Number the Stars

One of the volunteers, Laura, and I have been teaching Number the Stars by Lois Lowry to Form 2, the equivalent of 10^th grade. One of my favorite books from mother-daughter book group in middle school, it is about a girl living in Denmark during the Holocaust and her coming to age story as her family protects her Jewish friend. When we started the book with the class, none of them knew about the Holocaust or even World War II. World history is not taught until Form 3. This shows a huge gap in the Kenyan educational system. Realizing we were not just dealing with students who did not understand all the vocabulary and concepts, but also students who had never heard about the history surrounding the book, we got to work explaining the history. Slowly by slowly the students became more engaged in both reading the book and writing about it in the discussion questions we provided them. We also had the students write out blog entries and taped a final class discussion of the book because my old school will have students read the book in February and write entries in response to the entries of Highway Academy students. Even though the students are still shy about voicing their opinions, one of the teachers said he could tell they enjoyed and understood the book because they were able to talk about it. I am thrilled that they know a lot more about world history than they did at the start of the school year.

Today is our last full day at Wema. I am so sad that the time flew by again. It has been incredible seeing the progress that has been made with the computer lab, well, medical center, and library. I am also excited about all the projects we have been talking with Stephen and Teresa about to make Wema more sustainable. It will be exciting to continue to work on these projects and track the progress from home.

Of course, I will miss the students most of all. I have been able to form even stronger friendships and relationships with the students this year. I am so excited every time a new student remembers my name, or at least my name here,“Caro.” Their dedication to their work and strength through all their hardships inspire me everyday. I love their ability to act silly and laugh with each other outside of the classroom, even though they spend from 6:30 am to 10 pm everyday together.

Mother Teresa

I have written about Teresa Wati, one of the directors of Wema, before, but I want to reiterate what an exceptional woman she is. Teresa wakes before sunrise to prepare for the day, preparing her four sons that are still in primary and secondary school at Highway Academy for the day. Altogether, Teresa has nine children, many of whom are in university. She also cooks breakfast for the family and us, the volunteers. We look upon Teresa as Superwoman. With just a flick of her knife, she was able to open a can of jelly that we had been struggling with for days.

Teresa then goes off to the public primary school to teach for the morning and early afternoon. This year, she teaches students that are 6 and 7 years old, along with some as old as 9 years old if they have been held back. Right now, her class is 105 students, but it can go as high as 150 students. The majority of the class sits on a dusty floor as Teresa goes around to check their work. It takes about half an hour to get the students to write the first five letters of the English alphabet. The students become restless and begin to shift around, but Teresa somehow manages to keep the class in check.

Teresa's Class at the Public School

Classroom at Highway Academy:
All the students compete to answer a question
and each have a seat at a desk.

Teresa at the Public School

Walking back from the public school, Lydia, Teresa's niece who has worked at Wema for two years helping out with administrative work, praises her aunt. She says how Teresa's class in the public school always does the best because of her hard work and resilience. She also mentions how Teresa works from sunrise to sunset without resting, sometimes forgetting to eat until she realizes she is getting a headache.

Teresa then returns to Highway Academy around 1 or 2 pm and goes to work at Wema, doing administrative and organizational work and making sure everything is running smoothly. Around 5 pm, when day students at Highway Academy leave for the day, she will then start preparations for dinner. While we watch Teresa heat up chapati for our dinner, she explains the educational system of Kenya. She quickly lists off students at Highway Academy, making it obvious she knows the approximately 450 students that make up the Lower, Primary, and Secondary Schools. After dinner, she will sit with us to go over questions we have about projects at Wema and general questions about Kenya. This can go until midnight. I have no idea where she finds the energy, but she is truly Mother Teresa of Wema.

Teresa in the Kitchen

Jump roping

Pure joy after a soccer goal

Sundays at Wema

Sunday is my favorite day at Wema. Most of the students do not have class, except for Class 8 and Form 4, who are studying for national exams so have class everyday and must live at Wema. We started the day going to church services. Starting at 9 am, the services last for two and a half hours. The services at my temple for the most religious holidays usually only last half an hour longer. It amazes me that the students lead services every Sunday and stay engaged throughout the service. Many of them speak during the service and discuss their own feelings. I loved seeing that some of shyest students in the classroom were the loudest singers in the service. I pointed this out when I was asked to speak during the service and hope to bring more of the students out of their shells this week.

