Term 3 cont.

Week 4: Girls Education

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:

Term 3

I haven't written in a long time and for that I apologize, so here are some updates on what I've been doing in the term so far, and there will be more to come.

Week 1: Parents visit!

My parents were here for the first week of school, they were able to meet my staff, students and see my lovely house! They were real troopers and barely complained about the facilities. My parents visited all of my classes to talk with the students and also brought a Frisbee for each class that they can use during their PE classes. We had a fun time playing Frisbee with the neighbor kids (that is, until I rolled my ankle swinging the little boy around). It was great being able to show my parents where I live and work, it makes it so much easier for them to understand what my life is like here, which helps me out since it is so hard to describe my experience here. Other highlights of their trip to Bande: washing clothes by hand, making guacamole for my staff – which they loved, and seeing the fishing boats on the lake at night lit up by their lanterns.

Here's a picture of my parents on the bus back to Nairobi to catch their flight. I think I wore them out!




Week 2: Nairobi

After taking my parents to Nairobi and to the airport for their long long long flight home, I had to stay around because of my sprained ankle… RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) is not easy to accomplish when you live in remote Kenya – I can’t exactly not walk or not stand when I’m at my school, especially if I want to buy food from the market or do my job and I have yet to see an ice machine in my village. So, Nairobi it was until my ankle got better. I did some physical therapy which helped, got a brace and then headed back to school.

Week 3: Catch-up

I spent the week grading exams and calculating grades for my students, catch-up from when I was gone in Nairobi when the opening exams for the term were taking place. Saturday the school was host to a large Christian youth rally with over 20 schools in attendance. Each school's choir performed a few songs and guests from all the churches in the area came and gave speeches to the students. Chris came for the day and after the main sermon of the event Chris and I headed to Migori for good food, good internet connection and to stock up on necessities from the grocery store. Here are some pictures from the event:

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!