'Til I Am Myself Again

Well it’s been a crazy few weeks and I’m writing now that I feel I’ve finally got both feet back on the ground. 

 

First off, I was swept away to the vacation destination of Watamu, on the North Coast, by my fabulous cousin.  I survived my first scuba diving experience, hiked in the last remaining coastal forest in Kenya, toured Swahili ruins, floated in the surreal underwater playground of Watamu National Marine Park, and ate glorious food.

Here are some fishies I saw! (Again not my own pictures-all credit goes to Google):

Angel Fish

Eel

Surgeon Fish

Lion Fish

Parrot Fish

Shortly thereafter I returned to work only to find myself on the side of the road in the hot sun, awaiting rescue after the MRC vehicle broke down.  And then, the rescue matatu taking me home also broke down.  Turned out to be an even luckier next day when I came down with malaria whilst awaiting my 5 am flight to Nairobi to process my work visa. Enter one of the longest days of my life, which we won’t dwell on.  With bad luck running out, I discovered it was a less severe case of malaria, and then I found myself in the comfort of a blissful +15 degree climate (compared to +40), snuggled on a couch, watching ‘the X Factor’ on cable T.V.   

I  was in  heaven. 

Once feeling able to walk (slowly), we got to check out the Nairobi National Museum and other sights.   The best parts of the trip (other than the couch and the fact that I could comfortably wear jeans and a sweater) were the Elephant Orphanage and the Giraffe Centre.  Being in a state of delirium and general dizziness, I didn’t quite catch the details on the Elephant Orphanage, but here are some pictures:  (Yes these ones I took)

Feeding time!

The little one is 2 weeks old.

A new family.

Elephant cam!

From what I understood, these orphans (as young as 2 weeks, and as old as 2 months) are victims of poachers, animal-human conflict, and climate change.

And here are some giraffes that we got to feed:

Slurp

A kissable face?

Extreme close-up!

I think they are orphaned giraffes, but my brain was pretty cloudy at this point.


Oh and there were tortoises too:

After two more days to re-cooperate, I’m happy to say I’m back to normal, back to reality, back to work, and have two feet firmly planted in Kenya for another 4 months.  Cheers to the halfway mark!

A Typical Day Part 2

So, I thought I’d make this a two-part series, as a typical day just isn’t all that typical for me in my fellowship. Today, which was a whole world apart from yesterday, is such an example.

                I knew today was a ‘field’ day, and after some experience I now know how to be prepared for such voyages. I make sure I take plenty of provisions: food, water, toilet paper, sunscreen, Advil, a fully charged phone and camera, a notebook, and a pen.  You never know when you’ll return, and you never know what you might see. (One day we ran into a green mamba snake – the cousin of the most deadly snake in the world: the black mamba).

Mwambara Primary School
(The preschool is sharing space within the primary building)

               

                  I was prepared also to interview the teacher in order to write a School Profile. I explained what that was last post.  What many people would not be prepared for was to suddenly find themselves single-handedly taking over an entire preschool while the teacher attended a meeting.

                Only one teacher was present upon our arrival. Many of you (especially teachers) will gasp when I tell you that she was managing a class of 64 students –somehow, all at once.  So imagine, 64 kindergartners (from about 3-5 years old) all staring wide-eyed at me as I introduced myself as their substitute teacher for the day.  How was I?  I was excited, full of ideas, and ready to go.

The teacher had them in three groups, working on a puzzle of pictures of fruit.  I could see fruit was the theme of the day.  I set to work, going from group to group to see if they could identify the fruit in English.  Their puzzle skills weren’t on par, but we managed to work on ‘banana’, ‘tomato’, ‘pineapple’, and ‘mango’ among others.  Things were going well as they stayed in their groups, but a few minutes after the teacher left, the groups became less distinct and kids just kind of piled onto me. 

Figuring out the puzzle.

Learning from my visits to other schools and from my previous experience teaching kindergarten, I changed the game plan and grabbed some picture books. “One two, make a circle” is the mantra for Kenyan kindergartners if you must know.  Like magic, the kids were shouting the mantra, gathering around me, and sitting down. 

