It was a long day but we have managed to appoint two strong candidates as teachers in our Agriculture College next year. The day got off to a good start as the candidates arrived on time, (a minor miracle in itself given the state of the roads and public transport). The interviews were conducted ‘mzungu’ style, (hence the long day), and the interviewees responded with enthusiasm. The tour around the farm was a success. Our crops are growing well. The cobs of corn are “admirable” according to Duncan, our farm manager. This is high praise indeed as Duncan is a master of the understatement. The cobs on many of the maize plants are actually huge, and still have some growing to do. Our interviewees appreciated the vision that we have for farm productivity and experimentation and we are looking forward to their input into the work. Finding two teachers at this point is a great relief and makes the next stages of planning easier in many respects. Working on the principle that three heads are better than one I am hoping that our newest members of staff will ease the burden of leadership and will fire up the students with enthusiasm next year.
It promises to be an interesting evening. I’ve just taken a short break from blogging to investigate a couple of wildlife problems over in the house Ian and Hilda are staying in. We have noticed an increase in termite activity around the house over the last week and had been planning to get something lethal to treat them with next time we are in Oyugis. For such small insects termites are incredibly destructive. They have now excavated a hole about a couple of inches wide next to the front porch of the house and, even more worryingly, have started to emerge in the small space between the living room and kitchen through a crack in the floor. This means there is a termite tunnel under the house! We must act quickly.
The termite problem also alerted us to another wildlife issue. Whilst looking for evidence of termite activity outside the front of the house Ian and Hilda spotted a baby black mamba – a small version of a somewhat dangerous snake that is native to this part of Africa. Leonard, one of our security guards quickly killed it with an axe, (which he has now armed himself with for the rest of the night). It would be a bit more of a problem dealing with mummy mamba. I suspect we will be praying especially hard for the next few nights. (It certainly spices up a trip to the latrine once it has got dark). Big sticks have been issued and the guards will be extra vigilant. The snakes become more active when it rains, and we have had a lot of rain recently. Further investigation of the termite problem revealed a large frog sat over the top of the termite hole, waiting for them to emerge. The frogs also become more active in the rain. We are hoping that the top link in the food chain finds easier pickings elsewhere. We will have to encourage the children to be noisier than usual tomorrow.
Monday, 14 November 2011
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Strictly no time wasters
I have had a fairly restful day, for once, and feel well prepared for what will, I hope, be a big day tomorrow. The main reason for my current trip to Kosele is to prepare the ground, (literally), for our Agriculture College, which will be starting in January. Tomorrow we will be interviewing three candidates for the teaching post(s), which this new venture creates.
It is a both exciting and challenging prospect. We have advertised more widely than usual for these posts and have got good candidates to choose from. There will be four of us on the interview panel; Mr Dedans, our head teacher, Mary our manager, Duncan the farm manager and myself. Between us we should be asking a series of carefully honed questions to really put the interviewees through their paces. I am trying to decide whether or not it would be mean to get them to answer a short exam paper as well as do an interview.
It is encouraging to see how much agriculture is being promoted in the Kenyan media. One of the key things we will be looking for in the interviewees tomorrow is a good understanding of the challenges facing Kenyan agriculture at present and a real enthusiasm for doing something about it. As part of our drive to become a more self-sufficient organisation the teachers in the Agriculture College will have their pay tied to the performance of the farm. We are hoping that this will deter any but serious applicants. If we are unable to appoint anybody tomorrow we will have to cast our recruitment net further, (and I will have to teach the students myself for the first few weeks of term). This shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The most exciting part of this whole project is its unique character. Planning a curriculum and timetable around the agricultural calendar presents a number of opportunities for creative approaches to teaching and learning. I can’t wait to get stuck into it with our first group of students.
