Linda in her job spends her time warning kids not to accept
gifts from strangers so here she is like the Pied Piper all the local kids know
her and wait for her at the college gates, she has her own little tribe. She has given out balls, knitted puppets,
pens and biscuits to them. On the days she has been elsewhere they just sit and
wait till she returns. If she walks down
the lane they follow her, when she leaves they stand there is a line waving good
bye to her. Their English vocabulary is
limited to thank you and I’m fine.
On Saturday we went to visit a local secondary school and
church near Kapsoit, where Peter (Bible College teacher) lives and oversees a
church. The school children were doing
exams and we waited for them in the church, Linda was outside speaking to local
children, she started with six, by the time we left she had about twenty in her
tribe, and they all came in and listened to the short service we had. There
were about two hundred plus children at the school, plus Linda’s tribe and they
all wanted to shake our hands on the way out, it was hard work. They were all
waving to her as she left and running behind the vehicle. She had the same
effect when we visited Peter’s home by the time we left all the village
children were following her and wanting to shake her hand – she doesn’t even
have to play a pipe!
I don’t have the same effect, can’t imagine why. While they
were waiting for ’Her Majesty’ I did try and speak to them, they didn’t speak
English so option two was to run through all the Swahili words I could remember
from the Lion King: Simba, Hakuna Matata,
Pumbaa, I even tried pointing at the fields and saying Simba but they looked at
me blankly. Fortunately at that stage Her Majesty arrived with her ensemble in
tow and was able to engage with them by waving and shaking hands – I just got
in the car.
It took a few days to recover from the stomach issues, although
I am on dried toast for breakfast and have avoided food during the day at the
college and then just eaten in the evening. The choice of toilets at the
college make not eating a better alternative. We did get some local medication
which has assisted and I have started to recover my strength. On Thursday I
went back to teaching at the college with Linda assisting me. She was meant to
go to Homa Bay, a trip of 2 ½ hours each way to see Samuel again and visit another
prison but she decided not to go as she didn’t want to leave me that long, and
if I needed to go back to the hotel I couldn’t as our driver would be with her.
Although disappointing it was the right decision and there is always next year. I struggled through Thursday and taught all day and we covered some good
material, the students are slowly engaging. It is different from previous
years, they don’t seem to ask so many questions which can make it hard work.
On Thursday evening we had a miraculous discovery, a café in
Kericho that actually does cappuccino and latte. There is a new mall called
Green Square Mall where Nakumatt is and we had to go there to get some items
for the students and we saw a new café advertised. We were both tired and couldn’t
really be bothered but I said ‘lets go an see what they have’ and I saw they
had a proper coffee machine, so we went in and sat down outside, with a lovely
view of the main road. They did proper coffee, it was lovely and re-vitalised
us. Linda had a latte which came in a 1/2pint mug but it tasted lovely. They
were very nice in there, and we have been back everyday since! The drinks tend
to come quite quickly, but the food is very slow and takes about ½ hour to
come, even if you want a simple sandwich. On Saturday Linda wanted me to eat
something, so I ordered a beef sandwich and after waiting the stipulated time
(and they weren’t very busy) a sandwich arrived, unfortunately minus the beef.
The chef had decided to do a vegetable sandwich even though the order said
beef, so they took it back and said they would make me another one, so had to
wait another half an hour.....
However, as we were waiting Linda managed to make another friend,
a little boy who kept coming over to show her his balloon, then he dropped it
and Linda pushed it over the edge, although she maintains she was trying to
stop it going over. She felt sorry for him, so she went down to the ground
floor to collect it for him and bring it back, only to find he had a whole bag
of balloons at this table! However, for the rest of the time he was backwards
and forwards to see Linda to show her his other balloons.
On Friday we both went to the college as it was assessment
day and I had set them a preaching task in their groups. Each group had three
persons who would deliver between them the introduction, middle part and conclusion
of a sermon on the Bible readings I had set. The other two groups had not only
to listen but to evaluate their peers and provide feedback. It was an opportunity
for them to try out some of the strategies we had suggested. It went well and
although they have been a challenging group to teach, it was evident they have
obviously been listening and taking on board our advice.
They had definitely been listening to Linda on the manner of
their delivery and if she didn’t pick up any nuances their peers certainly did.
In fact some gave them a hard time. They certainly learnt more than if I had
just set a written exam. Having been visiting here for over 10 years it is
interesting to see how the students are changing and reflect society. Time keeping
has never been their greatest forte but it appears to be getting worse and now
they have mobile phones, they have become a distraction, Linda on several occasions
had to pass comment. The Principal has asked Linda to come back next year and
teach her own class. They have asked me to help them write new material as I
have access to better resources than they do.
Stanley, one of our old students, arrived just in time for
lunch by his watch, late by mine. We were meant to be going to his school,
where he is a chaplain, but it is too far to travel with a dodgy stomach, so we
had to cancel until next time. We had a
chat and caught up on family news, then the customarily photos and a bag of
gifts for him.
The bags have been reducing slowly and we have given away
most of our items. While visiting the prison she gave them knitted blankets, knitted
baby jackets, balls, puppets, wool, knitting machine books and a spare part for
their knitting machine. We are down to
three bags now which makes life easier. I had managed to pack two left shoes,
so need to wear walking shoes with my suit, not that anyone notices out here.
They are also better in the mud as I don’t slide everywhere.
The weather is warm but we have showers and thunder storms most
days and even overnight. We are in our t-shirts and they are all walking around
with jumpers and coats on complaining about the cold. We visited Peter’s home
in the village and met his family, he is getting married in April and had to provide
his future in laws with a dowry. He had to provide 6 cows, 3 goats and cash plus
he pays for the wedding. This is in
addition to building a house for them on his parents land - poor bloke
(literally!).