I was told that some people were having problems using the link to view my pictures on facebook. I've updated the link and put it in the sidebar right under my disclaimer. Hope this works!
Here it is one more time too:
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045872&id=27501679&l=02d9df7ee7
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Just for Fun
We are still in the middle of our end term exams, but I'm in Migori running a few errands and getting some paperwork typed and printed for my school. I thought I would share some random stories just for fun!
A Luo Name
When I arrived at Bande I was given a Luo name, and I realized I had never included it on my blog. Being given a Luo name was a very nice and welcoming gesture on the part of my community! In Luo tradition children are given names based on the time of day which they were born. Children can also be named after relatives, or for the kind of weather during which they were born, but by far the most common is to be named for the time of day you are born. Children are also given a "christian" name, which is usually what they go by in school since there are so many students with the same Luo name. It is also much easier for me to pronounce these names, so thats a nice advantage for me! So, since I was born in the morning my Luo name is Akinyi (female names start with A and male names start with O). It is pronounced so that is rhymes with bikini, with the A sound like in awake. So, when I go to the center I am known not at Christine, but as Akinyi!
Laundry
I've decided that doing laundry in Kenya is just like washing your car in America... Some days washing your car is fun and you have a good time, getting soaking wet and being outside in the sunshine. But, other days, washing your car is another annoying chore which takes a lot of time and effort, and you end up soaking wet... Washing clothes in Kenya is exactly the same way for me. I usually do my laundry on Saturdays in the late morning, washing a weeks worth of clothes can take me 2-3 hours from start to finish (depending on how dirty my clothes are, and how clean I want them). Sometimes I really enjoy being out in the sun, I listen to some music and sometimes some students stop by and keep me company. I usually end of fairly soaking wet from the process, but all in all its enjoyable. Other weekends, washing my clothes is the last thing that I want to do, it takes a lot of time and by the end the clothes I'm wearing are wet and I'm sweaty and tired from the process. So, there you have it, washing clothes in Kenya!
Going Green
Oregonians will be very happy with this post! My life is very green here in Kenya. All the water I drink, cook with, use to wash clothes, bathe with, is all from water catchments around the school. The water catchments catch all the water off the roofs of the classrooms, houses and kitchen and store them in giant tanks. In addition to these tanks I can also set out my buckets in a downpour and fill them up that way. The other day there was a huge rain storm and I filled all my buckets (about 30 liters of water) in only 20 minutes! Also in the green department, my school has a solar panel which is what I use to charge my phone, ipod, etc during the day. My house has no electricity, and since my parents were nice enough to send me an LED lantern I now use that to light my house at night, it runs on batteries which are rechargeable, which I can charge from the solar power at my school. I feel so green I could hug a tree!
Entertainment
Since my forms on entertainment are pretty limited, I spend a lot of time reading in the evenings and on the weekends. Thought some of you might enjoy seeing a list of the books I have read since arriving in Kenya.
Say You're One of Them
The Glass Castle
Educating Esme
Water for Elephants
Three Cups of Tea
Under African Skies
Atonement
Staggerford
The Gate Crasher
Remember When
Nine Hills to Nambonkaha
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Survivor
Handle with Care
So, since November I have read a total of 14 books! Its amazing how many books you can read when you don't have TV to distract you. Which reminds me, if anyone feels the desire to send me something, BOOKS!!!! I would love any novels you have laying around!!!
Hope this was at least a little entertaining!
Cheers
-Akinyi
A Luo Name
When I arrived at Bande I was given a Luo name, and I realized I had never included it on my blog. Being given a Luo name was a very nice and welcoming gesture on the part of my community! In Luo tradition children are given names based on the time of day which they were born. Children can also be named after relatives, or for the kind of weather during which they were born, but by far the most common is to be named for the time of day you are born. Children are also given a "christian" name, which is usually what they go by in school since there are so many students with the same Luo name. It is also much easier for me to pronounce these names, so thats a nice advantage for me! So, since I was born in the morning my Luo name is Akinyi (female names start with A and male names start with O). It is pronounced so that is rhymes with bikini, with the A sound like in awake. So, when I go to the center I am known not at Christine, but as Akinyi!