It is a both exciting and challenging prospect. We have advertised more widely than usual for these posts and have got good candidates to choose from. There will be four of us on the interview panel; Mr Dedans, our head teacher, Mary our manager, Duncan the farm manager and myself. Between us we should be asking a series of carefully honed questions to really put the interviewees through their paces. I am trying to decide whether or not it would be mean to get them to answer a short exam paper as well as do an interview.
It is encouraging to see how much agriculture is being promoted in the Kenyan media. One of the key things we will be looking for in the interviewees tomorrow is a good understanding of the challenges facing Kenyan agriculture at present and a real enthusiasm for doing something about it. As part of our drive to become a more self-sufficient organisation the teachers in the Agriculture College will have their pay tied to the performance of the farm. We are hoping that this will deter any but serious applicants. If we are unable to appoint anybody tomorrow we will have to cast our recruitment net further, (and I will have to teach the students myself for the first few weeks of term). This shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The most exciting part of this whole project is its unique character. Planning a curriculum and timetable around the agricultural calendar presents a number of opportunities for creative approaches to teaching and learning. I can’t wait to get stuck into it with our first group of students.
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Making it all add up
One of the other things I never imagined was turning into an accountant, (as well as a dodgy electrician). I’m actually better at accounting because it’s a computer thing. At least it is now. It probably says a lot about me but I do really enjoy setting up spreadsheet packages. I have spent some time fine tuning our books so that they are easy to enter and audit. It took a long time but we finally bit the bullet and stopped keeping any paper-based accounts in Kosele this July. I think I was probably more nervous about the switch over than anybody else. Up until July we’d been keeping a dual system – entering the data in job lots onto the computer from the paper based system. It was a bit labour intensive at times but did at least provide the reassurance of being more or less computer proof.
We have had somewhat mixed experience with computers since starting our work in Kenya – hence the reluctance to trust a completely computer based system. For one thing it’s a much tougher environment for electrical equipment. The amount of dust that clogs everything up is incredible. We’ve had a couple of hard drives collapse under the strain. We also seem to have had more than our fair share of problems with power packs and USB drives. This has, in the past, been compounded by relying on solar power, (though our present system seems quite robust). Our current accounts manager, Mary is much gentler with most of our electrical equipment than all of her predecessors. So far we’ve only had to replace one power pack, (and to be fair to Mary Judi’s own laptop in the UK, which is the same type, suffered a similar problem).
The hardest thing really has been the amount of support needed to make sure all ICT related eventualities are covered. Anybody who has had the dubious pleasure of trying to solve a computer problem using a telephone or email based support system will know how easy it is to get to the ‘throw it out of the window’ stage in this situation. If you add the problem of the computer user, (in our case mostly Mary), being fairly new to the task you will begin to appreciate the problem of maintaining our mission critical ICT systems at a distance, (in our case about 4,000 miles). Until very recently It has been easier to trust the low tech, (but very reliable), approach of paper, pen, tippex and a regular trip to the local photocopy shop. It’s not quite Staples but it does a wonderful job.
So, today I’ve been burning the midnight oil convincing myself that we have a dependable system. I’m fairly happy with it so far. We should be able to give Mary the required amount of support between us over the next few months without resorting to the call centre solution. Next step in our rapid march into the twenty first century will be the school systems. Onwards and upwards into a ‘data rich’ future.
We have had somewhat mixed experience with computers since starting our work in Kenya – hence the reluctance to trust a completely computer based system. For one thing it’s a much tougher environment for electrical equipment. The amount of dust that clogs everything up is incredible. We’ve had a couple of hard drives collapse under the strain. We also seem to have had more than our fair share of problems with power packs and USB drives. This has, in the past, been compounded by relying on solar power, (though our present system seems quite robust). Our current accounts manager, Mary is much gentler with most of our electrical equipment than all of her predecessors. So far we’ve only had to replace one power pack, (and to be fair to Mary Judi’s own laptop in the UK, which is the same type, suffered a similar problem).
