Like Nancy mentioned in the previous post, our team has really settled into a routine this week which probably does account for our lack of blog postings. Our second week of teaching ended with a bang as Art finally taught his first and final class! Despite his usually calm demeanor, Art did an energetic job of both entertaining the students and ensuring that they understood the fundamentals of Daily Operations. While it's sad that he's leaving our team today, we congratulate him as he embarks on a year-long opportunity to teach English in Japan!
At the Kibera site this week, our teaching team was really able to bond with the participants. On Wednesday of this week, instead of our usual afternoon mentoring session, Kevin and I were able to be part of an impromptu discussion on Kenyan politics, standard of living and current events with our students. By just listening to the discussion, I was able to learn so much about our students and their desire to effect change in their lives. I think that discussion really helped our teaching team understand a lot more about the background of our students and helped our class as a whole bond together. I found out that many of the students in our class did not know each other before the course. Yesterday, we had another opportunity to get to know our students better through the soccer/football game. One of our students is a soccer coach so he arranged a field and equipment for our class. It was an informal game but a great time of fun and bonding for all who participated.
Perhaps the most memorable this week was my conversation with one of the quietest students in our class during the walk back to the classroom from the soccer field. While we walked, she openly shared with me how her mother had passed away several years ago and that she was now living with a stepmother and taking care of her younger brothers and sisters. She was unable to finish school and had only completed up to Form 2. She told me how much she appreciated this course as it provided an opportunity for her to think differently and to be successful at business. Just knowing that we had made some difference in this young woman's life was enough to convince me that it was worth all the preparation and hours of hard work back home to come to Kenya.
I hope that the last week of teaching will be just as good as the last two. More updates soon!
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy... (and Jill a wealthy widow)
Week one - complete! As a reward for our terrific first week of teaching, the team went out to celebrate at a local landmark restaurant, Carnivore. It's exactly as it sounds: a restaurant with a prix fixe menu of a variety of different meats, featuring one exotic specialty per evening. We lucked out with ostrich meatballs, which interestingly tasted like beef with a hint of chicken. The decor was kitsch but the food was great, and the bill spoke volumes of just how well we treated ourselves. Consensus: well deserved.
Our weekend of celebration, however, didn't start with our meat-eating binge. Friday afternoon, Kathleen invited us to a free concert at the local Alliance Francaise: the annual event was called Spotlight on Kenyan Music, and was absolutely terrific. Featuring a veritable cabaret of female vocalists, jazz bands, traditional Masai chanting and even a blind self-taught guitarist/floutist/singer, we really were treated to exceptional talent that was clearly very popular among the local youth in attendance. We certainly didn't hesitate to buy a CD of this year's featured musicians, and Jessie even had the good fortune to have hers autographed by her personal favourite - the young Masai activist who combined traditional chanting with modern beats and political messages.
Not yet ready to call it a night (and happily enjoying the 100 shilling beer), some of the team decided to take on the local wildlife and headed to Tacos, a hopping joint with a knock-off Taco Bell logo for a sign. We met up with Stephen, one of our Daystar students at Kibera, and spent the evening enjoying more of the local brew (Tusker, fyi), the company, and even a song or two on the dance floor. It seems to be the case that in Kenya, dancing brings people together; thus, thanks to his smooth moves, Kevin met a few members and even the coach of the National Kenyan Cricket team. Alvina and Stephen were met with less success, but nonetheless enjoyed the occasion to "shake what their mamas gave them", as the local expression goes. Tragically, Brent and Jim were not to be found getting their grove on, but we
think it likely they'll be dragged into it by the end of the trip.
Our weekend of festivities was dominated by trips to various animal-viewing grounds. First stop: the Nairobi Giraffe Centre, where one could entertain him/herself by feeding giraffes from raised verandahs, and (secondarily, of course) learn all about the histories and habits of African giraffes. Some of the more adventurous deigned to hold a piece of giraffe food between their lips, and as the rest of us looked on with a combination of gleeful disgust and horrified captivation, both young and old (and mostly American) stepped up to undergo the touristy rite of passage. We happily resigned ourselves to the traditional hand-to-mouth technique, even sneaking in a timid yet affectionate pat now and again. And for everyone's information, a giraffe's tongue is dark, leathery, and unsurprisingly slimy.
