The Realities of Early Childhood Education in Rural, Rural Kenya

Oh yes, I managed to get one last blog in before I hand over my work, thank my colleagues, hug my friends and Kenyan family, and board a plane to Canada.

I had the opportunity to travel 2 hours outside of Mombasa  - which is a big deal for me since I’ve been swimming and almost drowning in School Profiles – to attend a CIT Review Meeting in Samburu.  CIT stands for Cluster Implementation Team, which comprises of trainers whom we have trained to roll out Active Learning workshops, follow-up, and support with preschool teachers.  (A cluster is a unit of organization of schools by location to be more easily managed and visited.)  These preschool teachers come from 255 schools, many of which are in very rural areas.  When you finish reading this blog, hopefully you will have a better picture in your mind of what ‘rural’ really means in Kenya.

On the road to Samburu

The Review Meeting was held for the CIT to provide challenges, success stories, and experiences after visiting, observing, and mentoring preschool teachers who had been trained in Active Learning.  The exercise was to see how the teachers were managing with their newly acquired skills and tools.

Let me start with two quotes that not only caught my attention, but really got me thinking about education in Kenya compared to Canada, and even China.

“I’ve become lazy because no one is coming to visit me.  If you come more, I can become better.” - Preschool teacher in Samburu district as quoted by CIT member.

“I didn’t prepare lesson plans and schemes because no one was coming to observe my teaching.” - Another preschool teacher in Samburu district, as quoted by CIT member.

Early Childhood Education and Development (ECDE) is a relatively new concept in Kenya. An official government policy and manual for ECDE from the Ministry of Education was drafted, signed, and distributed only two years ago.  Many preschool teachers among whom we work with closely as a school support organization have yet to read it and internalize it, even though MRC,K distributed them early last year. 

Many parents in Kenya view preschool as daycare or a place to send their kids to get used to the idea of school.  Awareness of the importance of the first five years of a child’s development and learning is very low.  Many of the villages I have visited around the area have children working alongside their parents in local shops, or walking long distances to help fetch water, or simply staying at home until they reach primary school age. 

Public primary education was declared free in Kenya a few years ago (get out there and watch the movie “The First Grader, I have yet to see it but it’s based on a true story).  However, infrastructure and resources never followed that declaration to accommodate the masses of children enrolling.   So picture a small classroom with 120 students, one poorly paid teacher, one non-paid Parent Teacher Assistant (PTA), a shortage of desks, and a shortage of books.  All too often, primary teachers have children teach other children as a system of classroom management, and many fall through the cracks.

Early Childhood Education, or preschools, are not free (but a few exceptions here and there), but if you can picture how bereft of resources the primary system is – you can only imagine what rural preschools are facing.  And I also would like to note here that for the large part, preschool is not free.  ECD centres either charge monthly or termly school fees, or they are attached to primary schools and the district education board is able to put aside a small amount of money to pay teacher salaries and provide infrastructure.

Which brings me back to the two quotes I earlier mentioned. Preschool teachers in Kenya, especially in rural areas, are often forgotten and left behind.  Their classrooms are nonexistent and ‘class’ is taught under a tree, or they do have a classroom but it is doubly functioning as a staff room or a storage closet.  At the review meeting in Samburu, it was reported that one teacher had 168 students in a mud-walled, palm-leaf thatched, sand-floored classroom.  The teacher could not walk around the classroom, and some children were sitting outside the doorway. The district can only afford to pay for one teacher, and I doubt the parents are able to pay any school fees.  This school in particular is located two hours (by boda boda/ motorcycle) from a main highway – in the middle of nowhere. 

Truly rural life

This might explain why preschool teachers in rural areas don’t give 100% in their teaching efforts.  It might explain why they become ‘lazy’ and don’t write lesson plans.  It might also explain why they become excited when someone does come and visit to provide support and guidance.

In Canada, to work as an ECD teacher or professional, you need a 4 year certificate course under your belt.  In China, you need a four year degree and a teacher’s certificate.  In both instances, you are paid fairly well, are monitored fairly closely, have more than enough classroom materials, and have frequent interaction with parents. 

In Kenya, the awareness level of the importance of ECD is very low. Teachers are paid between $10 to $30 a month, if at all, and are ignored for the most part. Preschool is treated as free daycare.  But the amazing thing out of all of this, is once these teachers were trained in Active Learning methods and visited for support, they expressed that they will make a better effort.  All they really needed was to be recognized. 