The hardest thing really has been the amount of support needed to make sure all ICT related eventualities are covered. Anybody who has had the dubious pleasure of trying to solve a computer problem using a telephone or email based support system will know how easy it is to get to the ‘throw it out of the window’ stage in this situation. If you add the problem of the computer user, (in our case mostly Mary), being fairly new to the task you will begin to appreciate the problem of maintaining our mission critical ICT systems at a distance, (in our case about 4,000 miles). Until very recently It has been easier to trust the low tech, (but very reliable), approach of paper, pen, tippex and a regular trip to the local photocopy shop. It’s not quite Staples but it does a wonderful job.
So, today I’ve been burning the midnight oil convincing myself that we have a dependable system. I’m fairly happy with it so far. We should be able to give Mary the required amount of support between us over the next few months without resorting to the call centre solution. Next step in our rapid march into the twenty first century will be the school systems. Onwards and upwards into a ‘data rich’ future.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Thriving on chaos and built to last
I’ve been reading again. In the absence of my usual media vices, (CNN, The Today Program and the DVD box set of The West Wing), it has been really good to have an opportunity to catch up on a number of books that I’ve bought in the last couple of years and just dipped in to. The book I’m reading at the moment is called Built to Last by a guy called Jim Collins. It’s not particularly new, (published in the 90s), but comes billed as “one of the most eye-opening business studies since In Search of Excellence. This is an interesting comparison as Tom Peters, (the ‘uber guru’ of business gurus according to The Economist, and author of In Search of Excellence), is quite critical of Jim Collins. They are both a good read and both books are very challenging.
Built to Last (subtitle Successful habits of visionary companies) is giving rise to yet more scribbling and quote jottings in my inspirations pad. Working in Kenya is both exhilarating and exasperating. The potential for change is huge but the inertia created by badly designed and corrupted social structures is also substantial. Some days you feel you’ve taken a number of steps forward. Other days you wonder how you will recover from taking steps backwards. In addition to writing In Search of Excellence Tom Peters has also written a book called Thriving on Chaos. I'm sure I bought it just for the title. As Tom Peters is such an influential thinker a number of commentaries on his work have appeared. I like a question posed in one of these, culled from the Internet. “How has eternal confusion affected your organisation’s fortunes?” In the Kenyan context it’s the same as asking “Haven’t you nailed that jelly to the wall yet?” Some days it’s up, some days it’s sliding down.
Today has, on the whole, been up. Thanks to Built to Last, (which I note from a review is “even referred to by trendy pastors”), I have found some more nuggets to add to my collection of inspirations and practical steps to take to make sure Hope and Kindness runs the race for a long time and finishes well, (see the Apostle Paul’s thoughts on this in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Built to Last (subtitle Successful habits of visionary companies) is giving rise to yet more scribbling and quote jottings in my inspirations pad. Working in Kenya is both exhilarating and exasperating. The potential for change is huge but the inertia created by badly designed and corrupted social structures is also substantial. Some days you feel you’ve taken a number of steps forward. Other days you wonder how you will recover from taking steps backwards. In addition to writing In Search of Excellence Tom Peters has also written a book called Thriving on Chaos. I'm sure I bought it just for the title. As Tom Peters is such an influential thinker a number of commentaries on his work have appeared. I like a question posed in one of these, culled from the Internet. “How has eternal confusion affected your organisation’s fortunes?” In the Kenyan context it’s the same as asking “Haven’t you nailed that jelly to the wall yet?” Some days it’s up, some days it’s sliding down.
Today has, on the whole, been up. Thanks to Built to Last, (which I note from a review is “even referred to by trendy pastors”), I have found some more nuggets to add to my collection of inspirations and practical steps to take to make sure Hope and Kindness runs the race for a long time and finishes well, (see the Apostle Paul’s thoughts on this in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Shocking truths
The Class 8 pupils have finally finished their exams and are now looking forward to a bit of a break and then the next part of their education. Having known most of them since they were seven or eight years old it makes me feel quite ancient to think of them flapping their wings a bit and moving on to the next stage of their lives. A number of them will stay with us and attend the Agriculture College that we are staring in January next year. I’m looking forward to being a part of it.