Reading a story book in Kwale District, Mombasa can be hot and tiring. Kids were sitting down at one point, but next thing I know they are piling onto me again - each trying to get closer, either to me or to the pictures in the book, we’ll never know.  I’m sweating buckets, I’m trying my best to keep them seated, and all the while reading the story as best I can to show everyone the pictures. 

With story time over, the mantra comes in handy yet again. “One, two” is all I have to say. “Make a circle,” they reply.   I am attempting to get the kids, all 64 of them, in a large circle standing up around the classroom.  It’s as difficult as it sounds. I think about 15 minutes later, we were ready for song time.  Knowing that the hokey pokey would take hours to teach them, I threw out “Happy and You Know It” hoping they were happy, and that they did know it.  Success.  I then tried my all-time favourite song I used in China: “Hello Hello How Are You”.   Before you know it we’re singing “This is the Way I Brush My Teeth”.

I was lucky.  I had a super-star assistant next to me who knew most of the songs and sang them loud and clear, leading her fellow pupils along. Once I ran out of ideas, and I glanced around the classroom with that almost panic of “Ok what’s next?”   My lovely assistant  whispered something into my ear.  Unfortunately, not being fluent in Kiswahili, I had no idea what she was saying.  But I had a feeling it was song related. I urged her in English to go for it, to sing her heart out.  And she did, after I managed to charade the message out.  She led the whole class into a round of Kiswahili Kindergarten songs.

The singing was over, and the teacher was still away. Ok, blackboard time.  Let’s talk about fruit.  I put my artistic skills to the test and drew some fruit. If you can tell me how a papaya and a mango, or a apple and tomato differentiate in appearance -  please do tell.  Otherwise, the kids seemed to figure it out.  We identified the fruit and counted out loud.  We did this for what felt like ten minutes, and then I was lost for more ideas, hoping that the teacher would stick her head in the door.  She didn’t.  But then something amazing happened...

 The children grabbed their notebooks and pencils, and sat quietly in front of the blackboard, studying it.  I watched them for a while. They were copying down my hopelessly creative blackboard renditions of mangoes and apples, and writing down the words ‘apple’ and ‘mango’ as well as the number of mangoes and apples they could see. 

Copying down our fruit work.

                

I can't get over how well they behaved.

                   

    

            Afterwards, they came to me, one by one, gallantly presenting their work and seeking approval.  I made sure they could repeat the words as I pointed to them and count all of the apples, oranges, and papayas.   After saying “nzuri sana” (very good) for what felt like a million times and losing a few more litres of sweat, I finished up my day as Teacher Kristy at Mwambara Preschool.

How many apples are there?

Group Shot!
(Left: teacher; Upper Left: Head Teacher and School Committee Chief)

A Typical Day

           A good friend of mine enthusiastically recommended I write about a typical day here at the Madrasa Resource Centre.  First off, I’m amazed at how interested you are, my friend - and thanks for idea as I was running low on them. Secondly, remember I do have an office job and I think the honeymoon stage has faded away after three months of being here.  So... just a warning that my life isn’t always filled with monkeys, bumpy field trips in the countryside, or singing the hokey pokey. (I only wish!)

 I searched around in my brain to find a few examples of a ‘typical’ day. Not every day is the same – and I often come to the office not knowing what to expect.   Today, for example is an ‘office’ day. With no field trips or major meetings going on, we usually stay in the office and catch up on writing reports. I also take advantage of this time to check email, read the local news, snoop on Facebook to keep in the loop with friends and family, and drink coffee.

The office I share with another colleague who works closely with School Committee Members.

       
         
           My alarm wakes me up at 5:30 most mornings.  I slowly crawl out of my mosquito net, throw on my running gear, grab my mp3 player, and head out the door with who is now known as my ‘Mombasa mama’- you all know her as Ms.N.  I’m still half-asleep as she careens in and out of potholes and around tuk tuks and matatus.  We arrive at the Mombasa Sports Club, climb out and set off for our morning run/walk for an hour.  When we get home, I have exactly 35 minutes to get ready for work. Then I’m out the door to jump into my mama’s friend’s car – who is now becoming my ‘auntie’ – and we careen in and out of potholes, around tuk tuks, and almost get T-boned by several matatus before I jump out in front of our office.

