(from 7/8/2011)
Today, instead of working, I decided to head to two different schools in the Rift Valley. First, Pembroke Boarding School, a school for 6-15 year olds not too far from Bush Ventures. The school is well-known in the area as the “posh” school for white Kenyans and others in east Africa. It was their last day of the term and the students and their families were participating in activities such as a derby car race and mini boat sailing. The school follows the British curriculum and is quite elite in the area. I went to visit with a family who was visiting from Tanzania with their four kids. They’ll begin boarding school there next year at ages 7 and 8.
Then, I traveled with the Ardingly group to Ndogo School for their final good-bye ceremony. Ndogo School is located deep in the Rift Valley and has students from three different tribes all learning in the same school. I’ve been told that this is unique, and is part of why Ardingly formed a relationship with this particular school. When I looked at the students, I couldn’t distinguish the tribes, except for the beaded necklaces that a few of the Masai kids were wearing.
The Ardingly students raised enough money for a new kitchen for the school, and for a lunch program for the students for five years. This was the first day “school lunch” was to be served, so it was quite a celebration. The food will mostly be rice and potatoes, with vegetables grown from the school garden. This school is unique in that each family has been given a small plot of the garden for planting and care, and then provides for the school. It’s looking particularly good at this time of year when water is not scarce.
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| The School Garden |
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| The Kitchen consists of a large pot to cook rice, potatoes, etc. |
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| Students eating their first school lunch! |
Meetings and ceremonies are quite formal here and tend to be a bit on the long side for me. As the woman I am staying with shared with me, “Kenyans love to have meetings.” There are many formal introductions and information is repeated many times. This school meeting, however, was wonderful, as the kids from the school performed some songs and dances for all of us.
The parents of the students were present and they also performed for us. This is the first group of Masai that I have encountered so far, and their clothing and headpieces really impressed me.
The kids are so excited to have guests come to their school. They would welcome each of us, ask our names, hold our hands, and “investigate” our clothing, sunglasses, etc. This little guy was completely intrigued by my watch- a $10 piece I bought at Target before I left home, that I would have happily given to him if I didn’t need it this month!
I handed my digital camera over to some of the students and they were thrilled. The poor kids that ended up with the camera at any particular time were mobbed by the others for the camera at first, but once I shared that each child could take only 3 pictures, they were much more willing to share. I had to sort through a lot of pictures of hands, feet, and sky, but these are some of my favorites.