Laundry
I've decided that doing laundry in Kenya is just like washing your car in America... Some days washing your car is fun and you have a good time, getting soaking wet and being outside in the sunshine. But, other days, washing your car is another annoying chore which takes a lot of time and effort, and you end up soaking wet... Washing clothes in Kenya is exactly the same way for me. I usually do my laundry on Saturdays in the late morning, washing a weeks worth of clothes can take me 2-3 hours from start to finish (depending on how dirty my clothes are, and how clean I want them). Sometimes I really enjoy being out in the sun, I listen to some music and sometimes some students stop by and keep me company. I usually end of fairly soaking wet from the process, but all in all its enjoyable. Other weekends, washing my clothes is the last thing that I want to do, it takes a lot of time and by the end the clothes I'm wearing are wet and I'm sweaty and tired from the process. So, there you have it, washing clothes in Kenya!
Going Green
Oregonians will be very happy with this post! My life is very green here in Kenya. All the water I drink, cook with, use to wash clothes, bathe with, is all from water catchments around the school. The water catchments catch all the water off the roofs of the classrooms, houses and kitchen and store them in giant tanks. In addition to these tanks I can also set out my buckets in a downpour and fill them up that way. The other day there was a huge rain storm and I filled all my buckets (about 30 liters of water) in only 20 minutes! Also in the green department, my school has a solar panel which is what I use to charge my phone, ipod, etc during the day. My house has no electricity, and since my parents were nice enough to send me an LED lantern I now use that to light my house at night, it runs on batteries which are rechargeable, which I can charge from the solar power at my school. I feel so green I could hug a tree!
Entertainment
Since my forms on entertainment are pretty limited, I spend a lot of time reading in the evenings and on the weekends. Thought some of you might enjoy seeing a list of the books I have read since arriving in Kenya.
Say You're One of Them
The Glass Castle
Educating Esme
Water for Elephants
Three Cups of Tea
Under African Skies
Atonement
Staggerford
The Gate Crasher
Remember When
Nine Hills to Nambonkaha
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Survivor
Handle with Care
So, since November I have read a total of 14 books! Its amazing how many books you can read when you don't have TV to distract you. Which reminds me, if anyone feels the desire to send me something, BOOKS!!!! I would love any novels you have laying around!!!
Hope this was at least a little entertaining!
Cheers
-Akinyi
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Science Congress/Games/End Term Exams
The term is coming to a close. Sometimes its hard for me to believe how long I have been here in Kenya (going on 5 months), but at the same time it feels like the months are flying by. Kenya's school calendar is year round and has three terms, this first term will end on the 2nd of April and then we will have a month of vacation before the second term starts on May 2nd.
I'm sorry to admit that it has been a very long time since I have updated my blog... In my defense I have been keeping very busy! So, here is a rundown of the things I have been involved with since I last updated.
Science Congress
Science Congress is basically the Kenyan equivalent of what we would call a science fair, with a few differences. Students come up with a project which fits the theme of the year and then present their topic or their project at a meeting with other schools, which are then judged by teachers who have been trained to judge. This years theme was Science and Technology for Economic Recovery. Students can compete in any of the following categories: biology, chemistry, physics, math, technology, computers, home science or agriculture. These categories are subdivided into talks and exhibits.
This year Bande presented 8 projects at the regional competition (not bad considering this is the first year we have participate). Some girls gave talks about genetic engineering of crops, others made charcoal from alternative and locally found materials, one group made a plastic plate from discarded plastic and another tested the concentration of vitamin C in fresh fruit versus store bought juice. My role in the projects was advisor, proof reader and practice audience for all of the groups. All of the project were excellent and it was really great working with the students to improve their projects. I was able to see my students really learning and also saw their self confidence and public speaking skills improve. I was also asked to be trained as a judge in the biology category, so I also served as judge on the day of competition. At the regional competition the top 3 projects from each project move on to compete at the next level. 4 of the projects from Bande were in the top 3! This also placed us 4th overall among the 15 schools that competed from our region.
The sub-provincial competition was last week, and we used every minute of free time, or preps, to prepare the students and their projects. Once again I was asked to serve as a judge, which unfortunately meant I did not get to watch my students present, but it was interesting to see how the other schools performed. In the end, the students did an excellent job with their projects, but none of them will be moving on to the provincial level. The girls should all be very proud of themselves, especially since all the students that had projects advance are only in form 2, meaning they have 2 more years to compete, so this was a great first exposure for them!
