Today I went to jail.
Well, not exactly.
I had the pleasure of observing at Athi-River Prison Primary
School in Kitengela. The school was given land by the government about 40 years
ago on the prison grounds. The prison ward’s and staff’s children attend the
school as well as many children from the surrounding town because it is a free
public primary education. There are about 1,000 children at this school in
total. It is huge. I would describe its facilities as leaps and bounds above
Mulandi Primary school because the Prison Primary school actually has buildings
as opposed to merely tin walls but they still have dirt floors, tin roofs,
moldy ceilings, and minimal amounts of raggedy text books. Some of the kids in
the upper grades had just completed a beautifying project which consisted of
planting a garden. The rest of the kids were informed that if they step on the
flowers the school will have nothing to do with them except for to buy them new
flowers.
When we first arrived, all the students were gathered in front of
the school for assembly. Assembly consists of raising the Kenyan flag, singing
the national anthem, and lots of marching, reciting, saluting, and greeting the
mzungu guests. The children all cheered for Becca and I as we greeted them. They
were obviously overjoyed to have us there for the day. The head teacher
explained to everyone that we were not allowed to actually teach, but only to
answer questions and greet everyone. I was glad that he did this for us because
typically if you go to visit a school they expect you to come prepared with
multiple lesson plans to give.
We then waded through the mud to class 1. There were typically 50+
students in each classroom and only about 15 desks. Most of the lower grades
shared four to a desk and classes 6-8 typically shared three to a desk. The
desks are realistically only big enough for two students comfortably.
Becca and I visited every classroom in the school in a total of 7
hours- quite the feat. We went from class to class playing celebrity being
applauded everywhere we went. I think we went to around 20 classrooms total.
Each grade had at least 2 separate classes and a few had 3.
This is how it went down:
Enter class. Everyone stands in attention.
“Good morning class.”
“Good morning Teacha”
“My name is Jessica”
“Welcome Teacha to our class (and then something in Swahili)”
“Can you say Jessica?”
“Jeh-see-kah”
“Very good. You may sit.”
“Thank you Teacha”
“We are from United States of America. We go to a University in
Chicago. But we live in Athi-River at Daystar now, right off of Mombasa road.
We will go back in May. Did you know President Obama is from Chicago? He lives
in the capitol now. Washington D.C. is the capitol of America. We are studying
to be teachers. I want to teach primary school.”
Cue smiles and applause from the students.
“Will you be our teacha?”
“Maybe one day. We want you to ask us any questions you have about
America, Primary school, our lives, food, family, etc.”
Hands slowly raise and we receive a multitude of wonderful
questions.
Typical questions that almost every class asked or were prompted
by us were:
What are America’s traditional foods?
Try answering
that one. Also, did you know no one knows what a taco is in Kenya?
Will you be our teacha?
What kind of wildlife is in America? What’s a raccoon?
How do I get to go to America?
The schools motto
is: Hard work pays. So that is what I answered usually.
Tell us what Chicago looks like?
Are there mountains in America? What is the biggest one?
What is the weather like? Tell us about snow!
Is there a lot of mud in America?
Do you teach Kiswahili in America?
Do kids wear uniforms?
When I told
them that public schools do not typically require uniforms, a girl said, “That
is wonderful!”
A few more complicated questions included:
America’s politics- which included questions about the first three
Presidents, our Vice President, how long a Presidential term is, what the
Senate can do, if there are any tribes, if there is corruption, who is the
Prime Minister, what does parliament do, etc. (Answering the corruption
question is very tricky)
“What is discipline like? I heard you don’t hit kids in America.”
“No, if you get hit by a teacher in school or are beaten by your
parents and someone finds out, they get in big trouble and nice people will
take you away to a safe place.”
“You are spoiling the child.”
“There is a difference between spanking because you love them and
want to discipline them and beating up your child. It is not OK for your
parents to hurt you.”
“Oh.”
America’s economic state- which included questions about having
American slums, violence, street children who huff glue, why Americans give the
poor food and shelter but not jobs (which I answered that the economy is poor
and that sometimes so many people graduate from University that we do not have
enough jobs for everyone and therefore they become poor so the best we can do
is help them with the needs we can provide…), who the richest man in America
is, etc.
American history- which included questions about being colonized
by Britain and when we gained our independence, civil wars, etc.
And now the most humbling and difficult question of the day which
we were asked on a few separate occasions:
“How do you view us as Africans? Monkeys?” or “Why did Europeans
and Americans think we were monkeys and take us away?”
How do you ever prepare to answer that question to primary
children in Africa? How do you ever anticipate the way that question will sting
your inner-most being? The best answer I felt I could give was a quick History
lesson. I explained about slave-trade and how many Americans fought to end
slavery and how President Lincoln abolished it. I then told them about
segregation and the civil rights movement in the 60s. I said that because of
integration and equal opportunity laws that people in new generations learn
from mistakes and that people now know that it is not right. We all kind of
shook it off and moved onto sillier questions…
Silly questions included:
How do you become famous?
Can I go with you to America?
I always respond “Sure, I will stick you in
my suitcase for 17 hours haha!”
Who are popular American actors and singers?
Do you know Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan?
Teach us American dancing, maybe breakdance?
We taught Kenyan
Primary students the sprinkler, shopping cart, lawn mower, scuba diver, and
swimming motions. It was too funny.
What are your hobbies?
Do you know the song Chop My Money?
Of Course!
It’s only the best song in Africa! So then we sing and dance it with everyone!
Tell us about your family and dog. What’s your dog’s name?
Walking a dog
on a leash and letting them sleep in your bed is quite the foreign thing to
Kenyans…
All of the classes sang for us in Swahili and English. We also did
some singing. We taught almost every class the songs Our God is an Awesome God
and Jesus Loves Me along with the gestures and some additional sign language.
Sign language is a hit here! We also were asked to sing the American National
Anthem solo about 6 times throughout the day. My voice is currently non-existent.
A bit of exaggeration, but it is very hoarse…
I had soooo much fun today. I told the kids about sun burn and how
my hair changes colors in the sun. They loved it. So much so that they all felt
the need to touch my skin and hair. Not such a big deal but man did it hurt at
points…The kids really know how to yank your locks and it also gets a little
hectic with how many kids there are.
After seeing every student in the school and answering every
single one of their questions, we were told that we were welcome back to teach
whenever, to send our greetings to our families and President Obama. Also, we
were encouraged to send more American visitors to the school as well as library
books. They need them.
Today as I drove away, I thought to myself, “I am going to teach
in Africa one day.”
I say that all the time, but today I was absolutely sold. Today, I
believed myself. That is a strange and exhilarating feeling at the same time. Please
be in prayer for me as I continue to figure out how that dream will become a
reality.
