This week we have been having mid-term examinations, which is a nice break from the usual routine, at least until it comes time to grading. I had a very nice day yesterday visiting with my newly wed teacher and his wife. They have a very nice apartment in Maua town, complete with electricity and running water. I didn't peek inside of the bathroom, but I suspect that they even have a shower.
That day their new furniture was being delivered, and when I arrived they had only one sofa and a computer. The furniture did not draw my attention, but what was unavoidable was listening to, and subsequentally watching, the video playing on the computer. It was some sort of pop band made up of singing boys with bleached hair. I guess they are called, “West Life,” but they might as well have been the Backstreet Boys or New Kids On the Block. These videos are so popular here. Well correction, there are like three of these videos that are popular here. They are played in the nice matatus, in the restaurants, and the privacy of peoples own homes it seems. Each of these videos features music that is unchanging from song to song and they are only an hour long, unless played on repeat, which always happens. For me, all I can think about while listening to them is the rate of brain decay during the experience, but for the people who play them, they must represent something more. I haven't brought up the subject yet, but I imagine it has something to due with the rapid changes that are taking place in Kenya. I certainly cannot imagine what it must be like for the 60 year olds who have lived through the Mau Mau revolution, through the years of Moi, and now walk around in villages that still do not have electricity, but where each person has their own cell phone. The experience of growing up with dirt floors and an economy with a daily event horizon contrasted with now having running water and a microwave must implant some values that differ from my own. I find it helpful to remember this when I don't understand someone's decision. It is not that they are Kenyan and I am American. It is not that Kenyans are unable to learn or appreciate mathematics, or that Americans are unable to relax and enjoy the moment. It is just that we have grown up so differently.
Then again, some things are the same. Later that day, I returned to school and found very many teachers still around a few hours after all of the teachers have usually departed. They told me that the form 4's had gone out on a field trip to watch a traveling play, but that they hadn't returned on time. When they did return, a few of the students were so drunk that when told to enter their classroom, they ran into the wall instead of making it through the door. There were even a few girls that were drunk, which is totally unacceptable in the culture here. Thankfully our BOG teachers (remember, they just finished secondary school and get hired by the schools directly to act as assistant teachers) had all decided to help control and monitor the students until the principal arrived. The principal was thoroughly upset for being called to school at 7:30pm, and upon arrival gave the two drunkest students a thorough slapping before leading them to the local police station.
I haven't figured out what to make of this situation yet. This is the sort of situation that happens in America also. What is maybe different are the techniques used for mitigating it. I think that power is less overtly forceful in America. The cops are ready to tackle someone, but they prefer to cuff you, put you in the drunk tank, and give you a fine in the morning. I think that the fate of these students was to get beaten a little while they were drunk, put in a cell at the police post, and then caned again in the morning.
In addition, I think that they will both be kicked out of school. I don't know exactly how I feel about this. On the one hand, that behavior is unacceptable and in conjunction with their previous offenses, they have shown that they have not fully reformed. Whether or not our school is capable of helping them reform I am not sure. Furthermore, what I want to think about a little bit is whether Kenya is better off to have them loitering outside of school, or causing trouble in school. They will disrupt people both places, but I tend to think that I will fear these boys more now that they are not trying to work towards a goal. I fear that their lives will involve more drinking and other deviant behaviors. At the same time, it is not fair for them to pull others down.
What makes the situation more regrettable is that one of the two was generally nice to me, and was one of 7 students in my form 3 physics class. He had shown me that he was capable of performing in physics and I wish that he had shown that he was also capable of making better choices.
19 June 2009
18 June 2009
Real. Live. Able to Shock You and Kill You. It's Electricity!
Yesterday power came to our school. Well, so far power lines have come to our school. I have heard that there was some sort of mix up in the office, we paid for 3-phase power but they only brought the lines for 1-phase. The presence of the electrical company brought a great energy to the school. The workers on these civic improvement projects must be some of the most warmly greeted workers in all of Africa.
As 8 workers drug the poles over the ground, from the truck to their resting place, they sang and even seemed to have a bounce in their step that is not usually present with construction workers. 8 men, working in unison, being watched and admired by villages day after day. I think that the singing and the bounce is proof of the power of indirect positive reinforcement.
Concurrently, another man dug a hole by hand about 6 feet deep in preparation for the pole's arrival. After all of the poles were erected, a man with spiked boots and a hand auger climbed each one to install guide wires and supports for the lines.
The sun was bright, but the day was not too hot. Even if they didn't turn on the lights, their presence was definitely felt. Teachers stopped complaining about the lack of staples and the school not paying for their daily lunch. Instead, they talked about the changes that electricity would bring. Students forgot about their mid-term exams during their breaks in order to consult each other and me about how electricity works. I quit worrying about the strength of the debate club and got really excited telling the students about how much voltage it takes for electricty to conduct through air and about how a ground (or "Earth-wire") works.
