When you have to go!

Had to do a silly post: remember all actors portrayed in these photos are not professional and not paid for their participation!

So let's talk toilets.

At the Area 2 school, they did have toilets for the teachers and students (well except for the cement wall the the boys) and all Kim wanted to do was to get a picture of the toilet that no one (particularly the ladies) was really fond of using. Unfortunately the kids thought she wanted a photo of them! The teachers bathroom looked the same except for a bucket of blue solution that you scooped out with a scooper to "flush". Unfortunately, there are no sewers in Mathare, so after "flushing" everything goes down a tube and out into the road behind some tin houses!




On the long 5 plus hour drive to the safari, you get to a pit stop overlooking the Great Rift Valley. Here all sorts of souvenirs are sold and you can travel through the store to the rest rooms out back, but before you go into the rest rooms, there is a special spot for men so you can see who is coming and going (as you are going).

I think this is Greg's pose for when he is not sure what to do (see later photo).

I've got it all figured out!

So now, what do you do when you are traveling in a van on safari with wild animals all around you and you really have to go? Well is you are Suzan you do the happy dance until you get the van driver to stop so you can find a tree.

If you are Greg, you take off in search of a tree until you are told to get back to the van, wild animals you know.

Or you just wait your turn until the appointed tree is ready.

And do what you have to do!

Here is the greatest toilet in the world at the Masa Mara Hippo pool. The "wall" for men is very important as you can see if any hippos are coming at you! There is another door to what I call the "Hippo Throne". I am not sure how safe this one is when turning your back to the hippos! You never know if one might get a bit curious while you are in there!

I think you are getting the picture of how it works, but this is what you can see not too far in front of you!

Well, maybe this is not what you really want to see.

Here is a video tour of the luxurious hippo bathroom!



For those who love nature, hippos have the weirdest (and grossest) way of going to the bathroom. At the hippo pool, I was hoping to record such an event, but they only did this while submersed in the water. A couple hippos did this and as soon as they were done, there would be a little fight with a nearby hippo. Gee, I wonder why?



And that is why we bring Cipro! The good news is that no one had to use it this trip!

Saying Goodbye and Hello: Beatrice and Winnie

You can't make up stuff like this, but how does it happen that the last two students that I saw on my last trip in 2011to say goodbye to end up being the first two students that I see and say hello to on my 2014 trip?

Three years ago on my first trip to Kenya, I ended up not being able to really say goodbye to my Bondeni students except for two girls who danced at the Farewell Ceremony. At the end of that trip while on safari, we were asked to write a reflection paper on something related to the trip. I wrote about saying goodbye to these two girls. You can read my reflection here: Saying Goodbye to the Mathare Valley with a Smile. You can also read it in the newly published book: These Things Remain: Gifts from the Mathare Valley.

On our first Sunday in Kenya, we headed out to the Joska boarding school for 6-12 graders from the Missions of Hope Schools in the Mathare Valley slums. We took a one hour bus ride from Nairobi to get the the schools, which are now separate boys and girls schools. I was most looking forward to getting to the boys school where I could see Anthony the boy my family sponsors, but we went to the girl's school first and ended up filing into the front three rows of their Sunday service. I was surveying the crowd of over 400 girls hoping to see some familiar faces from my time at Bondeni three years earlier. My fifth graders then, would be 8th graders now.

I soon realized that directly behind me were a bunch of Bondeni girls: I already wrote about Naomi here. During the singing, I was quickly greeting them and as the service went on, I handed them my family photo book that I brought with a few extra photos of my time at Bondeni thrown in. To my surprise, the extra photos were of the girls sitting just a few seats away from me. Boy, where they ever giggling and pointing at the photos, just like any 8th grade girl would. Two of these girls, I finally learned their names, were Beatrice and Winnie from the story I wrote about the Farewell Ceremony!

Here is the picture of Beatrice from the Farewell Ceremony in 2011
that I brought back to Kenya this year and was able to give her.

