During the week a Girls Education meeting was held by the Nyanza Womens Group for Girl Child Education. All the schools in the district brought their female students to St. Gemma Girls' Secondary School. A number of important guests were in attendance and gave speeches to the girls encouraging them to stay in school, to achieve in the sciences and to put their education before marriage. The District Education Officer (DEO) gave a speech during which he said "Marriage before career is slavery". He said the same thing when he visited Bande, but I just love that quote. This sentiment may not be true for women in the States, but it is definitely true for women here. If a woman is not educated and has no way to support herself than she is totally dependent on her husband. This can mean she has to ask permission to leave the house, has to ask for money to buy even the most basic things and in essence, becomes a slave to her husband. This can put the woman into a situation where she is abused but has no resources to leave her husband. Or in a country where the HIV rate is about 8%, if her husband dies, she has no way to support herself or her children. There were also a number of important female business women who came from Nairobi who spoke at the event including the manager of the Kenya Literature Bureau (the company that prints all the text books in Kenya) who is from Nyanza. The whole day was inspiring and the students really enjoyed hearing from all these important people who encouraged them to do well and made them feel like people care about them and their future.
Week 5: World Vision / Ruma
When I first came to Bande I asked the principal what the major issues facing the students was and one of the things that she told me was that the students have an extremely hard time buying sanitary pads and this can lead them to use unsanitary measures during their period or they simply do not attend class when they have their period. In the worst case scenario, female students will go to extreme measures to try and earn money to buy pads, which does not exclude sleeping with men for money. So, since that time I have been working to try and get reusable pads donated to the school to help with this problem. This week all my hard work paid off when World Vision came to my school and brought 50 packs of reusable pads for my students. The students who received the pads were a list that my principal put together of the 50 girls who could use them the most. The students were so grateful and happy to receive the pads and I was so touched by the thank you speeches they gave. The students talked about what a huge difference this is going to make in their lives and what a relief it is to them that they no longer have to worry about how they will buy pads every month. There was also a form 4 (12th grade) students who talked about what a big difference this is going to make for her when she takes the KCSE, the national exam that starts in a few weeks, because now she will be able to focus on the exam instead of how to attend to her period. The whole day made me really happy and also reminded me of all the little things that we take for granted in the States. Here are some pictures from the day: The representatives from World Vision talking to the students, a student giving a thank you speech, me with the students and then a group picture (not all of the students who received pads were in the picture).
Over the weekend I went to Ruma National Park with Chris, Dom and Mike. Ruma NP is the only major NP in Nyanza and it is known for the herds of Roan antelope that can only be seen here. The park is outside of Homa Bay and we had some difficulties getting out there, but when we finally made it, it was so worth the trouble! We camped in the park which was absolutely beautiful and it was so much fun to go camping again, I don't think I realized how much I missed camping until we went. We had a good time trying to get a fire started and finally had to get help from one of the KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) employees. The view from the camp site was amazing and it was nice to relax, hang out and drink some wine with friends. In the morning we set off walking in the park, we saw giraffe and a ton of Roan but on our way back to the campsite we were intercepted by some KWS officers who informed us that walking in the park is illegal... oops. So they drove us back to the campsite and oversaw our packing up of camp and then us leaving the park, but at least we didn't get a fine (or arrested as Dom suggested to the KWS officer). The whole weekend was a blast and it was a nice break from the school routine. Some pictures from the park:
Week 6: Stima! + prayer day
I GOT STIMA (electricity) IN MY HOUSE!!!!! After months of being told that electricity was coming to the school, it finally happened. The classrooms, staffroom lab and the dorms were all wired about a week ago but it took longer to get all the houses on the school compound hooked up. When I signed up for Peace Corps I never expected to have electricity in my house, but now that I have it I am so happy! It is so nice to be able to charge my phone and computer anytime I need to, instead of having to rely on the solar panels at the school. It has made it so much easier to do work on my computer which has made me more productive and more connected to the outside world. It also means that I stay up later since I have light to cook and read by, and its a lot easier to flip a light switch rather than lighting a lantern every night. The power still goes out fairly often so I'm not getting rid of my lantern and candles, but electricity is AMAZING! Here are some pictures of the demolition (kind of) that went on to wire the house and my new outlets and light bulbs in my house. It may not be as exciting for those of you at home but I can tell you that many a PCV over here is now jealous of me!
Sunday the school held a “prayer day” for the form 4s in preparation for the start of the KCSE. The KCSE is the national exam that students take at the end of form 4 and covers all the subjects that students have studied and all the material the students have covered from form 1 all the way to form 4. The exam is given over two weeks and the results basically determine the rest of the students life. The scores are used to determine entrance into universities, colleges, technical colleges and are also used for hiring in all job positions. Even when a Kenyan is in their 40’s and applying for a job they still have to provide their KCSE score and many job openings give a minimum grade that applicants have to have obtained in order to be eligible. So, you know, no pressure or anything. I really don’t think there is any way that I could have passed an exam like the KCSE, the exams are hours long and many subjects have multiple papers and each one takes hours to complete. For example, in biology there are three different papers, or exams, that make up the total biology exam. The first paper is all short answer, the second paper has graph questions and essays and the third paper is the practical paper where the student is given a lab experiment that they have to carry out and then answer questions about, its a tough exam to say the least. I do not envy the students who have to take the KCSE. Prayer day was a chance for the parents of the form 4s to come and pray that the students perform well in their exams. All of the teachers and students attended the event and the form 4s performed a number of songs and parents and guests gave speeches of encouragement to the form 4s. Here are some pictures from the event:
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