Games
Games, or sports, was held a few weeks ago. Even though I am not coaching any of the teams that compete this term I was asked to go along to watch the competition. This term the teams competing were: handball, netball and athletics (track and field). All of the schools from our region compete on the same day, so the day runs more like a large tournament. Bande had an excellent day! Our netball and handball teams won all of their games, which means they will advance to the next level of competition which will be held at the beginning of next term. All of the girls who competed in athletics were among the top 3 in their event and will also be moving on to the next level.
End Term Exams
This week Bande is having our end term exams. I co-wrote the exam for my form 2 biology class (with the teacher who teaches the other form 2 class), and then wrote the form 1 biology and chemistry exams. Over the last couple of days I have been playing review games with all of my classes. This has not only (hopefully) helped my students prepare for exams, but it has provided me with endless entertainment! The concept of playing a game show type game is somewhat foreign, and has been an interesting concept to try and teach my students. They have pretty much gotten the hang of it, except for wagering or betting in the final round. It took my at least 10 minutes to try and clarify this idea, and when I thought I had finally gotten the idea across to all the students and asked each group for their final bet they all bet 50 points (the other questions had been between 100-500 points). I found this incredibly funny and had a good laugh. My mom has since commended me on introducing the concept of gambling to my students, but I maintain that its an important math and reasoning skill!
This more or less brings us to what I'm up to right now. I've made the trip into Migori today in order to do some research on scholarships to help some of my students pay their schools fees. A full year of secondary school at Bande (including room, board, uniforms etc.) costs about 25,000 Kenyan shillings, or about $300. The level of poverty in this region of Kenya is staggering, and even this amount of money is a struggle for the majoirty of families in the area. Some students are sponsored by various organizations, relatives or other individuals. A few of my brightest and most promising students have had recent deaths in the family which have taken their fee-paying relatives, or parents. In an attempt to help them stay in school I am trying to network with any and all NGOs and Kenyan non-profits. As I am unfortunately finding there are many many students who need financial assistance and very few resources out there. But, I will continue to work to try to help these students stay in school.
I'm sorry to admit that it has been a very long time since I have updated my blog... In my defense I have been keeping very busy! So, here is a rundown of the things I have been involved with since I last updated.
Science Congress
Science Congress is basically the Kenyan equivalent of what we would call a science fair, with a few differences. Students come up with a project which fits the theme of the year and then present their topic or their project at a meeting with other schools, which are then judged by teachers who have been trained to judge. This years theme was Science and Technology for Economic Recovery. Students can compete in any of the following categories: biology, chemistry, physics, math, technology, computers, home science or agriculture. These categories are subdivided into talks and exhibits.
This year Bande presented 8 projects at the regional competition (not bad considering this is the first year we have participate). Some girls gave talks about genetic engineering of crops, others made charcoal from alternative and locally found materials, one group made a plastic plate from discarded plastic and another tested the concentration of vitamin C in fresh fruit versus store bought juice. My role in the projects was advisor, proof reader and practice audience for all of the groups. All of the project were excellent and it was really great working with the students to improve their projects. I was able to see my students really learning and also saw their self confidence and public speaking skills improve. I was also asked to be trained as a judge in the biology category, so I also served as judge on the day of competition. At the regional competition the top 3 projects from each project move on to compete at the next level. 4 of the projects from Bande were in the top 3! This also placed us 4th overall among the 15 schools that competed from our region.
The sub-provincial competition was last week, and we used every minute of free time, or preps, to prepare the students and their projects. Once again I was asked to serve as a judge, which unfortunately meant I did not get to watch my students present, but it was interesting to see how the other schools performed. In the end, the students did an excellent job with their projects, but none of them will be moving on to the provincial level. The girls should all be very proud of themselves, especially since all the students that had projects advance are only in form 2, meaning they have 2 more years to compete, so this was a great first exposure for them!
