Jan 18 2011
Life in Kitale is coming along really nicely. Meeting lots of new people and making new friends. On Sunday instead of going to church with Alice I was asked if I could come down to the school’s service and program afterwards. So I went to the school’s church service. It was so special. The kids did a lot of the worship leading and some of the songs I knew from the tune. The preacher spoke for a very long time, which essentially means I didn’t follow along for the entire time. He preached in both English and Swalhili which was really nice for a change. Afterwards I talked with some of the other teachers and took pictures of kids and the school. The program was like a Christmas Party for the staff. They weren’t able to have it in December like they usually do, and I was able to participate with everyone else. We had to stand up one by one and tell our name, marital status, and something no one knows about us. Some of the older men stood up and said how many children they had, and believe me the numbers were high, 7, 10, 11, etc. But then Simon stood (I teach with him) and said he has 2 wives, YES I said 2! and 11 children between the two women. I was floored!!! Everyone laughed at that face I made because I was shocked. Simon is a Christian, but here in Kenya there are different types of marriages. Simon’s marriages are traditional, meaning he can have multiple wives. I want to talk to him further and find out about what life is like with two women in the same house. Simon is the only man at school with more than one wife, and he’s probably the only man I’ll come across that will be willing to talk to me some more.
The next part of the party was the gift giving. The school purchases small gifts for the staff, and they pick a number and then they get the gift that has that number on it. Now I wasn’t expecting to participate in this part, but my name was called and I went up and got a number and I ended up with a cooking pot, which I gave to Alice when I got home, All of the gifts are items that can be used in a Kenyan home. It’s a good plan and a moral booster for the staff.
On Monday I came to school on time 8am, and took pictures of the assembly and of the kids. Then I went around and took pictures of the different classes starting with STD 3 (3rd grade) I found out the students all want me to teach them, and there are several salt water lakes in Kenya (I didn’t know that). Some of the pictures are pretty good if I say so myself.
Now today I’m here at school waiting to teach 7th grade English. We are still working on parts of speech, currently working nouns and their plural forms. THEN we have the new books that I bought for the 7th grade too! I’m excited. I think the kids will love them, and today they finally get to see them. YAHOO!! Hopefully soon I’ll be able to get into Kitale Town and find the book stores so I can pick up some books for the library.
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