Goodbye Kenya

With project over, I have now reluctantly left Kenya, although I know I will return as soon as possible. In the last week of project, we returned to all the schools we had taught at to collect teacher evaluation forms to receive feedback on our training from the teachers at each school. The principals of all our schools also wrote us recommendation letters acknowledging the changes they saw in their students. It was very encouraging to hear this positive feedback and acknowledgment from the schools. We got to see some of students one last time, and have encouraged them all to stay in contact through email if they wish. Many of them expressed interest in continuing to keep contact with YESS, in hopes of volunteering with them in the future. We were privileged to be welcomed into the schools when we returned to visit. I was especially touched when my class at Embakasi rushed to hug me and even share their lunch with me when I returned to say goodbye. It was so nice to chat with them for awhile about their other classes and day to day lives, as well as have a chance to answer any last questions they had.
We finished the project reflecting on the many challenges and successes of this year. We had meetings and plans drafted for future projects, always critically thinking of how to improve our partnership and the project we run together.
I want to say Asante Sana (thank you very much) again to everyone who helped make this year's project a success. Asante Sana for your support, words of encouragement, donations and prayers.
Goodbye Kenya. Asante sana for allowing me to changed in ways I can't describe and for the opportunity to work with an incredible generation of youth. I have met so many students who I know will be the change they want to see in the world.

Old and new...

So with the last day of teaching officially over there are so many things to look back on and a few more to look forward to; our list of goals hanging in the dining room has check marks all over, but we still have one more amazing week of activities to plan. I can’t help but feel sad that there are only a few weeks left in project, yet we have accomplished so much this year that it seems incredible we have been here for less than 2 months…

This coming week we have a fantastic line-up of events to facilitate. Our first outreach activity will occur on Tuesday and will consist of tree planting, a community clean-up and a VCT at Kasarani Sports Complex with our students from Blessed Hands Secondary School. Looking back at that first week of teaching with these students, it is unbelievable to see how much we have all developed as teachers. I can only speak for myself, but the first week I was a bit nervous to be teaching a group of 52 form 3 (grade 11) students who challenged our knowledge and amazed us with the questions they asked. I am looking forward to seeing this group of students again, maybe I will be able to convince the aspiring rapper “Napking aka Pumpking aka Rapking” to show us his talent, provided he doesn’t have another sore throat…

Our second event will be in Kibera and will involve the students from John Paul II and Kibera Glory, our final school. The day will consist of a VCT and student-led performances guided by members of the YESS club. The focus will be on HIV testing and community education around the topics we presented to the students. The students from Kibera are very driven and creative so we are confident that the day will be a great success. On Thursday we will be holding a networking conference at the Kivi Milimani where we are staying, with the hope to draw potential partnerships from the Nairobi area. At the conference we will be presenting our project accomplishments, current areas of development and future goals for the organization.

We have a bit of a break on Friday and then we will be going full steam into our final outreach activity which will be held at Embakasi Girls’ Secondary School on Saturday June 26th. This event will bring football (soccer) teams from every school that we taught at into a full-day tournament, with medals and trophies for the winning teams. We are planning to have a movie called “Shuga” playing for the students in the morning, which was developed by a youth group and focuses on similar topics to the ones covered in our curriculum. Throughout the day, we will have VCT counselors testing both students and community members in the Mukuru district and the Kenya Forest Working Group will be providing trees for the students to plant in their school grounds. One of our lofty goals is to see if Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai can attend this outreach day to encourage environmental responsibility and inspire students to become actively involved in the conservation of their community. Angie, Sheila and I visited her office today at The Green Belt Movement (the NGO that she founded to address environmental conservation and women's rights) to drop off a proposal. Hopefully she will find time in her busy schedule to consider our event, as it would be an absolutely amazing experience to have such a motivated, inspiring, and accomplished woman there to speak in front of the students...

Form 3 East - Embakasi Girls

Karabunda!

