Pembroke and Ndogo

(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.

The School Garden

The Kitchen consists of a large pot to cook rice, potatoes, etc.

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. 

Monkeys!!!

And for those of you who are eager to see the wildlife here in Kenya...

That's MY reading spot!

I saw a few monkeys run across the students' tent area and up a tree two days in a row, and then finally, I woke up early last week, when down to the Bush School to read a bit, and there were two monkeys exactly where I had planned to sit! Some of the students had left potato chips out the night before, so the monkeys were exploring the area. It was fun to sit and watch them move around like they owned the place!

Primary School Visits and the BWM

Since I’m already a week behind on posts (access to the Internet is not as easy as it sounded since I'm working all day), I think I’ll post a few separate blogs on what I have been doing. Paul, John, and I have been working as a team with the Better Water Maker. It’s been fun working together, but so far, it has mostly consisted of a lot of driving and many meetings. We’ve met with three primary schools in the Gilgil area. We have to meet with the headmaster of each, as well as the head teacher or project manager, which can take some time. It’s interesting to learn about the educational system here, and I’ve been asking a lot of questions. The poverty is so great in Kenya that one might think improvement in the educational system could help.

I’ve had a tour of each school, and the buildings are pretty similar. Most of the older buildings are made of wood, but the newer buildings are typically gray or brown brick, with dirt floors and very basic desks. Some have electricity. There is usually a playground of some sort, which is typically dirt and grass, and often shared with cows, chickens, or goats. Almost everything in the schools is purchased by the community or through some type of charity, many from the United Kingdom. The government is willing to put some money into teachers and the curriculum, but not the actual physical structure of the school, so community effort is imperative.

The classrooms can hold anywhere from 15-90 students… yes, 90! The government has actually set the limit at 50, but there is such a shortage of teachers, that they often need to combine classes for the students. Intermediate students stay longer than the primary students, who leave at around 2:00 each day. Most Kenyans learn three languages- the language of their tribe, Swahili, and English. Lessons in school are taught in English, except for math, which is taught in Swahili. While government schools are free for children, it is important for the students to do well on exams to be accepted into secondary school. 

Every time we enter school grounds, I feel like a movie star! Although there are white Kenyans here, when the kids see my white skin, they get very excited. They wave and crowd around me, welcoming me to their school. Each class formally greets me and then asks me to make an introduction. There is a school visitor’s book at each school to sign, and I have always been invited to come back to teach!

While the newer schools have roofs and drains that collect rainwater and fill large water tanks during the rainy seasons, they don’t have faucets, and there is often no water available during the dry seasons. Kids bring water from the rivers or dams, which are the same locations that washing and animal feeding is done.

In the mornings, I am reading some of my “work” books about technology in education and future-focused schools. In the daytime, I am working to provide clean water in schools. I am between two worlds right now. It’s hard to imagine how these kids will have a chance in a global society, when most of them don’t even have their basic needs met. 

from 7/6/2011

Today, I met my guide for the week, Paul, who works as a facilitator for an NGO called Skills Ventures. He is very helpful in knowing about the communities and groups within Gilgil that have the Better Water Maker and those who would like to have it. There were already five BWM’s out here, and I brought six more with me, a few miscellaneous parts, as well as water testing kits. While Paul and I were having our introductory meeting, I looked up, and there were four warthogs in the grass right by us. Of course, they all ran as soon as I stood up, so there wasn’t a chance for a picture, but Paul said it’s likely that I’ll see plenty more of them. He also pointed out a dik-dik in the bushes, which is a small gazelle-like animal that comes to about my knees.

There is a group of high school students from a boarding school in England who are staying at Malewa Bush Ventures this week. The school, Ardingly, has sent groups to Kenya for the past three years. They have approximately 25 students here who are building and improving two schools (Ndogo and the future Lengalenga secondary school) as well as teaching lessons to the students. I’ll be eating breakfast and dinner with them each day while they are here and then will be cooking on my own next week. The students come from many different countries and the staff members are very welcoming. The kids are very mature and want to know all about our school system. It’s nice to have a bit of company on my first day in Kenya.

