Bidding Kwaheri (Dayton)

Thursday was my final day at Kimanjo Secondary School. With the exception of today’s rapidly approaching farewell to the ndovu (Swahili for “elephant), this might have been the hardest goodbye. Because we have to cover three schools on Thursdays, Helen and I have gone to the Secondary School every single week, letting Alex and Annelies split up the other two.

So this week, like the four before it, Helen and I left the Primary School’s lesson early (they were doing the “Stripe”—pronounced “Streep”—drama mentioned in an earlier post), and traipsed down the road to the Secondary School (this time, unlike the four previous, though of course quite welcome, we were joined by Colleen). The plan was to wander the area with a mzee, and the teachers told us the mzee was on his way. After we explained the lesson to the students, and still stood awkwardly waiting outside, we asked one of their teachers (Isaac, who I’ll miss) if he knew how soon the mzee would get there. He said around 5. Unfortunately, it was just after 4, and Helen and I would have to leave at 5. Whoops!

Luckily (thanks to the prescient advice of Colleen) we had prepared a backup activity. We performed the “Risk” game we had played at other schools, where students would have to determine why each endangered/threatened animal was dying off. We had played this at several primary schools (as dedicated blog readers will know), and it’s fun (though its subject matter’s depressing), informative, and low-stakes.

Playing at the Secondary School had a whole new layer. Students are asked to defend their choice for each animal, but at the primary level these explanations were relatively simple (understandably so). The older students were offering multi-sentence analyses of each potential cause of endangerment, occasionally making non-intuitive but compelling arguments. And no one had more fun than Ouma Vincent, the darling of the Northern Kenya Conservation Clubs, in his last year at Kimanjo Secondary and hoping to attend University and then teach conservation in the future.

The fun of the Risk game is that, while there is usually a primary cause of endangerment, there are also secondary and tertiary causes. So while some students might be more right, no one is necessarily wrong. Vincent seemed to pick up on this early, and intentionally picked answers that were less popular. He’d then offer an (often convoluted) explanation of how, in fact, his choice represented the most obvious of threats to the animal in question. It occasionally bordered on the absurd, but was usually quite plausible, and it was an impressive display of creativity and critical thinking.

The other students, too, were always insightful, and it was a good way to end our five weeks there. When we announced we were leaving, Vincent thanked us on behalf of the Club, and several students asked for our emails and/or Facebook names. We said our final goodbyes and hit the road.

We still had one day of teaching left, however. On Friday Helen, Colleen, Alex, and I went to Mpala Academy, teaching a fun lesson on PowerPoint, then playing a game about wild dogs. On Saturday we had “Discovery Day” at the Centre, where researchers and outreach coordinators gave brief presentations on their work for the community at large. I found it quite interesting, and after the talks enjoyed conversing with visiting high schools students from Nanyuki. Saturday afternoon we went on our last game drive with Jackson, stopping by a pack of wild dogs, four buffalo, two secretary birds, and two spotted hyenas, in addition to the usual suspects.

And now it’s Sunday morning and I’m leaving in two hours. After six weeks here, being in New Jersey’s going to be weird. I am excited to see friends and family, to keep working with Kate, Colleen, and Helen, and to start working with Julianne. I’m most of all excited to go see Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in theaters.

But there’s a lot that’s not easy to leave behind. I guess the best I can do is keep as much as I can with me, in my thoughts, in my actions, and—as it turns out, quite literally—in my clothes, some of which are still seeped through with dirt (don’t tell customs).

Inspiration Comes in Many Forms (Kate)

On Wednesday, at Lekigi, I had my faith in the future restored by an old man who used to be a poacher, a handful of children growing up in poverty and a teacher who defies all odds.

I wrote last week about Lekigi. It is a small community of squatters living on land that they claim rights to despite the land being owned by a Kenyan rancher. The details of the legal battle that has been waging for the last two decades are not too important. What is important is that there are now close to 70 families living in Lekigi and most of them include children.