As 8 workers drug the poles over the ground, from the truck to their resting place, they sang and even seemed to have a bounce in their step that is not usually present with construction workers. 8 men, working in unison, being watched and admired by villages day after day. I think that the singing and the bounce is proof of the power of indirect positive reinforcement.
Concurrently, another man dug a hole by hand about 6 feet deep in preparation for the pole's arrival. After all of the poles were erected, a man with spiked boots and a hand auger climbed each one to install guide wires and supports for the lines.
The sun was bright, but the day was not too hot. Even if they didn't turn on the lights, their presence was definitely felt. Teachers stopped complaining about the lack of staples and the school not paying for their daily lunch. Instead, they talked about the changes that electricity would bring. Students forgot about their mid-term exams during their breaks in order to consult each other and me about how electricity works. I quit worrying about the strength of the debate club and got really excited telling the students about how much voltage it takes for electricty to conduct through air and about how a ground (or "Earth-wire") works.
Birthday in Kenya
Birthdays aren't celebrated in Kenya. When you tell people about the concept, they tell you that birthdays are for the rich. It is easy to understand why, if you think about birthdays most people think of cakes and presents. If you see someone in a movie receiving a computer or a car for their birthday, you might say to yourself that a birthday is a luxury of the rich. More problematic though is that the movie depiction is often not far off from the truth. As a child I would become excited about what presents I thought I might get. Of course it is not necessary to see birthdays this way and instead they can be a nice excuse to remember friends. Should we need an excuse to visit friends though? No, not really. I would prefer it if we all agreed to remember our interrelatedness for its own sake, without excuses. So let's just do that instead. If someone forgets your birthday, but invites you to dinner two weeks later just to be with you, let's be more honored than if they had used our birthday as a crutch.
Instead of celebrating that I was one year closer to death, on my birthday I was more excited that I obtained a cow's stomach from the butcher. I celebrated as I hung it from the rafter, and I even gave the local stray dog some bits since I appreciate having him around. I celebrated the presence of the stomach because I am hoping to be able to use the naturally occurring rennet inside of it to make mozzarella cheese.
As a debut, I am inviting the teachers over this weekend. In addition to mozarella they will also learn what pizza is. They don't know it is my birthday, although admittedly me being one year closer to death was the reason that I chose this weekend to have them over.
Locally grown rosemary will one of the guests of honor at this party, as we kick off my mission to make food in our village that is currently only available in ritzy parts of Nairobi.
Instead of celebrating that I was one year closer to death, on my birthday I was more excited that I obtained a cow's stomach from the butcher. I celebrated as I hung it from the rafter, and I even gave the local stray dog some bits since I appreciate having him around. I celebrated the presence of the stomach because I am hoping to be able to use the naturally occurring rennet inside of it to make mozzarella cheese.
As a debut, I am inviting the teachers over this weekend. In addition to mozarella they will also learn what pizza is. They don't know it is my birthday, although admittedly me being one year closer to death was the reason that I chose this weekend to have them over.
Locally grown rosemary will one of the guests of honor at this party, as we kick off my mission to make food in our village that is currently only available in ritzy parts of Nairobi.
09 June 2009
Striking Season
Today in the staff room a teacher mentioned that two well established secondary schools in the area went on strike over the weekend. At one school a student pastor was suspended and the other students struck out of solidarity. The result was that the entire student body was suspended. I am not sure of the cause at the other school, but the school's next door neighbor happens to be the police station and they were kept in school under the station's watchful eye.
This was kind of funny to me since my own school had an averted strike of its own just about two weeks ago, and upon asking the teacher it seems that June is striking month in the Kenyan school calendar. He was not able to explain this phenomenon to me, except that once one school strikes over an issue it inspires the others to follow suit.
My personal experience took place on a Friday, and as far as I know, it was the first in the area. Maybe it inspired the others, what leaders we are. It was about 6pm when I heard that the students were refusing to eat the githeri. They were claiming that it had been laced with lamp oil in order to dull their sexual excitability. I of course jumped right up for a bowl, and the githeri was as good as it ever is inside of the school. There were not any rocks in this bowl, which is my biggest criteria for grading. I absolutely do not think that the school intentionally put lamp oil in it, but there are always slight off flavors in the githeri from bugs that have been feasting on the corn only to find themselves part of the feast or from dirt. Who knows why they thought that this githeri was any different than normal. After refusing to eat, the principal was called, and at about the time that he arrived I was at the shop next door buying milk. When I was returning by the back way I heard shouting and rocks, which caused me to back track and go to the front gate to see what was happening. By the point that I reached the front gate the principal was standing next to the flag pole shouting and all of the students were silenced. From talking to the neighbors it seems that a few students started throwing rocks as he drove up in his car. There was even a girl studying in class that got hit and began to bleed as a rock broke through a classroom window. The rest of the rocks seem to have been thrown at the iron roofing. Who knows what they were trying to accomplish. They were then quieted down. I think that the principal handled the situation well. He told them about the proper channels for voicing concerns and about the struggles of the school. He also told them about the privileges that they had just sacrificed by committing this act. It was decided that really there were only a few instigators that were very dangerous. They were dealt with by the police and we all went to sleep. Since then we haven't had a problem.