Our next adventure took us to the Nairobi Animal Orphanage, where a greater variety of animals could be appreciated. Although not nearly as exciting as fauna in the wild, it was nice to at least be guaranteed that we'd see them, seeing as you can't get far behind a chain-link fence. Speaking of getting behind chain-link fences, Art, Alvina and Jessie managed to sweet-talk their way into the cheetah cage, so under the extremely tight observation of a barrage of groundskeepers, they managed to score a picture. When it is up, you will notice a pained look of control on Art's face, thinly veiling an expression of sheer terror.
Last stop on our African safari: Lake Nakuru National Park. Known as an ornithological paradise, it boasts one of the highest number of different species of bird of any national park in the world. Within metres into the park, it was easy to see how it got its reputation: we saw a whack of funky looking birds (none of whose names we caught), and turning the bend towards the lake, we were immediately greeted by a sea full - or more like an entire lake full - of bright pink cheerfully squawking flamingos. I kid you not: at best estimate, there were probably several thousand of them stretching in a warbling colour mass from shore to shore, right down to the horizon. It was like the world's fair of flamingos was being held at Lake Nakuru that very day, and we just happened to stumble upon it. Very cool.
In other news, we saw the usual horde of zebras, buffalo, and even a couple of impalas fighting for domination, but other than a brief sighting of a black rhino, the flamingos were definitely the highlight. We also spotted a bunch of park visitors who were dumb enough to leave food lying around for baboons (and then panicked when the baboons came after them), but such guests unfortunately don't seem to be a rare species. Judge not lest ye be judged, though: a particularly cheeky monkey found its way into our van when we weren't looking, and managed to sneak away with one of Alvina's granola bars, which it unwrapped and consumed from a nearby treetop. We'll know better for next time.
The evening wrapped up with a bright orange Kenyan sunset just as we arrived back in Nairobi, all sufficiently safari-ed out, pleasantly tired, and looking forward to another eventful week of teaching, business plans, and the adventure that has been our trip thus far.
With Love,
The SE101: Kenya Team.
Our weekend of celebration, however, didn't start with our meat-eating binge. Friday afternoon, Kathleen invited us to a free concert at the local Alliance Francaise: the annual event was called Spotlight on Kenyan Music, and was absolutely terrific. Featuring a veritable cabaret of female vocalists, jazz bands, traditional Masai chanting and even a blind self-taught guitarist/floutist/singer, we really were treated to exceptional talent that was clearly very popular among the local youth in attendance. We certainly didn't hesitate to buy a CD of this year's featured musicians, and Jessie even had the good fortune to have hers autographed by her personal favourite - the young Masai activist who combined traditional chanting with modern beats and political messages.
Not yet ready to call it a night (and happily enjoying the 100 shilling beer), some of the team decided to take on the local wildlife and headed to Tacos, a hopping joint with a knock-off Taco Bell logo for a sign. We met up with Stephen, one of our Daystar students at Kibera, and spent the evening enjoying more of the local brew (Tusker, fyi), the company, and even a song or two on the dance floor. It seems to be the case that in Kenya, dancing brings people together; thus, thanks to his smooth moves, Kevin met a few members and even the coach of the National Kenyan Cricket team. Alvina and Stephen were met with less success, but nonetheless enjoyed the occasion to "shake what their mamas gave them", as the local expression goes. Tragically, Brent and Jim were not to be found getting their grove on, but we
think it likely they'll be dragged into it by the end of the trip.
Our weekend of festivities was dominated by trips to various animal-viewing grounds. First stop: the Nairobi Giraffe Centre, where one could entertain him/herself by feeding giraffes from raised verandahs, and (secondarily, of course) learn all about the histories and habits of African giraffes. Some of the more adventurous deigned to hold a piece of giraffe food between their lips, and as the rest of us looked on with a combination of gleeful disgust and horrified captivation, both young and old (and mostly American) stepped up to undergo the touristy rite of passage. We happily resigned ourselves to the traditional hand-to-mouth technique, even sneaking in a timid yet affectionate pat now and again. And for everyone's information, a giraffe's tongue is dark, leathery, and unsurprisingly slimy.
Our next adventure took us to the Nairobi Animal Orphanage, where a greater variety of animals could be appreciated. Although not nearly as exciting as fauna in the wild, it was nice to at least be guaranteed that we'd see them, seeing as you can't get far behind a chain-link fence. Speaking of getting behind chain-link fences, Art, Alvina and Jessie managed to sweet-talk their way into the cheetah cage, so under the extremely tight observation of a barrage of groundskeepers, they managed to score a picture. When it is up, you will notice a pained look of control on Art's face, thinly veiling an expression of sheer terror.
