Curious Observations

The school compound is surrounding by a HUGE cement wall topped with barbed wire.  In America, this would look like a prison, but here in Kenya, it is just like any other school I’ve seen.  There are a few houses for some teachers, including myself, that are far from the rest of the school and on top of a small hill.  Now everyday for the last week two young boys have been just a stones throw away from my house on top of this hill watching the traffic go by on the street below.  I would guess that these boys could not be older than four or five years of age.  I tried asking them in sign how old they are, but they are so young that they do not understand sign language yet.  And then I thought, it would make perfect sense if they did not even know their age.  If they do not know sign language nor can they read and write how can they communicate with their parents?  How would they even know when it is their birthday?

Every morning, these two little guys are right outside watching the cars go by.  I think it is just fascinating that neither of them know sign language, but they still understand each other.  I will watch them for a while and I try to figure what they are signing to each other in their own language, but I haven’t quite figured it out.  All I can say is that it has something to do with the cars that go by, since they point at them.  But I’m glad they have someone else that they can communicate with.  It could very well be the first time they have had the opportunity to communicate with someone else that understands them.

I also have learned a lot about my little friend and neighbor, Nestor just by watching him.  As I mentioned in a previous post, he oftentimes is seen with a plastic bag in hand.  Maybe, its all he really has to play with or its the only thing his parents will give him, but nonetheless, he loves it.  He will be outside for hours with a plastic bag either tied to a rope or he’ll wrap it around the end of a stick and try to catch the wind.  This gave me an idea.  I figured I could teach him a thing or two about catching the wind.  And if he loves big plastic bags and sticks what would be the best way to teach him?  Yep, you guessed it, I’m going to make him a kite.  I have actually had this idea with me for some time now, and I am very excited to see it come to fruition.  Just the other day I was walking around trying to find some sticks for this kite, and Nestor started following me.  Sure enough while I found some sticks that I think will just be perfect, he found a plastic bag.  And what did he do when he came up to me?  He tried to hook the bag onto one of the sticks.  The whole time I was thinking, man he is gonna freaking love this.  So I have pretty high hopes for this and all I need to do now is find some string.

School is finally back in full swing as I have a full class again.  Things have certainly been challenging and stressful among other things.  More than once I had to come back and lay down and listen to David Gray’s Lost Songs to put my mind at ease and relax for a little bit.  My biggest challenge has been maintaining the classroom.  In every class that I have seen taught by other teachers almost every student has been well behaved and eager to participate.  But I find that often times this is not the case in my classroom.  It can be so frustrating to maintain a class when half of the students do not even understand the simplest forms of communication.  Sometimes I need to remind myself that I have never had any sort of teacher training at all and that I am learning as I go here.

Time for more pictures.  My youngest brother and I.

My group during training.