Sad Good Byes to Olives School

On the 29th Jan, we said good bye to the kids and teachers at Olives Rehabilitation Center School, and fellow GVI volunteers.

Chris & I had spent the previous night helping out at Tumaini Orphanage. The previous evening was hanging out with the kids at the orphanage and the morning was spent peeling a ton of potatoes and carrots. The 5am start at Tumaini had us exhausted,  so we only started teaching our classes at 2pm on our final day.

When we got to Olives school, we had a quiz in Science class. Everyone who got a correct answer got a pencil, or a sharpener or stickers. It was good motivation for the kids, and we managed to ensure that all the kids got a prize. In our final English class, we taught the kids about public speaking - and then said our goodbye speeches. Then about 10 of the kids volunteered to come up and practice their public speaking. Each made a very touching speech....

 

Lydia said "Thank you for all your teaching and god bless you"
Jonathan said "I tell Mr Chris and Madam Liz bye bye. I don't know if I will see them again. But, I tell them god bless."
Lucy said "I didnt't know a lot of Maths, but Mr. Chris helped me with Maths. And Madam Liz taught me how to write a letter"

All the speeches were incredibly touching, and got us very emotional. It was particularly hard saying good bye to Mary, who was visibly upset. It really did feel like we were leaving a bit part of our lives behind.

That night, all the volunteers headed out to La Marina for dinner by the river, watching sunset. Hopefully we will see you all again! But, either way we have made friendships that will last a lifetime.

Now, onto the next phase of our Kenyan adventure. We are off to experience the wildlife on safari at the Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli National Park.

~lizelle

Thank you, Emma

We asked Paul (Chris's brother) for some kiddie books to share with the kids in Kenya. Paul gave us a few of Emma (his 3 year old daughter's) books.

 

Today I had Library class with the kids. Obviously, there is no library here - so I had to take a few books in. Library class usually involves kids fighting over about 20 used, ruined and torn books to read and look at the pictures. Today, I was able to take in some relatively new books that previous volunteers had bought, plus Emma's books in.

 

The kids loved 'em! They loved the colours and the feel of the new books. I did a lesson with them about looking after their books. They won't stay new forever, but it was certainly good to not fight over torn books.

~liz

Olives Rehabilitation Center

In spite of the name, Olives Rehabilitation Center is actually a school. I think the name derives from the idea that it provides education to children who have otherwise missed out until now. There are many thousands of children in Bombolulu who currently have no access to an education, either because there are far too many schools to service the area or for financial reasons.

Olives was started by a local pastor named Stephen, who we've come to know really well since arriving. He is an inspiring man, and has undergone a lot of hardship throughout his life to get to where he is today. Spending time in Bombolulu slum, children began coming to him in increasing numbers wanting to pray for a school so they could get an education. He has since dedicated his life to Olives, and giving these kids an opportunity.

The classrooms at Olives have no lighting. We normally work with the doors open, unless there is excessive noise outside. It is amazing how your eyes adjust, and working in relative darkness quickly becomes a non-issue. Materials are sparse. There is 1 desk for each 3 kids, and although it is squashy it works. In most subjects, there is 1 textbook per table, although some have much less. We mostly find ourselves using the blackboard and not using the textbooks (except to plan our lessons).

 

The kids have a long day. Grades 4 and above start at 6:30am and leave after 4pm. But there is not a lot to do at home for many of them, so they would probably hang around in the school grounds anyway. One of the keys to teaching the kids is knowing how to engage them and snap them out of their drowsiness.

Where possible, we treat the kids to working outside under the shade of a big tree. Library/reading class is when this normally happens, and it is as much a break for us as the kids. It gets seriously hot inside the classroom! I can be quite animated when teaching maths, and often I'm pouring with sweat by the time the class ends.

We'll do more of this later, but here are a few profiles of kids in our grade 5 class:

Victor: We were warned about Victor when we arrived. He can be a bit disruptive, but he can also be the key to a successful class. He gets really animated, and is the deepest and most insightful kid in our class. He also has a great sense of humour, and is very smart. The flipside is that he's been known to bring lighters to school and use them in class, and when he doesn't want to work he can be tough to manage.