Games
Games, or sports, was held a few weeks ago. Even though I am not coaching any of the teams that compete this term I was asked to go along to watch the competition. This term the teams competing were: handball, netball and athletics (track and field). All of the schools from our region compete on the same day, so the day runs more like a large tournament. Bande had an excellent day! Our netball and handball teams won all of their games, which means they will advance to the next level of competition which will be held at the beginning of next term. All of the girls who competed in athletics were among the top 3 in their event and will also be moving on to the next level.
End Term Exams
This week Bande is having our end term exams. I co-wrote the exam for my form 2 biology class (with the teacher who teaches the other form 2 class), and then wrote the form 1 biology and chemistry exams. Over the last couple of days I have been playing review games with all of my classes. This has not only (hopefully) helped my students prepare for exams, but it has provided me with endless entertainment! The concept of playing a game show type game is somewhat foreign, and has been an interesting concept to try and teach my students. They have pretty much gotten the hang of it, except for wagering or betting in the final round. It took my at least 10 minutes to try and clarify this idea, and when I thought I had finally gotten the idea across to all the students and asked each group for their final bet they all bet 50 points (the other questions had been between 100-500 points). I found this incredibly funny and had a good laugh. My mom has since commended me on introducing the concept of gambling to my students, but I maintain that its an important math and reasoning skill!
This more or less brings us to what I'm up to right now. I've made the trip into Migori today in order to do some research on scholarships to help some of my students pay their schools fees. A full year of secondary school at Bande (including room, board, uniforms etc.) costs about 25,000 Kenyan shillings, or about $300. The level of poverty in this region of Kenya is staggering, and even this amount of money is a struggle for the majoirty of families in the area. Some students are sponsored by various organizations, relatives or other individuals. A few of my brightest and most promising students have had recent deaths in the family which have taken their fee-paying relatives, or parents. In an attempt to help them stay in school I am trying to network with any and all NGOs and Kenyan non-profits. As I am unfortunately finding there are many many students who need financial assistance and very few resources out there. But, I will continue to work to try to help these students stay in school.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Random Moments
A few random moments which I hope can bring you some laughs and smiles
Locks in Kenya are almost all padlocks. I have a padlock to lock my front door and another that I use to lock my bedroom door. A major downfall of padlocks is that you can lock them even when you have NO IDEA where the keys are. I had a lovely run in with this fact. The other morning I woke up and got ready for school as usual and then headed off to school, I locked my room and then froze, realizing too late that I had just locked my purse, phone and keys in my room. I contemplated scaling the walls of my room since they dont reach my roof (there is no ceiling between my walls and tin roof), but first I attempted to reach the keys through my bedroom window. All my windows have bars on them so this was no east feat, but thanks to another teacher who happened to be walking by, we were able to get a branch from a tree and scoop up by purse from the window... crisis averted.
Transportation is a constant source of entertainment here in Kenya. I've described matatus previously on my blog, but matatus are rare between Migori and my village of Bande. Instead, there are station wagons which are called olwendas (cockroach in Luo). All these station wagons are in some sort of disrepair, whether its cracks in the windshield, spares on the tires, duct tape holding parts in place, and none of them have doors which you can open from the inside. Now, when you think about a station wagon you are probably thinking that they seat 4 passengers plus a driver. Well, you are mistaken. These olwendas can carry 16 adults if the need arises (and the need seems to arise on every trip). How is this accomplished you might ask? Well, the driver routinely shares his seat with another passenger, two more passengers share the front seat, 5 adults cram in the middle seat and 6 are in the trunk. Oh, thats only 15? I must have forgotten to mention that the tout is sitting on the window sill of the front seat, legs in the car but with his body outside while he holds onto the roof. There are also numerous combinations of adults and children that can cram into the olwendas, and dont forget the chickens and yes, even goats, which occasionally also make the trip!
Trousers vs pants. Friends vs coworkers.