I did some more DIY this evening and once again surprised myself by really enjoying it. We have been having a bit of a problem with the solar power on the school buildings due to the absence of sunlight. The problem this evening involved a plug socket that we use for running the TV and DVD player. The children in our home watch a film most Friday and Sunday nights. As a special treat for the Class 8 pupils we were also planning a film night this evening. Unfortunately the power didn’t want to play so, assisted by our head boy Kennedy and Duncan, the farm manager, I set to fixing it.
I think the most enjoyable bit of this type of practical work is the problem solving. Trying to work out why the plug wasn’t working involved a process of elimination, starting with a visual inspection and ending up in swapping plug sockets, re-routing the power temporarily through me via a metal filing cabinet and finally finding a new four way power adapter to plug into the rewired socket. I’m probably just a bit thick with electrical problems. I’m sure a half way competent electrician would have sorted it all out in half the time that I did. I’m not sure he would have had as much fun though, or the same sense of satisfaction when it all finally worked. It still amazes me that we can get electricity free from the sun and that our system works as well as it does.
Running on solar power does sometimes do funny things to you. It is a cliché to say you don’t really appreciate what you have until you don’t have it any more, but it is, none the less, true when it comes to electricity. I think I have now tried most of the different kinds of ‘alternatively powered’ torches and lamps that it is possible to buy. My own electricity consumption on a daily basis is fairly basic. I need enough power in my office and room to power up a laptop and provide light to read and make notes by. So far, despite the lack of sunshine some days, the solar power that I tap in to has stayed up and been reliable. In case of emergency I have a number of backups – a torch that has a lever you squeeze up and down to produce power, a wind up portable lamp, a re-chargeable torch, a solar powered reading lamp, a 'head torch' and the good old-fashioned hand-held torch that runs on batteries. Every once in a while I go into Apollo 13 mode and try to get power consumption down to an acceptable minimum. (For those of you who don’t get the Apollo 13 reference rent the movie. It’s a great film and will help you to really appreciate those ‘little luxuries’ that you take for granted). As a result of my research I can recommend the following:
Don’t use the torches that are powered by squeezing a handle up and down. They make a dreadful noise, produce a pathetic amount of light and make your hand hurt. If you are into this kind of exercise you’d be much better off squeezing a squash ball.
Don’t buy anything that claims to be re-chargeable if it says it was made in China. The only good thing about the re-chargeable torch that I have is its bright yellow colour, which psychologists say is good for cheering you up. The light that it produces certainly doesn’t
Don’t be fooled by the small lantern that you charge up by winding up a handle. It looks convincingly like a decent light, (modelled on the old-fashioned kerosene lantern) and does produce a fairly bright light for a short time. The only problem is that the light only covers a very small area. Using the handle to wind it up is not too taxing but it is easy to over wind one of these lamps. You know when this has happened because the winding action loses all resistance and you end up winding away and getting nowhere. If this happens throw the lamp away immediately as it is now useless.
The solar powered reading lamp is brilliant. There are a number of models on the market. The one that I use every night for reading looks like a little orange flying saucer. It is probably made in China but it must be from the bit of China that makes stuff that works for longer than a week. The light stays bright enough to read by for fourteen hours and it charges up quite easily in a day. You can also buy a more expensive version of the same thing from Ikea. The solar battery is like a little plastic brick that you leave out in the sun to charge. It is a bit expensive but very good.