Laura at the Wema Hair Salon

After services, some of the middle school aged students read to me from the new books we brought over. The books are already getting a ton of use! In the afternoon, we did crafts with the children and then had a bit of a dance party. I am trying to get some of the older girls to teach me traditional dances, but they would rather just laugh at me attempting to dance to Beyonce’s Single Ladies.

One of my favorite students to see this year is Paul. Last year, I read to him after Teresa and Stephen told me his mother had passed away in a car accident. He was very sweet but did not talk. Now, he is completely engaged in all activities, extremely talkative, and both a great reader and soccer player. It is amazing what a year can do to a student’s personality and confidence at Highway Academy.

We were finally able to bring Form 4 into the computer lab for a lesson because they finished the exam they were working on all week. I loved seeing that most of them have remembered typing skills we taught them last year and are able to help each other if they get confused.

Here is a final photo of a lamb the day it was born. It may wake me up with its crying really early in the morning, but it is pretty adorable…

The Power of Donating Items

On this trip, we brought over the largest number of donations yet. We weighed down our bags with thirteen laptops, 100 books donated by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, four soccer balls, three volleyballs, dozens of tennis balls, new and used clothing, and plenty of art and medical supplies. Giving out these items today highlighted how important donations of all types are. I have believed in the power of reusing items ever since middle school when I began to collect hundreds of used sneakers for Global Camps in South Africa. While I knew all the sneakers would be crucially used to allow the children to participate in sports activities, I never got to witness their expressions.

I am fortunate that at Wema I get to see the smiling faces of students when they receive the physical donations. Before we came to Wema, the library consisted of very old and torn books. It was awesome to see the reaction of students and teachers when they received new books from Life of Pi to Curious George. Also, most of the students only have one uniform, which is commonly ripped. This time I packed a lot of my old t-shirts and seeing the joyous expressions on student who received them reveals how every donation we bring over is important and can have a new life.

Today, we were able to visit the sugar factory Stephen works as a chemist. It was great seeing once again how the factory operates. It didn’t hurt that we got to try the sugar in various stages…

Today, people from Living Water International, the company that put in the well, dedicated the well to Wema. It was so special sharing this event with Stephen and Teresa along with some of the students.

Teaching English and the Computer Lab

The students have started to arrive! Today, after a tough run, I helped teach English to Form 2. We are teaching them Number the Stars, a book about the Holocaust. Students from my old school, Rye Country Day, will also read the book and we will have a blog for them to engage with each other. We have had a pen pal program since 2012, so it will be exciting to do an even larger exchange program.

We also visited Highway Academy’s lower school today. The students have just arrived and most are really shy but are extremely well behaved for being pre-school and elementary school aged students. They are so adorable. Some even showed off their impressive reading skills to me.

We have begun to teach computer again. Yesterday, we taught the teachers and today we taught Form 2. We have installed typing programs on many of the computers, so it has been much easier to teach the proper way to type. The students are really picking up the proper way to type quickly. Most of the teachers and students know Microsoft Word by this point so we can teach them more advanced skills this year, including Excel and PowerPoint.

The weather has been extremely beautiful here (not jealous of the many of inches of snow back home). We visited the tree farm yesterday that Teresa and Stephen created to benefit Wema. When they sell the trees, the money will go towards Wema’s finances. This type of project is really exciting because it makes Wema sustainable.

Back at Wema!

            After a long two-day journey that included three flights, I have finally arrived back at Wema. We have a group of six volunteers for this trip. All the volunteers are students or recent graduates, including my brother Alex, of Harvard. We brought over duffels of donations, which included 13 more laptops, most donated by families from my high school, for the computer lab and over 100 books, most of which are brand new and donated by Houghton Mifflin, for the library. We have begun to organize all the books and laptops. I am so excited for the impact they will have.

