Amazing August

VACATION

My parents came to Kenya for a little over two weeks. While they were here we went on safari in Masai Mara, visited one of the most beautiful places on earth: Lamu, and they roughed it at my house when they came to visit my school. I will add more later, but here is a little taste of our trip

GIRLS CAMP!

With school closed a week early and a travel ban put in place by Peace Corps due to the referendum I had a week of free time to try and fill. Chris and I decided to use this time to organize and hold a Girls Empowerment / Life Skills camp for the girls of his school and the girls from my school that live in and around Muhuru Bay (where Chris teaches at Rabwao). Chris and I were lucky to have the help of two other PCVs to help facilitate the different sessions. Whitney had come to stay with me since her site is in the Rift Valley, where there had been a lot of speculation that violence would occur, and Sonya, a public health volunteer, was also staying in the area for the travel ban since her site is also in Rift Valley.

Together, the four of us put together a packed day of sessions about goal setting, female role models, assertive communication skills, female reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and condom use and healthy relationships. Between the two schools about 70 girls were invited to the camp and we had an excellent turn out of 50 girls. In addition to the sessions that we held we also had some fun with the girls teaching them all about how to make and love PB&J sandwiches, holding condom "races" and we also provided lunch for the girls, complete with sodas (a big treat for Kenyan students). The whole day was a huge success and it was great to see the girls getting a chance to talk about and ask questions about topics that are often neglected both in school and in the homes here. I had a number of students tell me what a great time they had and Chris, Whitney, Sonya and I all felt very accomplished and fulfilled (oh, and exhausted) at the end of the day. Here are some pictures from the day.




Goal setting session where we talked about what the girls want to achieve after secondary school, we talked about careers and how to realize their goals.



Female reproductive health session, here the girls are arranging the stages in the menstrual cycle.



Group photo at the end of the day

Its August?

End of Term 2

Term 2 came to a close. Schools all over Kenya closed a week earlier than had been originally scheduled because of the August 4th Kenyan referendum on a new constitution. Looking back on this term I think it went a lot more smoothly than my first term at Bande and the weeks really flew by. I am much more comfortable in the classroom and feel like I am making more of an impact on the teaching styles of the other teachers and connecting even more with the students. The term of course had its ups and downs but I've learned so much and I think things will continue to be challenging but the longer I am here the more equipped I feel to face the challenges. I try to omit most of the downs on here and focus on the ups, but maybe I shouldn't do that... it doesn't give the whole picture. The highs in Peace Corps life are incredibly high but the lows can be really low. I am still incredibly happy to be here and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else anywhere else right now, but that doesn't mean I don't have bad days. I would have to say my biggest challenge at my school is the use of corporal punishment (caning) as a form of discipline. I've come to terms with the fact that I can't expect caning to go away over night but I am working with the administration and the other teachers to try and move my school away from this punishment. This of course doesn't make it any easier for me to see the students being hit, but I have found ways to cope and I have gotten a lot of support from other PCVs and the Peace Corps Kenya staff. As far as the students' classroom performance the form 1s once again performed really really well in biology with the lowest grade for the whole form being a C-. I've been so happy with how hard they work and even as we add more and more information they still continue to do well in their exams. My form 2s had kind of a rough time with their end term exam, it was the longest, most challenging and most comprehensive exam we have given to them and a lot of them struggled with the graphing questions and I think some were just intimidated by the length of the exam itself. But its good to see the areas where the students need some extra revision and we will be tackling a lot more graph questions so they can get comfortable with those. The end of the term snuck up on me for sure, and things were complicated when I got stuck in Kisumu on medical, I came down with a stomach thing that turned out to be dysentery (what am I a character on the Oregon Trail game?) and needed a few days of lying in bed before I could travel back to site. I was lucky that my fellow teachers stepped in and when I got back to site they had finished calculating all of my students grades and had completed their report cards for the term, I am incredibly lucky to work with such a great staff! Now it's time for a month off from teaching to recharge for the last term of the year!

Happenings

A Luo Funeral

Unfortunately, last month my principal's mom died. To show our support for our principal the entire staff of my school attended the funeral together, including a small group of students. Luo's are traditionally buried in their village homes, which in this case was in a village past Kisumu called Bondo. It was a long trip from Bande but it was a very interesting experience. The whole funeral and burial events occur over a number of days. In this particular case the body was brought home to the family's home on Friday, there were funeral events that evening followed by an overnight vigil (which from what I have heard is more like a wake/party than anything else), then Saturday the events started early in the morning with the body being laid to rest in the evening. There was also a special church service on the next day (Sunday). Because of the distance we only attended the Saturday afternoon events. We arrived at the family home were fed (there was enough food to feed an army, and there might have been enough people there to make an army). We then listened to speeches made by a number of people who were connected in some way to the deceased, the family or the community. Below are pictures from the event which show the group of students singing a song with my principal before she gave her speech at the event. The entire event was an experience with the most intense part being the way Luo's act at funerals. There are women and girls wailing, crying, yelling and throwing themselves on the ground or onto the coffin in mourning. Another PCV described it perfectly when she said it is very hard to watch another human be in so much emotional agony. These outward and dramatic displays of emotion are also in contrast to the usual emotional restraint (especially with negative emotions) that is shown by Kenyans day-to-day.