Oh cultural differences and the never ending language barrier that inevitably turns into an embarrassing moment for the mzungu. Here in Kenya when you talk about pants you are actually talking about underwear, when you want to say pants you have to say trousers or you have just made a rather embarrassing social blunder. Also, there is no such thing as a man and a woman being friends here. If you are just friends with a person of the opposite sex you say they are your coworker, classmate or some other descriptor which explains how you know them. If you say that you are friends with someone of the opposite sex it means you are having a love affair with them. During our cultural training all the trainees were told all of these things, but that doesnt mean its not easy to slip up here. During my first life skills class I had my form 1 students ask me all the questions that they had about America. The questions that I get asked are always entertaining (maybe I'll include a blog listing all those questions), but one was about whether students in America wear uniforms to school. I answered with most dont, but schools have a dress code. When they asked what I used to wear to school I say just pants and a shirt... OOPS! I meant trousers and a shirt, but it was too late the class had already burst out laughing at my mix up! The students also wanted to know about the 2 other Peace Corps volunteers in the area, both of which happen to be male. I told them what schools they work at and their names, then a student asked if either one of them was my friend. I answered, without even thinking about it, "Of course! They're both my friends!" OOPS!!!! No, I meant they are both my coworkers, we get along well... but, too late the class was already in stitches again!
Being a mzungu in rural Kenya for awhile now, I am no longer phased by being stared at, poked and prodded by interested children or by making a fool of myself, it all comes with the territory! Just like we were told in training, our sense of humor will really come in handy over there 2 years!
Locks in Kenya are almost all padlocks. I have a padlock to lock my front door and another that I use to lock my bedroom door. A major downfall of padlocks is that you can lock them even when you have NO IDEA where the keys are. I had a lovely run in with this fact. The other morning I woke up and got ready for school as usual and then headed off to school, I locked my room and then froze, realizing too late that I had just locked my purse, phone and keys in my room. I contemplated scaling the walls of my room since they dont reach my roof (there is no ceiling between my walls and tin roof), but first I attempted to reach the keys through my bedroom window. All my windows have bars on them so this was no east feat, but thanks to another teacher who happened to be walking by, we were able to get a branch from a tree and scoop up by purse from the window... crisis averted.
Transportation is a constant source of entertainment here in Kenya. I've described matatus previously on my blog, but matatus are rare between Migori and my village of Bande. Instead, there are station wagons which are called olwendas (cockroach in Luo). All these station wagons are in some sort of disrepair, whether its cracks in the windshield, spares on the tires, duct tape holding parts in place, and none of them have doors which you can open from the inside. Now, when you think about a station wagon you are probably thinking that they seat 4 passengers plus a driver. Well, you are mistaken. These olwendas can carry 16 adults if the need arises (and the need seems to arise on every trip). How is this accomplished you might ask? Well, the driver routinely shares his seat with another passenger, two more passengers share the front seat, 5 adults cram in the middle seat and 6 are in the trunk. Oh, thats only 15? I must have forgotten to mention that the tout is sitting on the window sill of the front seat, legs in the car but with his body outside while he holds onto the roof. There are also numerous combinations of adults and children that can cram into the olwendas, and dont forget the chickens and yes, even goats, which occasionally also make the trip!
Trousers vs pants. Friends vs coworkers.
Oh cultural differences and the never ending language barrier that inevitably turns into an embarrassing moment for the mzungu. Here in Kenya when you talk about pants you are actually talking about underwear, when you want to say pants you have to say trousers or you have just made a rather embarrassing social blunder. Also, there is no such thing as a man and a woman being friends here. If you are just friends with a person of the opposite sex you say they are your coworker, classmate or some other descriptor which explains how you know them. If you say that you are friends with someone of the opposite sex it means you are having a love affair with them. During our cultural training all the trainees were told all of these things, but that doesnt mean its not easy to slip up here. During my first life skills class I had my form 1 students ask me all the questions that they had about America. The questions that I get asked are always entertaining (maybe I'll include a blog listing all those questions), but one was about whether students in America wear uniforms to school. I answered with most dont, but schools have a dress code. When they asked what I used to wear to school I say just pants and a shirt... OOPS! I meant trousers and a shirt, but it was too late the class had already burst out laughing at my mix up! The students also wanted to know about the 2 other Peace Corps volunteers in the area, both of which happen to be male. I told them what schools they work at and their names, then a student asked if either one of them was my friend. I answered, without even thinking about it, "Of course! They're both my friends!" OOPS!!!! No, I meant they are both my coworkers, we get along well... but, too late the class was already in stitches again!
Being a mzungu in rural Kenya for awhile now, I am no longer phased by being stared at, poked and prodded by interested children or by making a fool of myself, it all comes with the territory! Just like we were told in training, our sense of humor will really come in handy over there 2 years!
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