Sometimes the weather seems to permeate everything out here – especially on a day like today. It rained pretty heavily last night, waking everybody up at some point. The downpour hit a critical point and then just sounded like rocks pounding on the roof. Usually the weather clears by morning and it’s another sunny day in Kenya. Not this morning. With apologies to any Welsh readers our day today was just like a wet summer day in Wales. Heavily overcast, colder than usual and decidedly gloomy.
Every once in a while the task before us seems to be bigger than ever. I guess the overcast feel to the day didn’t help but today felt like one of those days. I did have a very positive meeting with Madam Nyangwe, our head teacher but then got bogged down in some irritating details and felt like I was losing momentum a bit. Trying to achieve change is often very challenging.
At moments like this it can be very tempting to drop out of sight for a while. Not exactly avoiding people or problems but putting them off for a bit while you catch your breath. Fortunately a Skype call this afternoon with my wife Judi spurred me into action and I ended up on a high note after spending the evening with the older children; setting the scene for helping them to prepare for their coming exams and encouraging them to believe the best for the future. I’m sure the children think I am crazy in the classroom. I don’t formally teach them very often and adopt a more western approach than they are used to. When you are teaching about something you both believe in and care about being in the classroom is really good fun. I would hate to get to the point where facing a class ceases to be enjoyable. Part two will involve developing a plan for future exam success. Young people are a good antidote to feeling sorry for yourself. I’m looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow night.
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