This was kind of funny to me since my own school had an averted strike of its own just about two weeks ago, and upon asking the teacher it seems that June is striking month in the Kenyan school calendar. He was not able to explain this phenomenon to me, except that once one school strikes over an issue it inspires the others to follow suit.
My personal experience took place on a Friday, and as far as I know, it was the first in the area. Maybe it inspired the others, what leaders we are. It was about 6pm when I heard that the students were refusing to eat the githeri. They were claiming that it had been laced with lamp oil in order to dull their sexual excitability. I of course jumped right up for a bowl, and the githeri was as good as it ever is inside of the school. There were not any rocks in this bowl, which is my biggest criteria for grading. I absolutely do not think that the school intentionally put lamp oil in it, but there are always slight off flavors in the githeri from bugs that have been feasting on the corn only to find themselves part of the feast or from dirt. Who knows why they thought that this githeri was any different than normal. After refusing to eat, the principal was called, and at about the time that he arrived I was at the shop next door buying milk. When I was returning by the back way I heard shouting and rocks, which caused me to back track and go to the front gate to see what was happening. By the point that I reached the front gate the principal was standing next to the flag pole shouting and all of the students were silenced. From talking to the neighbors it seems that a few students started throwing rocks as he drove up in his car. There was even a girl studying in class that got hit and began to bleed as a rock broke through a classroom window. The rest of the rocks seem to have been thrown at the iron roofing. Who knows what they were trying to accomplish. They were then quieted down. I think that the principal handled the situation well. He told them about the proper channels for voicing concerns and about the struggles of the school. He also told them about the privileges that they had just sacrificed by committing this act. It was decided that really there were only a few instigators that were very dangerous. They were dealt with by the police and we all went to sleep. Since then we haven't had a problem.
08 June 2009
Bread Oven - Article for the Kenya Peace Corps Newsletter
My supervisor with Peace Corps approached me about a month ago to write an article for the Peace Corps Newsletter about the bread oven that I have constructed. Below is a preliminary piece, which I will edit and repost as it evolves. I haven't decided if the scope is too wide or if it is appropriate for the newsletter, but I thought that I would post it here. You can read it and give me feedback.
Thomas Mosier
Newsletter Article – Bread Oven
22 June 09 - v. 4
Not long after I arrived at site I began asking the teachers at my school questions such as, “if I light a fire inside of a cavern made from this gravel and that cement, do you think it will explode?” Eventually this evolved into, “do the hardware stores in town sell clay bricks?” It wasn't much later that I had drawn up a design for the cavern and gotten one of the teachers at my school to help me source bricks from Nairobi. I had only been at site for a couple weeks and already we were beginning to build a bread oven.
The idea of building a bread oven arose from a friend in college who had built a portable pizza oven. On weekends he would wheel it around campus and invite students to join him to make pizza from scratch. I think that for him, he was teaching those American students about the processes that go into food production, from plant to pizza. It seemed to me that Kenyans already know where their food comes from and that this type of instruction would not be needed. What seemed more applicable to my situation was that he was also socializing and sharing his interests with others. In addition, as a physics teacher my oven would be a tool for teaching the students about heat transfer and thermal expansion.
In physics I have been able to use it as an example during lessons on thermal physics. We have also used the design process as a template for a competition that I held in class where I formed groups and asked the groups to design tools or components of a house that would make use of our knowledge of thermal physics. Many of the groups responded to the assignment by giving me detailed descriptions of how they would design their dream house, with an emphasis on the aspects that pertain to the physics we are learning. A few groups even came up with original methods for heating water, including placing a network of pipes inside of the schools concrete jiko or designing a roof so that the mabauti focus the light on a container of water.
The students who have had these ideas have seen that I have been able to build an oven and have begun to ask me if we can try building their ideas to see how they work and possibly submit them for the science congress. They have even told me that they want to build their own ovens now, at which point I get even more excited and tell them that I would like to build more test ovens to see how changing the shape and building materials affects the usability of the oven.
In this way, the oven has helped me bond with not only the students who helped build it, but also with students who see me baking foreign foods such as pizza or sourdough bread. The teachers have also been watching to understand how it works and following a recent parents' day I invited them all to a pizza party outside of my house. At the party they talked, ate, and asked questions. Even the more conservative male teachers said that they wanted to learn how to bake, which made all of the women smile and laugh with a mixture of approval and skepticism.
