Mid-Term Break; Rescued!

The school ended for the mid-term break last Tuesday.  Typically, mid-term breaks are "optional" where students can either go home, or stay at school.  But the school typically provides programming, staff, and meals for the students that remain.

However, due to the upcoming elections, the school are CLOSED, every students need to go home, and almost all staff are gone to their homes too (in Kenya, many teachers live in leased homes, on Government's living allowances, while their real homes are somewhere else, most of times far away).

But after all the departing chaos settled down yesterday, there were 8 students left behind.  There are no programming nor meals for them, but the school said they would have a cook come in, but the students made their own supper.  I took them out for a brief photography activities.

The little boy isn't actually little, as he is 18 years old, in Form 2 (sophomore)

Cooking their own supper: meat, beans and ugali.

With the constant power outage, I decided to provide my lantern lamp and Macbook, they enjoy having their dinner and Jumanji movie.

On the next day, on Thursday:

8:00a: Saw 8 students making chapati for their breakfast.  Ate one.

8:15a: Talked with students, trying to understand why they are not able to go home. Three students have made arrangements and will be gone.  One student waiting for his parents to come.  One student who did not know the way left with another teacher who is also going home, the teacher will make sure he gets on the correct matatu for home.

8:30a: Remaining 3 students (two of them are young Form 1 (freshmen) students) -- turns out that there is no problem going home, just that they did not have enough money.  The school simply made them stay at empty school, even with no programming along with skeletal staff.

9:00a: I spoke with few remaining staff why this is happening, and why the school isnt helping these three.  I also explained that providing them with food for one week probably cost the same as sending them home, besides, its safer for them due to the upcoming elections.  But these reasonings fell to deaf ears (pun intended).

9:15a: After some thought and talking with these students, the total amount they needed (I added some for their meals as some of them will travel FAR) came to 4,600/= (about $55).  I decided to sponsor them, so that they can go home and be with their families.

10:00a: Two students still waiting to go home but one staff told them to wait "small" (more on this later), but she was simply having tea and chatting with other staff.  Me fuming! They want to go home, and in Kenya it gets dark at 6:30p.

11:00a: These two students finally got a letter from that staff, but it was addressed to someone else the staff thinks their parents know -- so these students waited so long for something the staff did not want to put a stamp on the letter.  But they left.  All gone except for 3 students that I sponsor.

11:15a: I asked a staff to release these three students as they have everything they need to go now, but she says we have to call their parents first to make sure they can receive them. So, call them, I said.  She says no phone.  I say use school phone, jeez.  She says school phone has no credit.  I so so, pay for it, school keep paying for gas for electric generator, they have little money to pay for 3 phone calls.  So they sent someone down to the village to buy a phone credit scratch card to add to the school phone.

11:45a: They could not add credit to school phone, so they act like the whole plan simply collapse.  I say, I see you all having your phones, just use yours.  They say nope.  I getting pissed off, handing over my own phone.  She called all three parents, total 6 minutes air time.  One boy will have to leave tomorrow morning, but the other two can leave now.  6 minutes = 12 shillings (20 cents).

12:00p: So all that taken care of, I say, can these two students go now, time is a-wasting?  No, the principal (who left for the break today) must approve.  I say, sure, go ahead call her.  She says whose phone.  Sigh, my phone again.  Then she backed out, she was afraid to call the principal.  I asked why?  Its just the culture around here everyone seem to be afraid to ask her for anything (not sure if its just her, or just anybody not wanting to ask their headmasters).  So I texted to the principal myself.

12:05: I gave the students their travel and meal money.

12:15p: Two students left with one staff who wants to go "that way too", but I am to text her if the principal says no (they left without actually getting approval, because they assumed this should not be a problem).

12:20: For the remaining boy, I told him I will find activities for him as he is here all alone by himself.  I needed to pack and prepare for my own trip tomorrow, but I will entertain him, and maybe have him enjoy another movie tonight.

So by tomorrow morning, all students will be gone, and school will be truly closed.  I am happy to see all students be at home with their families where they should be in.

Sigh, what an experience -- not seeing rational viewpoints -- where staff here actually prefer to leave kids at the school, when their problems, at least for me, were trivial that any school in America would take care of immediately.

Mid Term Break!

Having a quickie with a blondie.  Hey quit with your dirty minds!  This cigar is Acid Blondie, and it is small size, so its a quick cigar smoke.

