claramsong

Oh goodness where do I start?

First Impression & Arrival in Kenya

Kenya has been quite amazing. But let’s start off with being honest and completely truthful. It was very sad to leave South Africa because of all the great memories made with the amazing people and children but I must continue onto my journey. Ok, so backtracking to when I arrived to Kenya. I arrived early Saturday morning and when we were driving to the small village from the airport I could really feel as if Kenya is real Africa. There is so much greenery everywhere and it isn’t as developed as South Africa. Then I arrived to the volunteer house in a small village called Gatanga. I was really tired while also recovering from a cold so I rested and slept. Then I was informed that there were 6 other volunteers from Spain that went for a day trip at Lake Naivasha so I would have company later in the evening. Pause a moment here, I don’t think that age is relevant to when you get along with other people as I have realized in ZA. Like I don’t mind hanging out with 30 year olds but you also have to make an effort. You know? OK, back to my story. Some of these people were older like in their 50s but I had no problem with this. The problem I had was they were ALL Spaniards. Now, now, I don’t have anything against Spaniards but um they were um… all speaking spanish extremely quickly. I understand un poquito de espagnol but I felt isolated, not gonna lie. Oh and another thing is I started to take my malaria pills. And let’s just say I got really depressed, feeling alone and isolated with so many people in the house. Thank goodness two other younger Spaniards came along and made a bit more of an effort to speak English with me. Anywho, I kept feeling down on the weekends (right after taking my malaria pill) and got bad headaches so I decided to stop taking them. You don’t really die from malaria, you just get a lot of pain and where we are staying isn’t really affected my malaria prone mosquitoes so I will be fine.

When I first arrived, the locals would all look at me and either say Mzungu (which means white person in Swahili) or say like “Ching Chong” and ask if I’m from China. The local organization here works closely with a company in Spain and a company in China so, it made a bit more sense if they thought I was from China. With the Coronavirus going around they banned the Chinese (yikes). So the locals don’t really know that their are different parts of Asia. To be completely honest, at first I got a bit offended but now it’s really cute and if the kids ask if I’m from China I explain to them how I am American but my mom comes from France and my dad comes from Korea and that’s how I look like this. Then I show them photos of my family and friends. Some of the kids at school would touch my skin and compare it to theirs and say it’s so soft and the same thing with my hair.

Now that I think about it and talking to other people, it really is inspirational for the children to see volunteers coming to their village because they get a little taste of what country we are from and then they will want to work harder in school to get an education to then go further places.

Gatanga Primary School- Grade 1

This month, I am volunteering in a school with Grade 1 students and I absolutely love it. They are literally the cutest human beings alive (I know I’m gonna say this with all the children I meet)!!! The teacher, Faith, is the kindest most welcoming teacher ever. I love the teaching style here so much better than in America, it is much closer to the teaching style in France. This is me realizing that I will definitely not be studying in America, sorry. The children have 6 different notebooks for each subject, and they write everything off of the chalk board. This way teaching them early on to write well and neatly in their notebooks. I first felt like I transported back in time to when my mom was in school. They have their wooden tables and their share their exercise books. It’s so cute how they go around asking for erasers and sharpeners to their neighbors. OH, and their uniforms! They all wear blue checkered blouses or dress with a red sweater on top. They look so sleek. I am more of a teacher’s assistant as I do not speak fluent KiSwahili (I’m learning and after 3 months I hope to be conversational), but I do get to teach them English and Mathematics. Then I help by going around to mark their papers if they have done it correctly or not. I also have made probably over 30 manila posters by now to help amp up the classrooms. When Faith (the Grade 1 teacher) saw my posters she told all her colleagues so now I have more teachers coming to me to make them posters. It makes me happy I can help in any way I can and the kids freak out when they see them.

Summer Camp- Grade 1

For my third week here, it is a summer break after exams for all the schools. So the local volunteering program hosted a summer camp at Gatanga Primary School. So we were the teachers! We got to teach the children any subjects we would like and do some fun activities and games. I loved this because I got to be more silly with the kids and get to know more about their personalities out of the classroom (without it being too strict). During the break (or recess) I would play rope, ball or circle games with them, it was so much fun! Then they would go drink porridge and dance to African music. I learned more KiSwahili this week than ever and their mother language Kikuyu. It’s so funny when I try to pronounce words in their language because sometimes I say it so wrong and they laugh. Moments I will forever remember.

What I visited so far

Bomas of Kenya

The Bomas of Kenya was very cool to see and one of my favorites because you got to see all the different Kenyan tribes huts and how their villages were. The husbands had multiple wives, the 1st wife being the most powerful. The 1st wife would go out and find other wives for help. The husband had his own hut and each wife had their own hut for herself and her children. Mostly the women built their huts. I found it so so cool. We also got to see cultural dances from each tribe as well. The music and dancing was amazing.

Thank you for reading this far out if you made it all the way down here. I am doing so good and much better than when I first arrived. I’m learning oh so much as everyday goes by whether I’m surrounded by people or alone. My thoughts keep running. Sending you love and light from Kenya!