Holidays

It has been a very busy week again! So we had more drama with our visas, finally managed to get an extension for another 3 months. Then we came back to Saikeri, and on Monday the tuition was supposed to start. So on Monday morning I went to school, met children but zero teachers! So I walked to the house of one of the best teachers, and she came with me to school but said she was unable to help in the teaching, she was taking her goats to graze, so basically left me in charge of these tuition lessons! So I have been working so hard this week to organise lessons for about 30 children, from Standard 7 and Standard 8, in English, Maths and Science. David is helping by taking the Science classes, and I teach the Maths and English classes from 9am to about 1pm each day. I have been really enjoying it though - at first I was very scared because these "children" are really all about 18/19 and I didn't know how they would react to having me as a teacher - but actually it is a lot of fun.

There has been no rain here, which is making it very difficult because a lot of the children are away with their family's cattle. I even know from some of my students that their families are not impressed with them coming to tuition classes instead of helping with the dying animals. Some people may suggest that therefore I am in the wrong for continuing to give tuition and therefore supporting the idea of leaving the animals to die, but I look at it in a different way - if these children are strong enough to go against their parent's wishes and walk for maybe hours with no food to come to school, then the least I can do is be there to teach them.

One thing happened this week which made me both love this place and also miss home too - everyone knows that I adore tortoises and that I have two at home. On Friday I was teaching normally when one boy arrived at school having carried a live tortoise from his home all the way to school, a walk of over 1 hour. Everyone laughed for about 10 minutes straight, it was one of the funniest moments of my stay here when this child walked in with a tortoise for me. So we carried on calculating volumes of triangular prisms with this tortoise scuttling around the classroom.

One last note - as everyone may know, we have decided to postpone going to South America, until a future summer, because we have firstly spent much more money than we thought here! We have had such a good time, gone on safari, gone to Zanzibar, gone to Samburu, plus I spent a lot on the food and various hospital bills for people here. We do not regret that at all - if we had not spent that money, we would not have had the same experiences of Africa that we now have.

David is coming home on 25th June, and as for me, I am still not sure. I have not spent quite as much money as David, so it is plausible for me to stay longer when he has left. I think there has been much speculation about when I am coming home, most things I am hearing are untrue - so just to clear up a few misconceptions:

The idea that I am coming home in 2 years is NOT true. The idea that I am giving up my university place and staying here is DEFINITELY not true!

I hope everyone is well at home!

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