School ended for the Mid Term break.  Taking my break!  Students will head for home tomorrow, but I will take off this Friday for Lukenya, where all volunteers will consolidate and be safe during the elections.

It is possible that this would be an one-way trip, when we may not return if we have to be evacuated.

I have done something similar to last will and testament, having my two close and trusty colleagues visit my home, and received my instructions on the disposal of my possessions and furnishings if I cannot return.

I have told them the ultimate goal is to have everything go to our students directly or indirectly.  Anything they can wear and allowable in school, they will get my clothing, but everything else would be sold, with all proceeds applied toward their education (supplies, books, etc.).  All kitchen equipment, spices, and canned or dry foods would go to the school's home sciences (economics) department.

But then everyone says the elections will be a peaceful and that I shall return.

Kenya Elections

Kenya Elections Update, for those of you who are Kenya Politics-Impaired.

Kenya Elections is going to take place in 10 days, on March 4th.  Out of numerous presidential candidates, two candidates seem to hold the majority of votes, and are in a tight race. The remaining candidates have like only 0.1 to 1 percent of the votes.

Kenya's new constitution now requires that only when and if a candidate has over 50% of country's total votes could be declared winner.  However if the top two candidates have votes that remain below 50%, are required to be entered in yet another election -- called a "run off" vote that would occur within a month, which is in April.  Only the top two candidates can be placed on the polls for the run off election.

So, suppose a Candidate "A" earned 48% of the total votes while Candidate "B" earned 35% of these votes, so because no one gained more than 50% of the votes, a run off votes will be called, with only these two top candidates.

It is always possible that Candidate A end up losing to Candidate B even though Candidate A had more votes originally.

So, we, Americans, especially of those of us who residing in Kenya, are hoping for one of the two election outcomes: (1) A candidate gets over 50% vote, with a wide margin over the next candidate -- a clear winner without any doubt, or (2) if a run off elections must take place, that it would not be a close race, with the winning candidate with a landslide of votes.

The last elections in 2007 ended in violence because the people (mainly tribes as there are 42 tribes in Kenya that seem to always vote for any candidate as long as they belong to their tribe) believed the election was stolen.  The winner became loser, and the election results were announced long time after the elections were closed.  A lot of suspicious activities and corruption appeared to prevail. So the country was in a turmoil, and the Peace Corps decided to evacuate their volunteers.

This election now is based on the country's new constitution, and involves international observers and assistance to ensure the election is fair and sound.

All Peace Corps volunteers in country will be consolidated into a safe location for 10 days, and we will return to our sites only when it is safe.

Typical Saturday Life

Today was a simple and relaxing day for me, so I took out my dSLR camera and took some more random photos of typical Saturday life in the school.

Look beyond the individuals, and look at the environment they live in -- clothing, how they do their chores, what things they have available to do them, conditions, and so forth.

Enjoy...

Doing his laundry

Washing hair, trunk, in the same tub that students brush their teeth and wash faces.

Sorting bugs and inerts out of pile of beans, which will be cooked for supper.

Dozing off, with foot protecting his precious possessions

Male students laundry hung to dry, but many students only have one or two pairs 

Typical bed bunks

Enjoying reading in solitude

Adding his clothes to the line

Bunk beds brought outside for welding repairs before Form 1 (freshmen) comes in this Monday

Senior doing serious study

Sometimes students use this faucet for drinking as well, and it came from the river (often brown water)

Painting in the Form 1 classroom before students come in

Another student studying

Staff room, lot of papers turned brown (never used), and often find water bugs scatter around if you pull a folder out from the stacks.  Each teacher is assigned to a drawer and shelf.

Clothes line in the girls dorm

I always thought it was some exotic large Africian bird, but it turns out to be common crow (all with white band on the body) that scavenges everything everywhere

All students are required to bring their own matresses (typically foam),  They are hanging them out to dry

Termite mound.  Alot of those all over the dirt grounds including our football (soccer) fields.

Waiting for chai

Our netball post and rim, whats left of it. No its not abandoned, but used often.

Having her own kettle of chai before other students have their cups

Chai is part of Kenyan (inherited from the British) life

All chairs and desks repaired and painted, ready to be used for Form 1

Clerc Classic, Kenyan Style

So we got a team together playing netball.  We practiced on our netball facility with netball post and court.

