Saturday, June 12, 2010 8:31PM

I'm afraid I may have got my copy winged off to the wrong email address - if much of the last one seems familiar do ignore it and I will try to improve standards!

While I'm working on this I can report that the great migration has started and thousands of wildebeest accompanied by zebras have started to trek over the Tanzanian border from the Serengeti into the Maasai Mara - I went out to see them today an astonishing sight - and also saw 4 lions lying low in the grasses watching all their Christmas and birthday dinners rolled  into one! The meat fest is beginning on the Mara for the big cats. There's nothing sloppy about food chains, and the vultures, jackals and hyenas are about too, ready for their own scavenged snacks.

I've been teaching interested children to knit at school and after only 1 week several boys and girls have worked together to make a bag to carry school books in (the children usually have old maize sacks or little plastic bags which are always collapsing) and presented it to their choice of pupil.

I have found knitting wool in Sekanani village, but no needles other than those I brought with me. But pupils Bernard and Philigonia solved their problem simultaneously by turning up on Friday with their own home made stick needles carefully pointed at one end - endless ingenuity is applied to everything here.

I am also playing simple card and board games with interested children and find that this is something they have no experience of but love. We play dominoes, pairs, snap, uno etc. The best thing about these 'social' activities is that both boys and girls participate and have fun playing together. In contrast traditional Maasai culture has distinctively separate gender roles so maybe these experiences at school will enable boys and girls to value each other rather more.

Teaching here is very formal - chalk and talk, closed questions and repetition of learned information, but the pupils are not good at answering open questions, or applying knowledge to different circumstances.  I encourage this in my lessons, and in the practice of my Kenyan teacher colleagues.

At the same time they are teaching me about the role of the whole community in raising a child, and about conserving essential resources, and using natural materials. So we are all learning together, well as working, laughing and socialising together. 

That's all for now  - trusting all's good in Thurnby!

With love from Gerry.

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Monday, June 7, 2010 8:14 PM

All good at Sekanani. School is fun and full of surprises. Two weeks ago we had Sports Day with 14 local schools competing. The 8 lane 400m track was laid out in the bush by pouring sump oil from a soda bottle. The jumping pits were dug over by a crew of bare footed pupils with digging hoes. During the javelin practice 17 and 18 year old Maasai lads hurled the weapon impressively at a thorn  thicket, though the method of retrieval was unorthodox.

An equally well built Massai lad picked it up and threw it back. No sign of the Health and Safety Exec. here!

The relay changeovers were hampered variously by a herd of cattle, a bunch of mixed sheep and goats and a small group of stray 6 year old pupils. The competition day was distinctly African - dust and disorganisation and a great time was had by all.

Last week we focused upon cultural activities with an enormous interschool music and poetry festival. Choral poetry speaking in English with themes such as parasites, AIDs, and “where is father when mother is doing all the work?”!

Kiswahili poetry and songs, African drumming and Maasai songs and dancing. The experience for all of us was at first prim and somewhat cryptic, then came meaning, and finally feeling as the Maasai children got stuck into joyous and energetic performances of their traditional dances wearing their red cloth, beads and headdresses.

This week school received 6 young girls who were being prepared for their FGM 'ceremony', until the enlightened chief learned of it and brought the girls into school. We will keep them with us, finding their boarding fees from somewhere so that they can stay safe, receive an education, and make good choices for themselves and their own children in the future.

There are 3 to 4 orphaned children in each class, in the majority of cases their parents were attacked by wild animals, but malaria also kills. The children are tested for HIV annually and the few that are positive receive drug treatment.  However AIDS and poverty still have an impact on the local adult population. It is very rare to meet anyone here with grey hair.

When I go to the  local Sekanani village shops to buy water or bananas the toddlers used to touch my extraordinarily white hands with some trepidation, but now they take my fingers and lead me round the village. Their parents converse with me in our own brand of Maa-glish with plenty of hand shaking and smiles, knowing that I am the misungo mwalimu and teaching their older children. It's all good at Sekanani.

Meanwhile, I don't think I'll ever tire of watching elephants grazing in groups, gulping down kilos of vegetation a day, warthogs running about, lions, cheetah and leopards moving at ease across a vast grassland landscape framed by the blue Tanzanian hills.

In all this excitement it is still good to remember the solid and centuries old tradition of the gospel and the church fellowship at St Luke’s, and to know that it is from God via you all, that I feel sent and supported.