Lekigi is the slums of an already poverty stricken area. Other schools don't want to be associated with Lekigi, teachers don't want to teach there and until recently the school was struggling to make any progress with its students. The change came around two years ago with the arrival of a man named Edson Kithinji to be the new Head Teacher at Lekigi Primary. 

Though Kikuyu (the largest and wealthiest tribe in Kenya) Kithinji has moved into the Lekigi community with his young family while many of his teachers choose to live in surrounding communities and commute to work due to the isolation of the community. It was Kithinji who first reached out to Nancy two years ago about starting a Conservation Club at Lekigi saying, "children are children no matter where they are from and under what conditions they are growing up." The students of the Lekigi Conservation Club bring hope and empathy to that statement. They are energetic and excitable, they like giving hugs, and on Wednesday they listened with rapt attention and curiosity as Tenai, a mzee, (elder) told them stories about how the land had changed over the last seventy years.

Tenai teaching the Lekiji Conservation Club

Tenai is of the Masai tribe, was born in 1937 and grew up in the Laikipia region. As a young man, he was a poacher, hunting elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, buffalo and anything else that would bring a price. But in the 1950's he met the Small family when they purchased the Mpala Ranch and through Sam and George Small he learned about conservation and grew to a deep appreciation for wildlife and their importance to the people of Kenya.

To awestruck Lekigi students, Tenai spoke of grasses that came up past his knees and Elephants with tusks taller than he is. He spoke of plethora of birds and rhinoceros and he spoke of rain and forests that these children will never see. He told stories of tracking huge herds of Elephants and of a species of tree that used to live along the river but is now all but extinct in this region. He warned of over grazing, and stooping down, pointed to the little shrubs poking out of the dry red dirt telling the students in quick Swahili that these tiny bits of green are seedlings, which, if left to grow, would become big green bushes taller than them, but that the goats roaming across the land keep any of the bushes from getting more than a few inches tall.

"Keep your herds small," he tells them, "do not raise more cattle and goats than you can feed without destroying the land. The wildlife here, they are my life, they are my friends. I go out tracking them and they come to me to say 'hello' because they know I am their friend." The students all whisper among themselves and Alex, Helen, Nancy and I smile, because a more perfect tie-in to our Lorax adventure from the previous week could not have occurred had it been previously rehearsed.

The students hang on every word Tenai speaks and are so clearly inspired and awed by what he is telling them that I tingle with excitement over the incredible teachable moment I am witnessing and wish desperately that I will still be here next week to see the stories the children write about what they learned from this afternoon with a mzee. 

Watching children be inspired is the reason why I teach and I was so lucky to be a part of this afternoon, but for me personally, the inspiration for the day came not from Tenai and the stories he was telling, but from Kithinji, his enthusiasm, his teaching philosophy and his general demeanor and presence with the children. There are always those teachers that have this undefinable aura of authority and inspiration. After teaching for four years I am beginning to understand that it comes partly from hard work, partly from experience and partly from a deep undying belief in the potential of children and the good that can be accomplished by listening to them, loving them and believing in them.

Kithinji challenging students to think deeper about something Tenai had told them

Kithinji loves his students and truly believes, in the words he used to convince Nancy to start a conservation club at Lekiji, that all children deserve a chance. His optimism is infectious. Once I began talking to him, I couldn't tear myself away. For someone who has not attended school beyond Secondary level, his English is impeccable and his intelligent is evident. We talk about climate change and the international politics that lead to impassable disagreements. China and the US are outputting billions of kilograms of greenhouse gases, while in Lekiji Kenya, the children are forgetting what a "wet season" even is, the birds have moved on, and the trees never get more than a few inches tall.

We talk about teaching. We talk about children, we talk about never ever growing up to the point where we forget what it was like to be a child and in doing so stop really listening to them. We talk about a "sense of wonder" and how we hope to never lose our own while doing everything in our power to keep feeding those of our students. We talk about the pros and cons of examinations and the importance of giving children time to just run. We discuss different ways of challenging our students to think for themselves and of never letting them take the easy way out. He tells me about teaching his eight year old son to play chess and about playing football with his students after school. I tell him about seminar and Ultimate frisbee and the combined pride and terror of sending my students off to university. We share the ways in which we try every day to be the very best role models we can be because really that is the foundation of all that we do.