Finally the humble battery driven torch is great if used sparingly, (batteries aren’t really very good for the environment). This is particularly true if you have an outside toilet. It is difficult to beat the assurance of a steady light if you have to use an outside toilet during the night, (as happens here in Kosele). Actually the best type of torch to use for this particular purpose is the kind that you wear on your head. It produces a brilliant white light from LED bulbs which is obviously very directional, (unless you opt for the dual light version which has a red night vision bulb – I have yet to work out the value of this feature. I think it is a gimmicky add on for would be assassins or wannabe SAS types). It probably goes without saying that the squeezy lever torch is absolutely useless for a night-time trip to the toilet. For one thing the pathetic light it creates means you keep on tripping over things. The constant need to squeeze the handle for power and the consequent disability of having to use the toilet one handed creates problems which I’m sure you will be able to appreciate. Kind of a co-ordination and rhythm thing!
The ramblings of a self-satisfied DIYer, celebrating another small victory or not you will be glad you read tonight’s blog when peak oil happens and all the lights go out.
I did some more DIY this evening and once again surprised myself by really enjoying it. We have been having a bit of a problem with the solar power on the school buildings due to the absence of sunlight. The problem this evening involved a plug socket that we use for running the TV and DVD player. The children in our home watch a film most Friday and Sunday nights. As a special treat for the Class 8 pupils we were also planning a film night this evening. Unfortunately the power didn’t want to play so, assisted by our head boy Kennedy and Duncan, the farm manager, I set to fixing it.
I think the most enjoyable bit of this type of practical work is the problem solving. Trying to work out why the plug wasn’t working involved a process of elimination, starting with a visual inspection and ending up in swapping plug sockets, re-routing the power temporarily through me via a metal filing cabinet and finally finding a new four way power adapter to plug into the rewired socket. I’m probably just a bit thick with electrical problems. I’m sure a half way competent electrician would have sorted it all out in half the time that I did. I’m not sure he would have had as much fun though, or the same sense of satisfaction when it all finally worked. It still amazes me that we can get electricity free from the sun and that our system works as well as it does.
Running on solar power does sometimes do funny things to you. It is a cliché to say you don’t really appreciate what you have until you don’t have it any more, but it is, none the less, true when it comes to electricity. I think I have now tried most of the different kinds of ‘alternatively powered’ torches and lamps that it is possible to buy. My own electricity consumption on a daily basis is fairly basic. I need enough power in my office and room to power up a laptop and provide light to read and make notes by. So far, despite the lack of sunshine some days, the solar power that I tap in to has stayed up and been reliable. In case of emergency I have a number of backups – a torch that has a lever you squeeze up and down to produce power, a wind up portable lamp, a re-chargeable torch, a solar powered reading lamp, a 'head torch' and the good old-fashioned hand-held torch that runs on batteries. Every once in a while I go into Apollo 13 mode and try to get power consumption down to an acceptable minimum. (For those of you who don’t get the Apollo 13 reference rent the movie. It’s a great film and will help you to really appreciate those ‘little luxuries’ that you take for granted). As a result of my research I can recommend the following:
Don’t use the torches that are powered by squeezing a handle up and down. They make a dreadful noise, produce a pathetic amount of light and make your hand hurt. If you are into this kind of exercise you’d be much better off squeezing a squash ball.
Don’t buy anything that claims to be re-chargeable if it says it was made in China. The only good thing about the re-chargeable torch that I have is its bright yellow colour, which psychologists say is good for cheering you up. The light that it produces certainly doesn’t
Don’t be fooled by the small lantern that you charge up by winding up a handle. It looks convincingly like a decent light, (modelled on the old-fashioned kerosene lantern) and does produce a fairly bright light for a short time. The only problem is that the light only covers a very small area. Using the handle to wind it up is not too taxing but it is easy to over wind one of these lamps. You know when this has happened because the winding action loses all resistance and you end up winding away and getting nowhere. If this happens throw the lamp away immediately as it is now useless.
The solar powered reading lamp is brilliant. There are a number of models on the market. The one that I use every night for reading looks like a little orange flying saucer. It is probably made in China but it must be from the bit of China that makes stuff that works for longer than a week. The light stays bright enough to read by for fourteen hours and it charges up quite easily in a day. You can also buy a more expensive version of the same thing from Ikea. The solar battery is like a little plastic brick that you leave out in the sun to charge. It is a bit expensive but very good.