Here is another picture I brought that has Winnie in it sitting next to me.

Winnie is in this picture I brought of teacher Robert, one of the
grade 5 teachers I worked with at Bondeni three years ago.
He is now one of two head social workers for Bondeni and Area 2,
so we spent most of the week with him and he is now the proud
owner of my bow-tie!

When I put myself in their shoes, I can only imagine their day. First, another service to attend and then some folks from America show up and sit in front of them. Then they recognize me, their former teacher and I hand them a photo album and amazingly enough, this guy from three years earlier, whom they had thought that they might never see again, hands them photos of themselves! I think that is pretty cool for them.

After the service, we were quickly ushered out and I only had a short time to ask them to meet up in their classroom while we took a tour of the facilities. I was not that interested in the tour as I waited to talk with these girls. Finally, when we got to the classroom. I took out my camera to get photos and my camera no longer worked. I took out my spare camera and got a few shots and as we were talking, we were told it was time for us to go and get on the bus for the boy's school. I would have liked to talk more, but sadly there was no time.

Beatrice and Winnie helped setting up for our lunch.
The other girl is for another story.

Other former Bondeni girls

Winnie is to my left

As I was on the bus getting ready to leave the girl's school, a couple of the girl's said they would write me a letter. When the three of our teachers got back from Joska after a week of teaching, I received a nice letter from Beatrice. It was to me, my family, and Crossway.

No, you can't make this stuff up! I am sure there is some reason behind meeting these two girls. I am not sure what it is, but I know they have played a small part in my life and I have played a small part in there lives. Maybe it is just about praying for Beatrice's drug taking father?

Here is one of my favorite video clips that I took in 2011. After teaching one morning, a group of kids wanted me to join them for their "unsupervised" recess. They wanted me to dance. I decided to thwart that certain disaster with a video and got their names. When I got home and viewed it, I saw that Anthony, the boy who would later become my sponsor child that week was in it. You can see Winnie in it, too.



Here are the Bondeni girls dancing at the 2011 Farewell Celebration. Winnie and Beatrice were part of this group.




.

Naomi and Esther

You can anticipate all the things you would like to do before heading to such a place as the Mathare Valley, but you can never know just how you might make a difference in another person's life. Unexpected things happen. I brought two photo albums with me to Kenya: one to give to Anthony, the boy my family sponsors, and one to share with students and others that I meet about my family and life in America. Both albums were duplicates and I had slipped one photo into them only due to thinking that Anthony might be the boy in the back of a photo. The photo was a silly one I took three years ago at the Bondeni School and showed a funny bathroom pass around a girl's neck.

On the first Sunday in Kenya this year, we traveled to the Joska boys and girls schools for students in the fifth through 12th grade. It is boarding school and now the two schools are separate from each other by a 10-15 minute bumpy van ride. We first went to the girl's school for a worship service. The singing got a little rowdy as the girls pulled off their ties and waved them around. I was noticing some familiar faces as I looked around. Here were some of the girls I had taught at the Bondeni School three years ago sitting in the row directly behind me. I was handed one of the girl's ties to wave around as I got into the fun!

I pulled out my photo album a little while later when the singing had stopped and showed a couple of the girls photos I had brought that had their pictures in them. One was the girl with the bathroom pass. You can see her in the above video very briefly on the right side (as I am facing the row of girls).

5 Red Girl out for Biological Nature Call

 She was giggling and amazed that I had here photo (she wasn't the only one). After the service I got together with the girls and talked with them with the short time that we had. Here is a photo of Naomi and me holding the photo from three years earlier.

That was fun and I really was thrilled to have met my former students. As we were in our bus a short while later to go visit the boy's school, Naomi came up to my window and asked if I was going to come back. I had to say, "No, but three of my teacher friends will be staying at Joska for the week while I return to the Mathare Valley to teach at the Area 2 School for the week." She told me to look for her mother. At first I thought this was silly as hundreds of thousands of people live in the Mathare Valley and how could I find her mother in all that humanity? She then told me that her mother, Esther, was the cook at the Area 2 School.