As I talk and laugh with Kithinji I find tears coming to my eyes because this, for me, this is what teaching is all about. Here I am, half way around the world, in the middle of the African savannah, in an area stricken with poverty in a way my white American upbringing will never allow me to fully comprehend and I am looking into the eyes of a man who understands me and why I do what I do. "Children are children no matter where they come from and all children deserve a chance."

Edson Kithinji and I at the Lekiji Primary School

Stripe the Zebra (Helen)

July 15, 2014

The main character of today’s adventures is Stripe the Grevy’s Zebra. We had his story to share at Olgirgiri and Shiloh Naibor. The story is basically about a young foal named Stripe who grows up to be a strapping young zebra who sets out to find a “boma” of his own. The boma must have a stable waterhole for the pregnant females; Stripe finally finds one, but when he decides to share the waterhole with humans and their livestock, he discovers that the humans had put a fence of acacia bushes around the hole so that the zebras can’t drink. With nursing mothers unable to produce milk for their children and other zebras going thirsty, Stripe decides to approach a Samburu boy by the name of Oboso. Stripe explains that because the humans had blocked off the hole, he and his other zebras were suffering. Oboso says that he will go talk to his chief so that they can decide what to do. The fun part is that the story doesn’t have an ending; the students were asked to write an ending themselves in the format of a drama, using characters such as Oboso, Stripe, the narrator, the chief, and so on.

It was raining and the school buildings have metal roofs, so it can be a huge challenge just to speak in front of the classroom and for the students to hear the teachers. It sounds like hundreds of little hands are beating the roof. Kate, Annelies, and I had to literally shout when we read the story out loud. That’s something that I would have never even thought about in the states. The buildings also rarely have glass, and are just holes in the wall, so if there is wind then some of the rain sprays into the classroom. It makes the students and the teachers here all the more admirable, as they learn and teach in such an uncomfortable environment.

We also had plastic bottles for them to use as tools for drip irrigation for their trees. Raphael, the teacher there, had the great idea to use these bottles as “prizes” for the students whenever they correctly answered a question. There were a lot of laughs when each student who had answered a question correctly during class received a plastic bottle. They certainly weren’t expecting such a grand reward when we told them that we had a prize for them!

In Olgirgiri (which was where Kate, Annelies, and I were at), the students didn’t have enough time to present their dramas. When we had finished reading the story, we split the class into two groups and gave each group a copy of the story. I think the students had a hard time listening and understanding the story because of the rain, and because of our accents. Both groups reread the story themselves, which took quite a bit of time. I’m sad that I won’t be here to see them present their dramas, but I have faith and I know that they will be great. We actually did something similar at Kimanjo Secondary School; theirs was more in the format of a debate rather than a drama, but it was good to see the students begin to formulate reasons and decisions of their own when it came to protecting wildlife.

After we finished at the schools, we went to the sundowner. It was my first (and last) sundowner. We had a huge bowl of popcorn, and we sat on a huge rock that overlooked a beautiful vista of land stretching as far as the eye could see, with the silhouette of the low, blue mountain ranges in the distance.

The wonderful day came to a close with a showing of my favorite Disney movie of all time, “The Little Mermaid.” 

Spot the Ndovu (elephant)! And other life skills

As a history teacher, I love primary sources. My students back in the US might even say I love them a little too much. Unsurprisingly, yesterday’s lesson at Il Motiak Primary School was one of my favorites so far as it was essentially an oral history lesson. A mzee, or elder, named Mr. Richard traced the history of the school, town and environment through his own experiences.

