Week Two - Education

  The mind set of the culture is very unusual to me and I am going to do my best to try to explain why. I have had many conversations with the kids about their goals in life, I always like to do this even with my kids from the school district at home. It is nice to hear the big dreams of a child. Here is no different, most want to be pilots, surgeons, or international lawyers. Even the high school boys have such dreams, which I find odd. By the time I got to high school my friends had realistic dreams of being trilingual international business women, aerospace engineers working for NASA, or famous directors in Hollywood....hahaha sorry ladies had to brag on ya some ; ) But really I think that we had a understanding of our limits and a understanding of the education system and what it was going to take for us to get to the place we wanted to be. I am glad they have big dreams but I am afraid when they get out of Mlolongo they are going to be crushed to realize they can't all be pilots. Saying all of that their whole education system is very strange. They go to school for very long hours, they do not have recess, and everything is very structured. The children are beaten by the teacher if they are not paying attention, they wear uniforms, and are expected to rise and say a little chant every time an adult enters the room. I see some of the kids that are behind in school, I just got a new little boy on my “caseload” named David. He is eight in preschool and CANNOT read anything! He knows most of the sounds of letters but can't even identify them by name. The worse part is that the teacher believes that he is just lazy so screaming at him will make him do his work. He repeats good job every time I say it almost like he has no clue what I am saying. To top it off he is a boy from the community not even an orphan. It has been an uphill battle to try and find ways of teaching David, he cries most everyday and feels very defeated. My mom could whip that school in shape in two weeks top! Not to mention there is only one way of teaching, copying notes from the board, even the preschoolers are expected to copy from the board. I think one of the best things about the education system in America is that it is always evolving. In fact that is what I job at home requires, finding new ways for children to be the most successful. Not here, they are teaching the exact same way they have always been teaching.

     The children here have no imagination. None. If you handed a blank piece of paper to a child and told them to draw anything they want the child would be so overwhelmed they probably would not draw anything at all. There is no free thinking encouraged. The kids seriously have no outlet to express themselves, they can't decorate their room, they wear what they are told, and they all have the same hair. Again, this reminds me of my friends and how different we are, could you imagine me and Corie having to dress the same, act the same, and eventually think the same. That would never work! That is what makes our friendship golden, we are different and bring spice to each others lives. Which is probably what is wrong with the country as a whole, everyone just does what they are told. I know I am on a soap box with this one but it is heart breaking to see day in and day out. They are children, children should run around and make up stories and pretend to be cops and robbers. They should be able to learn at their own speed in their own way. Freedom to think, freedom to express, freedom to create!

     I can honestly say that I have never been truly thankful for my education until now. I was always thankful for my teachers (well most of them) and for the impact they made in my life, but not once (not never lol) have I ever thought about the way they taught being grand. I remember Mr. Summerville standing on the tables explaining science and how cool that was, but just the simple science experiments would literally blow these kids out of the water. Maybe when some adults in our church get to retiring age we can start a school here and have people come over for a month at a time and teach the kids.

     As for me, I am fine. I am starting to settle in some and get into a routine. Internet is more accessible now which is really nice and makes me feel a little more settled to know my family and friends are doing well. Last weekend I got to visit the heart of Kenya, it was awesome! It is kinda like if someone comes to NYC and that is all they see and then they say they have seen America, I was afraid my experience was going to be a lot like that due to me being in the capital city. But, I got a chance to go with the head master and her family to visit her son who is away at a boarding high school. On the way their we stopped and visited some coffee and tea plantations. They were so beautiful! Just like a postcard you would see of Africa, rolling hills of green with little huts randomly placed in the fields. One place we stopped was at the house of the head masters parents, they live in a small village. I was the first Monzungu (white person) that the children had ever seen. It was funny, some of them wanted to come up and touch me while others where very scared of me. I have felt your prayers and really appreciate them! My kids sing a song that very simply says, “You pray for us and we'll pray for you”