Karabunda - *clapclap clap clap* - Karabunda *clapclap clap clap* - Seniorita - *clapclap clap clapclap clap clapclap clapclap*
This is just one of the many psyche games we played with our students at Embakasi Girls Secondary School this week to get them excited for training! We were blown away by their enthusiasm and spirit. They taught us new psyche games everyday and always wanted to do “just one more!” after we finished teaching for the day.
Dan and I taught form 3 East (3East for short) this week. I am bias, but I can definitely say I thought our class was the most spirited of the school. We had a full two hours to teach each day at this school. This was so great because it meant we were able to thoroughly teach our updated curriculum for the first time (we just finished the updates last weekend) as well as have lots of extra time for questions from the students. On Thursday, 3East and 3West classes joined together since Dan and Kyle had to work out logistic arrangements in Kibera for outreach day there. Lorna and I taught the combined form 3 class responsible sexuality. It was amazing to see how much more open the girls were with their questions since it was an all girls’ discussion (only female students and only female trainers on this day). In the future, I think it might be beneficial to train males and females separately on this day. We had so many in-depth questions about menstruation and pregnancy that the girls probably wouldn’t have asked if there were males in the room. It was a great experience. On Friday when we arrived, my students presented me with my teaching manual that I had left behind the day before. In the front and back cover, they had written about 50 kiswahili words and phrases with the English translation and a note explaining they would like to help me learn more. They had been teaching me a few words each day after class, but they decided I wasn’t learning fast enough, so they challenged me to learn all these phrases by the time we return to their school in 2 weeks for sports and testing day. I will definitely miss these students.

St. Justino Form 4

Dan and I with our form 4 class and the trees they were about to plant!

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This past week, Dan and I taught the form 4 (grade 12) class at St. Justino. At first I was nervous to be teaching the oldest students in the school, but this quickly became my favorite class so far on project. Dan and I were much more comfortable with the curriculum this week, so it made it easier to be relaxed with the students while teaching. There were only 28 students in the class. They were curious, gracious and lots of fun. They challenged Dan and I with some really great questions. Thursday when we were teaching HIV, we didn’t get through the whole curriculum (We finished teaching it on Saturday), because we had half an hour of students raising their hands with one question after another. It was the best part of teaching this week. This class had had the YESS/QHO training in 2007 when they were in form 1. One of them asked me if I knew the trainers from that year, because she still remembered them. That was the same year that a YESS club was formed at St. Justino. One of my students is the chairmen of the club this year. She told me a lot about how their club is run, so we can assist other schools in starting a YESS club. To celebrate the 3^rd anniversary of their club, they are planning to publish a magazine this year. Saturday we returned to this school for an outreach day. We held a mobile VCT in the school for the students and their community. A VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) is a service that provides HIV testing and counseling. We also planted trees with the students and picked up garbage around the school since it was world environment day. It was so nice to get to chat a bit more with some of the students outside the classroom. I will definitely miss this school. A week goes by so fast!

Outreach Day – World Environment at St. Justino

Yesterday, we held our first outreach activity of training week at St. Justino Secondary School, our third school of project. It was a partnership between QHO, YESS, and the Kenya Forests Working Group, a new connection made this year. It was a full day of events participating with our students in tree planting, community clean-up, and a mobile VCT (HIV voluntary counseling and testing unit).



Vivian, Heidi and I had a fantastic day with our form 3 class. We were the first ones to tree plant, and it was hard for us to reign in our students’ enthusiasm and prevent them from planting all of the trees before the other forms arrived! We planted a small number on the school property and then the rest at a local church ground. St. Justino is located in Soweto, a slum area in the Nairobi suburb of Kayole. It was nice to be able to put a little more ‘green’ into the area, and I think the students really enjoyed the opportunity.



After planting, we did some community clean-up just down the street from the school. It was good to help out, but also felt a little bit futile at times; picking up garbage generally just uncovered a new layer of garbage. Although it was frustrating to make little impact at the time, the main point of the activity was to try to set an example for our students and encourage a spirit of community service.



We finished off with HIV testing in the various classrooms at the school – about 25 of our 30 students got tested, which was really exciting. A large focus of our curriculum is on the importance of being tested, so it was great to have such a positive response. In fact, on the first day when we announced there would be a free VCT day, all of the students erupted into spontaneous applause – a pretty awesome moment. The day concluded with a final assembly, a YESS club meeting, and then a lot of games with local children in the school grounds. Saturday was long, but ultimately rewarding and our students really enjoyed their experiences. A great first start to our outreach activities!

Kibera and Curriculum

We are now into week 3 of teaching and so far the journey has been incredible. On Saturday, we finished up teaching at John Paul II in Kibera, which was a slightly smaller school than Blessed Hands. When speaking to the principal, we were told that students are selected according to specific criteria: all students are residents of Kibera and they must go through an extensive interview process and meet the grade requirements in order to attend the school. Ever since we visited John Paul II to distribute the pre-training questionnaires, we were excited to spend an entire week with this group of enthusiastic and bright students. I taught a group of form 1 students along with Gaddiel, Vivian and Craig, and we were so impressed by their curiosity and passion for learning. They asked us many questions that challenged us as peer educators and they were always willing to join in on some rowdy psych games such as "wind your toy" and "steam steam panda".

