Thursday, 7 November 2013

When The Mzungus Went To Kenya. (pt. 2)

Monday 28th October 2013

Monday 28th October 2013: first day at Hadassah and meeting people.

Got up early, had breakfast which was mandazi with a slice of jam on toast, we didn't miss it today! We headed off to Hadassah School for our first day at our project. We had a meeting to sort out our plan for the week. Then got shown around the school, which all together was smaller than our school field. We were welcomed by all 8 classes and all the teachers. The youngest was 3 and the oldest was Felix and it was crazy knowing I was only a few months older than him and we had people on the trip the same age as him. I went in the biggest class there which had over 50 kids in, and closer to 60 kids. Most of the other classes had between 30 and 40 kids in. All the teachers seem to have different ways of teaching, I was in with Beatrice and she was lovely, the worst thing she would do is hit the table with her cane or blackboard rubber, whereas the other children would hit the children (in my opinion more than what was necessary). Beatrice seemed surprised at how clever I thought her class was. They did English, Maths, Swahili and General Studies. I did marking and trying to help the kids with their Maths and English, which weirdly was quite difficult at times, even though they were only doing 'simple' addition and subtraction. They did that throughout the day, whilst Beatrice would hit her desk if they got too loud - which made me jump many times and was a bit of a culture shock. They had two breaks during the day, the first when they get fed breakfast (which was porridge) and a lunch break where they got beans. For lunch we had a light snack of corn cooked by Mama Mary and Mama Flo (who are the BEST dinnerladies ever!) Then rice with beans, veg and stew sauce. I'm really struggling with the food - but hey ho, not exactly in the right place to complain! We got sung to and danced to, they loved my bracelets and my birthmark (which I found pushed my personal space boundaries a lot, too much contact!) We got lots of hugs and high fives and because of their backgrounds they were incredibly clingy (another thing I struggled with!) Two kids that stood out for me today were Peter and Juddy. They were amazing! Peter didn't let go of my hand today, and Juddy was sat at the front of the class I was in, she was one of the youngest in the class, and the amount of times she got hit and kicked by the boys and the older kids got to me. So, I attempted to help her with her work and play some games with her and a few of the others at break. Top Class (the class I was in with) went over the answers after lunch and had a rest. We then went back to Kivu. Had showers, shared some experiences of our first day with each other. I didn't eat dinner today, because it was rice with bone, I would definitely go hungry and have the left over food go to someone that needed it rather than me eat it and throw it up 5 seconds later! We then chilled in the bar area, did some singing then went to bed.

Tuesday 29th October 2013

Tuesday 29th October 2013: working in the kitchen and building a fence.

Got up close to our leaving time this morning. Enjoyed breakfast, toast with jam and a mandazi. We left to go to the school at 8am. We got there and discussed who was going to go where, I ended up in the kitchen with Mama Mary and Mama Flo with Tom and Sam. They are both really lovely and she kept going on about her 'daughter and two boys', she called me hard-working, which gave me a massive boost! Got quite a few hugs and handshakes from Mama Mary! We sorted through a bag of maize and seperated good from bad. We then helped made 'uji' (porridge) for the kids breakfast at break. We then got made the best tea I have ever tasted/had. It was sweet and creamy - so thank Mama Mary for the chai! We then served the uji to the kids. After that we did some painting, which was messy but fun, luckily I got most of the paint off my arms and legs. Then served lunch and played with the kids. We did some songs and attempted 'Waka Waka' which went a bit too well, and they loved it! In the afternoon, me and Clare started on building a small fence around the drain/bin hole, so nobody falls in! We left at 3 and headed for Kivu. We had showers, chilled for a bit, went for dinner which wasn't too bad, for once! We then had some entertainment, which was 'Blind Date' where one of the teachers became Cilla for the evening and some of the group got set up on dates. Then we headed to bed, I was seriously tired Tuesday and I hadn't even done that much, the heat out here isn't great, it's too hot and then the rain and storms in the evening which make it quite humid. Then waking up in the mornings seems freezing!

Wednesday 30th October 2013

Wednesday 30th October 2013: building, singing and teaching.

