Back home

After the usual trip back to Kosele from Kisumu, (good road, slightly worse road, good road, road from hell), we are back home in Kosele and ready to get going again. We picked up another visitor in Kisumu this morning; an old friend called Winnie who lived with us for the year that my family and I spent in Kenya when we first started the work ten years ago. Winnie and my daughter Ellie were close friends during that year and it is nice to have her with us again now. Ellie and her boyfriend Andy are still recovering from a long and frustrating flight to Kenya from the UK but should be better rested by the morning.

Our football team enjoyed another rewarding outing this afternoon, winning on penalties against a team from Kaditonge, (a nearby community). That makes it played three, lost none, won three to date. The penalty shoot out was, as on the previous occasion, a real nail biter. Our victory was sealed by another fantastic save from our goalkeeper Calvince. I think we are developing a reputation as the wrong team to go up against when it comes to penalties. Our supporters got right behind the team today and had a good time cheering the lads on. In true TIA, (this is Africa), fashion we arrived at the stadium a bit late. Play was stopped briefly by rain which created interesting conditions for the two teams once play resumed. About half of the lads on the pitch played in bare feet and we had some impressive slides and tumbles in the second half. I really don’t know how the lads manage to play at all with the minimal amount of proper soccer kit that they have. They fearlessly enter into crunching tackles and sprint the length of the pitch in pursuit of a long pass. I think the soles of their feet are made of a different kind of skin to mine.

Our head teacher Madam Nyangwe set off for a head teachers’ conference in Mombasa this afternoon. The conference programme looks very interesting and I am hoping that she comes back with some inspiring ideas to help us move our school forward. I am really pleased that she has been selected to attend this event. It should give her a real boost at a time when most teachers need it, about half way through the school year.

We will be continuing with one to one tuition for our older students this week, with Ellie and Andy augmenting Dan’s input. I know that Dan has really enjoyed the work that he has done with the students and I am hoping that we will be able to continue with this approach to reinforcing the children’s learning in the future. Having the luxury of extra hands on deck to work with the children on a more personal level gives us a very powerful tool for helping them to improve. More teaching volunteers would be most welcome.

I’m not sure how well the ‘day of rest’ project will go tomorrow. There’s always so much to do. However it goes I am, as our church members would say, “Grateful to God for bringing us this far”.  

Kisumu

It’s nearly midnight and I’m in Kisumu. It’s been a long day. We got off to an early start today to make sure that our visitors Pete and Alex were I Kisumu in plenty of time to catch their flight from Kisumu to Nairobi and from there home. My daughter Ellie and her boyfriend Andy arrived in Kisumu, (eventually), this evening and we will be travelling back to Kosele together tomorrow.

It’s great having Ellie her but not so good that Judi has had to stay at home because of her ongoing cancer treatment. Judi was supposed to be coming on the trip with Ellie and I know she must have had a tougher day than usual today as she was really looking forward to being in Kenya again. To top it all off her chemotherapy was delayed on yesterday due to a low blood count so she will have to wait until least Monday before she can carry on with the treatment. Prayers for Judi’s health and happiness would be much appreciated.

As it’s late I’m heading for bed. I’m hoping that I’m tired enough to sleep in spite of the rousing live music event that has just started very close to my room. I had hoped to get away with a quiet night tonight. The communal howl by the local dogs was mercifully short lived tonight but it sounds like the party is only just getting going outside. 

I guess Friday night is Friday night the world over.

Snap

Our visitors have continued to work very hard and have had a great impact on the children, staff and our work. Pete and Alex will be leaving to go back to England tomorrow so we had the sad task of saying good-bye to them at assembly this morning. (They will be leaving before school starts tomorrow to catch an internal flight from Kisumu to Nairobi hence the early farewell). Many thanks to them for all that they have done during their visit. I really hope that we will be seeing them in Kenya again in the future.

I had a very entertaining meeting today with Madam Nyangwe, (our head teacher), and Mr Isaiah who teaches in our Agriculture College. Like schools all over the world we are trying hard to improve our pupils’ achievements in maths. During our meeting today we took the first steps in planning a training day for all of the teaching staff in developing a more dynamic approach to maths teaching. It was a lot of fun. 