In addition to teaching and planning outreach activities for the communities, YESS/QHO are taking on a bit of a challenge this year. With so many motivated and inspired individuals on project, we decided that it would be a great opportunity to look at revising and updating our curriculum. This is quite the task for our team but we are all looking forward to implementing the changes hopefully by the time we are teaching at our last school. The decision to update the curriculum came from a realization that the general knowledge of high school students in Kenya is changing quite significantly and through their anonymous questions they have highlighted some aspects of our training that they would like us to expand upon. We are also looking at rearranging the order in which some topics are presented to enhance the curriculum's comprehensiveness and flow. So far, the curriculum has been very well received by the students but we are always looking for ways to improve. Over the next two weeks, we will be editing every section of the curriculum and we look forward to seeing how things will turn out!

Third School

The third school we are teaching at is called St. Justino Secondary School. We have taught one day so far because today is Madaraka day, which is the day that Kenya gained its independence so there is no school. I will explain about the first day of teaching. When we got to the school we had the first general assembly in a big hall at the school. The students seemed to be very excited and had so much energy for the psych games we did. Gaddiel and Dan led the first psych games and then we did the opening speech where we all say our names. It’s really funny when we do this because after everyone said our names all the students would repeat them and then laugh. We did a final psych game before splitting up into different forms. This week I am teaching with Tony again and we have split the form three’s into two groups so Tony and I teach half and Matt and Vivian the other half. It is kind of nice because the classes are so small so the students are not shy and feel free to say anything they please. The first day consists of a lot of skits that Tony and I preformed I think the students quite enjoyed them, even if it was just because we were not the best actors. At the end of the lessons we do anonymous questions the questions for the first day were very funny with many comments.
I am so excited to go back for the next four days of teaching.

John Paul II YESS Club

On Saturday, May 29, after teaching our last lesson to our John Paul II secondary classes, we held the first YESS club meeting. I guess I should begin by explaining what exactly is a YESS club. YESS, the youth empowerment strategic scheme, is the name of our partner organization. Together, QHO and YESS have decided that starting a club at each school we train will be a way to make our project and objectives more sustainable. We have many ideas for this type of club, but ultimately, the club will be whatever the students make it to be. This particular Saturday afternoon we met with a group of students from all forms (grades 9-12 in Canadian terms), who expressed interest in participating in such a club at their school. We discussed options of possible goals and activities for the club. The first club activity will be aiding our project in facilitating an outreach day at their school. The students identified a venue nearby where they would like the events of this day to be help. They brainstormed for possible outreach activities and decided on a mobile VCT (volunteer counseling and testing – the service that provides HIV testing and counseling). The students decided they would like to create drama presentations about the topics we taught them throughout the week (Life Skills, Gender Roles and Relationship Boundaries, HIV/AIDS and Responsible Sexuality) so they can educate their community about these topics during the testing day. This is a very exciting opportunity for the students of John Paul II Secondary School to act as peer educators in their community, and have the option to choose to get tested for HIV, along with members of their community.

As a project, we are looking to partner a VCT counselor with each YESS club so that the club can form a support group for HIV pre and post testing. We would like to also provide each club with the guarantee of a resource person within the YESS organization, who can support the club throughout the year, through answering any questions the students pose, linking the club with contacts to fund their outreach events and to visit the clubs throughout the year to maintain contact. Before the end of project, we hope to deliver 2 handbooks to each club that contains the material in our curriculum, ideas for outreach activities, structure for leadership and possible topics for the club meetings. This first meeting was a success, and although there is much work to still be done in facilitating these clubs, we are off to a great start.

Students at Blessed Hands filling out their post trainning survey to let us know what we taught well and what to improve upon at our next school.

curriculum updates.

john paul II secondary school.

week MBILI of teaching over.

may 24- may 29

teaching form three with matt and angie this week at john paul II secondary school in kibera was unreal. the class was so energetic and hilarious. we have a rap that we teach our students whereby we ask “are you somewhere, in the future, do you look much better than you look right now?”. and they chant back “I’m somewhere, in the future, and I look much better than I look right now”. basically everyday they made us both start and end class with this rap.

the questions asked at this school, although similar to those asked at other schools, had an emphasis on leadership and success in our class. we had students asking:

“do you emphasize on leaderships and if please, when?”