Nope.

There were nothing available, except for a rusty post and bent rim.  I was invited to accompany the the team for a large tournament.  I had the boys together to pose for a team picture.  I asked to have the netball brought in for the picture.  They brought the handball ball.  I wanted the netball ball.  But they explained that they are actually playing handball in the tournament.  Jeez, all along I thought it was netball until the very minute that we are about to depart, then find out it was an entirely different sport.  They said they practiced a lot.

Nope.

They only practiced for three days.  

But then they probably have nice balls and goal net to practice with.

Nope.

They only have one ball, and it was so worn out.  This ball was actually used as the game ball in the tournament later in the day.  There is no goal net.  We used posts for football (soccer) which is of wrong dimensions (too big, too tall).

So, we flew to the tournament site.

Nope.

Ok, we rode in the school bus.

Nope.

Oh, never mind, the school does not have any money, nor own any school wheels to use, so we rented a matatu. So we had several matatus come in to load up girls (for separate netball tournament) and boys (for handball tournament).

Nope.

Only one Matatu.  So the boys waited around while the driver took the girls to their netball tournament site, return back to the school, and picked us up.

So, we arrived at the handball tournament site.  There were nice facilities with mowed lawns, marked fields, and correct goal posts and nets.

Nope.

The grass were left tall, and some fields even have holes or dips.  They used light black court markings that seem to disappear.

So we changed into our school uniforms with matching warm up jackets and pants, with new sneakers.

Nope.

Our boys used whatever they can get their hands on.  The school provided tops, but the boys used pens to try to draw numbers on their back.  These numbers are not even visible in any of my photos.  Many boys went barefoot, some with one shoe, and some with just socks.

Because there were over 25 teams in the tournament, we played in pools of teams, and the top two teams from each pool would play in a bracket the next day.  We played three games, and we won them all.  We beat those well-dressed and well-practiced teams.

So, we had plenty of water, snacks and lunches. We had team moms pitch in on those refreshments and helped serve us.  We also had team dads pitch up tents to keep us in the shade away from the mid-day Kenyan/equator heat.

Nope.

The team did not have any water all day.  No energy bars or snacks at all.  If they needed water, they would walk behind a building and use a faucet.  We also hung around whatever trees we can find for the shade.  When we were done with our games for the day, the coach took us across the street, and treated the team a nice lunch and refreshments.

Nope.

He bought 12 loaves of bread, one for each boy.  And a bottle of soda each.  The coach and I ate with the boys.

Nope.

He gave me 500 shillings and told me to go in the hotel (restaurant) closeby and have a nice lunch.  He probably had more than 500 shillings for himself.

So, after lunch, our matatu came by promptly and picked us up and brought us back to school.

Nope.

The matatu came like 2 or 3 hours late, making us doze off and wait around under the shades from those trees nearby.  When the matatu finally came, we all loaded up, and was ready to go, only to find the matatu died.  We had to push it to start it up again.

So that wraps up our first day.  

On our next day, the matatu came in and picked us up.  We had a smooth ride back to the tournament site.

Nope.

The matatu blew a tire.  You will often wonder about the tires you see on those matatus, and they sure wear them down as much as they can, and prefer to have them blow out before replacing them.  Remember many matatus also drive on rough dirt roads through the mountains as well as on the tarmacs (black top roads).

Now armed with my dSLR camera, I played with the high speed photography and caught the boys in action.  Observe the field conditions, facility conditions, and uniforms/shoes (or lack of) worn.

Our star player taking a nap.  But when he is awake and on the court, attacking the net, it is amusing to see the goal keeper cringe and close eyes as he leaps toward them.

So after winning our way into the quarterfinals (we were in the final 8 team out of over 25 teams), we lost to a better team.  So we walked across the street for our lunch.  We had better lunch this time.

Nope.

Team were given same lunch, same 12 loaves of bread and 12 bottles of soda.  I was given another 500 shillings for my lunch.  So I went and enjoyed a good meal.

Nope.

I can not do that anymore.  I bought a loaf of bread for myself, and ate three slices with the boys.  I needed some bread to bring to home anyway.  Had water instead of soda, which I did not have for weeks at a time.

So, in conclusion, it is amusing, at least for me, to compare team competition experiences I had all those years in America, and what I had here.  I am proud of our boys for winning 4 games against those teams that clearly are better prepared and well equipped.