Captain: He is the smartest kid in class, and he works really hard. He always wants to answer questions too. The other day, we were teaching new words in English class, and then separately we got them to write a letter. He used nearly every word he'd previously learned in his letter. He just loves to learn!

Mary: She is the girl we talked about earlier, who got a new dress and a new smile to go along with it! She doesn't find learning easy, but she works very hard. Liz and I always look for opportunities to throw easy questions her way, because she tries really hard and is very eager to please.

So, week 2 is now over. We've decided to stay in town and check into a nice hotel for the weekend, and relax in front of the pool. Work is extremely rewarding but exhausting, and we need to recharge for another week.

Chris

A day in Bombolulu

Its been one of "those" days -- really quite a profound day. We started the morning at school - we had 3 classes to teach: Maths, English and Creative Arts (art/ music/ drama etc). Pretty straight forward, as we had planned for all classes.

As it turned out, our class started school at 6.30am (yes, thats right!) and when we got in (8.00 am) the kids were still writing notes from the previous class. Our 40 minute Maths class got reduced down to 10 minutes.






Background information:

Our school is located in a slum area, called Bombolulu. The kids get one meal at school - and that is most likely their only meal. They wear the same clothes everyday - usually without any washing (ever!). Uniforms are periodically donated by a local company, and the new kids simply wear what they have.

Yesterday, one of the girls in our class refused to partcipate in a class activity as her dress was torn. At home, thats not a big deal. Here, it is a big deal as that is the only dress she has. We spoke to the headmaster about getting her a proper uniform - which he kindly organized on our behalf. This morning, she came to school with a big smile on her face. She had a crisp new uniform, and she finally fit in.


At lunch time, we tried Ugali (Kenyan meal made from corn flour), which is totally tasteless. Think: a big blobby cake of rice with no salt or taste. We ate that with cooked cabbage. I never enjoyed cabbage so much!

After lunch, we decided to visit the home of one of kids from Grade 6. Last week, his mother got talking to us and invited us over. We went to a very basic home. The family had 3 kids in our school and a mother who was struggling to feed them. They hadn't eaten in a few days. The father was away with work and had not been heard from for months. Luckily, we took over some food, drink and some money - which we left for them. We sat with them for a while, looking over photos and talking about their past life. When we were saying our goodbyes at the front door, there was a man standing there waiting to cut off their electricity as the bills had not been paid. Just so sad....

The last event was "debate class" at school. Class is a bit of an ambitious description - it basically involved the the whole school sitting under the tree for the debate. The school had just started a debate class to help the kids express themselves. There is really a big disparity between the social position of men and women in Kenya. The debate topic was "Father is better than Mother". Yep - that really was the topic! I couldn't believe it at first. The boys were debating for the topic and the girls were debating against the topic. It was so funny to watch the kids argueing their topic. They said things like "father is the head of the house, so he is better", and the girls said "the mother gives birth, so she is better". It really was hilarious getting an insight into how the social structure works here. In the end, the girls won. A little bit of social justice done!

Now, am off to dinner. It's been a strange and sad, but good day.

~liz

Weekend in Diani

Our first week in Kenya is over! Teaching the kids has been very rewarding, but also quite intense. Every night, we've had to prepare classes for 4-5 classes the following day. So when Friday night finally came, it was time for some serious R&R.

Diani is a small tourist town about 2 hours drive from Mombasa. We got a lot of advice before we left, so Liz, I and 3 other volunteers we headed to Diani with a pretty good idea of what we were going to do there. We stayed at a cool little eco-lodge called Stilts. As the name suggests, we stayed in bamboo huts stilted about 3 metres from the ground. It was simple but beautiful!

We spent Friday night relaxing at a beach bar called 40 Thieves, and turned in for an early night. We had booked a tour on Saturday, and it was fantastic. It started with an hour drive to Shimoni, where we boarded our boat for the day. There was no dock, so we had to wade out into the water then jump in a smaller boat to take us to the main boat.

Our first activity was dolphin spotting. There were some early sightings, but it seemed like whenever we headed towards the dolphins they disappeared. This would be done on their terms. Eventually a pack of 5 bottle-nosed dolphins appeared next to the boat and swam along with us, and luckily I was taking photos at the time and was able to react quickly and get some nice photos.