Volleyball

Undefeated at the zonal competition Bande's volleyball team, coached my yours truly, moved on to the district competition. (Check out fellow PCVs description of how games are run/corrupt/frustrating here in Kenya at the following link. Chris' Blog Chris is at a secondary school that is about 30 minutes from mine and right on the lake.) The first day of competition at districts was full of frustration which began when I was asked to leave a number of my players behind since there wasn't enough room in the vehicle the school had hired (I should note that the football team wasn't going to leave any players behind...), but after sorting things out and working out a fair deal for both teams we were on our way, the next frustration was that the event started almost 4 hours later than scheduled, but despite these issues both volleyball and football teams played well. We played well in pool play and qualified for the semi final match the next day (so did the football team). The second day was equally frustrating, but in a very different way, when we were stopped by police on our way to the event and forced to leave half the students on the side of the road and then go in two trips, since according to the police the vehicle was overloaded. I'm sure a bribe was payed, but since I am supposed to be culturally sensitive and not politically agitating, I won't go into that... The team played extremely well in the semi final match but were ultimately defeated. They didn't go down without a fight though, taking the game to 5 sets with the final set ending 13-15. The team we lost to went on to win the championship match so I think the girls should be extremely proud of their performance.





Now the term is coming to a close, earlier than planned because of the upcoming referendum, and it's hard to believe that so much time has passed. I'm looking forward to August when I'll get a break from teaching and MY PARENTS WILL BE COMING TO VISIT!!!! But thats all for now, cheers!

8 MONTHS

Happy 4th of July! I had an excellent 4th celebration which was spent with a small group of Americans at WISER, a girls school in Muhuru Bay which is a village nearby. There are 4 American's working there right now (2 are going to be around for about the next year at least and 2 are headed back to the states by the end of this month) and one of them was nice enough to host Chris and I and another American who is working in a nearby village for some American food, wine and to celebrate of course! We didn't have any fireworks but we did have hamburgers and potato salad and lots of wine so I can't complain. It was unlike any 4th of July I've had before but it might have been one of the best.

July 4th also marks my 8 month anniversary of touching down in Nairobi. Time is definitely a funny thing, maybe especially in the Peace Corps. Its hard for me to believe that its already July, sometimes it feels like time has flown by and I can't believe the second term is almost coming to an end but when I think about how long its been since I have been home or seen my family and friends in the states it can feel longer than 8 months. But, as a tribute to 8 months in country, here are some lists of 8 that you might enjoy...

8 things that I hardly notice anymore:
1. The heat
2. Lack of electricity and running water
3. Waiting for hours for things, whether it be a vehicle to go to town or a meeting to start
4. The heavily armed police and security officers
5. Traveling 6-7 hours to get to Kisumu
6. Wearing a skirt everyday
7. Usually being the only white person for miles
8. Speaking at a slower pace while teaching so my students can understand me better

8 things that keep me happy at site:
1. My phone - not only allows me to call other PCVs but also has internet so I can occasionally (ok, everyday) check facebook and send an email home and get emails too
2. Books - pretty much the only consistent form of entertainment that I have at my disposal
3. A glass of wine - always nice after a 12-14 hour work day
4. My iPod - music is amazing
5. My students - These girls are amazing, they keep me motivated and also provide a constant source of entertainment
6. Long walks
7. Ear plugs - allows me to sleep through roosters, dogs barking and the bell that wakes the students or announces breakfast
8. The support of family and friends both here in Kenya and back in the States

8 things that can really make my day: (most of which I have to go to Kisumu or Nairobi to get)
1. A shower - a REAL shower with warm water
2. Cheese - really any food that I can't usually get at site
3. Going to see a movie
4. Going swimming
5. Getting mail or a package
6. Air conditioning
7. A Western toilet
8. Fast internet access

8 things that I use on a daily basis:
1. HEADLAMP!!!
2. cell phone
3. iPod
4. lantern
5. gas cooker
6. water filter
7. bug spray
8. sunscreen

8 new skills I have learned since coming to Kenya:
1. How to take a bucket bath
2. How to bargain in 2 foreign languages
3. How to wash all my clothes by hand
4. How to ignore constantly being yelled at by small children (Mzungu, mzungu how are you?)
5. How to sit still for long periods of time and wait
6. How to cook Kenyan foods
7. How to disassemble and reassemble a lantern
8. How to spell using British English

8 TV shows I miss (but I do miss TV less than I thought I would):
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. The Office
3. How I Met Your Mother
4. Weeds
5. Entourage
6. Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia
7. NCIS
8. Law and Order: SVU
(I'm sad to say there are more...)

8 life lessons:
1. Be patient
2. Try to judge people by their intentions not their actions
3. Have a sense of humor - laugh at yourself
4. Revel in the small victories
5. Listen
6. Be a good friend
7. Try your best
8. Be kind (though my mom's been telling me this for years... thanks mom)

Well, there you have it, 8 months in Kenya. Only 18 more to go!

More vidoes

Harambee

On Saturday our school held a Harambee. The word harambee means to pull together and it is the national motto of Kenya. The event is a fundraiser and parents, villagers, local officials and guests come and donate money to the cause. Our school was holding the harambee in order to raise funds to finish building two new classrooms, a new dorm, new bathrooms and latrines and hopefully paying for the cost of having electricity hooked up to the school. I'll describe the event more later, but here is a video of the girls performing for the guests of honor at the harambee. They performed a traditional luo song that was accompanied by dance, they did an excellent job.! Hope you enjoy!