In my second week of teaching at Mitoone, I am beginning to get more comfortable with the schedule, classes, staff, and the students. I have started visiting other classes, to both observe other teachers, and teach some lessons for them, to go along with my own assigned classes. The teachers and staff have been extraordinarily helpful and open to offering advice, asking questions, and welcoming me into their classes.

I am really enjoying getting to know the students better, and it is great to see both the formal and disciplined in-class side of my grade 7s,  along with the more informal, competitive and fun side that they show in PE class.

They love playing games and sports, and really excel when it comes to physical activity and competition. I tried to teach my class how to play “soccer baseball” in PE on Friday, but unfortunately there seemed to be too much of a learning curve as there are so many rules, and most of the students have never seen baseball being played.

Because of the lack of understanding I decided to scrap the game after about 20 minutes, but fortunately, the students were not phased as they transitioned easily back to playing a game of football without question or frustration. This just goes to show the relaxed and carefree attitude many people, including students, have in Kenya, as they rarely get upset or frustrated. This really backs up the “hakuna matata” philosophy I had heard so much about before arriving, which is something I would love to see more of in Canada.

One morning, we arrived at school early enough to be able to take in the assembly that happens every morning at 8 o’clock. At assembly, a chosen grade or group of students are asked to perform a song or dance or both, coupled with a prayer or speech of some type to start the day.

It was great to see the students get involved in such a fun, interactive, and spirit building type of activity so early in the morning, as this seems like the kind of thing that students in Canada would try to avoid at all costs for fear of embarrassment or ridicule from their peers. But here in Kenya everyone is supported and it is expected that everyone does assembly on their assigned day, so there is no judgment or negativity around it, as students are actually proud and happy to perform or speak to their peers and teachers.

The highlight of my week would definitely be taking the grade 7 and 8 classes up the nearby Mai Tei mountain for a hike on Tuesday morning, with a few of the other teachers. The side of the mountain we climbed had little to no path, and it was very steep, but the students showed up without hesitation or complaint. I could not help but thinking how much planning and red tape there would need to be in Canada to organize a field trip like this, while in Kenya, the student showed up like any other day, and we’re excited to find out they would be hiking a mountain that morning, with no questions asked.

This was a wonderful experience and it was great getting to interact with the students and such a fun and informal setting, while getting some physical activity and sharing in some breathtaking views. The students love teaching us sweet healing words, phrases and songs as we walked and it was very fun to trade roles as students and teachers for a short while. They were very excited when I took out my camera, and got some great photos of the group on the walk, and I even let some of the students try taking some pictures with the camera, and taught them how to use it.

It was amazing to get to talk to the students more about their personal lives and interests, tell them some things about Canada in my own life, and overall I felt that this morning helped me to make a better connection with my class. This is the day I will always remember fondly, and I’m very happy I have so many great photos and memories to keep forever.

By Brent Woodside

Hello again from Kenya!

This week was the first full week spent in classrooms.  I have been given the opportunity of teaching 3 physics classes and 3 math classes across forms 1-4 (grade 9-12).  It has been a wonderful experience getting to know the students and learning from them as much as they are learning from me.

The education system is much different here in Kenya.  More emphasis is placed on memorization than application.  For this reason students have incredible rote memory and an ability to quickly pick things up in the classes such as the French we are teaching them but have difficulty connecting the learning outside of the classroom.

In addition, the staff in the school have been incredible and extremely welcoming.  They have treated us to local cuisine such as roasted maize, oogali, and mokey. In addition, they are quick to jump in to teach us Swahili words and about their customs.

They also have a keen interest in our culture and education system from Canada. This exchange of information wouldn’t be possible without completely immersing yourself in the area.

Any free periods we have during the day are spent at the primary school across the road.  Here the kids swarm you as soon as you walk onto the grounds. I have never seen the type of excitement they have.  You could be stuck shaking hands and giving high fives for hours.

Overall the teaching experience has been wonderful.  I have been given a unique opportunity to learn about the Kenyan education system and also learn about their culture and way of life.  I am excited to see what the next couple of weeks have in store for us.

We get most of our food from the supermarket in Meru. Every Saturday, we make sure to stop and pick up food for the week : maize flour, wheat flour, pasta, bread, chicken, coconut cream. We also buy some treats for ourselves (mostly chips, cookies and chocolate)!  However, the fruits and vegetable are expensive there, and that is why we also need to make a stop at the open market (what would be like the farmer’s market).

Most of the time, we walk to the Kiirua market, which is about three kilometres from our house. Our cooks Alfred and Boniface are always good guides, and they know where to find the right produce at a good price. Going to the market is always a great way to interact with the locals. We even know some shop keepers, and we happily visit them during our weekly shopping.

