September 10th - Olives, An Amazing School

For what ever reason (likely a better nights sleep thanks to the antihistamines and the beer the night before ...), I felt much more energy heading into school this morning. We realized we had been avoiding Science and so the first part of the morning was dedicated to revising nutrition using their book. This was something they had already covered and yet when we asked them questions, we were surprised by how much they needed to refer back to their previous notes – it didn't seem like they had learned it. It reinforced what Tess had said at the beginning – challenging us to find ways to teach that were interactive – the current approach to teaching versus the traditional – which unfortunately, was what they were used to and what we were doing as we talked, wrote it on the chalk board and they then copied it down – again.

We made it through a little more of the afternoon – and I was starting to see how I could last a full day. I have gained such an appreciation for teachers through this experience - particularly their energy and patience ... I found that I don't put up with a lot of nonsense ... It is one of the most important professions and in our current way of recognizing worth as a society, incredibly undervalued.

As I'm coming to the end of my three weeks, I've been reflecting more about the school and and also my impact as a teacher. As a teacher, there were two groups of kids that I spent the most one on one time with – either the ones that were really good who I needed to ensure were kept challenged, often by doing exercises beyond where the rest of the group was, and then those that struggled and whose tendency was to give up but with more explanation could understand. What I found interesting was that the two groups were split by gender – the boys the former and the girls the latter. So the question is, if you can only spend time with one group, which one do you focus on / invest in … help ensure that the ones that understood moved forward (e.g. to high school) or encourage the ones that might not move forward to try and be able to. There are pros and cons both sides – in the end, the group that pulled me were the girls. If I had to choose, I wanted to help them 'get it' – because it wasn't a question of ability but rather time, attention, focus and as they got it, confidence in themselves – and that, my friends, is priceless.

Regarding the school, at times I've been a tough critic – whether it is the generous concept of Kenyan time or the unrealistic schedule or the traditional teaching style that seemed to predominate – were the kids learning as well and as much as they could? Yet I also knew that some kids from the school had gone on to high school and were consistently doing very well – a strong testament to the quality of education they were getting. It was a very good reminder of my tendency to expect everything at a very high standard now and to want to take the tough action to get there as fast as possible – versus not just allowing for but truly understanding the local culture and norms, leveraging them and having the patience to allow things to develop more organically and ultimately, in a more sustainable constructive way. The great thing is that Steven and Michael are looking to improve and genuinely open to feedback – and they need to adapt and figure things out on their own – that is the aspect of 'help/partner' versus 'doing/aid' that is tougher as the helper but critical for the local ownership and ultimate success of the endeavor. The good news is that they have a strong partner in Tess who really does understand this. (One example is her idea of training the school's teachers in the more interactive teaching style – the same training she gives the volunteers. Knowing her, I'm sure it will go forward and knowing the teachers, I'm sure they'll be open to the new ideas.)

Bottom line, the commitment that Steven, Michael, Jane and the other teachers have for the children is amazing - they are giving these kids an opportunity that they wouldn't have otherwise. And combine that with the volunteers coming through, with fresh energy and new ideas, the possibilities for the school and the kids really are unlimited. And I love how much the kids want to learn – they want to be at school – even a teachers innocent mistake of saying, we'll cover this tomorrow and tomorrow is Saturday, gets them excited – they would be there if they could. They truly appreciate the education – and fully recognize the link between what they learn and what it means for their future.

There is a website where GVI is raising money for the school (the money goes through the GVI Charitable Foundation). I am not one to normally publicize this type of thing, but this is an exception of the heart for me. If you choose to, I believe you can direct your $ and from what I saw, the top three funding priorities are sponsoring children to high school, providing school supplies (there were fewer dusters than there were blackboards for example) and paying the teachers and providing them with training.