News from Kenya - #4

Journal Entry 4-Day 5

Wednesday March 31, 2010 7.00AM

Yesterday, Tuesday, was another full day. Paul came in the morning and we traveled by car to Kanyamedha Secondary School where he acts as Assistant Principal and teaches English and French. He is a volunteer as there has been a government freeze on the hiring of any new teachers for several years. His principal pays him a small stipend, as does FIOH-USA, for a total salary of about $50 dollars/month.

His school is growing very quickly. It started with only 15 students 4 years ago. There are now over 300 students. There are 10 paid teachers and 4 volunteer teachers. The government moves teachers from one school to another depending on the enrollment of the school. FIOH-USA sponsors 3 students at Kanyamedha School.

I met the principal, Gordon, and he showed me around the school. They have added two new buildings to provide classroom space for the additional students. One is still under construction. The children all wear uniforms and look very neat. The school has electricity.

I visited the well that was funded by FIOH-USA through Ron and Sue Schmitz. It is working well. Once in a great while it goes dry, but fills up again after a few days. They now also have a water catchment tank donated by the Episcopal Church. The rainwater drains off the roof of the school into the tank and is filtered. They hope to be able to lay pipes from the catchment tank to the well to provide continuous water even if the well goes dry for a few days. A good catchment tank system costs about the same as a well and they told me the well is preferred since it uses ground water and is not as dependent on the rain.

I had lunch at the school. They provide the children with breakfast and lunch and for most that is the only food they have all day. Breakfast is porridge and lunch today was kale and ugali. It is usually a vegetable and a starch- ugali or rice. Sometimes they have a mixture of beans and corn.

The schedules at the Day schools are, like boarding school, very long. They have to be at school by 6 AM and do not go home until 6 or 6.30 PM. When I told them our students finish about 3.30PM they all laughed.

All the teachers were very busy marking exams as it was the last day of the term and the children receive their reports tomorrow. In addition to each student being graded- they have to be ranked according to the points they scored for the term. Paul uses his computer to automatically do the ranking. He is quite skilled at using excel.

While Paul was marking and ranking, I was able to chat with the three sponsored students, Emmanuel Onyango, Winnie Sunday, and Beryl Adhiambo. I talked to them one at a time under a tree. The breeze was perfect with a temperature of about 82 F.

Emmanuel is a sophomore and is sponsored by K-Kids at Holmes Elementary School. He is an excellent student and ranked second in his class of 92 this term. Both his parents are dead. He lives about 4.5 miles from school and usually walks. He is the 6^th born of 8. Five of them live together in the usual mud house with an iron sheet roof. His house has only one room. They cook outside. They have access to a borehole well about 1/3 mile from their house. I asked him if there was anything we could do to help him. He stated his eyes burn all the time because he only has a small kerosene lamp that gives off heavy fumes, to study by. He requested a larger lamp and if possible a bicycle so he could travel back and forth to school quickly. Paul and I went shopping last night and bought him a better lantern. I hope to provide the bicycle but want to wait to see some of the other needs I encounter as my time here is just beginning. Emmanuel is very active in the drama and debate clubs and is a prefect at the school library. He won an award as the best male dancer in the drama competition. He hopes to become a pilot and would like to study in the USA. There is a pilot training program in Nairobi and that is probably a more realistic goal. If he cannot be a pilot he would like to be a journalist.

Next I talked to Winnie Sunday, also a sophomore. She lives nearby in Usoma village and is sponsored by Alan and Beth Dye. She is repeating her sophomore year, as she did not score enough points last year to be promoted. She was very ill and missed too much school. Paul explained that the school tries not to have the children repeat, but thought it was in Winnie’s best interest since she missed so much school. She would always have been way behind the other students if she had been promoted.

Winnie has a difficult home life. Her father is an alcoholic “ a drunkard” as Winnie puts it. He is verbally abusive to Winnie all the time and she is very unhappy at home. She would like to attend Kisumu Girls boarding school. We will assist her in looking into that possibility. She may not qualify due to her grades. Paul states she has improved a great deal so far this year and is a hard worker. Winnie is shy and very soft spoken. She would like to be a lawyer or a nurse.

My last chat was with Beryl Adhiambo, a freshman. She is sponsored by Sally Tower. She lives in the village of Kanyamony about 3 miles away and would benefit from a bicycle. Beryl has one brother in grade 7. She leaves home at 5 AM to walk to school. She hopes to be a journalist. Her father is also a “drunkard”. Her mother is what is termed a “casual worker”. She sells eggs and produce when possible to make a few shillings.

I talked with some of the faculty for a little while after chatting with the sponsored students.

The principal, who has his own car, drove us back to the flat and we arrived about 5.45PM. Paul and I started to walk to the bank but it began raining so we detoured to the plaza and used the Internet café to send some emails. We then proceeded to the bank in a soft rain. We went to the seven/ eleven restaurant for dinner and I had whole tilapia and chapati. The fish looks terrible to me but it tasted delicious. I let Paul eat the head area. He says it’s the best part but I don’t like looking at the eye. We shopped a little at the Nakumatt and I got home about 9.00PM. I did some computer/paperwork and went to bed about 10.30PM.

End of Journal entry 4