“is it true that the road to success is always under construction?”

“is it true that whenever one gets the key to success,

someone comes and changes the lock?”

although the overall goal of our curriculum is to empower students by providing them with information to make positive, responsible decisions in their lives, leadership is not a topic that is specifically addressed. for this reason, at the end of the week, in our final empowerment speech about positive self-esteem, matt created a new section on leadership. although brief and informal, his speech on leadership consisted of the following five steps:

1. take initiative
2. look beyond personal interests
3. set an example
4. consider all options and ideas
5. never give up on your goals

our class was very receptive to all of the ideas and topics that we discussed earlier in the week, but during this talk about leadership, every single student was listening intently. not only were they giving matt their full attention, but they were even taking notes.

for this reason, we are currently performing extensive editing of the curriculum to keep the information we teach current and accurate. specifically, we are applying the past five years of our teaching experience to update the kits with material pertaining to the issues facing our students, especially those raised in anonymous questions.

this is a huge task to undertake during the project, in the midst of teaching, planning outreach activities, organizing mobile VCTs for each of our schools and networking for the YESS organization, however the individuals on our team are extremely motivated and willing. i know that their hard work and dedication will translate into a new and amazing curriculum, and hopefully these edits will be incorporated into our future teaching on project.

Some QHO and YESS trainers at Blessed Hands Secondary School in Nairobi demonstrating how HIV attacks our bodies T-Cells, weakening our immune system.

knowledge is power.

blessed hands secondary school.
teaching week MOJA.
may 17 - may 21.

this week, with kyle and lorna, I taught a form four class at blessed hands secondary school. they were amazing. unlike nakuru, where we trained last year, the students were very vocal and opinionated. they were not afraid to ask questions during our sessions, both for clarification purposes and to keep us on our toes. it was encouraging and refreshing as rather than just readily accepting our teachings, they internalized the information and formulated questions that displayed they really understood the material.

during the HIV kit, they asked questions regarding transmission in very unique situations that I’d never even considered. requesting the details about how HIV positive parents can give birth to an HIV negative child. inquiring about the mutation of the HIV virus, and the possibility of it becoming resistant to the various anti-retroviral treatments available. and acknowledging and dismissing the various stigmas and stereotypes that surround those individuals who are infected with the virus.

one anonymous question, in particular, that we received in the middle of the week demonstrated that the students were combining the information we taught in the various kits, in order to make responsible and positive life choices. to preface the question, I’ll share some of the topics that we teach about in life skills on the first day and gender and relationships on day two.

the life skills kit aims to give students a clear understanding of how to be successful communicators, how to express their interests assertively and how to respond effectively to peer pressure. through a variety of skits and relatable examples, we hope that the students gain an understanding of how these skills are relevant to their experiences and are able to apply these skills in the future. in the gender and relationships kit, we empower the students to determine their boundaries in their relationships and to assertively communicate these limits. in all relationships, we stress that each person can set their own relationship boundaries, and individuals must respect their own and other’s boundaries.

the question asked,

“you taught us that one way of responding to peer pressure is by saying “no” and at the same time you told us that for one to have a good communication, one should not be aggressive. I think if someone asked me to have sex with him, I would say “no”, that means that I will have been aggressive, since I’ll have stood up for my own interests without considering his. How should I respond, I am confused?”

this question demonstrated that the student really understood the material and internalized it to the point that he/she even questioned it. the anonymous questions asked at the end of each day are one of my favourite aspects of teaching. we encourage students, both at the beginning and end of our training, to always ask questions. and to keep asking questions even when they graduate from form four, because by asking questions they gain information. with this information, they are able to make informed, responsible decisions in their lives. as well, by asking questions, they gain knowledge. and knowledge is power.

John Paul II School in Kibera

Last week, we taught at John Paul II Mixed Secondary School in Kibera. Kibera is the second largest slum in Africa after Soweto in Johannesburg, with over 700 000 people crammed into an area of 2.5 sq km. I have definitely never been anywhere like Kibera, and don't think I can articulate the intricacies of teaching at a school there properly quite yet. It was a really good experience for us teaching at the school John Paul II - our students were amazing, very bright and really challenged us a lot. This is unsurprising, because the administration told us that the standards for admission at JP II are extremely rigorous, whereby students must be from Kibera, must pass an academic exam, and must maintain good grades or they will be asked to leave.