A frequent question is whether or not the oven can be used to make money, and I honestly do not know. I have heard that there is an orphanage group baking fried bread balls nearby, and if they can make a profit on those it seems feasible that we could make a profit also. One prohibitive aspect was the cost of the bricks. If my students try building ovens with local materials and are successful, their is a greater likelihood that similar ovens can be profitable. Regardless of the answer, as a teacher and someone who wants to share my interests and my culture with my community, the bread oven was a good investment.
10 June 2009 - v. 3
Not long after I arrived at site I began asking the teachers at my school questions such as, “if I light a fire inside of a cavern made from this gravel and that cement, do you think it will explode?” Eventually this evolved into, “do the hardware stores in town sell clay bricks?” It wasn't much later that I had drawn up a design for the cavern and gotten one of the teachers at my school to help me source bricks from Nairobi. I had only been at site for a couple weeks and already we were beginning to build a bread oven.
The idea of building a bread oven arose from a friend in college who had built a portable pizza oven. On weekends he would wheel it around campus and invite students to join him to make pizza from scratch. I think that for him, he was teaching those American students about the processes that go into food production, from plant to pizza. It seemed to me that Kenyans already know where their food comes from and that this type of instruction would not be needed. What seemed more applicable to my situation was that he was also socializing and sharing his interests with others. In addition, as a physics teacher I could justify the oven as a demonstration in thermal physics and a practical experience in thinking about the thought process of turning a concept into a reality.
A while after the oven was completed, a Kenyan friend complained to me that the children these days are growing up without knowing calabashes or cooking pots, the traditional tools for cooking and eating. The friend from college and his oven came back to me, and I realized that our situations have similarities. Both groups are evolving, and in the process appear to be losing knowledge of the past. My oven, I realized, could be a vehicle for showing that luxury can be synthesized from within one's own region. In addition to pizza and bread, for instance, our communities in Kenya can create mozzarella cheese from a cow's stomach and milk. They can also grow spices such as oregano, dill, lemon grass, sage, and rosemary, right here and use them to make dill pickles or “very sweet” soups.
If they become excited about my synthesis of tradition and locally available resources and I begin to ask them about their traditions, maybe they will begin to willingly ask their parents. Maybe a few will learn more about calabashes and cooking pots. Even if they do not catch this enthusiasm, it still makes me smile when people ask me for my bread recipe in addition to a watch from America.
Thomas Mosier
Newsletter Article – Bread Oven
22 June 09 - v. 4
Not long after I arrived at site I began asking the teachers at my school questions such as, “if I light a fire inside of a cavern made from this gravel and that cement, do you think it will explode?” Eventually this evolved into, “do the hardware stores in town sell clay bricks?” It wasn't much later that I had drawn up a design for the cavern and gotten one of the teachers at my school to help me source bricks from Nairobi. I had only been at site for a couple weeks and already we were beginning to build a bread oven.
The idea of building a bread oven arose from a friend in college who had built a portable pizza oven. On weekends he would wheel it around campus and invite students to join him to make pizza from scratch. I think that for him, he was teaching those American students about the processes that go into food production, from plant to pizza. It seemed to me that Kenyans already know where their food comes from and that this type of instruction would not be needed. What seemed more applicable to my situation was that he was also socializing and sharing his interests with others. In addition, as a physics teacher my oven would be a tool for teaching the students about heat transfer and thermal expansion.
In physics I have been able to use it as an example during lessons on thermal physics. We have also used the design process as a template for a competition that I held in class where I formed groups and asked the groups to design tools or components of a house that would make use of our knowledge of thermal physics. Many of the groups responded to the assignment by giving me detailed descriptions of how they would design their dream house, with an emphasis on the aspects that pertain to the physics we are learning. A few groups even came up with original methods for heating water, including placing a network of pipes inside of the schools concrete jiko or designing a roof so that the mabauti focus the light on a container of water.
The students who have had these ideas have seen that I have been able to build an oven and have begun to ask me if we can try building their ideas to see how they work and possibly submit them for the science congress. They have even told me that they want to build their own ovens now, at which point I get even more excited and tell them that I would like to build more test ovens to see how changing the shape and building materials affects the usability of the oven.
In this way, the oven has helped me bond with not only the students who helped build it, but also with students who see me baking foreign foods such as pizza or sourdough bread. The teachers have also been watching to understand how it works and following a recent parents' day I invited them all to a pizza party outside of my house. At the party they talked, ate, and asked questions. Even the more conservative male teachers said that they wanted to learn how to bake, which made all of the women smile and laugh with a mixture of approval and skepticism.
A frequent question is whether or not the oven can be used to make money, and I honestly do not know. I have heard that there is an orphanage group baking fried bread balls nearby, and if they can make a profit on those it seems feasible that we could make a profit also. One prohibitive aspect was the cost of the bricks. If my students try building ovens with local materials and are successful, their is a greater likelihood that similar ovens can be profitable. Regardless of the answer, as a teacher and someone who wants to share my interests and my culture with my community, the bread oven was a good investment.
