Africa 2

It is amazing how fast the weeks go! This week was the first week I got to spend at the school actually working as a teacher. After one day of watching a couple different teachers instruct a class, I was given my first class to instruct. I had 5/6 math. The 5th grade class was learning to add and subtract liters and milli liters, the 6th grade class was learning basic algebra. It took a bit of practice for me to remember how to do some of the basic math, but I was able to remember all the steps and the students did well listening to me and with their practice problems. I have also taught the 3/4 class, they have mostly been working on getting their multiplication tables down and I had them doing some fun things to practice. My favorite subject to teach has of course been PE (it was my favorite to learn in Elementary school also). This week I brought them their first of 3 new soccer balls that I have for them. The new one was replacing a ball that they had had for a couple months that looked like the soccer ball my dog chases at home. The 1/2 class was the first to get to use the ball, and I was shocked to find out the ball could not even survive a one hour game of bee hive soccer. By the end of the hour the ball still kept shape, but would not stay filled with air. This did not disappoint a single student, because it still had the leather on the outside of it, and of course could still be used. I am glad I didn’t decide to bring all the balls that one day, and now plan to give them the others as this one falls apart. Earlier this year most of the students got Frisbees in a donated back pack, so that was the first new game I taught the 3/4 class. At first I had to go over the very basics, like teaching them it was called a Frisbee (not Plato) and just how to throw it, but by the end of the half hour they were starting to get an understanding of how to throw and catch them. My goal is to eventually teach them a game I am going to call Frisbee Soccer, with rules similar to that of Ultimate Frisbee. It will take some time before they progress to that level with the Frisbees, but these kids are fast learners and really enjoy the new game so far.

Outside of the school things are also going very well. My friend Katie that I met in Alaska this summer, that decided to come down and experience Africa as well, has arrived safely and got to go on an adventure her first day. The two of us, with 3 other volunteers who have been here, that are from Seattle, and some other American students that are here for internships an d college credit, got an opportunity to go visit Maasailand and meet a Maasai family. A local friend of ours Simon, who helped find us our host families, and works with the internship program students, is Maasai, and was kind enough to bring us to meet his family. His family has some 120 acres in the rift valley, that they are working to turn into a resort, with a campground and restaurant. The restaurant is still in the planning stages, but the campground is used often by his family and their friends, and was a beautiful get away from downtown Nairobi. The group of 16 of us traveled by Matatu, and Motorcycle brigade an hour out of the city for our tour of Maasailand. When we arrived at the campground the first thing we did was prepared lunch. By prepare lunch I mean, we killed a goat, drank its blood (I passed), skinned it, then roasted it on a rotisserie. This was quite an experience for everyone, especially Katie who took my bet and helped hold the goat’s legs down as the suffocated it peacefully. The entire process was the traditional “Maasai way”, and was not to horrific, unless you were squeamish (I got over that after a year of anatomy labs in college dissecting humans). After lunch we went on a walk to Simons house, where we met two of his three mothers (it is traditional for Maasai to have multiple wives), and got to go in a couple Maasai houses, built of sticks and dirt, and see their crops, which have been struggling to grow this year due to droughts. The family was very kind and Simon was a great tour guide of the land. It was an experience I will never forget, and Katie will have nightmares about for years to come.

That’s the gist of whats been going on in my life the last week. I do of course have more excititing stories, most of which start with “this one time I was on a Matatu, we almost died because….” But I will save a few of those for a time when I didn’t get to experience as many other awesome things as I did this last week. I hope you are reading this and have exciting daily adventures of your own to share! If not, Africa is a very welcoming society and I would love to see you down here. They can always use volunteers at Hamomi!!!!!