Of course one of the first things I did after showing up at the Area 2 School was to look for Esther. I saw a women right away in the "kitchen" (a small room down some steps) and she had the biggest smile in the Mathare Valley. I asked one of the social workers if this was indeed Esther, the mother of Naomi, and I was told yes and that we could be introduced.

I told her about meeting her daughter again three years after meeting her at Bondeni and gave her the second picture of Naomi. I was told Naomi had a twin brother at the Joska boy's school. For the rest of the week, Esther had gigantic smiles for me and I hoped that I had made her week by connecting with her and her daughter. I also observed how hard Esther worked at the school throughout the week. Not only was she the cook, but she would water down and mop the classrooms and walkways throughout the day and empty the trash bins. I think she was also the janitor and "do everything" person. On the last day she was organizing plastic chairs to bring down the treacherous steps to the new school. I was able to take the last bunch of chairs to carry down for her and relieve her of that duty. She did everything with a smile. One thing I have learned is how hard the people of Mathare Valley are willing to work and to serve their community and the joy that they have knowing that they are a small part of the success of Missions of Hope.

At the end of the week, when my three Joska teammates got back from Joska, I was handed a few notes from these girls I had met. Here is the note from Naomi.

 I don't think meeting Naomi again was a coincidence. I hoped meeting her encouraged and cheered her and her mother up, as much as it did for me!

By the way, the photos with me in a bow tie are sort of a joke, the only reason I can see to wear any sort of tie is to take it off and wave it around in the air while singing a song!

Inspired by of one of the poems "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams that I used to teach poetry writing while at the Area 2 School. I wrote a new poem.

The Bathroom Pass

So much depends 

upon

a bathroom 

pass

written in red

pen

around a girl's 

neck 

Mama Emmanuel

This is my first blog post from Kenya. Most of my posts will be written upon our return. However, I wanted to introduce you to a resident of the Mathare Valley Slum. Mama Emmanuel (Mother of Emmanual-her firstborn) is a lady otherwise known as Sophia. We met her today while doing some home visits. Some people think we go to the slums to teach the residents how to live a better life (which can be true), but the people of Mathare teach us so much more. I was blessed to me Mama Emmanuel today.

Mama Emmanuel with Robert

It was our second home visit of the morning, and we were led down narrow, muddy, wet passageways before we got to Mama Emmanuel's tiny tin shack. When we first walked in (one at a time) you went through the door, then had to close it to enter her tiny living space, before the next visitor could enter in the same way. We were surprised to see a bright and cheery interior and cramped together on a tiny couch where we could visit with this lady. We were introduced to her through our fantastic friend and the Area 2 social worker, Robert. He interpreted Swahili for us as she did not speak English. She had a calm and dignified demeanor and I could tell she was a thoughtful and classy lady.

We heard that she was was a single mother of two boys as her husband had died of stomach cancer in January. She worked as a waitress in Eastleigh, which has a large population of Somalis, so during the month of Ramadan she was out of work and out of a source of income. The rent and electricity (which kept flickering on and off during our visit) was about $20 per month. She was worried about money and work. As we talked, we could see the depth of her character, and if she had lived in another place with more opportunities like in America, I could see her being a highly educated women who could be working and living successfully instead of being stuck in the Mathare Valley slum.

Every thing is covered for warmth in the winter,
but also to create a beautiful home.

I told her that she seemed to be a woman who closely resembled her humble home. She was beautiful despite the conditions around her. She had made her home as dignified and homey as possible with an artistic grace that showed her desire to provide her family with a home worth living in. As we talked to her further and asked her what she was concerned about in her life, she told a story of a hard-working woman who thought more of her sons than she did of herself. She was worried because in order to get up for work at 5:30, she would rise an hour earlier to make breakfast for her son Emmanuel, who was in the first grade at the Area 2 School (her other four year old son, Shadrack, lives with her sister). She would then have to leave him and go to work, He would get himself to school and at the end of the day, come home alone to his house. Mama Emmanuel would not get home from work until around 7:30 make dinner and go to bed.