Last stop on our African safari: Lake Nakuru National Park. Known as an ornithological paradise, it boasts one of the highest number of different species of bird of any national park in the world. Within metres into the park, it was easy to see how it got its reputation: we saw a whack of funky looking birds (none of whose names we caught), and turning the bend towards the lake, we were immediately greeted by a sea full - or more like an entire lake full - of bright pink cheerfully squawking flamingos. I kid you not: at best estimate, there were probably several thousand of them stretching in a warbling colour mass from shore to shore, right down to the horizon. It was like the world's fair of flamingos was being held at Lake Nakuru that very day, and we just happened to stumble upon it. Very cool.
In other news, we saw the usual horde of zebras, buffalo, and even a couple of impalas fighting for domination, but other than a brief sighting of a black rhino, the flamingos were definitely the highlight. We also spotted a bunch of park visitors who were dumb enough to leave food lying around for baboons (and then panicked when the baboons came after them), but such guests unfortunately don't seem to be a rare species. Judge not lest ye be judged, though: a particularly cheeky monkey found its way into our van when we weren't looking, and managed to sneak away with one of Alvina's granola bars, which it unwrapped and consumed from a nearby treetop. We'll know better for next time.
The evening wrapped up with a bright orange Kenyan sunset just as we arrived back in Nairobi, all sufficiently safari-ed out, pleasantly tired, and looking forward to another eventful week of teaching, business plans, and the adventure that has been our trip thus far.
With Love,
The SE101: Kenya Team.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Landing Notice
I've been ordained as the scribe for this post. Our team has now landed and assembled in Nairobi, Kenya. On the first night, we were welcomed by the hospitality of Qaisara's family. Their graciousness was overwhelming, and we fondly recalled the 3 canine members of their family: Cocoa, Tequila, and Brandy. To ensure that our stay was memorable, Brandy even took the trouble to pee on Brent's lap. The next day, after again thanking Qaisara and family for their wonderfulness, and after I had told them a splendid joke, we relocated to the LMS Guest House, where we'll be staying for the entirety of this project. Our cab driver is a worthy gentleman named Mengo, who is a friend of Qaisara's mother, Judy. Our cab ride from the airport to Qaisara's abode was $1,300 Ksh (about $25 CAD), and to the LMS Guest House was $600 Ksh (about $10 CAD); we are recording this as a future reference point from which to parley. Once we've settled into our lodging and unpacked, we felt daring and decided to walk to the downtown district for some grocery shopping. To our discomfort, we must also record that to be a pedestrian is to be in peril; the roads are bad, and drivers here have little regard for traffic lights. We went to a supermarket called Nakumatt. It's interesting to find that a regular box of Kelloggs' cereals costs 650 ksh (about $12 CAD), while the local brand equivalent was 1/3 of that price. On the other hand, a local brand 5L jug of spring water was more expensive than for a 5L of Dasani water! Our team must investigate this pricing mystery later. We ended our day with a team meeting and dinner at a pleasant Ethiopian restaurant. But being vigilant, I noticed two fat horseflies infiltrating the vicinity. For the safety of the team, therefore, I had to call for a strategic retreat. It is late evening, and the air has turned cold and unfriendly. So, dear reader, I leave you now for my happy place: the bed.
Posted by Art
Posted by Art
Thursday, July 12, 2007
12 hours in Dubai
As this is our first blog, I felt it would be appropriate to welcome you all and encourage you all to keep up with our updates for the next three weeks. At the moment, I am sitting at a Costa Coffee in Dubai International Airport with Jessie and Art. We've been here for over 10 hours and have already exhausted all possible methods of alleviating our boredom, which include: spending 2 hours finding each other at the airport, sampling moisturizers and perfumes at Dubai's world famous duty free shops, sitting and lying down in random corners of the airport and reclining in the lounge of the $50 USD per hour hotel in the airport without relinquishing a cent. We did, however, get the chance to get to know each other better since we will be spending the next three weeks working in close proximity with each other. And Art just told the 'funniest' joke ever.
Needless to say, we're pretty tired from the long flights, but we're excited about the project and are looking forward to reuniting with the rest of the team in Nairobi tonight and tomorrow!
Needless to say, we're pretty tired from the long flights, but we're excited about the project and are looking forward to reuniting with the rest of the team in Nairobi tonight and tomorrow!
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