Tuesday, Emily and I taught again at the primary school. Later in the afternoon, we had a chance to teach one class each at the Irigithathi Secondary School. Emily spoke to the Form 1 (or freshman) girls, and I was with the Form 2 (or sophomore) boys for an American History class.

Posing in Front of the School Building at Irigithathi Primary

On Wednesday, I taught 5th grade English while Emily took the 8th graders out for P.E. One of the teachers remarked that since the 8th graders were preparing to take their exams, this would likely be their first and last P.E. class of the whole term. The 5th graders were excited to have one of us teaching their class again and were eager to learn and participate in class. Every question we went over on the class worksheet had the kids jumping out of their seats, raising their hand, and snapping their fingers, in hopes that I would call on them next.

I found that I was finally feeling less tense teaching at the front of the class and that the students were likewise more open to me calling on them to speak up. Emily and I both got the feeling that the normal procedure in class was much less interactive than in the U.S., and more reliant on rote memorization and corporal punishment. It was nice to see the students both learn and have fun at the same time, and the more I teach them, the clearer it becomes that, if given the chance, most (if not all) of them could advance to college.

On returning to Batian's View, we conducted an interview with our friend Felix, who is also an employee here, and asked him questions pertaining to the education system in Kenya and his own experiences with it. He gave us some valuable insight into how the average Kenyan student struggles to pay not only for college, but for high school as well. Felix pointed out that without a secondary school education, it is incredibly difficult to find work at or above the poverty level. In his own case, he would not have been able to get his job at Batian's View that he has now, or one that would enable him to support himself without his secondary school certificate. The importance of secondary schooling in Kenya cannot not be understated, and getting students funding for it is a major undertaking.

Dinner with Felix, Ben, Emily, and Logan at Kungu Maitu's Butchery in Nanyuki

As for today, Emily and I decided to take a day off from teaching to get some Hansen Foundation for Education work done. We interviewed Waimiru, co-director of Batian's View, and wife of Kafuna, and received some very enlightening and insightful responses to our questions. For me, one major take-away was that poverty and corruption are working against the average Kenyan, but that with the correct support in the right places, students in need can have a chance to attend college.

After the interview, we watched while Logan, Felix, and a few workers took down a tree on the property to be used for building materials. It was a successful team effort and was fun to watch unfold.