So to follow the above quotes, a CIT member reflected, “Now that we have visited them, these teachers want change, they are accepting change.” That’s one small step for a preschool teacher in rural Samburu, and one giant leap for ECD in Kenya’s marginalized areas.

A Week in the Field: Getting Schooled

Last week was exhausting, dusty, hot, stressful, and quite amusing.

We, at the MRC,K, have been undergoing a large roll-out of activities under new funding.  We are partnering with another local organization East Africa Quality in Early Learning (EAQEL) – which also falls under the umbrella of the Aga Khan Development Network.   Together they are providing their expertise in teaching and learning methods to ECD centres attached to primary schools and primary schools, in hopes of improving education in rural Kenya.  While EAQEL is focused on the Reading To Learn method (a method I don’t particularly like, but apparently gets results), the MRC,K team is conducting workshops on Active Learning.

A little background info:

- Reading to Learn – It is a method of literacy in which you begin with a larger paragraph, and work your way down to a single word. In essence, it’s a top-down analytical tool to help children understand the context of the language, in all its forms.

- Active Learning – An unfamiliar concept to the Kenyan education system, whereby children learn from their environment.  Classroom materials should be colourful, attractive, and highly visible.  Children should be free to manipulate objects to feel their shape and texture.  Children should be active in their learning through song, dance, and play.  The teacher’s role is to support and facilitate learning - not lecture – while providing an environment that is conducive to active learning.

Participant displays her group work on lesson planning.

Each organization trained trainers (a mix of education officials, primary teachers, and ECD teachers) and we sent them on their merry way to plan and execute a week long training session of their own for local ECD teachers.  My colleague and I happened to be paired with a slightly difficult group.  While I had worked with the facilitators earlier on (conducting a workshop on facilitation skills no less), I was noticing my facilitators were not facilitating: they were being teachers.  We had discussed this in our workshop, and I made it clear to them that facilitators do not lecture, but instead support a group to come to its own ideas and provide suggestions when needed -  much like the Active Learning methodology we were illustrating, and why we were there in the first place.  However, to no avail, a facilitator we had trained took almost 4 hours to deliver a 2 hour session.  This foreshadowed the rest of the day with inactive participants, tired looking facilitators, and a very impatient intern.

Facilitator leads group work.

Learning about Child Development

A sample Lesson Plan

On top of that we discovered various complaints were going around about food provisions (we provided lunch), soda provisions (soda or pop was provided with the lunch), fare provisions (we provided transport fare for participants to reach the workshop), break provisions (we may have lost out on some time for breaks), and materials provisions (we provided markers, scissors, bristol board, yarn, etc).

What also surprised me was our facilitation team, a team of professionals, were just as grumpy. 

I could see this negative energy was feeding throughout the facilitation team, into the participants themselves.  I could only hope things would improve in the coming days.  My colleague and I did our best to encourage and support them during a feedback session at the end of the day.  However, as I said, this was a particularly difficult group.

I didn’t get home until 9 pm that first day.

The 2^nd and 3^rd days were slightly easier and we were finishing up earlier each time (meaning I was getting home by 6 or 7pm). 

On a slight side note, I’ll tell you another story before I finish this one.  I was ‘taking tea’ with an education official (in Kenya you don’t say drinking or eating, you take things.  It still confuses me sometimes).  She was asking about my life in Canada, my family, etc, and I happened to mention that my younger brother was really into Geology.  Her response was, “There are rocks in Canada?”. While I was impressed she understood what Geology was, I was quite taken aback at her question.  I smile, laugh and explain that yes, there are rocks in Canada. She went on, “Are there trees? Are there bushes? This is not how I picture Canada...”    No matter how open and aware I can be,  no matter how many ‘cultural sensitivity’ trainings I attend, no matter how much Swahili I try to learn,  it’s ironic and surprising to me that I found myself explaining to a seemingly highly educated government official that rocks, trees, and bushes exist in a place called Canada.

The final two days of our week in supervising the Active Learning workshop, I was left to my own devices as my colleague took her maternity leave.  I was in charge of providing feedback, supporting the facilitation team, doling out fare reimbursements, and fielding concerns, questions, and complaints.