10 June 2009 - v. 3
Not long after I arrived at site I began asking the teachers at my school questions such as, “if I light a fire inside of a cavern made from this gravel and that cement, do you think it will explode?” Eventually this evolved into, “do the hardware stores in town sell clay bricks?” It wasn't much later that I had drawn up a design for the cavern and gotten one of the teachers at my school to help me source bricks from Nairobi. I had only been at site for a couple weeks and already we were beginning to build a bread oven.
The idea of building a bread oven arose from a friend in college who had built a portable pizza oven. On weekends he would wheel it around campus and invite students to join him to make pizza from scratch. I think that for him, he was teaching those American students about the processes that go into food production, from plant to pizza. It seemed to me that Kenyans already know where their food comes from and that this type of instruction would not be needed. What seemed more applicable to my situation was that he was also socializing and sharing his interests with others. In addition, as a physics teacher I could justify the oven as a demonstration in thermal physics and a practical experience in thinking about the thought process of turning a concept into a reality.
A while after the oven was completed, a Kenyan friend complained to me that the children these days are growing up without knowing calabashes or cooking pots, the traditional tools for cooking and eating. The friend from college and his oven came back to me, and I realized that our situations have similarities. Both groups are evolving, and in the process appear to be losing knowledge of the past. My oven, I realized, could be a vehicle for showing that luxury can be synthesized from within one's own region. In addition to pizza and bread, for instance, our communities in Kenya can create mozzarella cheese from a cow's stomach and milk. They can also grow spices such as oregano, dill, lemon grass, sage, and rosemary, right here and use them to make dill pickles or “very sweet” soups.
If they become excited about my synthesis of tradition and locally available resources and I begin to ask them about their traditions, maybe they will begin to willingly ask their parents. Maybe a few will learn more about calabashes and cooking pots. Even if they do not catch this enthusiasm, it still makes me smile when people ask me for my bread recipe in addition to a watch from America.
26 May 2009
The New Term Brings Changes
The new term is well under way. A highlight has been the presence of a new assistant teacher (helping me and the math teacher) and a new full time teacher. The new full time teacher is a "sportsman," not a "Sportsman," which is a popular cigarette. In one day he was able to help us revitalize the enthusiasm for sports at our school. His secret: intramural competitions. For the next week we are putting clubs on hold to give all attention to rehydrating the program.
As soon as clubs return I hope to give more time to the solid establishment of our debate club. Last semester it lacked continuity. Another project of mine is the introduction of the board game Go into the students consciousness. If you haven't heard of it, wikipedia has a nice article. A few of my house mates at Reed were really into it. It is considered to be about as strategically complex as chess, but there are fewer pieces required. All you need are stones of two different colors. You need a couple hundred just for one set, so with the help of my local kiosk mama I recruited the local primary school students to collect bottle tops for me. Glass bottles are the dominant means of soda transportation and the caps have made the roads here look like they are made out of skittles. I asked about 150 students, and much to my surprise received at least 2 thousand. Now they have to be cleaned, but thankfully labor is cheap. The nursery class will be completely happy to help if I give them a big smile and a few pieces of candy in exchange for their support.
The first day that I introduced Go to the teachers was just so pleasant. The smiles on their faces as they placed and captured stones dissolved all of my stress. That is, until I challenged the best of them to a match. I could tell that he really got the game. My heart started pounding and I became anxious thinking to myself, "come on, you have to beat this guy, you introduced the game." It was a little bit of a let down when I won though, since it meant that although I can teach the game, I probably wont be challenged right away.
The sad news around our school right now is the departure of Mr. Toinya, our deputy principal. He was called up for a government training in Embu and never returned. He called to say that he had been promoted to be the principal at another school about 25 km away. It is funny how the government deals with these issues. I don't think that he knew about the transfer before he left to Embu. Then a day or two after he left the training he was expected to begin his responsibilities at the new school. The students were very sad to hear that he was leaving as they thought that he was very fair with his discipline and was helping to move the school in the right direction. He was also my best friend around the school, so I feel a bit of a personal loss. Without him though, I have noticed some of the other teachers really stepping up when they are on duty. I definitely think we are starting off this semester in the right way.
In an effort to further my relationship with the other teachers I made fresh bread and served it to them on a platter with avocado during tea time two days ago. After I ran out of avocado I began serving it with peanut butter, which they preferred. It is still a little funny to me how common avocados are here, it is hard for me to imagine someone at home asking for peanut butter instead of fresh, buttery, perfectly ripe avocado. The landscape and climate in Kenya is so varied, and for me, coming from America, it reminds me of paradise.
Whenever I ask a local how to grow a particular plant the answer it always, "put it in the ground and it will grow." It keeps blowing my mind; instead of trying to do a science experiment in the kitchen window sprouting an avocado, I can actually grow an avocado tree. Just by putting it in the ground. Amazing! Passion fruit trees, papaya trees, avocado trees, here I come!
