Fresh Rabbit

Today Tommy headed to Waskam school with me. Poor guy had to get up at 6 instead of sleeping in until 8:30 like he always does...

We got to school, brought in the water and waited for the children to arrive. We also planned out our lesson during this time. I was not sure if a big group of the students would be there today because of the custody battle going on in courts, but luckily we had everyone there.

All 20 of the older kids (ages 7-13) packed into one of the small classrooms. Kimani and one of the other teachers sat in and watched as well. Tommy and I started with a 20 minute lesson on the history of the US, including important dates such as the civil war, world war II, etc. This was very important, as these kids seemed to know nothing about the US except for a guy named Obama. Every question we asked was answered by a student saying "Obama?"

Aside from US history, we showed them where we were each from and pointed out major cities and the capital on the map we drew on the board.

After teaching them a bit, we moved on to some true or false questions. We would write on the board things such as, "True or False, the South won the civil war?" The kids actually did very well and remembered most of what we had taught them.

After true/false, we taught them "Hangman." None of the kids or teachers had played this game before so it was really fun. We used phrases such as "New York" and "George Bush." The kids got really into this game as we had them all pick team names and gave out points for correct letters and guessing the final word. The teams were very creatively the Lions, the Tigers, and the Chamelions. Tommy and I were the Super Giraffes and we got 5 points anytime the three teams collectively could not figure out the word before the "man was hanged." (Before anyone attempts to correct my use of the word "hanged" you best google it).

After a while of hangman, we moved on to trivia and asked questions and gave out points for correct answers. I threw in a math question and at the end Tommy had one member of each team sing an American song. One kid sung a song I was unsure of, one sung Amazing Grace, and the last was the best of all, Sweet Home Alabama. After the first two songs I decided to get the third one on video and I don't think the kid could have picked a better song to sing.

The final activity of the day was a dance and singing competition. We had each team arrange an organized song and dance and they performed it for Tommy, Kimani, the other teacher and I. These are all on video as well.

All in all I think the kids had a blast and learned some American culture in the process. It was really fun.

After teaching Tommy, Kimani and I had tea and then headed off for Kimani's house. He showed us around and then we sat down for lunch. The rabbit which yesterday I had watched hop around was now in a pot in front of us. It was delicious. We also had avocados on the side and a potato, corn, spinach side dish. It was all kind of mashed together but tasted great. For a drink we had tea made fresh from their cows milk. Pretty amazing.

After eating he gave us a tour of his Shamba (farm). I had already seen all of this, but I think Tommy enjoyed it. We then walked up a big hill and took a path shortcut to Kiambu town. From there we grabbed a cab to Nairobi city.

We had been in Nairobi once when we got a matatu for Hells Gate, but this time was different. I think we were in the heart of the city and it was incredibly chaotic. When we got to the desk to book our train ticket to Mombasa everything went smoothly until we went to pay. As you will find, in Kenya no one really excepts credit/debit. Therefore, we had to walk to an ATM. The ATM was close but on the way we basically had to play a game of Frogger. The longer you are in Kenya the more and more you will come to depise the Kenyan government for all the little things they cannot get right (stoplights, crosswalks, SPEED LIMITS). We made it back to the train station and booked our ticket and headed back to Miziwa. I love everywhere I have been in Kenya so far, but I have no desire to go back to Nairobi. Unfortunately, we will be back tomorrow at 5 to hop on a train to Mombasa.

Tomorrow is my last day at Waskam. I am going to get them a soccer ball tomorrow as well as give Kimani 300 shillings to save his goat from some medical problem. Every single person Tommy and I have met here needs money for something and they are definitely not too shy to directly ask you for the money to help. It is sad because although we can help some people, realistically Tommy and I do not have very much money ourselves.

Just as Tommy's main concern is to help out at his hospital, my concern is to improve the education here in Kenya, specifically at Waskam. I really believe that just like everywhere else, education is the road to improvement and prosperity. I have been making a list of the concepts the kids have been struggling on in my classroom (mostly math and English since that is what I have taught most) so the teachers know what to focus on. Also, I am trying to think of a plan to help supply the school with more books and supplies. If I can do one thing it would be to get them some more books (they do not have even close to enough for each student) and better assessment tools (the tests they took were horribly designed). I have everyone's emails so I can keep in contact with them about this. Everyone reading, feel free to give me any suggestions as well.

As always I am exhausted and am excited for some time to relax. Also, apparently there are more non-Kenyans, specifically mizungus in Mombasa, so it will be nice to not to feel like an Alien for once. Constantly being stared at is not so great.

I will touch base again soon. For all of those that have followed this experience so far, THANK YOU!

Also, thanks again to anyone reading who contributed to this trip. I really appreciate it and I think you were a part of something pretty important here. Even though it was only 2 weeks, I think that may be all it takes to show young kids what else is out there in the world besides the life they may be living. It may be beautiful here, but there are SO many problems that they all, if they wish, deserve to get away from.

-Kevin