With love from Gerry

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Monday, May 31, 2010 9:04 PM

School is great - the students vary in age from 5 to 20 depending on when they were first sent to school. My classes have students of all ages, though everyone wears navy shorts, blue shirts or blue and white gingham dresses whatever their age. Many Maasai boys are kept at home to guard the cattle and don't start school until 10 or 12 years old. Girls are frequently married young (in exchange for more cattle) so there are far fewer at school. Today the (educated and enlightened) local Maasai chief sent 8 girls of 6-10 years of age along to the school for the first time because he knew their mothers were planning their 'initiation ceremony' - female genital mutilation (FGM) - and he wanted them to avoid that by becoming boarders at Sekanani school.

While all children have a right to free primary education, boarding fees are necessary for food and accommodation, so the school is seeking funding for them and will keep them through the year. There are currently about 20 'rescued' girls living permanently at school and we never turn away any that want to come for this reason.

On a lighter note, we've just had Sports Day with 10 other Maasai schools competing. The sports field is an area of dusty bush outside the school compound. The tracks were marked with sump oil poured from a soda bottle, and the jumping pits were dug dust. Javelin practice was 19 year old Maasai lads hurling the weapon at a distant thorn thicket very effectively, but the sequence for collecting it was a bit of a shock. Another Maasai lad retrieved the javelin and threw it back!

The relay changes were hindered variously by a herd of Maasai cattle, a mixed bunch of sheep and goats and a small party of wandering 6 year old pupils. Hakuna matata!

I teach English, Maths, Science and Social Studies through the medium of English to the upper primary students, though to the amusement of my Kenyan teacher colleagues, I am also attending Standard 1 Kiswahili classes as a pupil. My 3 other learning peers on our back row 'desk' are the first to strike up the "well done” song, when I am called to write my answer on the board - if get it right!

This week we are preparing for an interschool music festival  - no prim choirs or earnest solos - the Maasai songs accompanied by buffalo horn bass, the jingle of Maasai beads, and the synchronised movements of the pupils produce a very powerful performance from a volunteer 'choir' of 100 plus, half of which are boys. I am to accompany them to the competition at another school on Friday and feel most privileged that they have invited me.

Every day the Kenyan bush brings wonder - the golden grasses hiding lions, hunting cheetah and blundering warthogs, the bar coded zebra, wrinkled elephants, and nervy impala. So much to celebrate and learn. But what does the Lord require of me? 'To do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly'.

Greetings and love from Gerry

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Sunday, May 09, 2010 2:37 PM

I've been tree planting with the teachers and children (pic above). Classrooms and resources are very basic - concrete and corrugated iron huts, wooden bench and desk combined for the 60 plus children to work at. Very few books, less paper or pencils. Chalk is snapped in half by teachers and hoarded for classroom chalk board use. But the children are keen, have strong memories for learning by rote, and get up some very competive soccer games at the end of each school day. More than half the school are boarders, staying in rudimentary dormitaries with triple bunks, each with a mattress and blanket.

Their few things are stored in tin boxes and they remain  living in the school compound for the term - 3 months away from home. The youngest 5 and 6 yr olds are looked after by the biggest, and all are very independent.

Lily who is 14 runs the school generator, and today we watched the school cook and three 12 yr olds slaughter and cut up a goat for thier evening meal, which is cooked wood fire in a vast iron pot.

Children have general duties every day - cutting the grass with machetes (!), gathering firewood....

The whole school and the local parents turned out to welcome us last Thursday and before the traditional Maasai dancing, singing and drumming by the children, the Maasai elder stood to welcome us saying "God has looked upon us with favour - because He has brought you to us.".

Remembering you all - best wishes and prayers from Gerry

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Wednesday, May 05, 2010 8:08 PM

I am teaching at Sekanani primary school which is in a Maasai community just outside the eastern gate of the Maasai Mara Game reserve. I am based in this school of 750+ children with 2 other volunteer teachers from the UK for 3 months. We augment the current teaching staff of 9. Kenya has adopted one of the the Millenial Development goals - to provide all primary aged children with a free school place - but it has not yet funded sufficient resources or teachers.

Sorry to have told the story back to front! X Gerry

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Tuesday, May 04, 2010 9:36 PM

Physical transfer to Kenya completed smoothly. Brain arrived several hours later! Cultural and professional orientation and teacher team building for 3 days. Into school on Thursday morning with a 'traditional Maasai welcome from the staff and children! Must be a photo in there somewhere.

Thereafter 3 days of team teaching with a Kenyan teacher colleague and... off we go with a class of around 60 eager pupils aged 8-12 years until August. Further news about that as experience accumulates...

Thank you for your good wishes and prayers. I need to learn some Kiswahili fast, and build good relationships with my new colleagues and pupils. The first should assist the latter.

Asante sana  (Thank you very much) X Gerry

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