The other exciting news is that the teacher in charge of guidance and counseling at my school is getting married. I told him that I would help him by taking wedding photos for him since I brought my digital SLR with me. He is one of the more bubbly Kenyans I know, and I am very excited for him. It will also be a good opportunity for all of the teachers at my school to come together outside of school.
As soon as clubs return I hope to give more time to the solid establishment of our debate club. Last semester it lacked continuity. Another project of mine is the introduction of the board game Go into the students consciousness. If you haven't heard of it, wikipedia has a nice article. A few of my house mates at Reed were really into it. It is considered to be about as strategically complex as chess, but there are fewer pieces required. All you need are stones of two different colors. You need a couple hundred just for one set, so with the help of my local kiosk mama I recruited the local primary school students to collect bottle tops for me. Glass bottles are the dominant means of soda transportation and the caps have made the roads here look like they are made out of skittles. I asked about 150 students, and much to my surprise received at least 2 thousand. Now they have to be cleaned, but thankfully labor is cheap. The nursery class will be completely happy to help if I give them a big smile and a few pieces of candy in exchange for their support.
The first day that I introduced Go to the teachers was just so pleasant. The smiles on their faces as they placed and captured stones dissolved all of my stress. That is, until I challenged the best of them to a match. I could tell that he really got the game. My heart started pounding and I became anxious thinking to myself, "come on, you have to beat this guy, you introduced the game." It was a little bit of a let down when I won though, since it meant that although I can teach the game, I probably wont be challenged right away.
The sad news around our school right now is the departure of Mr. Toinya, our deputy principal. He was called up for a government training in Embu and never returned. He called to say that he had been promoted to be the principal at another school about 25 km away. It is funny how the government deals with these issues. I don't think that he knew about the transfer before he left to Embu. Then a day or two after he left the training he was expected to begin his responsibilities at the new school. The students were very sad to hear that he was leaving as they thought that he was very fair with his discipline and was helping to move the school in the right direction. He was also my best friend around the school, so I feel a bit of a personal loss. Without him though, I have noticed some of the other teachers really stepping up when they are on duty. I definitely think we are starting off this semester in the right way.
In an effort to further my relationship with the other teachers I made fresh bread and served it to them on a platter with avocado during tea time two days ago. After I ran out of avocado I began serving it with peanut butter, which they preferred. It is still a little funny to me how common avocados are here, it is hard for me to imagine someone at home asking for peanut butter instead of fresh, buttery, perfectly ripe avocado. The landscape and climate in Kenya is so varied, and for me, coming from America, it reminds me of paradise.
Whenever I ask a local how to grow a particular plant the answer it always, "put it in the ground and it will grow." It keeps blowing my mind; instead of trying to do a science experiment in the kitchen window sprouting an avocado, I can actually grow an avocado tree. Just by putting it in the ground. Amazing! Passion fruit trees, papaya trees, avocado trees, here I come!
The other exciting news is that the teacher in charge of guidance and counseling at my school is getting married. I told him that I would help him by taking wedding photos for him since I brought my digital SLR with me. He is one of the more bubbly Kenyans I know, and I am very excited for him. It will also be a good opportunity for all of the teachers at my school to come together outside of school.
09 May 2009
Back to School
Proffesor Griffiths is retiring from Reed this year. I think that his retirement party is today and I wanted to acknowledge it because of the impact that he has had on so many students world wide - his electricity and magnetism book has been translated into at least 5 languages. He has an ability to make elementary particle physics seem easy and I appreciated having seeing his teaching so that I can think about how to replicate it for my students.
Since I haven't written on the blog much recently, this entry will be mostly a recap of events that have happened in my life over the past month. I did at last upload a few pictures while I was borrowing a friends computer in Nairobi. As you can see from the pictures, the bread oven has been completed. I was able to use it once before leaving Athiru to attend my Peace Corps in-service training (IST). I have not perfected my bread baking technique by any stretch of the imagination. The loaves that came out all seemed to be too big because the bottom-middle of each loaf wasn't cooked thoroughly enough, while the outside was. I experienced the same problem with a chicken that I cooked with friends after training (see WORandPeace.blogspot.com article from Friday May 1st). The outside of the chicken was delicious, but the inside wasn't done well enough to alleviate our fear that we might get sick from eating it (my bet is that the germs were all dead, but others tend to appreciate having more than a hunch about these things). I really want to be able to roast a turkey for thanksgiving or Christmas, so hopefully I can develop my technique.
The best parts of IST were those where the volunteers directed the discussions. It was fun and insightful to learn from each others experiences with coping, disciplining students, and integrating into our students. The Peace Corps invited a lot of qualified speakers to talk to us about topics we had asked for, but with a lot of these speakers their presentations weren't directed towards our interests. Maybe they did not get briefed well enough about what we had already learned, but then it would be impossible to brief them sufficiently. I think what I took away from some of these talks is that a really good speaker needs to be highly dynamic. They need to be able to take input, find how that input relates to their topic, hear questions, and continually hone their presentation to the needs of the group. This awareness was a valuable lesson for me to learn, and it was good for me to be in a place mentally where I could both be thinking about myself as a teacher and thinking critically about the teaching styles I was witnessing.