Next we geared up for some snorkelling. Our guide told us the sights were comparable to the Great Barrier Reef, and while I'll give the nod to Australia it was still really cool. We were in the water for an hour or more, then we boarded again for a crab and chicken lunch. Finally, we put up the sail and relaxed for a while, before heading home.

The previous night, we had tried to get into a restaurant called the Cave but didn't have a reservation. On Saturday night, we returned with reservation in hand, and took in the spectacle of eating in a giant cave. It was a bit on the posh side, but the atmosphere was something to behold and we had a great meal and took lots of photos.

On Sunday, we returned to 40 Thieves for a day of relaxation on the beach, then headed back to Mombasa in the evening to plan our lessons for Monday. We're currently teaching the digestive system, rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and 100, and how to construct letters.

Walking through the slums of Mombasa, teaching in a school, sleeping in a tree house, snorkelling, eating in a cave... what a week! This week, we're planning a trip to a local wildlife park (in fact, we just got back but we'll write about it later), and we're either going to return to Diani or else do a mini-safari on the weekend. Stay tuned.

Chris

A Night at Tumaini

Tumaini (Swahili for "Hope") is an orphanage for kids who have AIDS or who have lost their parents to AIDS. There are roughly 34 kids at the orphanage - from 8 months old to 14 years old. The kids are simply beautiful. The orphanage is run by an amazing British woman, who built the orphanage and has dedicated her life to the kids. There are "mothers" who are employed to loook after the kids.

Yesterday, I spent a night at Tumaini. We were briefed on HIV and how to approach any potential situations, that might arise. Our mission was to help all 34 kids get to bed and get them dressed up in the morning. This is a summary of the last 12 hours:

We got there and helped feed the kids at dinner time. The infants and todlers had to be fed. I fed Salma (2 year old and sick) and Ap. Salma has a big personality and was almost bullying the older kids. Here she is modeling sunnies.

Then we got all the kids into bed by 8pm.

We slept in the dorm with the kids to keep an eye out for anyone who woke up with nightmares etc. Lukily no one did.

  

5am wake up the next morning. Then the daunting task of waking up 34 kids and getting them ready for school. We had to find the bed wetters and get the sheets off.

All the kids brushed their teeth. I helped the 2 - 4 year olds brush their teeth.

Then all were bathed and dried. The Kenyan kids rub vaseline on their skin (Kenyan heat is very dry). The girls dressed in Kenyan Girl Guildes uniform. Then breakfast was dished out to 34 kids. It worked like clockwork. The older kids helped the younger kids get ready.

The energy of the place was so warm and welcoming. The kids were so happy and well settled. It was amazing to watch how the older kids looked out for the younger kids. Some were sick, some were not. Yet, they were all one happy family.

All in all, a heart warming experience! I can't wait to go back to Tumaini.

~ lizelle

1st Impressions

Today was our first day at Olives Rehabilitation Center. Liz & I have been assigned to Grade 5 of the school. We are the primary teachers of English, Science and Maths. We will also be doing Art & PE classes.

When we arrived, the kids were full of energy and enthusiasm and couldnt wait to meet their 6 new volunteers/ teachers. Liz jumped right in and started getting to know the kids and learning their names. As with Peru, I relied on my size and before long I had kids swinging from both arms.

We met the founder of the school, who is a really remarkable man. He was quick to thank us for what we are doing for the school. But to be honest, it is us who should be thanking him, as he has dedicated his life to making a difference every single day. He said to us "its all about Ordinary people doing Extraordinary things" -- and we think he is definately an extraordinary person.

Before long, we entered our 1st class. Ours was a simple Maths class, although 2 of the other volunteers were greeted with 15 mins of Swahilli song. The 5th grade normal teacher kicked off his class, but within 15 mins handed over the reins to us. We noticed a huge gap between the top students and the ones trailing behind. One of the great things about this volunteer placement is that it affords one-on-one time for struggling students, and we are keen to be involved in that.

There is a real energy in the classroom - and there are a couple of real characters too! But, the kids are also very respectful. They call me Mr. Chris and Liz is "Madam Liz". Tomorrow we are teaching our 1st full lessons. We have double classes in Maths and English, and are also teaching the Respiratory system in Science. Thankfully, its all in English (not Swahilli).

Chris