Kiddos & the Schools by Alondra Duran

Today was day 5 of the trip, and it was the first time I was able to sleep until my alarm woke up! Breakfast was very mellow, and our departure time was pushed back so I had another coffee. Once it was time to head out, we all loaded up in the vans. They all have fun covers on them and seeing the different patterns are fun. Rachel was updating the collective Google document where we are writing down common Swahili phrases. It is a learning curve but it is really fun being able to communicate with the locals in their language. I think my favorite interaction I’ve had so far is with the guy that makes the breakfast in the morning, Casmir, because since I can count on seeing him every morning, I have learned how to say your typical good morning pleasantries and he’s funny and nice in giving me feedback. He also makes some mean fried eggs. We arrived at the school and so many kids came running out. A part from it being a whole new experience, it was overwhelming. Even in the U.S. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many kids at once. I learned that because foreigners are seen so few and far between, they want to touch and feel your skin to almost see if you’re real. I became a high five machine. Other classmates had their hair touched, since they also rarely come across that hair type.

Originally, we planned to join them during their recess should they be free and help with the school building projects, but the rain and their exam schedule made the former difficult at first. When interacting with the children, I saw classmates teach the children the “heads knees and toes” song, I blowed bubbles to the groups with another classmate, and others taught them some English words. The bubbles I later learned disbanded the crowd that was building around the students who were building the desks, which was causing concern. The building projects included laying down cement flooring and covering it with a red clay liquid to harden and last for many years to come. There was also a group hammering wood together to build desks. We were told that there was a desk shortage, of which was very apparent when we sat inside a classroom, which held likely over 100 students. The children were fun to interact with.

At first, I tried to great them in Swahili, but that didn’t illicit much of a response. I then learned that the kids being children of Maasais, they spoke their own language in Maasai, so I learned how to say hello, thank you, and goodbye. While unsure of the actual spelling, the phonetic spelling is Takuenia, Ashe, and Serena, respectively. Once I learned and spoke those words, all of a sudden there was so much more joy and excitement within the kids than what I thought was already at an all time high. The high fives and the fist bumps increased exponentially. I also had the opportunity to interact with the teachers, cooks, and head staff. I tried to impress them by Google-translating pleasantries and while I did good in greeting and introducing myself, responding to them left me at a blank, but at least that made them laugh and tell me that my attempts are really good. One of them also spoke Spanish, and asked me to teach him some words! I also saw the teachers grading the exam that was administered, an English language exam. We had the same interactions and it was fun to learn more Maasai words as they taught me. A non profit organization has provided this school school with the resources to give the kids lunch, porridge. I saw it being made, and it was primarily made from water, corn flour, milk, sugar, and nuts. Each batch was probably over 100 Kg of ingredients. The children all had a little cup tied to their belt, and that is where they are fed the porridge.

Before this was done generally, attendance at the school was an issue, but once they started providing the porridge, the attendance rate went from around 40%, to 80-90%, doubling the amount of kids coming to school. The school itself was a government school. The government provides the building and teachers, and the students buy their uniform and supplies. Non profit organizations fill some gaps such as the ingredients to provide food. We learned that one of the biggest issue was having sufficient teachers, due to the low salaries. Teachers have to go to 3 years of schooling, will be placed by the government for their job, and are generally paid more or less $140 a month to teach. They will sometimes get housing provided, but not always. The school day goes from 7 AM to 3 PM generally. Most kids are walking to school, taking many subjects. The youngest child may be 5, and the oldest may be 12 or 13. I learned that because most children may not have a birth certificate, schools rely on the word of the family for their age, or do a fun test where they have the child reach their hand over their head to reach their ear.

To be able to reach their ear means the child is six or older, if not then they are younger. We also learned that around 95% of the children move from primary to secondary school, and that advancement is determined by an annual test administered by the government. For those that do not advance, they can repeat the year but we were told that they generally stop going to school if they don’t advance. Some of the problems that we learned about is that boys are not going to school as much as the girls are, largely because they are still expected to work the fields and care for the animals. Families may also not enroll their daughters as they want them to marry sooner rather than later. What is viewed as a problem to us but not locally is corporal punishment. It is still allowed here, and can even be administered by the students. If a student is doing so, it is because they are elected as a class leader of sorts, and for the year they are able to administer corporal punishment with a stick, teachers get a belt, and they are allowed to give three hits per instance. Secondly, the children also sometimes have markings on their face, typically burned on, that represent what clan they come from. These marking are allowed. The government tried to stop this, but since it is so engrained in the culture, it is very difficult to prevent this practice.

After going to the school, we came back to the OutPost to quickly regroup and get ready to head out to the fabric store! Ernest, the main dude, bestie, the guy, accompanied us with his wife as she is the well versed one to go to the fabric store. The store had many many fabrics, and I was looking through so many patterns that it was hard to choose. Ultimately I didn’t purchase anything because I didn’t have a specific style in mind and no pattern spoke to me strongly, so I am going back to the drawing board to see what I like to go back to the store with a more concrete plan in mind! For those that did find patterns that they like, we next went to the tailor and seamstress to at least get their stuff started. I think for my item I will do pants because I am such a fun pants and simple top girlie, and these patterns would make it perfect. Once back at the OutPost, I took my laundry to be washed and I regrouped with students to hang out before dinner. Tonight’s dinner spot will be Indian! A little bit before we left for dinner, there was some debriefing on what we saw today. The biggest takeaway I think is how we cannot measure everything up to western standards. Such standards to measure comfort and success is incredibly subjective, and wanting to make a difference is more about asking and listening rather than trying to fix things up to our own standards.

We made our way to the restaurant and it was an Indian restaurant in a hotel. Today we hosted Ernest’s sister as well who has had her whole career in education. She was a teacher, head master, and director of education. She is soft spoken, but she was very insightful with her previous experience and perspective. She answered all of our questions and then some, really letting us pick her brain. I specifically asked about the current situation with girls attending school and whether or not period poverty affects that. I learned that there is a big push for schools to have special bathrooms supplies with pads for these girls, so that they do not have to miss school. This is primarily provided for by non profit organizations. We also had a nice conversation about our families and shared stories about them. As for dinner, I ordered the butter chicken and rice, and it came in a neat little container. We also go around at the end of the night to talk about our highs for the day, and mine was definitely the reaction of the children once I learned how to greet them in their language.

Overall, today was a very grounding experience. We may have had fun on Safari but today was the first day of the real fun (for us at least). It really got me thinking about how if we want to make change, it really can’t be a one-size-fits-all approach. Each community has specific needs and specific resources to fill those needs, and part of being a big help should be helping implement the change that they not only need, but can self-sustain as well. I am really looking forward to the following days to help build upon the knowledge I have only ever learned from reading assignments, with actual on the field experiences.