We also elected volunteer advisory committee (VAC) representatives and I was elected to represent the teachers from my training group. I am honored and will do my best to be a voice for my electorate. A day later I participated in my first meeting with the Peace Corps Kenya country director and I feel comfortable with his reaction to volunteer concerns. The program has made changes on various issues where it is able, such as volunteer out of community policy, but there will always be some areas where they are less able to budge (for instance, now adays volunteers are prohibited from riding motorcycles).
I was very happy to come back to Maua and Athiru after being in Nairobi. Nairobi is big, loud, and scary; there are at least three volunteers from my training group that have been robbed in Nairobi already. In my absence the rains had come and made the landscape even more green than before. The grass around my school had grown a foot and a half, which really made the place feel empty since there were no students around when I returned. Luckily though, I returned with 4 of my friends and we spent our time hiking, baking, and even went to the 27th birthday of a Danish woman named Ea. The highlight might have been the Viking Game that we learned at the party, also called Cubb (or is it cuub?). You throw throwing sticks at blocks that are a little bit larger than 4x4's back home. They stand about 1 ft high, and you have to knock them over. It is more complicated than that, and I think that when I return to the States it will be my number one barbecue game. Maybe I can even find a carpenter here to make a set for me and my students to play together. The students are required to play games 3 days a week, but with only a 2 balls and 250 students most of them end up sitting around. I also may want to introduce Ultimate Frisbee, and I definitely want to introduce Go. There are tons of bottle caps that get ground into the dirt here, so maybe I can sort them by color and draw some boards on old plastic grain sacks. I think that they would be into it. The difficulty will be trying to juggle debate, frisbee, and go, but I think that students will be excited enough that once they get going we can elect student leaders for the various activities.
Before the term started I also went to a Peace Corps sponsored perma-culture workshop (paid for care of PEPFAR - Predisdent Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, started by President Bush the 2nd. I have been told that they have an annual budget in Kenya of around 500million usd, which is larger than the annual Peace Corps budget worldwide. They do lots of good, like buying anti-retro viral drugs for AIDS victims and paying for us to attend a permaculture workshop). One of the highlights of this workshop for me was finding out that dill, sage, lemon grass, parsley, and basil all grow in Kenya. I was trying to find the plants locally so that I wouldn't have to transport them from the workshop to my site, but I have been unable. There is a volunteer that lives next to the permaculture site so over a long weekend I may have to pay him a visit.
The arrow roots that I planted with my students have grown quite a bit. I didn't mention this before, but on one of the days that we were working three of us were trying to remove a very large rock and it pinched one of my fingers between itself and another rock. I didn't swear, but I sure did pace for a couple of hours. It hurt a lot and the majority of the nail instantly turned black. Now the new nail is growing back and the old nail is about to fall off. It reminds me a lot of when my adult teeth were coming in. The baby nail is so close to coming off, but it is attached just enough to cause a very large surge of pain when it gets caught on something. It doesn't cause me too many problems though, and it gives the students a conversation point to bring up since they just returned to school on Wednesday.
Classes have kind of begun, but three quarters of the students were sent home yesterday to bring their parents and explain why they didn't pay school fees. We have a staff meeting on Monday, which means that no teaching will get done by anyone, but hopefully on Tuesday we will begin the normal routine. I know that the students (especially the form 4's) are anxious to move ahead in the syllabus. Last term we moved at a normal pace, but when I arrived they were two years behind and I feel obligated to them to help them catch up a bit before their big Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) test at the end of the year. Whether or not I believe in the content of the syllabus (read "WORandPeace" especially Wednesday, April 22 for his thoughts on the content), I believe that I can teach the content in a way that will give them skills to improve their lives. We can gloss over some comentary on god in the books and can ask critical questions about how to extrappolate on the information in the book, or how to apply the basic principles to their lives.
That is what I will be spending my time thinking about this afternoon and tomorrow in preperation for Tuesday.
Since I haven't written on the blog much recently, this entry will be mostly a recap of events that have happened in my life over the past month. I did at last upload a few pictures while I was borrowing a friends computer in Nairobi. As you can see from the pictures, the bread oven has been completed. I was able to use it once before leaving Athiru to attend my Peace Corps in-service training (IST). I have not perfected my bread baking technique by any stretch of the imagination. The loaves that came out all seemed to be too big because the bottom-middle of each loaf wasn't cooked thoroughly enough, while the outside was. I experienced the same problem with a chicken that I cooked with friends after training (see WORandPeace.blogspot.com article from Friday May 1st). The outside of the chicken was delicious, but the inside wasn't done well enough to alleviate our fear that we might get sick from eating it (my bet is that the germs were all dead, but others tend to appreciate having more than a hunch about these things). I really want to be able to roast a turkey for thanksgiving or Christmas, so hopefully I can develop my technique.
