Dear Mr Mason,
I write to you from the verandah of our small home in Kwale, Kenya, on a very hot day. We have been here for almost six weeks now and have been enjoying every minute.
We live in a house (rented from a local family) of six people and teach in pairs at the local schools. I teach at Vingujini Primary along with Kyla, who is 20 years old and from a fishing town in Alaska.
We work with the Year 4’s and 5’s mostly, who are all aged somewhere between 8 and 15. One of my favourite classes is 5 Yellow who I am currently teaching prime numbers to – they are catching on quickly despite the language barrier!
The children here are very disciplined and experience a very different education system than the one I grew up in. They never ask questions and will always answer ‘yes’ when asked if they understand. I have been trying to assure them that they are allowed to ask me questions when they are unsure of something, and this has been paying off as they are starting to show more engagement. As I’m sure you will know, it is a great feeling when a learner who has been struggling finally reaches the correct answer.
We have been making friends with the teachers and learning more about their way of life, as well as getting to know individual students.
We take part in the weekly assemblies, which are always filled with song, and take many of the classes for PE whenever we can as the other teachers don’t tend to take their PE classes. In the community we have gotten to know many of the market traders near our home and the ‘boda boda’ drivers who take us to school everyday by motorbike, and have so far attended two weddings, one of which we ended up DJ-ing at!
Thus far it is proving to be an invaluable experience that I hope will never end. I would like to extend my thanks again to the Bulkeley Evans Award for helping to make this trip possible.
I hope everything is well with you, please find attached a few photos of our time so far.
Many thanks,
Shona Galloway