Finally the humble battery driven torch is great if used sparingly, (batteries aren’t really very good for the environment). This is particularly true if you have an outside toilet. It is difficult to beat the assurance of a steady light if you have to use an outside toilet during the night, (as happens here in Kosele). Actually the best type of torch to use for this particular purpose is the kind that you wear on your head. It produces a brilliant white light from LED bulbs which is obviously very directional, (unless you opt for the dual light version which has a red night vision bulb – I have yet to work out the value of this feature. I think it is a gimmicky add on for would be assassins or wannabe SAS types). It probably goes without saying that the squeezy lever torch is absolutely useless for a night-time trip to the toilet. For one thing the pathetic light it creates means you keep on tripping over things. The constant need to squeeze the handle for power and the consequent disability of having to use the toilet one handed creates problems which I’m sure you will be able to appreciate. Kind of a co-ordination and rhythm thing!
The ramblings of a self-satisfied DIYer, celebrating another small victory or not you will be glad you read tonight’s blog when peak oil happens and all the lights go out.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Rain stops play - and revision
It is encouraging to know that the educational powers that be in Kenya are reading my blog. Having felt cheated yesterday about the absence of police security, today we had armed supervision for our KCPE exams. The policeman who watched over us today arrived in good time dressed in a camouflage uniform and toting a semi-automatic rifle loaded with 20 shells. He was a very nice guy and patrolled our exams very efficiently. It’s the last day of exams tomorrow with one paper remaining. I’m sure our candidates will be relieved when it’s all over.
Had a very good day today planning with the teachers. It is a real pleasure working with them on our plans for next year. We are considering ways of enhancing and improving our curriculum and have come up with some good ideas today. Having run the same discussion activity about the purpose of our school twice now it is very interesting to see that none of us mentioned passing exams in our list of priorities. Making sure the pupils become responsible citizens, self-disciplined and self-reliant, good members of the community and have a good character were unanimously selected as the most important tasks of our school. I guess that teachers and schools all over the world have wrestled with the same problems for years and tended to come to similar conclusions. It’s still encouraging to know that the decisions we make in our school will help to build up a school that we really want to work in and, as a result, the children should really enjoy learning in.
I had to spending some time this evening rushing about rigging up a generator to supply light for the class 8 candidates to revise by. The rain situation is great news for our crops at the moment but causes a few problems for our solar power system. Today the cloud cover has meant that our batteries haven’t been charged so we had to resort to the backup method – currently a small generator. I think we will have to review our Plan B for electricity. Fortunately the power in the classrooms is mainly used for lights, so it should be easy to set up a fairly simple alternative to the solar system in the case of prolonged heavy rain. It’s a nice problem to have – in recent years the rainfall has been very sporadic and has caused great hardship and hunger. It would be great if the deluges that we have experienced over the last few weeks becomes the norm again. In a basically hostile environment predictable rain would be a significant improvement and a great blessing to everybody in the community.
Had a very good day today planning with the teachers. It is a real pleasure working with them on our plans for next year. We are considering ways of enhancing and improving our curriculum and have come up with some good ideas today. Having run the same discussion activity about the purpose of our school twice now it is very interesting to see that none of us mentioned passing exams in our list of priorities. Making sure the pupils become responsible citizens, self-disciplined and self-reliant, good members of the community and have a good character were unanimously selected as the most important tasks of our school. I guess that teachers and schools all over the world have wrestled with the same problems for years and tended to come to similar conclusions. It’s still encouraging to know that the decisions we make in our school will help to build up a school that we really want to work in and, as a result, the children should really enjoy learning in.