Teaching in the Form 3 Class

One of our big initiatives this year is to start YESS clubs at each of our schools that we will provide with resources to keep talking about the topics we teach on throughout the year. A big part of our outreach work has been devoted to planning what form we see these clubs taking, as well as developing the information manual for students. We had our first meeting with the JP II students today and it was really promising. We had an outstanding turnout, with more students present than we could have hoped for. They seemed really interested in helping us gear our outreach activities towards what they identify as useful, and even agreed to put together a drama group to prepare educational skits for their community. We are going to go back once for another meeting with the club before our outreach day in Kibera on June 23. Plans for that day are still being formed, but we have made a promising start and it looks like it will involve a mobile VCT, games, and mass education through skits created by the students.

Form 3 Class Photo

I have a few more interesting stories from Kibera. Gaddiel and I, as part of our logistics work, checked out many of the VCTs and medical clinics in the area. While one of them (run by a large NGO) was quite disappointing in its approach to dealing with young people, another was extremely inspiring. We took a tour of the facility, and I was really impressed by how sanitary and well-equipped it was for a building that blended in so completely to the surrounding slum. Part of the tour included meeting a HIV+ mother who had given birth that morning and watching the nursing staff administer ARV treatment as a prophylactic measure to her infant. It was a really incredible glimpse into a different side of life at Kibera. In addition, we made an excellent connection with the women who runs the facility and with the local MSF that operates in the community.

The other thing that I cannot leave out of any post about Kibera is seeing the children. The term for white person in Kiswahili is “mzungu”, and everywhere we went we were trailed by hordes of little children asking us “Howareoo, mzungu?!?”. Pretty adorable. One of the last days, a little guy asked me “Howareoo??”, and when I answered “I’m fine, how are you?” he proceeded to take my hand and walk with me several hundred metres down the lane. A very cute moment on an otherwise rainy, muddy day in Kibera.

I know that we all really valued our experiences last week, and gained a lot from working with the students at John Paul II. We are back to Kibera for our 5^th week of teaching at Kibera Glory Secondary School starting on June 14th.

Hell's Gate National Park

ell'sYesterday we went to Hell’s Gate national park. We were so excited about it, especially because all the Canadians and most of the Kenyans had never been before. The 2 hour drive to Naivasha was breathtaking. We had our first glimpse of the Rift Valley! We drove through prosperous country side, where apparently most of our food comes from. We saw avocado trees for the first time, lots of donkeys on the road, and cows enjoying the green, lush fields. We passed through Kijabe, the town where one of the YESS members (Gaddiel) comes from, so it was neat to see where he lives. Driving in, we saw zebras, a couple giraffes in the distance, lots of antelope, and lots of warthogs. We drove Kenyan-style, that is in a matatu, which is like a squished 14 seater van, which blasts hip hop music while playing music videos on a TV screen. We parked and had a picnic lunch, that Sammy had made us (he came with us too). By the picnic tables were signs that said “beware of the baboons.” Then we had a guide take us down into the gorge (that is mostly dried up). It was a couple hours of hiking and climbing through the gorge. It was so incredibly beautiful. And the hiking was so much fun. This was definitely a good team-bonding time. The bit of water that was flowing through some parts of the gorge was fed from underwater springs, so there was some cold water, other parts that were warm, and some was so hot you could barely touch it. There were mini waterfalls down into the gorge. One area was called the Devil’s Shower, because as you climbed down the rocks, you couldn’t avoid being “showered” by the water spraying down. The rock on either side of the gorge was carved from years of water running through it, before it dried up. The views from the top were spectacular. There was a geyser in the distance too. It was a great adventure all around. We are excited to get back to work, and prepare for teaching at St. Jean Paul II Secondary School this week.

Orientation Activity: 14 Falls

On Saturday afternoon, we had our final official orientation activity: a trip to the 14 Falls. Located just outside of Thika, we arrived at around 2:30 after a typically bumpy matatu ride.

We started on the park side of the falls, and immediately noticed that there weren’t 14 separate waterfalls; due to the rainy season being in full swing, the 14 had combined into one massive horseshoe-shaped mini-Niagra! Although the water was a little muddy, the mist formed a rainbow right through the middle. We also met some local young men, who jumped off of the falls into the rapids and luckily sustained no injuries. Quite a sight to see, as the mist from the falls rose behind them, although a little bit nerve-wracking to observe from safety.

