Saturday night at the movies

Once a month the students have a movie night. Instead of Saturday evening preps they crowd round a television and watch a Nigerian DVD.

Last weekend was slightly different as there was a Kenyan mission team in town and they brought the 'Jesus' film to school for students and community to watch.  Last year the film was translated into Rendille (it's been translated into over 1000 languages) and a new soundtrack was recorded using local people as voice actors. On Saturday it was projected onto the big screen (the side of a lorry).

A few students translated parts for me, but as I know the story I was able to work out what was happening. And I know there was a happy ending to come even in the scary bits. Folks giggled as they heard familiar voices and Jesus (Yeesso) speaking their own language, but it was powerful stuff.

Click here to watch the greatest story ever told in Rendille (or change the language to whatever you like).

Book club

 

 

On alternate Wednesday afternoons after lessons there are clubs. The other week there is a debate. Sarah and I have been running Reading Club since January. Sarah loves reading and her e-reader is a big hit with the students as it has a touch screen and they love to play with it.

 

Strangely reading club is not as popular as Maths Club or Journalism, partly because there isn't much of a culture here of reading for pleasure and partly because students don't see this club as a valuable supplement to their studies when compared to Maths or Science Clubs. However, as well as being fun, reading will improve their level of English which in turn helps all their school subjects as all examinations are in English.

Joseph, Francis, Joseph and Stephen

This week we had four Form 4 boys join us, some of them reading and discussing their set texts, asking for the meaning of words, and generally enjoying relaxing with a good book!

Meet...Ntaynoi

 

Ntaynoi is one of Korr's tailors. At the moment she is busy making clothes for Rendille warriors for 'wedding season' but a while back we bought some fabric, visited Ntaynoi who measured us, and she made us all Rendille dresses called dira. They are simple shift dresses, very comfortable and are popular everyday wear among local women.

 

I need to get a petticoat that matches the scarf (apparently this is very important!), and also some Rendille beads; then I will really look the part!

 

School dinners

Over seven hundred children and young people from Tirrim Primary and Tirrim Secondary School get free school dinners, thanks to donations of Samaritans Purse Canada. TSS students, the majority of whom board, also get supper and breakfast. And, of course, chai at morning and afternoon breaktime.
 
All food preparation is done by hand  - here they are sorting beans and chopping cabbage.  

Most staff work two weeks on, two off, so that they can return to their villages and maintain many of their traditional ways of life.

 
Cooking is done in big pots called sufurias over open fires (see the wood store on the right?)

Meals at lunchtime alternate between githeri (maize and beans) and rice and beans. Sometimes with a soupy sauce and sometimes, like today, with vegetables. Children sit outside to eat. These children are in the shade of a tree. It is customary to use fingers for eating.  

 

Some of the older girls found a bench. 

 
Food is brought to the teachers. Me and Mr Eric ate our rice and beans in our office.

 

Washing up at the end of it all... 

 

Last day of the school break

Josiah

This morning some excited neighbouring children came round to play. About ten of them. Of course without warning; this is Africa, after all. So much for a quiet start to the last day of the school break. But they were so cute and didn't need too much entertaining, the older children looking after the little ones.



Climbing to get berries

 



Drawing on the front porch with pavement chalks

  

 Khoboso and Christina

  

 

 
Chai

Rift Valley Academy

Where do the children of missionaries in remote parts of Africa go to school? Many are homeschoolled by parents or other teachers close to where they live. However, this gets increasingly more difficult as children get older. Many go to boarding school and Rift Valley Academy is such a school in central Kenya overlooking the great Rift Valley. 


The basketball court overlooking the Rift Valley and volcanic Mt Longonot

There are around 500 students, from thirty different home countries and most of their parents are serving as missionaries all over Africa. The school is more than 100 years old and since being in Kenya I have met many people who once went to school at RVA, many of whom have returned to Africa as adults.



 
Over the Korr school break I spent a few days at RVA with my housemate Christina, visiting a couple she met back in USA. Dennis and Debbie Doughty teach a some classes (Dennis, personal finance and Debbie, Spanish). However, their main role is as dorm parents. Their apartment joins on to one of the girls' corridors and they look after 17 of the oldest girls.

They 'Uncle Dennis and Aunt Debbie' check the girls are well and in classes; check they are working well in lessons and offer help with homework; treat them for their birthdays; hold dorm meetings and devotions; and organise dorm socials. When I was there there girls would pop in to get food from the fridge or ask for advice, get test scores, watch movies. Since the they are away from their families for months at a time dorm parents like Dennis and Debbie play a vital role in the lives of the young people.
 

The 'chai tree' where students leave their mugs for morning tea!


RVA runs as an American school, is very well equipped and students get a top academic education.They have a fill range of extra-curricular activities and many students get places in top US universities. The school also serves the spiritual needs of students, bringing them up to love Jesus and pursue God's purpose for their lives.
 

 

I don't have much experience of boarding schools and even less of American ones! Rift Valley Academy is worlds apart from Tirrim Secondary School in Korr and Lincoln Christ's Hospital School. Yet RVA and TSS have similar aims...both seek, within their unique contexts, to educate students academically and spiritually for the glory of God!