Day Five

Crap! I lost my sunglasses, how is that even possible? I remember walking into the dining hall and the next minute they were gone....I kept checking my pockets and head but was not able to find them, where am I going to find another pair of Oakleys in Kenya? And more importantly, how am I going to last another 10 days on vacation without sunglasses.

I worked at St. Catherine's secondary school today. I began by cleaning and organizing the library which is housed in a 20X20 stone room with cement floors. Like many Kenyan buildings the roof is open under what should be the soffits to provide for ventilation, unfortunately, in this case it only served to make the room and books dirty......and spidery! That comfort zone of mine that does not enjoy dirty hands was really pushed as today, and I can not imagine reading a book that you can shake dirt out of, but this is the unique challenges that go with the area.

The topic we taught in the classroom of 14-18 year olds today was 'consequences' and at some point in the lesson I realized how culturally challenged we really was. How is it that we assume that the Kenyan students will relate to our teaching style? Why hadn't taken the time to consider where they would learn optimally? I sense differences when we speak, I hear them speaking English, and I speak English, but sometimes their language structure is not as ours-it is as if their process of speech differs. Couldn't that also mean their learning style is different too?

Did I mention I lost my Oakleys?