The view from my desk

My classes were having start-of-term tests today and I so didn't actually teach. This meant that I was able to plan next week's  lessons in advance which is a rarity for me! Above is the view from my desk/classrooms. It reminds me that I am actually here!

Football

Lads playing football on the school field.

My first ride standing in the back of a pickup...

This afternoon I went out with Judy and some other Rendille evangelists to two go'obs. I rode there standing in the back of the pickup (see below) on a dirt track. After drinking chai in a min (one of the homes) I played games and sang some songs with some of the small children (the Okey Kokey went down well!). Then, in the shade of an acacia tree, Judy and her friends sang songs (wonderful Rendille tunes), shared stories from the Bible of God's love and forgiveness and prayed. I think I may have been more of a distraction so I held back at the second go'ob we visited! In the absence of trees they sheltered beside the truck.

 

Women and children were keen to hitch a lift in the pickup to the nearest water source. I counted at least 20 people (it was hard to count amongst the water containers whilst hanging on myself) squeezed on the back, along with the sticks to build one house! As we bounced along they soon started singing traditional songs with wonderful harmonies and leader/response parts. Combined with the tinkling of the women's head dresses it made an incredible sound!

My bedroom

This is my room, in a kind of prefabricated metal building with a concrete floor and corrugated iron roof. It is nice to have my own space. It is in a simple compound next to Nick and Lynne’s house. There is an outside toilet opposite and a shower with running water nearby.

Baking...and I made some cakes!

My first attempt at baking in Kenya...all-bran muffins in the stove-top oven. They went down well with our visitors!

First day of term

Me and another volunteer outside a classroom ready to issue text books on registration day.

Lessons start tomorrow after registration today. I'm going to be teaching Biology and English, as well as being school nurse/first aider. I am really enjoying the adventure and novelty of everything at the moment. I walked to school on my own this afternoon - an adventure in itself when there aren't roads, signs or normal landmarks. However, with a small detour I managed it: head towards 'town', go past the wells, cross the dried up river bed, up towards the town (a mixture of brick and concrete buildings and traditional huts), right past the mosque, line up the two hills on the horizon and towards the school compound. And along the way say hello (neebey) to locals dressed in traditional costume, children dressed in very little and school students! Takes about 20 mins!

Welcome to Korr!

 

Young herdsmen hurriedly cleared the dirt airstrip of their goats and sheep as the tiny six-seater MAF plane bumped to the ground. Children flocked round to see the plane. As I climbed out Nick and Lynne arrived in their well-used green Toyota pickup. They were here to meet me and drop off some other passengers who returning to Nairobi.

 

The plane soon left in a cloud of red dust and I'm left in the middle of nowhere. No roads. No street lights. No mobile reception. No proper shops. We have internet via satellite, solar electricity and an outhouse with pit latrine. The shower now has running water, only recently installed. Water from a borehole is pumped, using solar energy, up to a tank on a nearby hill. this creates the pressure in the taps and shower. By the afternoon the water is nicely heated by the sun so you can get a warm shower, a real blessing when it's so hot, dry and dusty.

 

I am living in a two-roomed prefabricated building next to Nick and Lynne's house and to start with will eat my meals with them. They have been very welcoming and have already shared some fascinating stories of their 30 years living here and the work of which they have been a key part.

I went to church this morning. Much of the meeting was in Rendille and the songs were in a traditional style, often unaccompanied. I quickly picked up the words for God and Jesus and was excited to see that, whilst the style of service is different to UK church, we all worship the same loving creator God who loves the everyone in the world so much that he sent Jesus to earth so that whoever believes in him can have eternal life. I am part of God's worldwide family!

Term starts this week here as well as in the UK and I'll find out what I'm going to be teaching. It looks likely that I'll be teaching a fair amount of English. There'll be lots of differences between Tirrim Secondary School and LCHS but I think I'll save that for a different post!