Participants preparing materials for Active Learning classroom.

Materials on display (notice they are locally available: stones, coconut shells, sticks, and bottle tops.)

I learned that no matter how much you give, in terms of materials, food, sodas, and money for transit – people will always want more.  I don’t know if it’s a result of handouts – a symptom of International Aid - or if it’s a testament to the realities of poverty in rural Kenya – with rising food and gas prices - or simply a mode of survival in a country where social welfare, social security, and good governance barely exist. 

It’s interesting to me, after all these years of academic study on International Development, Capacity Building, and Foreign Aid, that – in terms of educational development - it all comes down to training and how that training is actually implemented.  So really, it all comes down to individual choice.  I am interested to see in the coming weeks when we do mentoring and support visits to these schools, if these teachers are beginning to use Active Learning methods in their classrooms.  It would be more interesting to see if our team of facilitators will also use these tools.

I also learned that my trusty thesis advisor and grad school mentor fully prepared me for dealing with aggressive individuals and managing conflict. (Thank you, Jim!)

I learned that your health can quickly deteriorate under stressful, hot, humid, and dusty conditions. 

And, that while there may be people in Canada who believe that Africa is one whole country, without cars and electricity, with people dancing around in loin cloths beside mud huts – well you can only imagine how some Africans may picture Canada.

Graduation Goggles

It's been a while since I last posted, and while I began my fellowship with the ambition of writing a blog per week, things have become so routine for me that I'm finding less to write about.

I have six week left here in Mombasa, Kenya, finishing up the most fulfilling work experience of my life.  Knowing that my time is winding down and definitely feeling ready to come home, I have been reflecting on what this whole experience has meant to me.

I had a sneaky realization that I may be experiencing "Graduation Goggles".   Urban Dictionary defines this as: "When you are ready to quit something but then start seeing it in a new and positive light".  I'm not saying I went into this with a negative attitude, wishing it to be over as soon as possible.  But there have been challenges and changes in myself that I never expected.

Not your regular office job.

So I guess what I am saying is that I definitely have mixed feelings about leaving Kenya, my job, my colleagues, my friends, my 'mama', my aunties, and the entire community I have come to be a part of during my 7 months here.

I have learned a lot: about Kenyan politics, corruption, international aid, the Kenyan education system, poverty, religion, spirituality, community dynamics, NGOs, partnerships, and field work.

I have developed relationships, created bonds, shared laughs, and had a fair share of frustrations.

I think most of all, I have surprised myself.

I can't wait to see what's in store for the next 6 weeks.

Safaris, Bumpy Roads, Bus Accidents, Beaches, and Wedding Planning

Safari actually means “journey” in Kiswahili - which is what I would describe as my recent whirlwind tour of Kenya accompanied by my better half.

The Great Rift Valley

Let me first say that booking a safari is a dizzying experience.  There are too many companies out there offering a million different kinds of safaris – from super duper luxury, to good ol’ fashioned camping. Secondly, I highly recommend Gametrackers Safaris if you are on a tight budget.  But we got extremely lucky:  we had the jeep to ourselves (no other pesky tourists who we have to play ‘small-talk’ with the entire time), we had the driver to ourselves which meant we called the shots on scheduling game drives, and we had the entire camp to ourselves and therefore were upgraded from a tent to a very rustic cabin.  Everything went extremely smoothly.

Talek River Campsite

Our cabin

Giraffes

After a 6 hour drive – with the last two very bumpy hours on what used to be a road at one point in time, we arrived at our camp.  Next – our first game drive during sunset....

Thompson's Gazelles and Topi 

  

My favourite

Buffalo

Hippo

Cheetah

   

Zebra

The Masaai Mara Safari experience in one word?       Surreal. 





We felt like dogs in a car with the windows down, standing up in the jeep, under the pop-up roof, sticking our heads out while we sped past a sea of tall grass.

It was addicting, and I kind of wish I was still up there, my tongue hanging out (ok not really);  the fresh smells of, well, fresh air; the cool breeze on my face; my eyes on the lookout for animals.  It was peaceful, quiet, and breathtakingly beautiful. MILES away from the offensive dust, smells, heat, chaos, and noise of Mombasa city.  What a perfect time to catch up with your long lost fiancé after 5 and ½ months apart, and really start thinking about the wedding that is fast approaching.

