Computer Lab, Library, and Soccer

Today we set up the computer lab! We have brought over fifteen laptops, many of them from my high school Rye Country Day. We profusely thank our donors! I worked with two students today on the computers: Andrew Watti and Sharon Nafula. It is good to have this practice time before all the students return to school on Monday from break. Andrew is 19, my age, and had never used a laptop before. I set him up with Microsoft Word, teaching him headers, footers, font sizes, and font types. He quickly got started on his writing, which he titled “Education for Life.” Every time I taught him something or he figured something out, he got a twinkle in his eye and smiled widely. It is amazing how quickly he picked it up. Today, it seems that American kids know how to use Facebook before they can even walk. Seeing a student my age learning how to use a computer for the first time is amazing. Sharon, who is sixteen, joined while I was teaching Andrew, and she started writing almost immediately even though she had never used a laptop. I had to show her very little, and she picked up the skills quickly. Without instruction, both Andrew and Sharon wrote about how important education is. This is a testament to how wonderful Highway Academy is. Sharon started off her essay saying, “Education is the key to success. Highway Academy is a good school where students get education.” The students understand how important education is and take every opportunity Highway Academy gives them.

Sharon with her essay on the computer

Computer Lab

Andrew with his essay on the computer

Other volunteers today documented all the donated books we brought over to Highway Academy. They created library cards and logged them so that soon the students can check them out. The students have already started to sneak in to read the books and play with some of the toys, especially the stuffed animal versions of Arthur and D.W. They love Arthur and Curious George here, so we are really lucky my mom worked on both books and we have plenty of those items to spare.

We also got to go with Teresa to her garden and her tree farm. Even though they have ten of their own children, the Watis give everything they have to Wema and Highway Academy. The garden provides food for the students and the tree farm, which was started a year-and-a-half ago, will be used for telephone polls as well as used for building and burning fires at Wema. They are such selfless people, and it was beautiful to see their land.

During my run with volunteers Katie, Laura, and Taylor, I got to meet Daniel. As I was puffing along in the back, he ran beside me. Laura said that he is one of my brother Alex’s favorite students. He has a lot of learning difficulties, but Highway Academy does not turn him away like many schools in Kenya. He is a very sweet boy, and I got to play soccer with him for an hour until the sun set. Among the chickens, sheep, cows, and cow manure, I found that I actually enjoyed soccer for the first time (sorry Larchmont soccer league). My soccer skills were brought down a little by remembering that Daniel is only nine and one of Teresa’s sons reminding me of previous volunteer Melanie Baskind, who was the captain of the varsity soccer team of Harvard. Still, with my little Swahili and help from Teresa’s son, I was able to have a little conversation with Daniel and he seemed to understand me and answered a few questions in English. This encounter just reminded me how important a place Highway Academy is for these children’s futures.