I had to spending some time this evening rushing about rigging up a generator to supply light for the class 8 candidates to revise by. The rain situation is great news for our crops at the moment but causes a few problems for our solar power system. Today the cloud cover has meant that our batteries haven’t been charged so we had to resort to the backup method – currently a small generator. I think we will have to review our Plan B for electricity. Fortunately the power in the classrooms is mainly used for lights, so it should be easy to set up a fairly simple alternative to the solar system in the case of prolonged heavy rain. It’s a nice problem to have – in recent years the rainfall has been very sporadic and has caused great hardship and hunger. It would be great if the deluges that we have experienced over the last few weeks becomes the norm again. In a basically hostile environment predictable rain would be a significant improvement and a great blessing to everybody in the community.
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Exams, visitors and blowing up the curriculum
I am definitely feeling cheated today. Despite all the advance publicity there was a no show by the police guard for the KCPE exam today. Apart from that the exams went well and most of the kids sound confident about their performances. It might be a tougher day tomorrow with Science and Kiswahili papers to look forward to. The candidates are all busy revising as I type. I’m still very impressed with their whole approach to these exams.
Today was another busy day for visitors. We will have to employ a tour guide. Most of them came from Finland and are staying at the hospital up the road. A very nice young lady in the group is studying for a Masters Degree and is looking at the use and management of Ecosan latrines in Kenya. We had a good walk and talk around our site and chatted about the ways we manage the latrines and what we do with the by-products. Our visitor was pleased to see the progress that we have made in applying the compost to our maize crops.
Other members of the visitors group included an ENT doctor and a team of Kenyan dental health workers who came to do a check-up on the children’s teeth. Given the large number of children who were seen by the dental team I was pleased that only a small number of them needed any treatment. The teaching staff also took the opportunity to have their teeth checked over. One or two cavities to deal with in their case!
The exam chaos has helped us to get some work done on the farm and gave me an opportunity to make a start on planning and team building work with some of the teachers. I had a very enjoyable morning working with three teachers on some new ideas for next year. There is widespread agreement at all levels in the education system in Kenya that there is a pressing need for reform. Work has been started on looking at alternatives to current educational practises and curriculum design. It is not really clear when any reforms might be introduced – I got the impression from our staff that they are not holding their breath for rapid change. We are fortunate in being a private school. As long as the children are taught what they need to know to be successful in the KCPE exam at the end of their primary education we can organise our timetable and curriculum to match our values and priorities. It is perhaps no coincide that we have started our work on curriculum change so close to November 5th – celebrated as bonfire night in the UK. We are looking forward to having more success blowing up the curriculum than Guy Fawkes did blowing up the House of Lords in London.
Today was another busy day for visitors. We will have to employ a tour guide. Most of them came from Finland and are staying at the hospital up the road. A very nice young lady in the group is studying for a Masters Degree and is looking at the use and management of Ecosan latrines in Kenya. We had a good walk and talk around our site and chatted about the ways we manage the latrines and what we do with the by-products. Our visitor was pleased to see the progress that we have made in applying the compost to our maize crops.
Other members of the visitors group included an ENT doctor and a team of Kenyan dental health workers who came to do a check-up on the children’s teeth. Given the large number of children who were seen by the dental team I was pleased that only a small number of them needed any treatment. The teaching staff also took the opportunity to have their teeth checked over. One or two cavities to deal with in their case!
The exam chaos has helped us to get some work done on the farm and gave me an opportunity to make a start on planning and team building work with some of the teachers. I had a very enjoyable morning working with three teachers on some new ideas for next year. There is widespread agreement at all levels in the education system in Kenya that there is a pressing need for reform. Work has been started on looking at alternatives to current educational practises and curriculum design. It is not really clear when any reforms might be introduced – I got the impression from our staff that they are not holding their breath for rapid change. We are fortunate in being a private school. As long as the children are taught what they need to know to be successful in the KCPE exam at the end of their primary education we can organise our timetable and curriculum to match our values and priorities. It is perhaps no coincide that we have started our work on curriculum change so close to November 5th – celebrated as bonfire night in the UK. We are looking forward to having more success blowing up the curriculum than Guy Fawkes did blowing up the House of Lords in London.
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