writing the swahili then the english. All the students loved my swahili speaking and it was fun for me to actually have something to say to them! Now they know how to say the cow is sleeping, the goat is running, the boy is reading, the mother is cooking. All of which are obviously VERY helpful sentences. It was pouring rain, so unfortunately they didn't have recess which is the best part of the day. Here's a picture of little lilly in her raincoat with a hood that could fit like two heads in it.
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| Silly Miriam held up her name the wrong direction! |
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