I spent most of today working on letters with class 6. They were so excited to read the letters written by Mrs. Lee’s class. They were even more thrilled, though, to write their own. The class spent over an hour writing letters and then decorating them. Their letters were not only insightful and well-written, but beautiful: it was crazy how amazing all of their penmanship was! When I brought them “colors” – any sort of art material – with which to decorate the letters, I thought that they were going to start cheering. Even though I have been here for a month, it still amazes me how such simple art supplies as colored pencils are such a novelty for students.
Alex and I also tackled the two projects that she began with other volunteers. The first was getting the boarders at the school HIV tested. This test, as well as the consequent medication should the children be found to have the disease, is free for all of the children. However, serving as the liaison between the clinic and the school has been difficult, particularly since people’s approach to jobs here are very different from back home. Showing up on time to work or an appointment is unusual. Attitudes are very relaxed when it comes to jobs, whereas in the West there is real drive to not only perform well at a job, but a fear of losing that job. There are no such fears here in Kenya. If people don’t feel like showing up to work one day, they simply will not come. Coming from a high-stress country like America, this and adjusting to “Kenyan time,” which is basically non-existent, has been the most difficult for me. Alex and I managed to get everything worked out today though, and, in theory, the testing should commence tomorrow!
We also attempted to finish registering the Class 8 students for their exams. Here in Kenya, the only major test students have comes at the end of eighth grade. How they perform on this exam, which covers everything that they are supposed to have learned throughout both primary and secondary school, not only determines which high school they go to, but whether or not they are able to go at all. High school is not free in Kenya, unlike in the U.S., so students not only need to qualify, but come up with the money to go. Like scholarships in the U.S., financial aid is only provided for students that accrue a score above a mark. For the students at the Light School, who have no financial support, taking this exam, and doing well on it, is crucial to their continued education. Charles, the director of the Light School, has never had to register students for the exam before. Therefore, Alex, Ashlyn, and a few other volunteers who were here before me took it upon themselves to register the students and pay their fees. However, due to Charles typical approach towards such things – namely, not having anything together – the registration was done late. Alex and I attempted to go through with the last step today, uploading the students’ pictures on line. Yet, when we went to do so, the command allowing us to do so online had been disabled. It was so frustrating, but we’re now going to try and send the pictures in manually, and hope that they are accepted.
Finally, today Alex and Kelsey held class for Class 1 in the library. As it’s my baby, I was thrilled to see it being used. The kids get so excited about books and doing something new. Teaching here is all out of books, with nothing fun or creative about it. These kids are so eager to learn, and it’s so rewarding to be able to teach them in a way outside of the mundane method that they are so used to.