While we both went with no expectations (I only wanted to see a family of elephants, and a hippo with it's mouth open; my better half kept hoping for a rhino charging a hyena followed by a cheetah), we didn't expect to see so many animals seemingly popping out of nowhere in the vast expanse of the Mara grasslands.  We met a troupe of British tourists who thought otherwise. They seemed to have rented their own vehicle to go on a private safari and they stopped to ask our guide for the latest sightings.

British guy "Any thing around here this evening?"
Our guide "There's a pack of lions asleep over that way"
British guy "Another  lion?!? Are there any other animals in this place?"


We had to laugh. His last quote was used widely throughout the safari. 

Just another lion

Our next ‘safari’ was the aptly estimated 6-10 hour bus ride from Nairobi to Mombasa.  After reading in the newspaper each and every week of fatal bus accidents on the very highway we would venture on,  I decided it was crucial to take a day bus. Aside from the benefits of arriving in one piece, the scenery of the countryside was a plus.

While my fears were laid aside because of the strategic planning of traveling by day, an impromptu conversation with the hotel staff in Nairobi brought them back.  We were given quite the education on bus companies: which ones usually crash, which ones change their company name without a license to do so to ward of bad press, which ones call the press after a bus crash in order to bring down the competition, the unspoken rules of competition between transport trucks and busses while en route...  and then adding “Oh but you’ll be fine, you’re taking a day bus, it’s very good. You won’t crash.”    Thanks buddy...

While en route, I was looking out the window at these mountains and thought to myself – I wonder if we could see Kilimanjaro from the road? And there amongst the clouds, I could see it: the snows of Uhuru Peak (as the locals call it)– totally worth the $18 bus ticket and the threat of an untimely death.  

If you look closely enough, under the clouds you can see Mt. Kilimanjaro behind the dark mountains

Side note: My partner in crime counted nine, NINE accidents on our route.

After a whirlwind one day tour of Mombasa, by tuk tuk and matatu of course – we were headed to the pristine white sands and turquoise waters of Diani beach.  This is where we can finally be lazy, relax, eat lots of seafood, and take long walks on the beach.

Diani Beach

After the most amazing experience I’ve ever had snorkelling in Watamu National Marine Park  - where I was no more than 3 feet away from amazing coral and hundreds of colourful fish – I booked us a tour to Wasini Island, an hour south of Diani, to snorkel in the Kisite National Marine Park. 

As part of the tour, we all got into a dhow (an Arabic boat), sailed around the island, watched for dolphins, and snorkelled in the coral reef.  While it wasn’t quite the experience as I had in Watamu, we had a great time floating above the coral clusters and watching the fish play. 

Also part of the tour was a seafood bazaar lunch followed by a ‘lazy lagoon’ saltwater pool and hammocks and beds to nap in.

These magic moments...

Apart from finally seeing the love of my life for the first time in 5 and ½ months, this was truly the highlight of my time here in Kenya. The safari experience especially is something so much more than what you’d see on t.v. or in pictures.  I say definitely put that one down on the bucket list.

Pay It Forward

If I’ve learned one thing on this internship, it has been compassion and kindness.

It still boggles my mind is that, who I now refer to as my Mombasa mama, has welcomed a complete stranger into her home for 8 months and continues to look out for my well-being.  She has introduced me to amazing people who are now good friends and she has shown nothing but selflessness in getting me adjusted to Mombasa life.

I was recently very sick and even hospitalized.  While the staff could have learned a thing or two about bedside manner, I was shocked when not only my entire office came by to see how I was, but also members of the board, and friends and neighbours.  It was an overwhelming experience for me, and I wondered how many colleagues, neighbours, and friends would visit me in the hospital back in Canada if I were only admitted for a day or two.

The care and concern for someone they had only met four months ago was baffling to me.  They sat and waited for word from the doctor, they yelled at nurses and hospital staff, they brought flowers and food, they brought their kind words.

All I know how to repay them for these acts of kindness is to pay it forward, and spread the word to others to do the same.   In our society we’re too locked into our own personal lives that we barely know our neighbours. And we usually don’t like hanging around our co-workers once the work day has ended. 

I know I will come home with a renewed sense of compassion for the people around me – even if they are strangers.

'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)