13 March 2009

Rock Gang

I have been teaching physics and attending all the events; we had a district decathlon, heptathlon, and cross country meet last weekend. There were some highlights like when I stood around with a group of about 50 secondary school students and they were asking all the standard questions about America. Normally it is only the primary school students that gather around me so it was nice to talk see what students from other secondary schools are like. What I took away from the event (and from comparing our test results to other schools) is that I am a teacher at a typical Kenya day school.


Today we had a district "prize giving day." The assistant minister of education (for the whole country) was there, the local member of parliament, and all of the school students. School was cancelled in all of the schools so that we could receive prizes for how our schools performed last year. The primary school students had songs and skits that they had rehearsed so that they could show off to their member of Parliament - most of the money for school improvements comes directly from the mp's constituency development fund, so the politicking is important. Remember though, that this is a school system that is mostly without buses, so imagine walking with 250 high school students on an hour long walk through small villages and outposts, hoping that none of them sneaks off to disobey the rules. The muzungu is still an attraction and without fail every time during the day that I passed through the field my path became clogged by 100's of primary school children. They always look up at me wearing their cute knitted caps, their checkered shirts, and their big eyes. It is always just as adorable as the time before. The Kenyan adults that are walking with me don't seem to understand my interest with the children and always try to swat them away.

The Kenyan scouts were also at the event. It turns out that Baden Paul (I don't know the spelling, but he is considered the "founder" of Boy Scouts) lived in Kenya and scouts is popular but here it seems to mostly involve marching. The scouts marched for us, and their scout matter marched along with them, smiling and waving at the politicians. It really is exactly like the military parades that I have seen on TV. I get to see this at my school twice a week when the scouts raise the Kenyan flag at the assemblies. They always come up with a new set of commands and a new dance routine to show off to the school, but they never learn skills to earn merit badges. - Scouts at ease, atten-tion, scouts at ease, atten-tion, scouts count off one through 2, *scouts count*, all ones one full step to the left, one step back, about face, backwards march, scouts: do the polka, now scout on duty raise the flag. The polka part in the middle always gives the student body a good laugh. Actually, I can't hear what some of the commands are, their accent is much different than mine, but the student body does always have a good time watching whatever dance steps they are doing.

The times these past two weeks when I have been most happy are the times when I have been moving rocks with the dudes. Okay, dudes is going a little too far, they are my students, granted some of them are twenty five. All of the teachers refer to them as their boys and girls. My wavulana and wasichana. It feels good to work along side them though. I know they are becoming impressed by the improvement in the toughness of my hands. The current project is planting arrow root in order to utilize the otherwise waste water. It seemed simple enough the first day that I proposed the project, but since then it has proven difficult due to the very large rocks that make up our ground. None of them has been impossible to remove, but some of them have taken 3 or 4 of us around 4 hours to remove.

Sometimes they take a little nudging, but I make sure that they have a vested interest in these projects. I think labor is a good way to form bonds with people, but also I think that it is good for the students to know that this school is theirs. They are able to make it a positive place both academically and otherwise. When we are working it is not the A students or the F students, but the students of Athiru Gaiti. I want to get to the point where the students will come to me with their projects because they are the ones who know what improves their lives. Maybe I could form some sort of "good Samaritan" club where the students improve their lives and the look out for the well being of the community. Maybe they could become artisan bred makers and use the profits to build a covered bus stop, or maybe they could create a scholarship for students who are unable to pay school fees but are otherwise bright. We will see if there is much of a market for artisan bread around here, but the Methodist hospital in town would be a good place to start looking for our core market. It is only an hours walk from the school and there is a steady stream of Europeans and Americans coming through their for a few months at a time. Even if we cannot make a profit, we can still help to feed each other.


Next weekend I am going to Meru National Park. The board of governors for the school is helping to pay for all of the teachers to go. Sounds like someone is even donating a goat that we will slaughter and roast together. Nyama choma ya mbozi - roasted goat meat. They roast it and then cut it up into bite sized pieces. From there you take a piece, pick up some onions, tomatoes, and peppers and enjoy. Delicious. As my deputy principal tells people, "it is [ my ] best food."