School Days and Grandmother

It is Friday morning here, and we are preparing to head out to Cura for another round of activities based at Cura Primary School.

Yesterday, our volunteers scattered to various classrooms for some reading and English language lessons led by the teachers of classes one through four. Matt was the official photographer of the event, and we'll hope to be able to post some pictures soon (the connection here too slow to post them effectively now, but I'll try to add them later!).

After reading time, we moved to the field to conduct athletic activities with classes five through eight. The children had an incredible time with the new equipment: a fabric parachute, some bean bags, some hacky sacks, some jump ropes, "fitness dice" and more. It was satisfying to see the kids so happy, but it was even better to hear the teachers express the novelty of this kind of physical education. The Deputy teacher, Stephen Ngotho, was thinking aloud about the ways he could use the materials not only for sport but also in combination with language and math instruction... The materials were inspiring the teachers to bring their instruction outside and into a kinetic form that would resonate with their pupils.

We look forward to more of that today with the younger children and their teachers! We are also eager to get the maps we donated up on the classroom walls. As of yesterday, the rolled bundles of maps were still in the corner of the Headmaster's office, so we're afraid he's less than excited about getting them distributed. We'll keep trying to encourage his enthusiasm for the programs and materials so that he can encourage that tone among the more reluctant teachers, as well.

Our guest yesterday, Bernard Mathu, was a big help in encouraging Mr Njenga (the Headmaster) to embrace our presence---Mr Mathu has a long career in education in Kenya and currently runs a school in Nanyuki (where we'll visit toward the end of our trip). Bernard is also a Rotary member, so he spent the day with us, overviewing the projects in the village and at the Home. He had valuable insights about the work we're doing, and was so impressed with the projects in the village that he's coming back with us today!

One of the most exciting "projects" we saw yesterday was the completed livestock shed and its celebrated inhabitant: Norman. Norman is a very pregnant cow whose milk has been nourishing the Home's family since her arrival. Kenneth explained that, since Norman was welcomed to her new home, the Home has not purchased a drop of milk, saving 3000KSh (about $40) per month. This is an enormous benefit to the Home financially, and the milk is sweet and delicious and fresh! (I sucked down two creamy cups of tea at the end of the day, so you can take my word for it.)

The upstairs occupants of Norman's home are noisy and busy... and on the verge of providing eggs for the Home and for sale to the community! The hundred or so hens will start laying in a month, and the ten original "roasters" have already provided chicken dinners for the children. The Board members are doing a spectacular job at managing the livestock and the shamba (small vegetable farm) so that they feed the children first and then provide potential for surplus to sell. We're hoping to add rabbits to this mix very soon, of course.

Lest one think that rural farming is all that's going on in Cura these days, I should mention that I also delivered two laptops and a large selection of educational software yesterday... one laptop for Moses (to help with his record-keeping and communications) and the other for Scola (to help with her computer lab instruction and the management of the Pen Pal program). We're excited about the prospects once Cura is more fully "wired."

The day ended with a visit from Evelyn Mungai, the one who started it all, and her husband and deputy, Mike Eldon. When the children found out that she was coming, they couldn't contain their excitement to see what "Grandmother" would be bringing them. (Biscuits from Nakumatt, as it turns out.) Our group had a lovely meeting with Evelyn and Mike, updating one another on the projects we've been working on and the observations we're making. Lovely Evelyn invited each person to talk about her/his experience in Cura so far... and the reactions were uniformly, thoroughly positive and filled with gratitude.

Malik, our driver, is waiting for us in the lot as I write, so I must run. More soon.
H