Today we had breakfast, mandazi and toasted sandwich with spam stuff in. Then headed to our project. We then had a chance to buy stuff from the school, so I got a project t-shirt and a few bracelets. Then, me and Clare carried on with the fence around the hole (which got finished this afternoon). I was very kindly made a cup of Mama Mary's chai after she'd laughed at me working away most of the morning. We got our cameras out at break and I got lots of hugs from Peter, Juddy and Nancy. We saw the kids playing on the slide at super speed. After break I went and taught the big class on my own, we did some Maths and English, it wasn't the best class I'd ever been in. 4 of the boys got called by the headteacherand they came back crying, with the headteacher following them and him waving his belt at me; which turned my stomach a bit - definitely a culture shock. We had lunch (I just had some rice) had a little rehearsal and then performed to the kids. Singing 'Waka Waka' with the kids really put a smile on my face. Mama Mary loved it and joined in - whilst all the other teachers looked like they wanted to sleep (which they probably did!) But it was a great experience and put a big smile on my face. After lunch, Elliot and I taught the big class again, this time with a bit more control. We told them about England and London, then did some English with them. There is definitely a divide between the girls and the boys, lots of punching and fighting. Juddy cried through the afternoon and so did one of the boys, but I don't know why. Juddy brightened up a little bit by the end of the day though. It was time to head 'home'. We had showers, started to attempt to write a song - work in progress. There was a blackout as the sun was setting, so we had a lot of torch use. We had dinner which was chappatis and sauce so I just had the chappati. We then chilled in the bar area, went back to our rooms and got ready for bed. I then FaceTimed home and it was really nice to see other white people (weird but true!) I also caught up with Philippa which was nice!

Thursday 31st October 2013

Thursday 31st October 2013: slums, halloween and performing.

Today it was harder to get up, I was feeling very tired physically and mentally, but nothing a good morning sing-song couldn't solve! Got up, had breakfast, then headed to Hadassah. We started by doing a home visit and giving some food to the families. It was crazy to a room the size of my bedroom as the house for a family of 5. Visiting the slum was definitely an experience! So many 'happy' people proud of where they live - it was lovely to see, but also quite hard to take because if anyone lived somewhere like that in England, they'd probably be non-stop complaining! We then headed back to the school and I spent my day in Top Class with Beatrice. Before break, I did some marking of their tests. During break, Mama Mary made me a cup of chai - yum! Took a few more photos with the kids. After I did the English reading test with some of the class. During lunch I had quite a big break, we got some bubbles out which the kids loved. After lunch, I stayed in Top Class and they told stories, recited their poem for their graduation into the next class, it was a really well written piece written by Beatrice and brought a lump to my throat. Then they started singing songs that beatrice had taught them, then there was a storm with very very heavy rain, the classes began to flood and outside the school flooded quite a bit too. Rain came in through the roof too and Mama Mary and Flo struggled because the fire kept going out in the kitchen. All the wood for the fire also started to get wet, which would mean it wouldn't light etc. We ran to the bus once we'd finished and went back to Kivu. We then got showered and went to the supermarket, when we got back, we got ready for halloween dress up. We got the time wrong for dinner (our room's not great with times obviously!) Luckily it was the rice and bone stuff again anyways so we just head some bread and mandazi's that we'd got from teh supermarket. At 8pm we did Nakuru's Got Talent (but with us Mzungus!) There was lots of entries, juggling, spoon balancing, contortiony thing and some singing and dancing. Me and Lai entered singing Wherever You Will Go & Waka Waka mashed up on ukulele. It went down well and we came second out of eight, which wasn't too bad! (Lai definitely would have won if she went on her own though!!) We then chilled in the bar for a bit, had a few good chats etc. watched some of the great Kenyan TV programmes that were on! It's now 11.30pm whilst I'm writing this, there is very loud Kenyan music playing, Tilly is asleep and Lai is writing cards to give to her favourite class. Tomorrow is our last day at our project, we're finishing there at 1pm. There's five kids and three teachers I'm dreading saying goodbye to tomorrow. Peter, Juddy, Mary, Elizabeth and Ruth and then Beatrice, Mama Mary and Mama Flo. I think I will write a letter for Top Class tomorrow morning before we go. Anyways, I'm going to try get some sleep before a very long (and probably a bit emotional) day tomorrow!

to be continued... 

 
Thanks for Reading! 
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