            The directors, Teresa Wati and Steven Juma, along with their nine children have warmly welcomed us. We were even able to take a complete family picture of them. This was their first family picture. Of course, Teresa wore the hat of the “Man in the Yellow Hat” from Curious George.

            It is so inspiring to see the progress that Wema has made in the last year. The well is completely functioning and the school has been utilizing the clean water. Soon, Wema will open up the well to the community, so that they can benefit from it and Wema can make a little bit of money. Construction has started for the Secondary School and new dormitory. Right now, the Secondary School is attached to the Primary School, but this new building will allow for more classrooms and space. There is only one cramped dormitory right now, in which the students sleep two to a bed. The new dormitory will be built on top of the Secondary School.

            The most exciting news came just a couple of days before we arrived at Wema. Class 8, which is the equivalent of the eighth grade, received their scores from the KCPE, Kenya’s national exam that determines the Secondary School the students will go to. Eleven of the twenty-nine students received a score in the 400s. The exam is out of 500 and a score above 400 basically means they received an A. It is the best Highway Academy has ever done on the exam. The students and teachers are ecstatic. This reflects the hard work of everyone.

The students have just started to arrive back at Wema, and I am really looking forward to teaching them on Monday.

Unfortunately, the Internet is not strong enough for photos for this post but hopefully will be able to post some soon.

Camp Wema

Camp spurred on my interest in Africa. Phil Lilienthal visited my camp in Maine when I was 12 years old and told us about his organization Global Camps. Phil, who ran a traditional all boys camp for many years in Maine, saw the power camp has for encouraging childrens’ confidence and decided that he would start a camp in South Africa. Global Camps allows kids affected by HIV/AIDS (either because they have the disease themselves or a close family member has it), ages 11 to 16, to go to camp for ten days. The camp not only provides an environment for the kids to play sports and have fun, but also the camp teaches the kids through life skills classes about HIV/AIDS and how to prevent getting it. When I met Phil, I knew right away I wanted to get involved. Many kids at the camp do not have sneakers and are unable to participate in the sports activities. Sneaker collection drives became my passion for years following.

Wema is not a camp. However, it has many camp-like qualities. Teresa and Stephen are the directors. They play the role of mom and dad to the 110 orphans along with the 250 total students at Highway Academy. They are the students’ gateway to emotional support, medical care, and, most importantly, education. The teachers are the best camp counselors ever. They stretch the students’ minds. Getting paid only between $3 and $4 a day (less than public school teachers who get paid around $20 a day) they wake up at 5 am with some of the students and put them to bed around 10 pm. On our last night, the teachers led the children in song and dance in the classrooms after the children were done with their homework. The teachers ensure the students’ protection, make sure they are well fed, and keep them academically and physically fit. The students are intense campers. Working hard learning Swahili, chemistry, biology, English, math, and many other subjects, including computer now. The students have huge goals they hope to finish by the end of their time at Highway Academy. Rather than seeking to achieve a perfect tennis serve (or similar camp goal), their goals are to become the new leaders of Kenya. The students are eager in the classroom while building lifelong friendships on the football field and at recess. They love to play around (even doing my hair again today—I think I will keep this hairstyle as my new daily hairdo). At my camp, Fernwood, we say that, “Once you pass the Fernwood gate, you make a little date with fate and your heart is at Fernwood to stay.” I think this phrase fits Wema and Highway Academy perfectly. Every day I puffed my way into the Highway Academy gate after a morning run, I saw a well oiled machine. I watched the children starting their morning classes, the teachers preparing their lessons, and Stephen and Teresa either rushing to their jobs to pay for Wema, doing chores around the house, or in Highway Academy’s office.

In the computer lab

On my last night at Wema, I am amazed by the operation that Stephen and Teresa have created. They believe in their students and, thus, the students believe in themselves. I am so excited to see Wema continue to grow, especially with the computer lab. Like any good camp setting, we ended our last night having a dance party with the girls outside their dorm under the stars.

My new hairdo

Last run