Even her ceilings were decorated.

She was worried that she did not have the time to invest in her sons and without a father, it was becoming difficult for Emmanuel. She could not attend school meetings because of her job. He noticed some of his friends had dads and a family to spend time with after school. Emmanuel was not getting that and wanted more out of his life, despite the hard work of his mother. Emmanuel was expressing an interest in going to a boarding school and that made her sad.

Here is a woman doing all she can to survive, providing for her sons, making their home bright and cheerful, and wanting time to spend with her children and everything she has is evaporating around her. Sometimes, I run across people who say that poor people just don't work hard enough and it is there fault for their poverty (and yes, I have heard similar sentiments when I told some people about my trips to the Mathare Valley). I wish I could introduce them to Mama Emmanuel. Here is a woman who teaches us more about perseverance, faith, and grace, then we could ever teach her about anything. We are just there to learn, support, and encourage her efforts. Meeting amazing people like Mama Emmanuel is a wonderful part of going to Kenya.

Kenya Poetry Project

When I was in Kenya in 2011, I worked with three fifth grade classes at the Bondeni School and I have never had more fun teaching then I did that week. I was not exactly sure what I would be doing. I had plans, but I had never been in a situation like that before in my life. Most of the other teachers on that trip worked at the Area 2 school, but since that school did not have fifth grade classes due to a lack of room, I was escorted down the road to the Bondeni School. The principal brought me to the first classroom that morning and said that the teacher would soon arrive. "Soon" meant that the teacher did not show up for about 45 minutes. I stood in front of about 25 curious faces and did what I had to do. We started talking and I immediately felt at home with my new Kenyan students! That week I taught some science lessons based on what they were already learning, but had the most fun and success teaching a simple writing process that I use with my Nashua students for building sentences and then later teaching some math and puzzle solving using Tangrams and Pentominoes. While I was teaching, I was also working with the teachers giving them ideas and techniques that they could use while teaching as well as observing, encouraging, and learning from them.

This time I again have no clue as to exactly what I will be asked to do. I will be planned and ready with many ideas of my own as I try to meet their needs, but I do have some ideas that I have been developing that I am very excited about. One idea is to teach some writing strategies, but this time using some great and simple poems to inspire what I hope will be some interesting writing and conversations. I also am doing these same poetry lessons with my class at New Searles Elementary School. I will use my student's writings as models for the Kenyan students and I hope it will also open a type of cross-cultural poetry dialogue between "my" students on two different continents. I think they can both learn from and be inspired by each other.

My plans will remain fluid, but if all goes according to plan, it might look something like my brief outline below. There is still plenty of discussion to be had with my fellow teachers going on the trip and the teachers in Kenya, so I am sure the plans may be tweaked a bit or a lot, but in my thoughts right now, this is one thing that I would like to pursue.

In all, I would like to teach five poems over five days. I would also like to partner with the Kenyan teachers to help them either teach along with me (essentially taking over by the end of the week) as well as leave them other examples and poetry lesson plans for them to try with their classes when I am long gone from Kenya. My impression of the the teaching in Kenya is that there is a lot of rote memorization in their lessons. They do lack materials to teach from and they are responsible for preparing their students for national tests that make a difference as to whether a student can further their education as well as to determine which school they may attend in high school and college. I also noted the creativity and playfulness of the children on the streets of Mathare and I would like to bring that sense of play and creativity into the school setting

Monday: "I am From Ireland" (14th Century Irish Poem) This is from an old Irish poem so at first we have the confusing old words to ponder before we see a translation. The Kenyan kids will think I am nuts, just like my American students think when I first show them the poem. It is a simple poem that states where someone is from and then invites another person to do something fun and joyful in that place. My students will be writing poems about New Hampshire or the United States and these will serve as models to inspire the Kenyan students to write a poem about the Mathare Valley, Kenya, their family, or even their school. I will be looking at the positives about the places we live and the things we enjoy doing in those places through this poem.

