Dear Mr. Mason,
I hope this email finds you well.
I am writing this email as an update of my trip to Kenya. For the first nine weeks in the country, I worked in a local primary school a short distance from my host Peponi School. while Peponi school is similar to Cheltenham College in its outlook, facilities and its community, Ndini Primary School could not be more different. The contrast is quite stark and my work at Ndini has therefore meant so much more to me.
Children as young as eight arrive having waled a considerable distance along dangerous roads, commonly unaccompanied, and often on empty stomachs. Parents are financially poor in a way that i have never experienced. The facilities at the school would not justify being described as the bare minimum. Children have to share pencils and textbooks are shared between 3 – 4, substandard and badly kept. The classes average the size of 60 and children are cramped onto very rough and inadequate desks. The floors are uneven, windows have no glass and the only resource available to teachers is a chalk board and limited amounts of chalk. I have spent my time working with the children as a sports coach. Often I have about 200 kids in my care and I am lucky if I have 2 footballs and a skipping rope. Despite these challenges I have loved my time working with these children.
Their enthusiasm for what they are doing amazes me and their smiles are infectious. They all try hard and listen carefully to my instructions, despite the occasional language barrier. I have developed my ability to communicate as a necessity and to say that I am out of my comfort zone is an under-statement. I have learnt a great deal, not only about the challenges faced by the children of Kenya but the greater challenges of this great nation. It is a land of humor, good will and sheer resilience.
The people have nothing and they make the very little they have count. The children and the teachers of Ndini have had a true impact on me and I will do all I can to return to continue to contribute. I was fortunate enough to have some time in the classroom where I taught Math and Science, The experience was similar and communication and command was demanded. I loved it and the reward of children understanding what I have to been attempting to explain with one piece of chalk and my own invented resources was brilliant. By contrast, my afternoons have been spent at Peponi School coaching cricket. I am on safer ground and, with conditions, facilities and enthusiasm similar to Cheltenham, I am enjoying what I am doing. However, the contrast has had an effect on me.
I have now moved onto a school designed to support children with special needs. The Kenya Community Center for Learning was set up in 2001 and has made quite an impact in the local area. It is better resourced than Ndini but they have to face their own financial challenges. They have more teachers and more relevant qualifications and I am learning more about the actual skill of teaching. I don’t feel quite so abandoned to my own fate in front of a sea of children. However, it is still early days and it is difficult to judge any that a Gap student might have. Ndini have stopped school for their National Examinations – the KCPE – and our reward from them was the sincere and grateful thanks, accompanied by plenty of smiles and singing from both children and teachers.
I am looking forward to the next month which I am sure will be full of similar experiences and hopefully different ones. I have yet to visit the coast and I hope to be successful in my attempt to climb Mount Kenya. I will write in early December to continue my report.
Yours Sincerely,
Joe Coley
