Day 3 - School and Soccer

We started off the morning with a light breakfast (coffee and frosted flakes for me) and prepared for our first meeting with the CPA teachers. Our prayer for these meetings was that the Kenyan teachers would be open to sharing and learning without being overwhelmed by us or the training sessions. With that in mind, we opened the first day by doing some icebreaker activities and just spending time getting to know them. We spent about 90 minutes doing this, then broke for chai.

I'm still not sure if this is a distinctly Kenyan custom, but NV takes two chai tea breaks a day. One around 11AM and the other around 4PM. I wish this could be a permanent part of my schedule because it provides two short times during the day to mentally refresh.

After chai, we reconvened and shared stories about our experiences in the classroom. It was during this time that I started to realize I was going to be learning just as much as the CPA staff.

We had lunch around 12:45. It was at this meal that I realized I was going to be a lot of beans over the next several days. After lunch, the kids had soccer time. About half of the kids played and the other half wandered around collecting bugs. This was my first interaction with a lot of the kids, and it was amazing to see how quickly they take to the teams that come in to NV. They see a lot of different people and they're welcoming to everyone that comes through. If you spend more than a few minutes with them, you become "uncle" or "auntie." They're really sweet and any hesitation I was still feeling evaporated when a couple of boys grabbed by hands and started running to the field with me.

After soccer (which - by the way - I stink at), a few of us took charge of the classes while the CPA teachers were in a training session. I had grade three. The age levels varied, but there were five students in the class. Three boys and two girls. They were older for the most part (10 and 11) and very eager to show me what they were learning. We talked mainly about science. We took a walk around the grounds looking for ways that work was made easier. We found ladders, slides, swings, shovels, and wheels. It was fun, and they grasped the concept quickly. After science time, I realized I didn't have enough to do to cover another 30 minutes, so I took out my phone and showed them some pictures of my class and students from home. They were very interested to know about them and what we did in school. Did the children live there? What did they eat? And anytime they saw a picture of an African-American student, they asked "Is he Kenyan?" It was a lot of fun.

Around 4:00, we had chai then played a little outside. My next assignment was to supervise children in their play room while they were pulled a few at a time for showers. We played a matching game, and I read a few stories to them.

Dinner was at 7:00 after which we helped with dishes and cleaning the dining hall. At this point, I was EXHAUSTED. I think it was a combination of jet lag and going for twelve solid hours.

One thing I noticed this day was how tough the NV kids are. They are WAY tougher than my American students. These kids get pushed down, tripped, fall, get kicked, and they stand up, brush themselves off, and keep playing. It makes supervising play time much more enjoyable.

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TOMORROW: I take a trip to African Children's Day and have my first outhouse experience.

Cornerstone Grade 3