Tuesday, June 15th - 1st Day of Teaching

Today I walked to Our Lady of Grace School at 8:00 am. To get there, I just need to walk 10 minutes down a rocky street thats covered in red dirt and then about 100 yards down a main road. Its a safe walk, although when cars go by I need to be careful. Because there are so many massive potholes, cars normally swerve on and off the road to avoid getting a flat tire. "Lanes" are not really existent. Needless to say, I walk very far off the road. Before leaving the compound, I had tea and a type of fried dough.

I helped teach Literature to Form 3 (Grade 11) with Madame Dorothy who is also 21. We focused on poetry and taught the students how to identify hyperboles and similes. She was a recepient of Dominican funding since she was separated from her parents when she was a baby and is teaching at the school until August when she will return to her University. She is such a dynamic person, and she is ecstatic that Julia and I are here to help and be her friends. She often goes to the early mass in the morning too. She is the one of the most positive, upbeat girls I know despite having gone through so much hardship.

I also helped with Business Studies for Form 1 (Grade 9). All the students cheered for me when I walked in, and they then sang a welcome song with clapping and stamping their feet! Today they learned the importance of and how to differentiate different office supplies. It was a very hands-on lesson because we took them to the secretary's office to try out using a stapler, stapler remover, hole-puncher, paper cutter etc. At 11:00 am, there is a break between classes and the teachers all have Kenyan chai tea.

At 1:00 pm, we brought a student, Mary, to he tailoring school to get elastic put in her uniform skirt. because she is pregnant. The Dominicans have established a tailoring school down the street as a trade school for students who have difficulty with academics after secondary school.

Later on, we met with Sister Mary, the Dominican sister from the US, and the accountant, Maria, to realistically see how much it costs to sponsor a child for one year. Julia and I brainstormed ideas of how we can fundraise once we return to PC. Currently, not all of the costs are being covered. I am using the skills that I've learned in my Business classes at PC to help Maria create an accurate budget of expenditures.

Sister Mary took us to the garden that the school has to show us some projects we can do with the students on Saturdays or after school. The garden needs to be improved for it to be fertile for crops to grow. At dinner, we ate tilappia, sweet potatoes, and ugali before going to Compile. The dinner table was definitely a bit quieter tonight now that all the postulates have left. Rather than fitting around 2 large tables, we can all fit around 1 table now.