Rafting the Nile

End of Term 2 Year One

It has been a few weeks and some things are consistent. For one, on two occasions I was assigned to go invigilate exams at neighboring schools with a few fellow teachers. My school I would consider to be “more modern” and near the city. When I mention that my school is more modern I am making reference to the fact we have running water from taps, though sometimes it runs dry, electricity most of the time and a big school campus. These past two schools that I went to invigilate were in the village. It is hard to describe; pictures will do a better job.

The image on the left is the first school i invigilated with 2 other teachers. When i first arrived i thought that the students had on dance outfits and were going to perform, but later realized that is their normal attire. We sat outside under a tree and marked papers. We were there for 2 days. The school on the right was much larger than the previous one. There were 6 teachers that went to invigilate. Each teacher was assigned a classroom and thus we were responsible for marking those students. We had desks that were outside the classroom that we sat at to mark and wait while the students took their test. We were here for 3 days.

The KCPE is very important in life of the class 8 student. This is the final exam that the class 8 students take in hopes in getting good enough marks to be accepted to secondary schools. Most if not all schools have mock exams through out the in preparation for the final in November. As you probably guessed when there is exams teaching new material is not taking place. I really don't see how they keep up the pace and the kids retain the information.

Invigilation is an all day affair; arrive at 8:30 till 4 p.m.. The hosting school provides tea and lunch. Tea consists of tea and bread with blue band butter. Lunch is the Kenya staple: Ugali, skuma wiki (kale) and beef. I realize again and again that there is Mazungu (white person) affect. All of a sudden not only myself but the entire crew of invigilators are treated like kings because I showed up. Tea and bread turns to tea,bread, eggs, and ground nuts. Lunch becomes stew potatoes, rice, skuma wiki, roasted and boiled meat. As a departing “thanks” they would give us soda and biscuits (crackers). When we all return to the school all of the teachers ask if we got the fine treatment. Apparently a big reason for the special treatment is somewhere in their brain, they equate the white man as a “walking ATM.” My teachers realize this, but they are not going to turn down good food.

I mentioned in my previous entry about my struggle with sanity and the whole nine yards about being here in Kenya. I can say that I am doing a lot better. I had a welcoming and grateful call from my parents and a lot of down time from the end of term. Although I have only been at site for almost 7 months; I am grasping why it is that Peace Corps is the hardest things you will ever love. On those occurrences that make me appreciate why I am here. For one, my class four students have wanted me to come to their class every evening and practice math with them. When students want you there it is a wonderful feeling. It also helps substantially that my brother is visiting in just a few days. Oh what a wonderful two weeks that will be! I gather from what I have learned from other PCVs that this is a hard job being a volunteer.

This past Friday I went to a overnight funeral for a fellow teachers father who passed away. I was curious what this would entail so I joined about 10 others to the deceased residence. We left the school at 9pm in two vehicles. Upon arriving from the 30 minute bumpy car ride I noticed there were rows of chairs neatly arranged in front of the head table; this head table was for the “DJ.” He had a tv on top which was playing kenya music videos, most of which were spirituals. Before going I was informed that there would be lots of dancing and drinking. When I was looking around I noticed no one was dancing and all were just sitting down watching the music video. There were few people sitting around a camp fire. It was nippy. We were in the village. No power or running water. The electricity was pumped through a generator that was rented for this occasion.

We were first taken to see the recently deceased Mzee (older gentlemen). He was in his casket inside his house. All the while there were numerous spiritual songs being sung as we paid our last respects. We finished and returned back to watching the music videos.

Off to the side a few men were busy digging the grave for the Mzee in front of the house. (The head of the house is buried infront of the house while the wife is buried on one side of the house. If an adult dies without marrying they are buried behind the house). The grave was 6 feet deep with brick and mortar lining the wall of the grave.

While sitting watching the video I was enquiring about the masons who were busy digging from my fellow teachers. After they finish preparing the grave all of the workers are given a kuku (hen) with some strong drink. My first question, was only one kuku shared among the workers? The answer was yes. I did not feel like the workers would get that much to eat. I have shared 2 hens among 3 people and I was hungry afterwards. I jokingly told a teacher that the head mason should regulate the number of helpers to get the maximum amount of chicken possible per person.

Soon thereafter we were invited to a neighbor's house for tea and bread. We had our fill and returned to the music videos. Roughly 2 hours later, 12am we were invited to partake in dinner. We had the kenya staple: ugali, skuma and meat.

After returning my teachers and I started dancing to the music being played. I love how there is not judging in regards to dancing. It was getting pretty nippy and thus the campfire helped a great deal.

The whole funeral service last about a week. The pre burial service is less rowdy with few dancing and drinking. Once the person has been placed in the ground then the real party starts. We left at 5am. I only got in one hour of sleep that night.

Before I joined the Peace Corps I was working as a stone mason. This not only included putting designed and colored stone on houses but also laying brick. Since my time here in Kenya I have taken special notice of the brick making and laying process.

There is no brick factory it is all manual labor. The process has several steps and takes several weeks. First, a plot of land is chosen to dig the mud. This only works well if the ground is damp so digging and placing the mud in the brick forms would be effective and efficient. The brick makers only have two tools: hoe and a brick form that the mud goes in. The brick form can only form two at a time. There is a lot of walking back and forth between the digging pit and where the bricks are laid. Second, once all of the digging is done, rotating the bricks takes place. The bricks are placed on the ground and can lose their shape if they stay in one position for a long time. Every day the brick is rotated. All the while there is plastic on top of all of the bricks to prevent moisture/rain from damaging the bricks. Depending on how many bricks one is going to make, the amount of time may vary. Once all of the bricks have been rotated sufficiently, they are then ready to be burned. The bricks are stacked up in a mountain shape with a cavity at the base for putting logs for the burning. Later in the process the cavities are closed and the burning continues for 2-3 days. Once the time is done, slowly the bricks are removed. If any of the bricks need to be burned some more, those bricks are set aside and burned later.

A couple weeks ago I went to a nearby high school to watch provincial soccer competion. For the finals, there were approx 4,000 people lined the perimeter of the football pitch 2-3 deep. It was a really neat site. Before the main event, boys final, the girls played. At the beginning of the game there was a gentlemen standing behind a group of people giving a play by play of the game. He was doing it in his mother tongue. The men then asked him to move in front so they could hear better. As the crowd grew so did this man's popularity. He was then asked to be in the center of roughly 100 people. He found his soap box. What made it even more interesting was he was able to do it in several languages: mother tongue, Swahili, English, SuperSport (a sports tv station). The men around him was trying to get the announcer's attention, but to no avail. He was quite entertaining.