The Big Event--Community Conservation Day! (Helen)

Community Conservation Day! What a spectacular, fun, and meaningful day! It was great to see the event go so smoothly and hear that the children had enjoyed themselves (or at least the four kids that I asked). It was the result of a lot of hard work and organization by many people, and I have to say that it was a huge success. 

Our day started early since we planned to leave by 7:15 am and get to Kimanjo Secondary School (which was where the event was being hosted) to set things up. We loaded the car with posters, books, and certificates for the students and the teachers. The posters were for each school who worked on a project to share with the other schools. For example, Mpala Academy prepared a poster on the amount of rain around Mpala, showing how the amount differed and how they recorded it. Kimanjo Primary School had created a “charcoal ball” project, in which they found that mixing cow dung and charcoal dust together, rolling it into a ball, and drying it is more environmentally friendly than just burning charcoal. The posters were all taped to a side of a building, with a group of students standing next to their poster to be able to explain what it was all about. I saw students asking each other to explain the posters and pictures (for example, one student pointed to a photo of feathers that Ewaso Primary School had and asked what kind of feathers they were). That’s really the point of Community Conservation Day; to share and teach each other what they’re learning about, and it was awesome to see students get excited about conservation.

Students walking around and looking at what the other schools had prepared (You can see that some of the students of same gender hold hands; that’s completely normal as well as frequent here, and it’s a sign of friendship and affection)

It was great because the students all had their school uniforms on, with their badge. (The badge has a logo that is unique to each school, and the logo has a picture of an animal that is special to the area surrounding the school. Ol Jogi Primary School, which is the newest club this year, held a logo contest - their winner was a cheetah!)

After the students had taken a look at the presentations and had a chance to share and learn about the individual projects, we all gathered together in the middle of the schoolyard. The event started with the Kimanjo Secondary Students who performed a traditional Masaai song and dance. They were excellent, and they had won multiple times in regional contests. After that, schools came up to present a game in which members of the community could participate. For example, Lekiji Primary School had a game called “What Animal Am I?” Each child came up and a picture of an animal was pinned to their back. They then asked some questions to the audience, such as “am I a mammal?” and “Do I live in the forest?” The audience would answer, and the student would then guess what animal he or she was. I thought that it was really great that some of the students would ask “Am I endangered?” since endangered species was a huge part of the lessons that we taught in the schools.

 My favorite game was by Ewaso Primary School called “Animal Actions.” A group of students would come up and imitate certain animal actions such as “tortoise being disturbed by a human,” or “elephants bathing.” It was great because the students were able to show the community the fun, excitement, as well as benefits of interactive and experiential learning. A lot of the students here learn mostly by rote memorization and repetition, and these games stimulate critical thinking (“Why am I playing this game? How does this game relate to the lesson we’re learning about the environment?”). It was great to see the students as well as the audience have fun. I know I definitely enjoyed myself.

After the games the students had prepared songs, poems, and a drama about environmental conservation. The poems and drama were all original and written by the school performing it. There was a drama about cutting down trees; the message was that if you cut down trees, it has negative long term effects, and human lives depend on trees. There was also a drama about poaching and how we shouldn’t hunt and kill endangered species.

Il Motiok performing “How We Conserve the Environment” in Maa. I thought that they were saying “yellow swordfish” in some places, but the whole thing was in Maa, which was great for the community.

Kate taking pictures throughout the event

After the student performances, students were given prizes for their Species on the Edge contests. There were about two students from each school, and they received a book. It was so cute because when the students would come up to shake Nancy’s hand and receive the prize, they looked very stoic and expressionless, but once they were in the crowd and amongst their friends, their faces lit up in huge grins. The winning essays identified an endangered animal, described its habitat and diet, why they were endangered, and what could be done to help them. It was especially challenging because the essay had to be written in the POV of the animal, which required creativity and descriptive language. Congratulations to the winners! 

The teachers then all received certificates as congratulations and thanks for their hard work in teaming up with the Conservation Clubs to educate students about the environment. One of the teachers, Raphael, also gave a short speech about the importance of experiential learning. I thought that it was so terrific how he mentioned that there are different types of intelligence (touching, artistic, musical, visual, etc), and experiential learning makes it possible to reach students by utilizing such differences. Raphael is a superb teacher; one day when we went to visit Olgigiri Primary School (which is where he teaches), we saw him outside with the kids, teaching them about the weather by using wind socks. I'm told that such teaching is rare, since most teachers here lecture in front of the class and check that their students understand and are paying attention by leaving off the last word and having them fill it in. (For example, a teacher would say, "trees need soil and wa--?" and the students would fill in the last word by saying "water.") 

There were also some concluding remarks by various members of the community. Someone pointed out that the point of Community Conservation Day was to share new ideas and learn from each other, but at the end of the day, everyone had to work together to “talk the walk.” Nothing will be accomplished if everyone just talks about ideas; each should take what he or she had learned and apply it to their lives. I thought that this was a great message, and it doesn’t just apply to members of the community but to us as well.

The kitchen; the huge stove is lit with wood, which is then used to cook the beans that the students had for lunch. The students were really excited about lunch, and it made me feel all the more thankful for what we have available to us in America.