After a late lunch on-the-go of Sammy’s delicious samosas and mendazi, we crossed a bridge to the other side of the falls. We brought the 4 cliff jumpers with us, as they told us that they could take us on a boat ride to the island right in the middle of the falls. We parked our matatus and walked down to the shore to begin the second part of the adventure. Most of us piled into a rickety wooden row boat with no oars, that was pulled along the shoreline before being launched into the river. There were times that we weren’t sure we were actually going to make it to the island (it can be rather tricky to navigate a boat with no oars) but our trusty guides managed to get us there in one piece. Turns out our time on dry land was only going to be temporary. We walked across the island to a spectacular view of the falls from close up. Rather than our adventure being over, our guides asked us to take off our shoes, and proceeded to jump into the rapids, heading towards another island even nearer to the action.

This new step in the voyage was not for everyone, but an intrepid few removed their footwear and followed our new friends into the river. Team building took upon a new meaning, as we held each others’ hands for balance while jumping across the slippery river rocks. After a few minutes of careful foot placement and maybe a tense wobble or two, we made it safely to an island right in the centre of the crescent-shaped falls. What a spectacular sight! We had arrived at a perfect time of day, so that sunlight was streaming over the falls as we stood in the mist. I don’t think any of us had ever experienced such an amazing natural sight first-hand, with the view ingrained into our minds forever.

All good things must come to an end, unfortunately, and for us that ending was a solid 3 hour matatu ride in the middle of “the JAM” as our Kenyan partners show it. The 401 at its worst rush hour hold-up cannot hold a candle to Thika Road at 7pm on a Saturday evening, let me tell you! It was still a thoroughly Kenyan experience, and I know that we are all going to reflect positively on our many adventures throughout the day.

-Matt

Logistics Update

I can’t believe that we’ve already been here in Kenya for over a week! Time has been flying by faster than I could have imagined. We are now well into the swing of things with project, and start teaching in earnest at our first school tomorrow. I personally can’t wait to get going, as our first visits to the schools were really inspiring.

The logistics team this year consists of me, Lorna, and Gaddiel. Our major goals this year include making a system to accurately record the facilities and treatment available at the VCTs (Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centres) near our schools, and trying to hold mobile VCT’s at as many schools as possible, assuming student interest.

We had a very exciting meeting on Friday morning with the Liverpool VCT. Based in Nairobi, Liverpool was the first VCT to open in Kenya. They receive a lot of funding and have done an excellent job providing a multitude of resources to people throughout Kenya. Two programs in particular were of interest to us at QHO/YESS. First, they offer mobile VCT services at an extremely low cost. We met with the woman who coordinates the program, and it seemed like a definite possibility for many of our schools. The second thing that Liverpool offers is an excellent youth outreach program. They have a toll-free phone number that young people can use to contact a counselor 24 hours a day, as well as services via SMS and Skype. In addition, their message is extremely positive and progressive, and they deal with a lot of topics that are historically considered taboo in Kenya, including outreach to the gay community and post-rape victims. Pretty incredible stuff. We are really looking forward to moving ahead with a lot of what we discussed at Liverpool, and hopefully increasing partnership between YESS and Liverpool in the future.

For more information on Liverpool, check out www.liverpoolvct.org and for their youth programs specifically, www.one2onekenya.org.

practice teaching

Mambo!

So it has been a week since my last post and so much has happened since then. The first few days were fairly laid-back as we battled the jet-lag and became accustomed to our new surroundings. On Monday we started our department work. The training department organized our teaching kits for the schools and created a new workbook for the students. Hopefully this will enhance the sustainability of our project by giving the students something concrete to take notes in and follow along as we go through our curriculum.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we were divided into training teams with at least one Canadian and one Kenyan in each group. We divided up each curriculum (Life Skills, Gender and Relationships, HIV/AIDS, Responsible Sexuality and Abuse/Self-esteem) into different sections and then broke off into our groups to practice. Presenting in front of the entire Kenyadian team was a fun experience. I had the chance to teach with Mercy and Gaddiel, who were both so energetic and inspiring. It was very interesting to see the rest of the group present as well, as everyone has such a unique teaching style. Lorna says things in a way such that absolutely anyone could understand, she is so approachable and I know she will be amazing in the classroom. Mercy is so creative and demonstrates this in her innovative skits. Daniel was hilarious when he presented female anatomy; he held his composure so well through most of it and was so professional, but he finally broke down in a fit of laughter towards the end. Vivian has a great presence and is such a kind person, I think her students will really relate to her. Gaddiel amused us with his sense of humor and confidence speaking in front of a group. Angie has a "no-nonsense" style of delivering the material and really demonstrates her passion for the curriculum. Finally, Tony knows how to deliver a wonderful empowerment message that made us all want to go out and effect positive change.