The best parts of IST were those where the volunteers directed the discussions. It was fun and insightful to learn from each others experiences with coping, disciplining students, and integrating into our students. The Peace Corps invited a lot of qualified speakers to talk to us about topics we had asked for, but with a lot of these speakers their presentations weren't directed towards our interests. Maybe they did not get briefed well enough about what we had already learned, but then it would be impossible to brief them sufficiently. I think what I took away from some of these talks is that a really good speaker needs to be highly dynamic. They need to be able to take input, find how that input relates to their topic, hear questions, and continually hone their presentation to the needs of the group. This awareness was a valuable lesson for me to learn, and it was good for me to be in a place mentally where I could both be thinking about myself as a teacher and thinking critically about the teaching styles I was witnessing.
We also elected volunteer advisory committee (VAC) representatives and I was elected to represent the teachers from my training group. I am honored and will do my best to be a voice for my electorate. A day later I participated in my first meeting with the Peace Corps Kenya country director and I feel comfortable with his reaction to volunteer concerns. The program has made changes on various issues where it is able, such as volunteer out of community policy, but there will always be some areas where they are less able to budge (for instance, now adays volunteers are prohibited from riding motorcycles).
I was very happy to come back to Maua and Athiru after being in Nairobi. Nairobi is big, loud, and scary; there are at least three volunteers from my training group that have been robbed in Nairobi already. In my absence the rains had come and made the landscape even more green than before. The grass around my school had grown a foot and a half, which really made the place feel empty since there were no students around when I returned. Luckily though, I returned with 4 of my friends and we spent our time hiking, baking, and even went to the 27th birthday of a Danish woman named Ea. The highlight might have been the Viking Game that we learned at the party, also called Cubb (or is it cuub?). You throw throwing sticks at blocks that are a little bit larger than 4x4's back home. They stand about 1 ft high, and you have to knock them over. It is more complicated than that, and I think that when I return to the States it will be my number one barbecue game. Maybe I can even find a carpenter here to make a set for me and my students to play together. The students are required to play games 3 days a week, but with only a 2 balls and 250 students most of them end up sitting around. I also may want to introduce Ultimate Frisbee, and I definitely want to introduce Go. There are tons of bottle caps that get ground into the dirt here, so maybe I can sort them by color and draw some boards on old plastic grain sacks. I think that they would be into it. The difficulty will be trying to juggle debate, frisbee, and go, but I think that students will be excited enough that once they get going we can elect student leaders for the various activities.
Before the term started I also went to a Peace Corps sponsored perma-culture workshop (paid for care of PEPFAR - Predisdent Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, started by President Bush the 2nd. I have been told that they have an annual budget in Kenya of around 500million usd, which is larger than the annual Peace Corps budget worldwide. They do lots of good, like buying anti-retro viral drugs for AIDS victims and paying for us to attend a permaculture workshop). One of the highlights of this workshop for me was finding out that dill, sage, lemon grass, parsley, and basil all grow in Kenya. I was trying to find the plants locally so that I wouldn't have to transport them from the workshop to my site, but I have been unable. There is a volunteer that lives next to the permaculture site so over a long weekend I may have to pay him a visit.
The arrow roots that I planted with my students have grown quite a bit. I didn't mention this before, but on one of the days that we were working three of us were trying to remove a very large rock and it pinched one of my fingers between itself and another rock. I didn't swear, but I sure did pace for a couple of hours. It hurt a lot and the majority of the nail instantly turned black. Now the new nail is growing back and the old nail is about to fall off. It reminds me a lot of when my adult teeth were coming in. The baby nail is so close to coming off, but it is attached just enough to cause a very large surge of pain when it gets caught on something. It doesn't cause me too many problems though, and it gives the students a conversation point to bring up since they just returned to school on Wednesday.
Classes have kind of begun, but three quarters of the students were sent home yesterday to bring their parents and explain why they didn't pay school fees. We have a staff meeting on Monday, which means that no teaching will get done by anyone, but hopefully on Tuesday we will begin the normal routine. I know that the students (especially the form 4's) are anxious to move ahead in the syllabus. Last term we moved at a normal pace, but when I arrived they were two years behind and I feel obligated to them to help them catch up a bit before their big Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) test at the end of the year. Whether or not I believe in the content of the syllabus (read "WORandPeace" especially Wednesday, April 22 for his thoughts on the content), I believe that I can teach the content in a way that will give them skills to improve their lives. We can gloss over some comentary on god in the books and can ask critical questions about how to extrappolate on the information in the book, or how to apply the basic principles to their lives.
That is what I will be spending my time thinking about this afternoon and tomorrow in preperation for Tuesday.
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