To begin, we were fittingly led to il motiak, the hole, from which Il Motiak derives its name. Mr. Richard first gave a history of the primary school through his own experiences. Born in the 1960’s, Mr. Richard was part of the age group that had to journey to Kimanjo Primary School, as Il Motiak did not yet have a school. For seven years Mr. Richard made the journey to and from Kimanjo Primary School by foot (30 km round trip). He told us that only one person from the Il Motiak group was able to afford to attend secondary school and unable to pay the fees, he began to teach at the nursery school recently founded by a Catholic organization in Il Motiak. He was very proud of his role as teacher, repeating a litany of individuals he had taught and their accomplishments (including a current employee for the county government). He recounted how World Vision came and helped to build the first classrooms for the primary school, which currently serve as the administrative block. He told the students that the community was on the right track now as many Il Motiak students continue their education to the secondary school level and some have continued on to university.

Mr. Richard then began to talk about the agricultural and environmental history of the region. The Maasi are a community based people. Each community is governed by elders who collectively make decisions for the people. Unsurprisingly, land was owned communally. During the 1960’s and 1970’s many Kenyan communities began to organize group ranches, including Il Motiak. There were 59 original members in the Il Motiak group ranch, and the number of members today has grown to nearly 400 (to be a registered member today, you must be 18 years of age and a descendant of one of the original members).

Though the group ranch did bring benefits, there were some serious problems to contend with as well. Overgrazing was widespread and to combat the disastrous effects, the ranchers now utilize holistic farming and rotate where cattle graze and use cow dung as a fertilizer to help replenish grazing lands.

Despite these counter measures, Mr. Richard spoke about how he has witnessed a huge change in the landscape. What was once fertile grassland is now desert-like and animals like rhinos are an anomaly rather than commonplace. I imagine the difference is similar to that which we see when we leave Mpala and head into the countryside. Recognizing the difficulties of overgrazing, the group ranch has also now set aside 5,000 acres for conservation efforts. Conservation rangers also patrol the area to guard against poachers. Mr. Richard clearly valued conservation and traveled several hours the previous day to come teach the lesson.

Mr. Richard also spoke about the role Mpala Ranch has played within the community (Mpala has two parts, the research center and a working ranch with livestock). A tractor brings water to the community each week, saving people from making the long trek to the river. Mpala workers are often sent to help with various community projects and many local people are employed by the ranch and research center in some way (Jackson, one of our drivers, attended Il Motiak Primary School).

The lesson got me thinking about conservation in the community. Conserving natural resources is essential to the livelihood of a pastoral community and seems to be readily accepted. Without grass, cattle can’t eat and farmers are forced to move or witness their income dwindle. Yet, conserving animals is a bit less straightforward. One of my favorite parts of being in Kenya is getting to see elephants, giraffes, zebras and hippos on an almost daily basis from the safety of a car. Yet, many of these animals, elephants in particular, are incredibly dangerous. Being able to spot elephants is an essential life skill for local people. Elephants have killed humans in the past, which often leads to a retaliation killing of an elephant (not necessarily the same one) by the community. The threat of encountering an elephant is ever present for locals. While on our walk, an older Maasi woman came out of her home to warn us that an elephant was nearby, so we walked back a different way. I asked the students how many of them have seen elephants on the way to or from school and nearly every student had. The kids were able to spot another elephant far in the distance (I just thought it was a rock until it started to move). While the students are definitely on board with our message about protecting animals, it’s understandable as to why some adults may be a bit more hesitant. Understanding their perspective and addressing their concerns is key to ensuring the complete acceptance by the community of conservation. The conservation clubs do address these concerns with students through various lessons and we encourage students to bring the message home.



We had a photography lesson on the way back to school.



We arrived a bit early, so Dayton decided to try tire rolling, a popular pastime with the students.



At il motiak for a great oral history lesson!

A donkey tried to crash the lesson at il motiak.

Following the teacher and the mzee to see if we could spot some elephants.



Annelies having her picture taken with some of the students.

The landscape is very desert like due to overgrazing by domestic animals.



