Standard 1 & 2

09/21/05

I had a splitting headache last night, water didn't drown it. I almost took a pain killer, but I resisted. It was with me when I woke up, though quieter, and it is now thankfully gone.

I went to Kanga Primary this morning, waited for Jane, met Eric her deputy. She came and told him to take care of me. He showed me to the standard 2 class and told me to drop in the standard 1 class next door when I wanted. Sitting in the back of the standard 2 class, part of me wanted to be teaching. A lot of the learning here seems to be by rote (Teacher: "You wear shoes on your feet. You wear shoes on your feet. You wear shoes on your what?" Class: "FEET!") It's tough though, because kids are learning 3 languages (English, Kiswahili, and Mother Tongue.) Also, "Christian Values" (which they have, ironically, renamed Social Studies, but it still includes readings from the bible), "Maths" and, no joke, Home Science (which Othiees told me is cooking, laundry, etc.) I didn't take the camera out right away in standard 2, which was a mistake, because once I was sitting in the back of the class I felt like it would be too much of a disturbance. At break I was talking to the teacher (she quickly brought up her son's school fees) and suddenly realized that none of the kids had gone to play games, they were all standing around the door, staring at me. So I took out my digi still camera, and let them come into the room to take pictures. After I snapped and snapped a few, I told them to all go play. Some did. Others just went back to the doorway to stare at me.

In standard 1 I sat in the front and I took the camera out first thing. Adrian was in the class, and like Vivian yesterday, I think he could feel my attention on him, and as much as he loves the camera, I think he was getting a little shy in front of his friends. They were studying "Maths" (yes, the teacher actually writes that on the blackboard. I have photographic evidence) and "Mother Tongue." It would be hard for me to say that it was a first rate learning experience for the kids. The "Maths" lesson was filling in the numbers between 1 and 10, 11 and 20, and 21 to 30. The "M.T." lesson was repeating one phrase over and over. The students stay in the class until they have finished copying down the 11-word M.T. phrase, which took some of them a very long time. One boy especially, who was in the classroom long after everyone else. I waited. When he was finally packing up his bag I took out the still digi. It's an amazing shot. He gave me a big high five on his way out. And then it was just me in the classroom. I started taking a few pictures of the empty classroom, and then noticed that one little girl was hanging out outside the classroom, watching me through a window. I told her to come inside. I gave her the stick that the teacher uses to teach, and she started repeating the M.T. lesson. The shot, in my opinion, is the best I've ever taken. I thanked her and she got embarrassed and ran away.

After lunch I played football with Michael Blue and Othiees. I did well, scored a few. I took a cold shower (ice cold) and settled in to read. Robert came back from Homa Bay, and I was shocked when he told me the results of his CD4 count: 144. This is the lowest he has reached in the seven years he's been HIV+, and so they are finally starting him on ART. Before he was just taking antibiotics, and a living testament to how a clean and positive life can keep you healthy. Now he will hopefully be a testament to the power of ART.

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