The quantity and quality of resources available free on the internet never fails to amaze me. With the usual uncanny timing I managed to find a Maths Teachers’ Handbook produce by a UK based organisation called VSO, (Voluntary Service Overseas). VSO works a bit like the American Peace Corps and sends volunteers all over the world to work on a variety of projects, including teaching. The Handbook was produced to assist maths teachers in the developing world and is geared towards producing resources for teaching using easily available resources, (like bottle tops, matches, nails and string). It is a mine of useful information, advice and solid teaching practises.

During our meeting we played mathematical snap, based on the children’s card game. There are a number of suggestions about how this can be applied to maths. Our game involved recognising equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages. We played a simpler version of snap using bigger number cards for the younger children and finished off our games session with a paired activity designed to help pupils to accurately estimate and draw angles without using a protractor. During our games we were able to reflect on how the children would play them and the learning points that the teacher could draw out of them, (including cheating!). We had previously identified a need to add more variety to the school’s approach to maths teaching. The Handbook provided a very helpful starting point.We are looking forward to sharing these and other ideas and resources with all the teachers. It should be a good training day.

Men from the ministry

Our work in Kosele is often interrupted by unexpected visitors. This is occasionally irritating but usually interesting and sometimes helpful. A couple of guys turned up today from the water department. They arrived in a nice four wheel drive and said that they were working on a research project to monitor the quality of water coming from boreholes in our area. The senior guy introduced himself and asked if we would sign a MOU, (Memorandum of Understanding), to register as participants in the research. It would have been unreasonable to disagree so Mary, (our manager), signed us up and we went out to the borehole to take and test the relevant samples.

 We started the borehole pump and after running the water though for about five minutes to guarantee a good sample the scientists set to work. Using a couple of multimeters the tests were conducted quickly and efficiently. It has been some time since the borehole water was tested so I was keen to get the results – especially on salinity as this affects the water’s potential for irrigation. Our water is slightly more salty than the other boreholes in the sample but well within safe limits. We could use it for irrigation at a push but it would be inadvisable to use it on our land for long as it would damage the fertility of the soil, (as many farmers in India have found out since adopting deep boreholes for irrigation).

 After the transport frustrations of yesterday it was good to meet a couple of guys who knew what they were doing, explained it well and did a good job. The monitoring program will go on for some time and “action will be taken” to deal with any issues that arise. Quite how this will be accomplished I’m not sure. I am not a hydrologist so I don’t know what can be done to remedy problems that affect the quality of water ninety metres below ground. The men from the ministry seemed very confident about it all though. There is hope yet.

Patience

Today our choir went to take part in a competition in Kisumu and I learnt another TIA, (This Is Africa), lesson. Having a teachable spirit is always an asset out here as there is so much to learn. Today’s lesson was all about keeping it together when everything seems to be in some sort of conspiracy to make you lose it.

The day started well enough. Our girls had been told that their bus would pick them up at 6.30 a.m. so, to be on the safe side most of them got up at 4.00 a.m. to make sure they were ready. Altogether thirty eight girls took part and the girls from the community, (the day scholars), squeezed into the girls’ dorms last night to make sure they could get up early. About half of them had never been to Kisumu before so today’s trip was a really big event for them.

I managed to get out of bed at about 5.45 a.m. to try and offer encouragement and see them off. The morning ticked on. And on and on. No sign of the bus by half past seven. Or eight o’clock. To their credit the girls were very calm about the whole thing, unlike me. It was at this point that I started to lose my patience. Phone calls to Madam Rose, (the teacher accompanying the children), established that the bus had broken down before leaving Oyugis, (our nearest town), and was being fixed. Some talk of a puncture. The morning dragged on and the girls went to their normal classes. Madam Nyangwe, the Head teacher, talked to Madam Rose. Still no progress on the bus. Madam Nyangwe then called the music co-ordinator to ask him to inform the competition organiser that our team would be late and, please, not to disqualify them. At nine o’clock Madam Rose said she could see the bus coming and that she would be with us soon. This prompted frantic rushing around to make sure the choir was ready and, eventually, at about 9.25 the bus hoved into view. The girls climbed in and tried to find a seat. The driver put our equipment into the luggage space, (without a hint of an apology for being late), and then steamed off down the bumpy road towards Kisumu.

The whole “African time” thing absolutely infuriates me. I’m pretty sure Madam Nyangwe found it pretty intolerable today as well. As it turned out the girls got to Kisumu at about 11.30 and were registered for the competition. They must have been exhausted when they finally got the chance to perform and came a creditable 12^th out of seventy five entries. They arrived back at our place at about eight this evening, having had a very enjoyable day, (once it got going).