I am so excited to see everyone really shine in the classrooms next week, we are all going to learn so much from each other and our students. I can't wait to start!

chakula

Hi Everyone!

We have split up who talks about what so that you don't have to read about the same thing 8 times. I am going to talk about the food - it is delicious. Sammy is our cook, who makes all of our meals, he is very funny and has the best laugh ever. I am going to have to take many lessons from him so that I can cook this food when I am back in Canada.

My favourite so far is definitely the Mandazi. Mandazi is something we have at breakfast time, it is like a doughnut that you get to dip in sugar or jam or just eat plain depending on how you are feeling. As well, at breakfast we get hard-boiled eggs, and bread with peanut butter and jam which is SO delicious.
Chipate. This is like a crepe almost, but it is not a dessert food, we eat it with dinner or lunch, most of the time with a lentil stew. This is a very common food here, we have had it I think four times. So far this is Matt's favourite food.
Another common food that we eat is ugali. It is made of maize and you get to eat it with your hands. You kind of mold it into a spoon shape and then you can dip it in a stew or use it to eat your sukuma wiki which is some sort of green vegetable.
The fruit here is amazing. We were having a conversation about this a few meals ago and have decided that the fruit has so much more flavor. The most common fruits we have been eating are bananas, pineapple, mango and passionfruit. I had never had passion fruit before, so if you don't know what it is I will describe it. It is a small spherical fruit that you eat by cutting it in half and then sucking out the seeds. It has a very different taste, but that is what makes it so great! The seeds are are very crunchy although I learned two nights ago that you are actually not supposed to chew the seeds.
I am quite a fan of the food here and am so excited I still have two months to eat it and learn how to make it!

Our first schools!

On Thursday afternoon, we loaded into our vans and drove to our first school, St. Justino. We drove through the Central Business District of Nairobi (near where we are staying) to the downtown and then towards Kayole estate, where the school was located. I was amazed at how drastically the scenery changed from large business buildings and banks to the market or "shamba", as Sammy (our cook) calls the tin roofed section of crowded stalls where he buys the groceries. As we drove to Kayole, the population of vendors along the roads increased. When we reached the community around the school, it appeared as if we were about to drive into the market, but as the van continued on, people parted and a mud road emerged. As we drove through, you could almost touch the vendor stalls on either side of the road. There were many apartments in the background. There were goats wandering the side of the road, and even a pig scrounging for a snack. We were introduced to novelties unheard of at home, such as tiny dried fish in baskets at the stalls, and eggs that were not refrigerated! When we arrived at the school, the students were just finishing lunch. They were washing their dishes at the water pump and hurrying into class. Craig, Lorna, and I visited the form one (grade 9) class to administer the pre-training questionnaire (which we give to all students, to gage their base knowledge of the topics we will teach about, so we are better prepared to train them). The students were quite shy, and found mine and Craig's accents very funny. Luckily Lorna, one of the YESS members, was able to make sure they understood the Muzungu (white person)'s instructions!
The second school we visited was called Blessed Hands. It was a larger school, with 8 classes. It had great murals painted on the inside of the school lobby, of the anatomy of the brain, a tooth, the parts of a computer and the components of a electrical circuit. Again we were successful with meeting the students and administering our pre-training questionnaire. The QHO/YESS members are so excited to return to these schools in the following weeks to begin teaching and learning from our students!

Saturday in Downtown Nairobi!

Hey Everyone,
This is our first full day in Nairobi. It was exciting to get a feel for the city as we walked downtown. The weather is perfectly warm and I love the variety of vegetation and flowers everywhere. We've already experienced 3 wonderful Kenyan meals (fried rice and steamed cabbage). It's such a treat to have fruit at every meal. I am excited to continue to get to know our Kenyan partners better -- we are doing team building activities tonight. We are also learning to count to 10 in Swahili tonight! The YESS members wasted no time in beginning our Swahili lessons, instructing us to say Asante Sana last night in response to their warm welcome of "Karibu." We are so excited to start project work and we will keep you posted!

Habari

WOW! We have all arrived safe and sound. Though still feeling a bit jet legged all is amazing here in Nairobi. We had an amazing welcome (Karibu) by our Kenyan counterparts. A huge smile and a loud clap high five type handshake seems to be a standard. Shortly after comes a warm welcome, more smiles, an introduction and another welcome. Its hard to feel the tiredness as everyone's enthusiasm is contagious. We have big plans for this project and every one is very excited to hit the ground running. Updates to come.