 

For the Love of Insects (Dayton)

Yesterday morning, Colleen, Kate, Helen, and I decided to get started on our primary task: modifying the Mpala curriculum for American classrooms. Helen and Kate took a lesson called “A Day in the Life of an Animals,” while Colleen and I addressed “Insects.” Happily, Conservation Club lesson plans (like insects) lend themselves well to adaptation. They include a strong base of information—insect characteristics, classification, social structure, and life cycle—though we’ll need to do more research. I’m excited about that, because insects are really cool. The plans also have several ideas of how to make the lesson interactive, but a lot of freedom is given to the teacher. This is helpful both because it means the four of us have freedom in our adaptation, and because the teachers who will eventually be using the plans will have freedom in their implementation.

Freedom all around—or so it seemed. One activity called for keeping a caterpillar in a jar to watch it undergo metamorphosis (it then suggested freeing the butterfly). I vaguely remember maybe doing something like this in elementary school, but still, it rubbed me the wrong way. A brief Google search validated some of my concerns: monarch butterfly mass breeders, who regularly sell caterpillars to schools for this very purpose, have a higher instance of disease in their insects than would be found in the wild. Thus, when the butterfly is released, it can spread disease to the fragile wild populations.

And what about wild-caught caterpillars? I found that keeping them captive, with the change in diet and lifestyle that entails, can permanently alter their facial structure (though I don’t know whether this is harmful in itself). I also found that many caterpillar species engage in social behaviors; I’m no lepidopterist, but a confined, solitary creature might experience some level of stress from having its natural instincts thwarted. And even if it wouldn’t mind—after all, the jar would be food-filled and predator-free—I think it’s hard to teach respect for nature by kidnapping wildlife from its habitat and placing it in a small jar. It starts with caterpillars, and next thing you know you’ve got zoos and Sea World and factory farms and you’ve reinforced the exploitative outlook on nature that caused this whole ecological mess in the first place.

Or so goes my theory. The point is, after much hemming and hawing, I asked Colleen if we could maybe tweak that part of the lesson, and so we did.

The school I was originally going to, Mpala Academy, had cancelled, and Ol Jogi Primary School, the intended replacement, was out of town. So I hopped in with Kate, Helen, and Alex to the faraway Ewaso Primary School. We read The Lorax again (I voiced the eponymous entity, who I think would also oppose imprisoning caterpillars) and had a great conversation about trees, wildlife, and the balance of what humans need and what counts as greed. We asked students to write down what they learned, and while most talked (rightfully) about the importance of trees, one student wrote “to be unselfish and care about others.” I’d call it a successful lesson!

This was my last time at Ewaso, and—as I’ve been doing all week—I said goodbye to the students. I’d only seen them four times, including Community Conservation Day, but I’d started to get to know the personalities of some of them; I wish I could stay longer! But alas, we’ve got work to do in Princeton, so in a week we'll be going home.

The Once-ler strikes again: what is being greedy? (Helen)

Today we got packed lunches (orange bananas…yum) because we were heading across the river to Kimanjo Primary School, Kimanjo Secondary School, and Ngbolo. Alex and Colleen went to Ngbolo, Annelies, Kate, Nancy, Dayton, and I went to Kimanjo Primary, and because the secondary school is close by (about a 5 minute walk), Dayton, Kate, and I walked over to the secondary school. Our plan for the day was to get feedback about community conservation day so that we could make next year’s even better (if that’s possible J) and to discuss conservation by reading The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. I was a little worried about reading the picture book to the high school students since they are high school students, but Nancy said that it would be okay since the Kenyan students are rarely, if not never, exposed to books being read aloud in class.( Besides, The Lorax is an awesome book and it’s a great book for anyone, regardless of age.)

The students had really great answers for our questions about community conservation day (1. What was your favorite part of the day? 2. What did you learn? 3. What is one activity from the other schools that you’d like to do here?). The Kimanjo Secondary students had worked especially hard to host the event at their school (cleaning up the schoolyard, placing rocks and plants around the yard to make it more beautiful, helping place tables and chairs, etc), and actively participated throughout the day. A lot of the students said that their favorite part was the dance and music. It was also so awesome to hear that the students learned more about conservation.  One student wanted to do “Animal Actions” in class, which is Dayton’s favorite game (apart from “More or Less” of course).