Tuk tuk

           A quick ‘jambo’ (Greetings) and ‘habari za asubuhi’ (Good morning) to the guard and his posse at the front door, then I climb up the stairs and greet every single person in the office (as per the proper custom) before I finally settle in for the day. Today I am working on a School Profile and a case study on Islamic Integration.  As a Communication and Documentation Fellow, I do a lot of reporting and research on schools. (I’ve also become the official photographer at any kind of event).  A School Profile is a snapshot of a preschool that we work with, complete with pictures and quick facts on enrolment and school fees.  These not only serve as narrative data for internal uses, but also for promotional and informational tools for visitors or potential donors.

            The case study on Islamic Integration is an exciting opportunity for me to learn about diversity and pluralism in rural Kenya, as well as a chance to put my research skills to good use.  Being originally a Muslim organization that provides support to Muslim communities, the Madrasa Resource Centre (MRC) has begun working with communities that are also Christian oriented.  The main point is that MRC works with marginalized Muslim communities and those among who live. There are a few schools in which there is a Christian majority among the students.   While this is of no concern to staff at MRC, there is curiosity from the upper echelons about how schools manage an Islamic-oriented curriculum with Christian students.  (In previous blogs, I explained how core Islamic principles are taught in the madrasa preschools as part of the curriculum. Islamic principles are a main foundation for the preschools that we support).

            My job is to interview School Management Committees and teachers in preschools that are identified as having a substantial amount or majority of Christian students.   The idea is to showcase best practices in managing diversity and pluralism, while also identifying major challenges and any need for further support.  It is a very exciting and interesting topic to be a part of, as religious differences around the world have created so much antagonism, disruption, and violence. But here, in rural Kenya, in a preschool no less, I am witnessing a microcosm of how communities from two different religious affiliations can peacefully coexist.

           One particular school, for example, has only 5% Muslim children enrolled, the rest are Christian.  The School Management Committee (SMC) consists of a 50:50 ratio of Christians to Muslims. When asked about managing diversity, especially with the part of the curriculum that is Islamic-based, a SMC member simply replied: “Religion should not be an issue. Why can’t we integrate two religions together in harmony?”  As it turns out, in this particular preschool, core Islamic principles are put aside and only very broad religious concepts are integrated into the curriculum.  Cross-cutting themes such as prayer, morals, and manners are taught to accommodate both Christian and Muslim students alike.

            Upon finishing my interviews, I am left with the simple yet vital notion that for this community the healthy development of their children trumps any differences, religious or otherwise. It is a great feeling to see a community take ownership of their school and manage it in their own unique and harmonious way.

             Oh and what else do I do on an ‘office day’?  Well if you must know, I’m attempting to reboot the Operating System on my useless Blackberry, uploading pictures from yesterday’s field visit to the internal office network, and checking up on the printer guys to see if the community calendars that I designed are ready to be sent to out. Often, colleagues drop by and throw more tasks at me (e.g. proofreading, attending meetings, or taking more pictures), give me a fly-by Kiswahili lesson, practice sign language with me (we were given an ad-hoc training session last month), ask me for computer help, or just chat and joke about life. This is a prime example of how a working environment can feel like a family.

One day a pigeon stopped by...

Street view from our office - a Hindu Temple

At 5 pm, after a long day of staring at my laptop and attempting to communicate in three different languages (English, Kiswahili, and signing), I say ‘tuonana kesho’ (See you tomorrow) to everyone, hitch a ride with my carpool or take an exhilarating and bumpy tuk tuk to my compound, and settle in for the evening.  It is not advisable to go anywhere once the sun sets, especially alone.  So I stay in, chat about life and eat dinner with my Mombasa mama (usually curry and rice), read a book, reflect, do some stretches or yoga, or throw on some downloaded TV before slipping inside my mosquito net of a cocoon, never really knowing what the next day will bring.

Quiet reflection.