After my meeting with Paul, Christine (the owner of Bush Ventures) asked if I could help one of the kitchen staff to prepare her handmade goods be sold to the student group. Most of the Kenyan women over a certain age are often referred to as “Mama”… so I helped Mama Jane wrap and label her aloe soaps and lotions for the students. I had noticed the aloe plants here earlier today- they are huge!

 When I headed up the hill to my cottage tonight, I turned on my flashlight, and there were about 10 dik-diks right in front of me! I’m bundled up for bedtime, as it gets really cold here in the evenings- it is winter in Kenya right now and July is supposedly the coldest month. Off to bed for me!

Arriving in Kenya

7/5/11 (Just got connected to the Internet, so I am posting from a few days ago.)

Jambo, from Kenya! I have arrived! Last night, we landed in Nairobi at around midnight, and much to my surprise, there was a man waiting for me when I picked up my luggage, a taxi driver named Anthony, arranged by Malewa Trust. After a trip to the ATM to take out Kenyan shillings, we were on our way. It takes approximately two hours to travel from Nairobi to Malewa Bush Ventures (towards Naivasha), and fortunately, the city was asleep at midnight, so we were able to travel through it quite quickly. Good thing, because I wasn’t able to sleep on the flights as well as I thought I would and I was exhausted! As my tired eyes started to close about an hour outside of the city, we came to a stop at a police checkpoint and a blue light shined into the taxi. Being a white person in Kenya with a black driver, the police immediately asked if I was on safari and then checked my bags. Seeing the six water pumps, we explained that I was here for meetings and after some questions, we were free to be on our way.

My eyes started to close again, and as I fought the temptation to fall asleep, I saw an unusual sight on the side of the expressway- three camels carrying people and bags. I closed my eyes and opened them again, thinking they must have been horses or something else, but sure enough, the camels were there! Asking my taxi driver if those were indeed camels, he laughed and replied that it was not unusual to have camels there. I have to remember that things in Kenya will likely surprise me often. Shortly after, I thought I saw the backside of something with white and black stripes grazing on the side of the expressway. Not wanting to sound like the bumbling tourist, I didn’t say anything, thinking that this time, it might have been my imagination and lack of sleep. But another twenty minutes into the drive and there on the side of the road, I couldn’t miss a large zebra grazing. The taxi driver pointed it out this time, and even slowed down a bit to let me look. Amazing!

We met the assistant director of Malewa Bush Ventures, Jude (Judy), at a small establishment outside of Gilgil, as she wanted to feed me before I went to bed. Fried chicken (which I struggled to eat because it was on the bone), french fries, and some type of hot vegetables were served. I don’t think my doctor at the travel clinic would be happy with me, as she directed me not to eat any vegetables at all. Since I’m not a big meat-eater, and supposedly Kenyans love their meat, this could be quite a challenge. I think I’ll stick to the rules of washing the vegetables that we learned in Ecuador and Peru instead!

I arrived at Malewa Bush Ventures well after 1:00 am, was shown to my room with two double beds, down comforters, a dresser, desk, etc. It was too good to be true! (And it was… they have since moved me to a cottage at the top of the hill, which is still much nicer than the places I have slept in the past two summer adventures!) Sleep was nice and easy!

BWM Arrival

FedEx arrived today with a very large and very heavy 59 lb. box for me. The water pumps are here! I'll be bringing six Better Water Maker pumps with me to Kenya. The airlines allows you to check two 50-pound bags for international travel, so the other bag will be my clothes, etc. for the month. As my traveling friend, Heidi, reminded me yesterday, I've gotten quite good at packing the second bag over the past few years! It's just hard to look at the same five outfits week after week... 

Getting Ready

I'm hoping to give this a try in order to keep everyone apprised of my trip to Kenya this summer. Depending on my Internet accessibility, I'll post pictures and excerpts along the way. I can't wait!

Last year with the Better Water Maker in San Isidro de Chicon, Peru.