It’s a moot point whether the ‘Mzungu’, (European), approach to time is any more helpful than the African version. People certainly seem less uptight about punctuality over here. Things seem to happen today, not necessarily at a specific time. My Kenyan friends and colleagues probably have a lower blood pressure than I do. On the other hand it was only really luck that prevented our girls from being disqualified because of the bus problem. Some of the music officials were travelling on the same bus to Kisumu as our choir so were able to help sort the potential problem out. Perhaps, one day, it will be possible to have absolute faith in contracts that you enter into over here. At the moment it seems about as predictable as the Second Coming. It would be great to live to see both things happen.

Nice Moves

It has, as usual, been a fairly hectic day today. This week we have some good events coming up for the school. Very early tomorrow morning our choir will head off to Kisumu, (the nearest city to us, about an hour and a half’s drive away). Singing, drama and dance competitions are very popular over here and our choir has got through to the second round of the current competition. The girls are very good singers and have been working hard on the moves that accompany their songs. We are hoping that they have a good day tomorrow and get through to the next round.

Madam Nyangwe, our head teacher, brought me some exciting news this evening. She has received an invitation to the Primary Head teachers’ Conference in Mombasa on Saturday.  She will be one of a select few representing our zone in recognition of the work we are doing for the orphans in our area. She will be asked to open in prayer at the meeting. This is a great encouragement to us and a good testimony to the hard work that our team of teachers and support staff put in every day. I am very pleased for Madam Nyangwe as she has really gone the extra mile since she took on the role of head teacher in January.

We also have the prospect of more football matches in the coming week-ends. Word must have got out about our fantastic results at the end of last month when we beat two of our local rivals. Our sports teacher Mr. Richard will, I hope, be making arrangements with two other local schools to give them a shot at beating us. We are fortunate to have the services of a couple of good coaches, Alex and Pete, who are visiting at the moment. Our visitors have also started tag rugby coaching with the children. This promises to be an interesting development. The girls seem to be as interested as the boys. It would be quite something to be able to field a good girls tag rugby team. Maybe they could perform a haka at the next singing competition.

Day of rest

And so to the seventh day. In the interests of longevity and personal effectiveness I have been trying to observe the Sabbath in the way that it was intended – as a day of rest. It is very difficult, partly because of years of a nose to the grindstone must be busy approach to life and partly because it’s difficult to switch off the ‘immortality mentality’. This basically means that I agree with all the good things that one can do to preserve health and sanity but they apply to other people not me. It is often called burning the candle at both ends. Young people are notorious for it. I have this sneaking feeling that I am running out of middle in my own candle. I must confess to feeling more rested than I usually do and if I can manage to build some exercise into my normal daily routine I might even convince myself that I could develop a healthy lifestyle.

It is slightly odd trying to take a more biblical approach to Sunday in our particular bit of Kenya. The dominant church in our area is the Seventh Day Adventist Church. They start counting on a different day to most of the churches I’ve come across as their Sabbath day is Saturday. Consequently Oyugis, (our nearest town), is pretty close to shut down on Saturday. It’s difficult to get public transport along our road, as the taxi drivers and piki piki riders, (motorbike taxis), attend church. Life revs up again for Sunday, (very literally in our case this weekend).

The roads in much of Africa are notoriously poor. Dusty, full of potholes and bumpy in the dry season. Treacherously slippery and flooded in the rainy season. In Kenya one of the solutions to this problem is to effectively plane the surface of the road with a large vehicle carrying what looks like a huge snow plough. It’s a very effective way of getting the road surface smoother but doesn’t really provide a long term solution to the basic problem that the road is just a dirt track. Because of the Saturday Sabbath it wasn’t working yesterday but was very busy along the stretch of the road outside our place this afternoon. It sounded like a tank revving up and down outside and had the loudest reversing warning alarm I have ever heard. From our point of view it should mean that traveling time to Oyugis will be halved for about the next month or so as the road surface will actually be navigable. It will also make walking along the side of the road a less hazardous occupation. As the quality of the road gets worse all of the drivers using it tend to hurtle along the footpaths at the side of the road rather than driving on the main carriage way. Now that the road had been ‘fixed’ the Oyugis to Kendu Bay rally will at least be contested where it should be – along the road.