This week, we had a very different market experience. After school on Monday, Krystal, Erica, Alfred and I drove to Meru to get our fruits and vegetables from the Meru open market. And what a market! One can find everything : clothes, jewellery, shoes, electronics, fabrics, mirrors, and so on! We only had time to walk through the produce section, which had hundreds of vendors within it. There were mountains of potatoes, green peppers, delicious looking carrots, ripe bananas, juicy mangoes, beans of all colours, and numerous fruits that I could not recognize.

The colours were beautiful, and looking at all this freshness was mouth watering.  But it  was a very different experience than the Kiirua market… If the people in Kiirua are used to seeing white people, I think it’s not as frequent in Meru. We were a novelty for sure.

When we stepped out of the car, many vendors were already showing us their products, and 3 and 4 wheelbarrows were at our service to transport our groceries (they were very disappointed in our strong muscles – we were able to carry everything ourselves). I was however glad to have Alfred with us. He guided us through the maze of fruits and vegetables, knowing exactly what was a fair price, and which ones had been inflated.

All our senses were already stimulated and then, it began to rain. Not just a nice summer rain! A torrential pre-monsoon rain! It was one of the biggest rainstorms I had ever seen!  We were glad to be under a big metal roof at that moment (most vendors were not as lucky, they had to use tarps and umbrellas to cover their precious items).

So, the  adventure ended under the rain, with gorgeous produce to bring back home and anecdotes to tell our colleagues! It was quite the adventure, and I am glad we got to experience it.

SIS TEAM 2019 ARRIVING IN KENYA

Arriving in Kenya on a Farmers Helping Farmers (FHF) project is heart warming.

We arrived – Carolyn Francis, Carolyn (Carly) Thorne, and Liz Townsend – in Nairobi late evening on March 6th about 24 hours after leaving PEI.

We’re here to advance the Safe and Inclusive Schools (SIS) project with educators in the two main districts where FHF works: Mukurwe-ini and Meru.

Following SIS workshops in 2017 and positive evaluation by Kenyan interviewers in 2018, we will engage educators once again in workshops and school visits.

Discussion on safe schools will be about reducing corporal punishment; discussion on inclusive schools will be on on using learning materials and making schools accessible and more disability-friendly.

We were met by Henry, Susan, & Peter from Sportsmen Safaris, and taken to the Nairobi Anglican Guest House for a welcome night’s rest and breakfast. Peter  drove us to the Mukurwe-ini home of Gerald and Grace Kariuki whose mixed farm includes cows, hens, banana and macadamia trees, coffee plants, and more. Gerald will be our driver for meetings and two days of teacher workshops.

What a joy to step into warm Kenyan weather after leaving our ever-changing windy, snowy PEI weather!

My first week teaching at Mitoone Primary has been great.  I am learning so much from the staff and the students about the school system here, and I am embracing and enjoying the differences in routines, practises, and cultures.  I have been assigned to a Standard (Grade) 7 class,  and I am teaching Christian Religious Education, English, and Physical Education.  It is very different for me to be teaching CRE,  as it is not included in our secular public school system,  but I am enjoying it, as the students are very keen to learn and get involved.

I am trying to use as many interactive and fun activities for students that are hands-on and inspire creativity, as most of the lessons here seem simply involve lecturing, taking notes, and responding to questions.  I want the students to be able to enjoy the lessons and show their creative side while I am here.

I am thoroughly enjoying teaching PE so far as the kids all love being active and they seem to really strive when they are competing in sports, especially football (soccer).

There where many highlights from the week. One would have been actually finally entering the classroom, after our first week around the community, as I was very excited to meet the students and the staff.  I promised all of my Grade 7 students that I would have their names memorized by Friday,  and they were very excited when I successfully went around and named each student at the end of class.

Another highlight would be playing football with the students at break along with a couple of the other teachers and facilitating PE class. The students are all very competitive and eager to play, and I love how our school puts physical activity so high up their list of priorities.

Finally, we were lucky enough to be invited to Jennifer Murogocho’s house  for lunch on Saturday, where she made us a delicious stew with chapatis (a food I have grown very fond of quickly.  Jennifer has been nicknamed our Kenyan mother, as she is extremely kind, generous, and helpful.  Jennifer, as well as the rest of our local contacts like Mwenda, Tony, Julius, Bony, and Alfred, have been invaluable in helping and teaching us about the language, culture, and community. Ever since we first landed, I have been blown away by the hospitality, selflessness, and feeling of welcome we have been offered from all the Kenyans we have been lucky enough to meet.

I am very excited to see what else the next few weeks have in store for us!

