Climate and Chickens in the Classroom (Colleen)

Yesterday was a day of firsts. I went to the schools closer to Nanyuki for the first time. I saw a school with a park for the first time. I experienced Kenyan rain for the first time. I saw a chicken invade a classroom for the first time. Yep, a chicken.

I hadn’t really thought that there would be much of a difference between the schools closer to the major town and those farther away, and was surprised that there were noticeable differences. The greatest difference was something that is so common in American classrooms that I hadn’t really noticed their absence in other schools—backpacks. A fair number of the students in this particular school had some sort of backpack or bag to carry their things. The mere presence of these bags reminded me that aside from a few homemade satchel-like bags, I hadn’t seen any bags. I was trying to figure out why these students might have them and think the proximity to town is key, as the kids will have more access to various resources there. It may also reflect the ability of teachers to assign homework, which would require students to have some means of carrying their belongings. Dan said most of the rural schools don’t assign homework because students only have an hour or so of daylight when they get home, making completing assignments rather difficult. Again, I feel like the ability to assign homework is probably tied to the proximity of town and greater access to resources.

That said, the school is definitely still rural. The families who live on campus have both goats and chickens (one of which managed to join our class for a bit this afternoon!) and agriculture plays a central role in the lives of the students through their parents. You can’t drive anywhere without seeing a herder with his or her flock of goats, camels or cows (which are especially important to the Maasai). All of these animals are in competition for resources (especially grass and water) with each other and wild animals. This competition has ultimately led to wild animals like Grevy’s zebras becoming endangered and the migration of domesticated animals to areas with more rainfall and consequently more grass. This affects students’ education because if their parents are forced to move with the livestock, they pull their children from school and travel as a family. The head teacher (principal) said that this has already started to happen due to the current drought, and as he said “the parents care more about their cows than education.”

Ultimately, the Northern Kenyan Conservation Clubs can help to address the issues that contribute to the relocation of livestock. The clubs promote awareness about the consequences of overgrazing and how to prevent it. Combined with planting trees and preventing soil erosion, this could all lead to better conditions for agriculture and hopefully minimize the need to relocate livestock. Hypothetically, the actions we encourage our students to take could ensure that their children don’t have to leave school.

This school particularly has been successful in planting trees. The school I visited today received some 500 saplings from the county government. In theory, this is great! Yet, we are in an area full of animals who love to eat trees (especially goats) and an area prone to severe drought. Planting and maintaining 500 saplings is simply unrealistic. The school tried to make the best of the situation and planted many of the trees around the grounds, even cultivated a small park. The conservation club built protective coverings for many of the trees to prevent destruction by goat. The club and its teacher (who has been integrating more experiential learning in his teaching after attending a workshop organized by Nancy) are very proud of their work and the teacher told me to make sure I took photos of their other projects, including a wind vane and a wind sock.

While at the school, I experienced my first Kenyan rain. The school, like many Kenyan buildings, has a tin roof. The rain was pouring so hard that it was nearly impossible to hear the person next to you. Alex was able to mold her teaching into a type of charades and still managed to get some great answers! The rain entered the class room through the “windows” (really just openings between the cinder blocks). I was most stuck by the students’ reactions to the rain. While our students listened (or attempted to listen) to Alex, other students ran out to catch the water in their lunch bowls. Some even took water bottles and tried to fill them with the overflow from the gutters. At Mpala, we are definitely conscious about water use, but it was amazing to witness people who lack water to the point of needing to drink rain water.

Species like Grevy's zebras are becoming endangered because of loss of habitat, often due to competition with domesticated animals. Also, that is NOT a lion in the background.

Students constructed protective coverings for many of the school's newly planted saplings.

The windsock and windvane the club made. The tire rim is used as a type of gong to sound the end of the day.

Clean water tanks are located at all of the schools. Students fill their bowsers with clean water and carry it home, often a journey of several kilometers.

Students attempting to fill their water bottles.

Alex had to use lots of hand movements to teach her lesson due to the deafening sound of the rain on the tin roof.

Dayton playing a four corners game with students, who had to choose which reason they think is contributing to different species' endangered status the most (human conflict, habitat loss, etc.)

Great minds think alike! Kate and Colleen had almost identical rainy weather outfits.