Karibu to Emori Joi-learning how to play!

Jambo!
Today was probably one of the most memorable days of our welcoming to Kenya and in particular to Emori Joi , the school where would be teaching and working for the next three weeks. In preparation, we had a two -hour swahili lesson with our resident expert and Kenyan facilitator Santai.

Kiswahili was introduced in Kenya so that people could have a common language. It is a combination of arab and bantu that was developed in the 15th century by the traders who came here. It is the national language of Kenya, the official language in English.

Here are a few tips to help you learn some too

The sentence structure is as follows:
Subject + tense marker + verb + object/noun

Some useful expressions:

Jambo = Hello

Habari gani? =how are you?

good = mzuri mbaya= bad si mbaya = not bad

habari ya asubuhi= good morning

habari ya alasiri = good afternoon

habari ya ji oni =good evening


Jina lako ni nani? =what's your name?

Jina langu ni... = my name is...

ndio= yes

hapana= no

moja= 1 mbili= 2 tatu= 3 nne= 4 tano= 5 sita = 6 saba =7 nane =8 tisa= 9 kumi= 10


These are just some of the basics that I learned and used on a daily basis.

There are so many awesome things about the first day that we met both the kids, their teachers and some community members.

As we pulled up to the school in the lorry the kids came running up to greet us. They were dressed in blue uniforms, sweaters with pink blouses for the girls and white shirts for the boys; many of them were bare feet. As we entered the school grounds the children were grouped and lined up in rows by age and gender. They were singing as we walked in, with one leader singing as the caller and the rest of the students singing the reply. We were officially welcomed by one of the teachers at Emori Joi whose name is Emily. She introduced us to her team of colleagues about 5 teachers. We were then sung welcome songs before we were invited to introduce ourselves. As we each shouted out our names, the children repeated them back to us and clapped for each one of us. Such an incredible feeling of validation. Once we the official welcome ended we met the children, tried out our swahili and exchanged many high-fives and hugs. The kids were fascinated by the colour of our skin and in particular my chubby arms-- I told them that this is where my stong arm muscles were and asked them to show me their muscles.

Next thing I knew, a little girl named Gladys grabbed hold of my hand and along with her friend Mercy, they took me to their grade 5 class- a four walled classroom that had been built by Free the Children. There were windows, a chalkboard and desks. There girls wanted to show me exactly where they sat in the class. I asked them to show me another classroom and we crossed the grass area to the grade 7 class where my friend Alex and I were treated to hair braiding by about 6 or so girls who each took a section of my head. They created quite a cool masterpiece.

We then headed out to the field with Mercy, Alice, Karen, Sharon and Caroline. We played a game with tree nuts and a ball. The objective of the game is to try and knock over small piles of tree nuts. We counted out loud in swahili as each pile was knocked over... moja, mbili, tatu etc... When 8 had been knocked over, you have to run away from the pile and then back again in trying to put the piles back together without being tagged by the ball. Caroline always made sure that I knew when to run. She would motion with her arms that i should get ready and then told me loudly when it was time to run away. It took a while for me to understand the game, but it was definitely a lot of fun.

Mercy and Caroline also taught me a few dance moves-lots of stepping and hand moves. Mercy's sister Diana in a yelow dress came by to play with a ball made with plastic bags and stones. She was so cute
! Another girl named Mercy with an incredible laugh played paddy cake with me, the Kenyan way... Such amazing times of laughter and play, the simple way.

We finished our welcome visit at Emori Joi singing a song that I wrote You say Jambo, we say hello! The kids all joined in and we showed our attempt to learn to speak their language in greeting them in song. We also sang some Emori Joi favourites, including: the hokey pokey and you are my sunshine!

As we headed to the lorry, the kids offered more high-fives and hugs and said that they were looking forward to seeing us tomorrow. Tutuaonana they shouted... See you later!

As we left, the rains came pouring down-- we shared stories on the lorry about how the experience almost seemed overwhelming with all the excitement over meeting the kids, and having a chance to play with them.

I recorded an audio-journal of my day hoping that in speaking that way, I would never forget playing and just being in the moment with those awesome kids. A couple of my friends Nancy and Diane shared about conversations they had had with some of the grade 8 girls in particular, who had been so inquisitive in asking questions about life in Canada: jobs, education and opportunities and some even asked what we knew and thought of Barack Obama. What was most interesting for me to hear from their stories was how many of the girls shared that, unlike many women in their culture, the kipsigis who got married quite young, they do not plan on getting married early but rather they hope to stay in school. Some of the men on our trip who are dads shared how some of the kids were a bit standoff-ish when they first met them but that once they joined in to singing if you're happy and you know it, they shook their butts and the kids all went crazy and laughed at them, which bridged a gap.

Some of our team joined the Kenyan students in a game of football, others played the nut game like me, and others got their hair braided in classrooms.

I will always remember the simplicity of it all, just playing, being in the moment, laughing, trying to understand and just being. What a fantastic day!


Ninakupenda,
Katy

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