We next read The Lorax. Dayton was inspired with the idea of reading the text in parts. Kate read the part of the Once-ler, Dayton was the lorax, and I was the narrator. It worked out really well, and it was a lot of fun. I think reading in parts is here to stay.

We next had a discussion about the book. We first began with basic plot-oriented questions to make sure that the students had understood the story, and if not, to recap the story so that they could understand. Because the words were made up, the students understandably were confused about the Once-ler and the Lorax (they first thought that the Once-ler wanted to protect the trees), but they definitely understood the main point and heart of the story. We asked them what ‘greedy’ meant, and it was interesting because they associated greed with food (this had happened in another primary school as well). Being greedy was eating more than you needed; we clarified that greedy was also taking more than you needed, whether that was food or trees.

Dayton and Kate pointed out that the message of “don’t cut down trees” was not as clear-cut and black and white as it seemed. It was interesting because when asked the question, “Was the Once-ler being greedy when he cut down one tree?” One student said “yes,” because the tree wasn’t replaced, and another said “no,” because it wasn’t in excess. Both answers were valid, because there isn’t necessarily a correct answer to this question, and both showed that it was ultimately up to the students to decide for themselves.  At what point is it greedy to cut down a tree? For what purposes should the tree be used? How can we take responsibility for our actions, such as cutting down trees? These are important questions with multiple answers, and ones we hope that our students will be able to think out and act upon on their own. 

Lekigi gets all the teachers (Kate)

On Wednesday we were set to visit Lekigi Primary and Ol Jogi Primary but discovered that the Ol Jogi students were visiting another school and wouldn't be around for our Conservation Club lesson, so instead all seven of us descended on Lekigi Primary.

The Lekigi community is the poorest one to host a Conservation Club. The community is unique among the ones we visit in that the entire community is squatting on land that the Kenyan government refuses to recognize as theirs and though there are currently legal battles being fought, this limits the rights of the community and puts them at a disadvantages when it comes to government support for things like schools. While the other schools we visit have primarily stone buildings, Lekigi's buildings are made out of clay plastered on a wooden frame.

One of the Lekigi classroom buildings

The first thing that we encountered when we got there was a bunch of really young boys playing with a soccer ball made out of old newspaper and tape. They were fascinated with our cameras and after posing for multiple shots they wanted to play with the cameras themselves. Colleen took the opportunity to introduce them to the "selfie" and we had a great time snapping photos of ourselves and each other.

Colleen taking a "Selfie" with some Lekigi youngsters

The lesson we taught at Lekigi was the same one we have been teaching all week, a review of Community Conservation Day followed by a reading of The Lorax. Since there were so many teachers in the room we all took turns introducing different parts of the lesson and trying to draw the students out of their shells to share their thoughts and ideas. They loved watching the video and exclaimed every time someone they recognized appeared on the screen, and the reading of The Lorax was received with the same level of enjoyment as it had been at previous schools.

Helen talking to students about Community Conservation Day

Colleen and me reading the Lorax to the class

The students at Lekigi though shy and loathe to speak up in response to questions in class, were clearly engaged with the lesson and picked up on the message of the story. Watching their excitement over the video and the book made me really appreciate what the teachers at Lekigi are accomplishing. Working at a public school in NYC has given me a new perspective on money and funding and the way socio-economic status determines opportunity in America and I constantly feel like I am fighting a vicious never-ending uphill battle to get the resources and funding that my students need to be successful but it is nothing compared to what the teachers at Lekigi Primary are dealing with. I have so much respect for them and such compassion for their young motivated students who despite all odds care enough about learning to stay at school for an extra hour once a week to learn about conservation and the environment.

We ended our day on Wednesday on a very happy note as we all got a chance to attend our first "Sundowner" when the Mpala research staff drives out to a good rocking vantage point to watch the sun set over the Kenyan savannah. Tuttaonana sun!