First Day of School
Monday, June 25, 2007

First day of school. I woke up a little late but it was ok. Washed up in a basin. No soap---should have taken it from the YMCA, I walked to school with Juliet's older son. He seems very nice and friendly. When I got to school the nursery children all greeted me "How are you? How are you? but it was more like Hawayoo hawayoo! THen I went to the teacher's room and met all the teachers. They seem pretty nice. Later I went to class with Mumbi for English class. THe students were pretty good but there aren't enough books even when 3 students share at each desk. So they get distracted easily. Its will be a challenge to teach bit I think I can do it.

I went home for lunch. Beans and corn. I liked it very much. It was a rather awkward meal. And I wrote in my journal after to pass the time. When I went back to school the other volunteers were not there. I sat in the teachers lounge so again a rather awkward time But eventually they came back and I helped to mark their students' work books. The students need to have more time to work I think They seem to copy each other's work for lack of time. Later I met with Judy and Purity two girls that I met on the way to Karago. Oh but right after school two women came to speak to the 8th grade class about poverty. We the volunteers attended and it was an eye opening talk. 10% of Kenyans are considered Upper class which they consider those who can afford luxuries. 30% are middle class, those who can provide for their basic needs (food water shelter clothing education and health. 60% are in the lower class which can not afford their basic needs. They described many different types of poverty that need to be overcome: mental, physical, financial, material, psychological, moral, and others. It was a very good thing for the students to hear but hard for me to hear coming from such a wealthy country where probably 95% would be considered upper class by their standards. I think that is the biggest barrier between me and the people here. economic status. And it makes me embarrassed to talk about money. But maybe that is part of the problem. They are always talking about being poor. There is no shame and they are not trying to make me feel guilty its just the reality. There should also be no shame in being wealthy. But there is.

So after the talk I met with Judy and Purity. We talked about the environmental writing contest that Thogo told me about. I told them to think of some problems that they see in the environment around the,. THey thought about trees mostly which of course are very important but I may try to expand on that tomorrow. They are lovely children. That time with them was the highlight of my day.

After school, I went home and the Dutch girls visited me at my house and met my host family. It was nice to talk to them a bit about their experiences here. Not many animals unfortunately. They also gave me some bug repellant because all of mine was in my luggage so I don't get Malaria. Mumbi had malaria!!! I found that quite alarming but she said it was ok as long as you go to the doctor and get medicine as soon as you start to feel sick. I learned how to cut cabbage today from Mama. It gave me a blister cause the knife has no handle. But I'm glad I'm learning some new things. Dinner was good tonight... there was a bit of conversation and I could understand most of it. I talked to Lawrence the older son about Sean Paul and music. They are big fans of reggae. THe topic of religion also came up. I told them I am Catholic. They are some sort of Christian I'm not sure what. I think it was 7 Day Adventists? But I told them I would go to church with them on Sunday if I am not still in Nairobi. Some other church is better than no church I suppose. I will try to find another family that is Catholic and maybe go with them in the future, I felt much better tonight. I could fall asleep peacefully and was not so homesick and lonely as the night before. Oh and I got my period before my luggage so that's just a big mess. . I should have gotten that birth control pill. Terre are a lot of bugs in the house. It makes me a bit uncomfortable especially at night (my mosquito net is also in my luggage). I'm sure I'll get used to that too though.