Tuesday: "I am Nobody" (Emily Dickinson) This is a poem where Emily Dickinson proclaims her shyness and the fact that she enjoys being herself and not someone else. My students are writing poems about their personalities, but they use their personality trait as a metaphor, for example they wrote poems like these: "I am Activity", "I am Modesty", "I am Creativity", and "I am Energy". I would hope that by being inspired by Emily Dickinson's poem that kids will write poems that affirm who they really are and that they can proudly claim their identity. I would also hope that kids in both Nashua and Kenya can see how similar they are despite thousands of miles of distance and such different life experiences.

Wednesday: "The Red Wheelbarrow" (William Carlos Williams) This is one of my favorite poems for its plain simplicity. In this poem something very ordinary is given some supreme and mysterious significance. I think that the kids in Kenya might be able to share some of the important things in their lives: a pencil for school, a ball made out of found trash, a small family home, a mom, or who knows what they might write about as being significant. I am most infinitely curious as to what they can come up with.

Thursday:  "The Tyger" (William Blake) or "The Pasture" (Robert Frost) I always tend to over plan and that way I can be ready to be flexible in the moment to chose different paths in my teaching. I could spend this day continuing earlier lessons, use either of these poems, or I might just might try different poems with different classes. "The Tyger" is a difficult poem to understand, but even the parts that are hard to decipher just sound so wonderful.There are some creative ways to bring meaning to the understandable parts of this poem. Some of it I describe here. The fun is in writing a poem to an animal where you can ask it any questions that you like. My students would have modeled and shared poems about local animals and the Kenyan students could write about the wonderful animals in their country. These poems may have to be written together as class poems.

Robert Frost's "The Pasture" is a poem written in New Hampshire that invites someone to come along with the writer to do something ordinary that they might do in their daily life. It would make a wonderful poem for kids to write about their daily activities and to offer such an invitation. I could see children in Kenya writing "You come too!" to their age mates in New Hampshire and vice-versa. It would be a clever way to share a small window into their own worlds and activities.

Friday: I have some other planned activities for this day, if we make it this far! I am some big ideas about what we can do with these poems that I am very excited about! It may involve posters, photography, and even videos-spoken or animoto videos. I don't think I will have enough time to do all I would like to do! When I return from Kenya, I would like to use some of the poems to create a book using poetry from my Nashua students and my Kenya students.

How you can help with this poetry project:
In order to do these activities, I would like to bring some supplies and materials to Kenya. There will be a lot of hand-made posters created by myself and my students, but there are some things that need to be purchased. If you would like to donate any of these items or the funds to purchase any of them, that would be wonderful. please contact me. Any amount would go towards purchasing supplies for this trip

I started by listing books and materials on Amazon, but some things I wanted were not there or overpriced. Then, I looked for some of the books on Scholastic.com. They had some of the books for a much cheaper price, but some of the books I wanted were missing. I just decided to go with a list of books and materials for the poetry project and hope that people might be inspired to get behind this project.

If you would like to donate or purchase an item or donate to this project, please feel free to contact me.
I would like to have  multiple copies of these books so that the students can get their hands on some quality poetry and pictures to inspire them. All the books below are just $4 a copy through Scholastic. The National Geographic Animal Poetry book is $8 and it is gorgeous ( I recently got a copy of it for my classroom).

The William Blake and Robert Frost poetry books are not currently for sale at Scholastic. They are at Amazon. Robert Frost is under $7, but the William Blake one will have to be found somewhere else as it is out of print or I will have to get a used copy.

I will also need to bring lots of colored crayola markers, packages of white construction paper, and some notebooks so that each child can have a notebook just for writing and poetry.