By Brent Woodside

This week I had the opportunity to visit the zones for this semester’s sports teams. At the zones approximately 25 schools come to compete with almost 1000 athletes.  The activities include handball, athletics (track and field), rugby, and basketball. In second semester they have football (soccer), volleyball, badminton, ping pong, and netball. In the final semester they concentrate on the arts with music and drama.

Upon walking into the yard we had an opening ceremony which was incredible to experience.  You could feel the energy of the athletes as they prepared for their matches meeting with coaches and going through warm up drills.

I was introduced to a man named Dr Mukasa who studied English literature in South Africa for his PhD.  I spoke with him about the games and informed him that I had a great passion for rugby playing for four years and now coaching in Canada.  He told me about his time playing professionally in the highest league in Kenya.

After we continued our discussion he spoke about giving back to his community and wanting to establish a better rugby program locally so he went on to coach at the university he was teaching at.  Currently only two of the 25 schools have rugby teams in the area. We also learned that one of the rugby teams had not shown up to the tournament so the local team did not have anyone to play against.

Dr Mukasa invited me to help coach a session for the boys so it would not be a lost day. We worked on ball handling skills as well as technique and strategy for approximately two hours. The next day we also continued coaching for another two hour session where we could see incredible improvement in the players.

After visiting and participating in the games it was possible to see the importance of having organized sport in the area.  It gives students a purpose and helps to build self confidence. It also helps to work on skills such as teamwork and communication.  This journey has helped me to realize how important sports have been in my life and the importance of giving back to your surrounding community.

Our first week at Michogomone Secondary School

By Maude Bertrand

My colleague Brent and I spent an amazing first week at Michogomone Secondary School. It is a school for students of Form 1 to 4 (grade 9 to 12). There is around 150 teenagers, and each of the four classes have between 35 and 50 students. The Kenyan curriculum at that level seems to be very science oriented, so most subjects are related to sciences (biology, chemistry, physics) or maths. There are however periods reserved for Swahili and English (which are both additional languages for the children, most  of them have Kimeru as a mother tongue). The time table also includes a few periods geography, history and business studies.

The first week at Michogomone Secondary School was full of surprises, to say the least! On Monday, my colleague Brent and I arrived at the school, both excited and nervous at the same time. Everyone was extremely welcoming. At first, the staff believed we were just visiting for the day, and no one seemed to know that we were coming to teach for the next 4 weeks! Fortunately, Kenyans are very good at “going with the flow”, and teachers happily rearranged their schedules to give us some teaching time. I was assigned EAL and geography.

The days are stress free and time seems to be relative : lessons can start on time, or not, and may last the prescribed 40, or longer. It is also normal for teachers not to go to class. For instance, some educators were busy with other assignments last week, such as preparing the exams or coaching the school handball and athletics team, and could not attend their class. But teacher or not, students go to class and study. When Brent and I are not teaching, we spend time in the staff room preparing for our lessons, drinking tea (multiple cups!) and talking with the other teachers of Kenya and Canada.

I really enjoy my time spent in the classroom. It is such a pleasure to teach at Michogomone! The students are curious and engaged. It is always with great joy that I teach, or interact with the students outside of the classroom.

The students learned that French was my mother tongue and they became very curious of the French language. I try to save a couple minutes  every lessons to teach them the basics (I often hear some “bonjour” and  “comment ça va” when I walk on the school grounds). They LOVE it! I also really enjoy when they teach me Swahili and Kimeru.

Last week, we had to chance to experience extra curricular events, such a the inter county handball and athletics tournament. These days were rich in cultural exchange and allowed me to get to know my students better. I can see the positive effects of those days outside the classroom : The students are more comfortable with us and both the students and us learned immensely from the other culture. I am very excited about next week. Each day is full of surprises and beautiful conversations.

By Hailey Hennessey

One of my favourite parts about teaching in Kenya has been the children I have had the pleasure of meeting. Rugatene Primary is the school that Krystal and I were placed at and we have had a great time getting to know our students. There is so much school spirit and positive energy coursing through the air. We leave everyday with smiles on our faces as we make our way home.

One way in which the children demonstrate their happiness is through singing and dancing. We have had multiple encounters where children have come up to us and broke into song as a group. The grade six class even stayed in at their break to show us a song and dance. Two students sat in the corner and started a beat with a bucket and some sticks. The rest of the students bunched at the back of the class and started singing and dancing simultaneously to an upbeat melody. I could tell by watching them how much fun they were having and how free they felt in expressing themselves in this way.

Another encounter with singing we have had is the students asking us to share songs from Canada with them. Krystal and I sang O Canada to the whole school which definitely was out of my comfort zone but it was really nice to share a part of home with them. They then returned the favour by singing their national anthem to us. Overall, their love of music is clear and I hope to continuing experiencing their lovely voices.