You want me to TEACH !?!

Yes, that's what we all said - we really weren't interested in teaching. But, the UMay office is right next door to an "informal" school called KYEEDA (Kenyan Youth Education and Economic Development Association), and the man that pretty much runs the school, Joshua, is on UMay's steering committee (that's Joshua in the picture below). So yes, on Wednesday, FE 24, Kevin, Louise and I became teachers!

Korogocho has 65,000 school-aged children. The 2 government schools hold 1000 students each, plus there are 4-6 non-government schools. KYEEDA holds approx. 200 students and is not a government school, therefore not funded.

A small group of teachers got together and are renting a delapitated building so that kids can attend school even if their families cannot afford school fees. Some kids pay nothing, some pay 25Ksh per month (= 32cents) and others 50Ksh (= 64 cents), depending on the economic status of their family. This money pays for rent, paper, pencils, chalk, teachers' salaries (approx. $2 - $4 per month) and supplies i.e. wood to build desks and paint to brighten the concrete walls in the school rooms (still on the "to-do" list).

During the revolt 2 years ago after the elections, there was a lot of tribal fighting in Korogocho. Unfortunately, the KYEEDA school sat on the dividing border. All the doors were stolen; windows were broken; and one whole section lost the roof. The front section of the school now has some rusted metal sheeting for a roof, held down by rocks. Re-building will be a long process due to the limited resources. We offered to paint and build desks for them, but found out this was a very sensitive area - we would be taking work away from the locals. This is understandable, but will make the re-build take that much longer.

The younger grades do not have desks. They sit on grain sacks in their rooms. The teachers say that due to their young age and innocence, they really don't know any better. The young children are moved to one of the roofless buildings for "nap time" and lay head-to-toe and side-by-side to sleep.

The limited chairs and desks are saved for the older students.

As I started off saying, Kevin, Louise and I were "teachers for a day"! Kevin was an English major at school, so chose to teach that subject. Louise felt most comfortable with Science, and so I taught Mathematics. We were sent home with tons of homework the day before teaching - we each had to teach 4 classes  - 4 different grades!

I have to say that Louise was quite horrified when we got home and she started reading up on what she had to teach. She thought she would be teaching science of the human body, but instead...."I have to teach about BUGS!! What the heck are crop pests? Ewww! Worms and rats!!" and then her next class..."PHOTOSYNTHESIS??!!" (It was really funny - I thought she might actually "skip school" the next day!!)

My Grade 4 class - they sang me a song!  :o)               

I must admit, I was in my glory!! If you know me well, then you know how much I love math. I thoroughly enjoyed figuring out all the problems I was going to give the students. I taught basic multiplication to the Grade 4 class; decimals to the Grade 6 class; constructing angles using a compass to Grade 7; and calculations re: circumference, diameter and radius to the Grade 8 class. It was quite a busy day!!

The kids were so excited about us being there - we were the first "mzungus" and volunteers to visit the school. As we taught, the "real" teachers just sat around - we did not feel we were really a benefit to the school. So, we are now thinking we may spend 1 day a week at the school, but instead of teaching a core subject, we would like to set up something different each week: music; small science experiments; sports; stories...to enhance the basic education these children are currently receiving. 

You have never seen children as excited as they are, to be in school and learning - now there's something we can learn from them!