Well it's like a farmer who's been cooped up on the farm (in our case a village) all week and finally get to go to town on Sat. Unfortunately all the locals also go to town to sell their goods at the market and the buses (mulatu) are full so it takes a while to catch one. But we went on a trip to see Kit Makayi this morning and got to go in a real car!! Kit Makayi is a strange rock formation which the people feel has trees and bushes with medicinal power. Kit Makayi (sp) is suppose to mean the 5th wife and no marriage in the local area is real until they visit this rock. People also go there to pray and fast there. It's quite a different rock formation and is 1 rock balanced on another. We climbed it and could see a long distance but the thing i liked was how nice and cool it was on the rock as there was a good breeze. Then since the car (taxi) was heading back to town I decided to catch a ride in to town. I wanted to charge my phone and sort of eat something different ie a bun, etc. I like the food back at the house but a change is as good as a rest. so I am. I tried to upload some more pics but the system seems really slow so I decided to post something instead.
I wanted to explain what we are doing for projects. We are haveing a meeting with the KASOW committee Sun afternoon to ask questions and tell them what we're doing. I also want to ask some hard questions like I want to see their books as I want to see how much we're paying to rebuild the school and how much we have to buy Oxens and plows.
The rebuilding of the school is going Ok but I have this thorn up my butt that I can't rid off and need to resolve it but may open Pandora's box. i want to know how the contract for the building was awarded and why a tender wasn't put out. I just want to see that we get the biggest bang for our buck. There's a bit of favor giving at all levels (corrucption) so I wouldn't mind finding out if this was awarded to a friend. The contractor isn't a company but a person who then goes and hires a bunch of flunky's to do the work. Still haven't met the contractor himself. I could probably just let it ride but I've been told that they;re using the same contractor as before because he did a good job and they want the current classrooms to look like the last one with the same color roof etc. I can agree that the rooms should look alike but I told them it can always be written in the contract that the new classroom look like the last one with the same color. You don't need to use the same contractor to have that done. I said maybe they could save some money by having a bit of a bidding war. A person has to bargain to buy something here so surely it should be done on a rebuilding of classrooms. However everyone seems to think we should just grin and bear it. Maybe they're right as things have already started but "Curious Minds just have to know" as a friend of mine used to say. I also want to see the books of the KASOW Committee to see how the donation money is being used.
In my Humble opinion this Oyriengo School is not going to ever make it to the "How a Good School should Operate" list. Whenever I've been there the teachers are sitting outside the classrooms under a tree. They are marking papers after giving the kids some assignment to do. The kids mean time seem to be talking and carrying on. I was told it's the teaching style here but I've seen other Primary schools and it doesn't happen at those schools. I was there yesterday and the contractor was putting in the foundation for the new classrooms. The younger kids were busy hauling water in cans for the cement. There were about 15 older kids standing and watching one kid trying to chop down a tree with a machette. This tree may have been in the way of the new classroom but why were they doing it? Then I saw one teacher sitting by a table outside her classroom reading a newspaper. I also saw about 3 classrooms with kids but no teacher. Jessica and Katy volunteered to teach a couple classes and have been really frustrated (will explain later). The prinicipal has supposedly been in town for the past 3 days so I went to the vice prinicipal. His name is a bit odd but it's LordFick. He's a nice man and when I talked to him I was a bit frustrated and almost called him by his name but with a "u" instead of a "i"!! I couldn't understand why the kids were hauling water and not in class learning. He ssid they want to show their appreication by getting water. I said their time would be better spent learning in class. They could haul water at home for their parents as the contractors are getting paid to do the building not the kids. I also asked why are the bigger kids chopping down a tree and what is the teacher doing reading a newspaper? Now I am not the primary school critic but just a volunteer but we had asked if they wanted us to supply any new ideas from home or do they want to continue the Kenyan way. They said they welcome new ideas and ways. So not being a teacher but having put up with them and the schools back home it didn't take a teaching 101 course to figure out that things weren't kosher! So Lordfick went outside and told the boys to stop chopping the tree and go back to class although the teachers were probably not around. The younger kids also disappeared too. But he didn't talk to the teacher reading the paper. Now I'm not saying this school is the norm here because I've been to a couple other schools here and they're run by a stricter prinicpal. Katy was saying she went to teach on Mon and there was a staff meeting (the kids were probably all over hell's half acre). She said it was a real eye opener. I guess this Lordfick (I believe who was chairing it) mentioned that there has been rumors that someone had complained about carnal activity between a teacher and child (meaning child moslesting) and it may have been reported to the school board. He said this should be dealt with in the school and not be allowed to go to the school board or the whole staff will get in trouble. So this woman teacher starts yelling about it wasn't her who told on them, etc. No one said it was her but she spent a good 10 mins yelling and screaming. The others were mentioning that no one should be telling on anyone. The sad part of the story is no one discussed the seriousness of child molesting but more who told on who! Katy was shocked!
In her second class she wanted to have any kid volunteer to answer what happened in a story she just read. They all stared but no one said a thing. She thinks it may have been a new concept in teaching in that class. So she thought she'd get a volunteer to read a page. Again no response so she pick one but little response so finally got a couple of girls to work together to read. She found her first day very frustrating. I feel maybe when in Rome you have to do what the Romans do - NOT! Sure glad I'm not into the volunteer teaching gig! She said there is not accountability in the school. Some teachers are either late or don't show up as they are in need of teachers so no one says anything. I'm not impressed with Fredrick the principal! I made up a schedule so the contractor could sign in each day and what they did so we could keep track of the progress. So far I either can't find him and no trace of the schedule. He told me one day that he'll get them to complete it at the end of the week. Now that isn't super important but I just want to have them get used to being accountable not to make sure the work is done on time.
We also have the Oxen and Plow project where we want to buy a set of 4 oxens. plow and the harnsess that goes with them. Then we want to setup a team to care for the oxens and manage it to keep them healthy. Then a person or group to insure that the oxen and plow are rented out at a reasonable price. We spent the past week interviewing 78 people who would like to have an oxen and plow for their fields. Most of the people need the plowing done around the same time so we can't have all their fields plowed. So in order to make sure a procedure is setup to work correctly. We have to select only a limited number to plow and the rest will have to wait for the next set of oxen and plows. We have a choice either plow all the 78 fields and not get it done correctly or with a real mess administrating and scheduling it or set up a small group and make sure it functions correctly. So now we have to get a local person or persons to visit a market and select and buy the oxens. f we go then the price will double. Then buy the harness and plows and get a person and group to look after it. We're still working on the logistics. There's alot to do and the locals want help but have a different concept of things. There are a lot of widows but there's no thought or concept of maybe getting together and working as a group to help each other. I think we have a bit of education on just common ideas first. So keep tuned on what happens.
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