Classes in Kenya

I arrived in Kenya almost two weeks ago and met Anna-li Snellman, Fanny Snellman, and Johanna Akerlund. Since then we’ve been traveling around Kenya speaking with children and youth. Among other things, we’ve spoken and taught at five different schools…and counting!

I always enjoy teaching, so it’s been great fun to see so many different groups of kids. At some of the schools we had the entire student body (several hundred students) together and other schools we’ve visited class by class. We’ve sung songs, shared Bible stories, and taught a bit about Finland and Canada. We’ve talked with “ECD” (early childhood development) students of three years old up to “standard eight” (grade 8) students of anywhere from 13 to 19 years old. We’ve taught at public schools and private schools, large schools and small schools, and schools made of tin sheets and schools made of mud bricks. It’s been a wild ride so far and we are looking forward to more schools and more great kids in the weeks to come.

Fanny and Anna-li introduced some “friends” from Finland to the standard 4 students in the first school we visited. The children were a bit concerned at first and when Anna-li asked if anyone had questions, one boy shot up his hand and asked, “Is that doll really talking or what’s happening?” Once they realized it was a puppet they were much happier to sing along with the song that “Andy” and “Linea” were singing.

Those who know me well know how much I enjoy telling the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den. I am usually Daniel and I get thrown into the crowd of students who are the lions. This time when I was about to get thrown to the lions, the students scattered! It changed the story a bit to have the lions afraid of Daniel! (You can just see the kids on the far side of me leaning away...other kids got up and ran!)

No matter where they live, kids enjoy their breaks from class. Even though this swing set could use some repairs, the kids enjoy playing on it.

Lunch time at one of the private schools we visited. All the teachers and students are fed lunch at school. Usually it is beans mixed with corn.

Johanna teaching a combined class of ECD, standard 1, standard 2, and standard 3. Children here in Kenya see very few visuals, so the pictures she used to tell the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 were quite popular.

A small private ECD school run by one of our affiliated churches. I love teaching young kids, but they are usually a bit uncertain of the weird “mazungus” (white people). Thankfully none of these kids started to cry like some young children do the first time they see us!

That’s all for now! I’m looking forward to more kids and more teaching in the next four weeks!

On the road again!

It’s been quite a few months since I’ve posted here. Since I left the Philippines at the end of May I’ve been in the USA and Canada visiting friends and family.

Now, I’m finally in the skies again. :) I came to South Africa last week and I’ll be here a total of 9 days. Then I’m off to Kenya for six weeks.

My time in South Africa so far has mostly just been visiting with friends I have made here over the years. Starting tomorrow I’ll also be joining in on some more “official” visits. We’ll be visiting at a hospital, a clinic, and detention centre, among other things. 

As always, I love to see my kids wherever I go! Here are a special couple of kids I first meet three years ago. They are getting so big now and I’m so proud of how well they are doing in school. I sat and had lunch with Otsile (the boy on my right) who is six years old and we chatted the whole time in English. Last year he only knew a few words but this year we could easily chat for hours!

Here are more of my kids with what else but some paper frogs. ;)

Several days back I was visiting my friend in a shack village called Ikageng. While I was there dark clouds suddenly covered the sky and it began to rain. We ducked into her shack and lit a candle so that we could see. Soon the storm was truly raging outside and the rain on the tin roof was deafening! I sat there at the table watching the kids bouncing around the room and listening as my friend and her family shouted to one another, competing with the storm. Our shadows flickered across the tin wall, occasionally lit brighter by the lightning strikes outside. It was somehow peaceful to sit there as half-participant and half-observer of that moment in their lives. I thought about standing up to take a picture, but somehow it seemed like the magic of the moment would have been broken so I sat and listened as the rain pounded down and the Setwana language swirled around me and our shadows flickered together on the wall. Experiencing small moments like these are one reason I travel.