-Kyle

We're here!

Last night we landed in Nairobi and had our first taste of the beautiful African air! We were greeted at the airport by Robert and Tony, who then ushered us into matatus and we set off for our apartments just outside the city. The drive there was a new experience all together, as we bounced along to some Akon and prayed that we would make a successful merge into traffic. The YESS team was so welcoming and I am excited to work with them in the coming months! Sammy cooks some amazing Kenyan food and is always ready to teach us Swahili...

This first week will mostly consist of orientation activities and practice teaching so that we are confident and prepared to go into the classrooms. Being in Kenya has been an eye-opening experience so far, and it has been less than 24 hours! I can't wait to see what the next two months will bring...I know there is so much to learn, so now it is up to us to make the most of our time here!

Karibu Kenya!

I can't count the number of times I heard that phrase in the past 24 hours...karibu Kenya...welcome to Kenya! The appropriate Swahili response? Asante sana.

After a whirlwind of on-flight movies and airplane food, it was thrilling to finally touch down on Kenyan soil. We were greeted at the airport by 2 members of the YESS team, Robert and Tony before being whisked off via matatu (the Kenyan equivalent of an overgrown minivan) to our accommodations in the Milimani district of Nairobi. Driving is on the opposite side of the street in Kenya, and every time Robert would lean back to say something to us Robynn would have a momentary panic attack that our driver was ignoring the crazy streets of Nairobi!

We arrived at our apartments and were greeted by YESS with a delicious feast of Kenyan food. Very filling. Although unfortunately us Canadians probably didn't offer up our best table talk due to significant jet lag and time change. Another observation from Sammy's kitchen - the oranges are very green and pretty tart, and the watermelon is AMAZING. It has been great to get to know our YESS partners, and start relationships that are going to grow throughout project.

This post comes from our first venture to a cyber cafe in Nairobi. It was really interesting to have a chance to walk through the streets of the city. It is a bustling place, full of life and lots and lots of people! I can't wait to see more of the city as we visit schools to implement our teaching project. My perception of this country has already shifted in the limited time we have spent here so far, and I can't wait to experience its further evolution over the next few months.

More updates to follow! Farewell from Nairobi!

It's GREAT to be back!

Hey Everyone!

My name is Courtney Shipman and I am this years QHO Kenya Project 2010 Co Director. All I can say is I am so excited to be back in Kenya and even more excited to be leading the project in Nairobi!

It has been about 2 years since the QHO/YESS Project has taken place in Nairobi so I am so excited to return to where the partnership and project originated! We have an AMAZING team this year with 8 Canadian trainers total and 7 Kenyan trainers total. I am so excited to start working with all of these individuals and get to know them better.

I know that most of the posts are going to be about arrivals but I just wanted to share my thoughts about meeting the YESS Project Manager Tony and the YESS Director Robert in the airport last night.

We came off the 7 hour flight from Amsterdam groggy eyed and searching for our luggage. Matt and I has a little bit of lost luggage anxiety but everyones stuff emerged from the conveyor belt eventually. Once the last person had picked their luggage (which was Matt) a huge wave of excitement went through my body becuase I knew that we would get to walk through those big glass doors and find my friends that I haven't seen in a year.

When we picked them out of the crowd I ran over and gave them a huge hug and a sence of relief swept over me. Since September myself and Shauna has been in contact with Tony and Robert planning every detail of project and seeing them in person allowed me to fully realize that the project we all have been planning for the past year has finally begun!

It was a great feeling meeting up with them again and I know that between the four of us and the Peer Educators we are going to run an amazing project!

I am so happy to be back again.

-court

Hello from Nairobi!

We are finally in Kenya after quite a long day or two of traveling. I am still confused about the time change and am a little disoriented but I'm sure after a hopefully full night's sleep tonight it will all make sense again.
It is really beautiful here, blue skies and really hot. The YESS team has been so kind and I have never felt so welcomed by so many people, it is really exciting to finally meet everyone. I can imagine the upcoming week will be full of so much fun, planning project, practice teaching and lots more!

Hey everybody, so we are finally in Kenya! Landed last night and then drove in some hectic traffic to our accomodations. Quite hot which was expected I suppose. Hasn't rained yet although it's supposed to because it's rainy season at the moment. All the Kenyans were bundled up last night because it was apparently a cool night although we were all very comfortable in our t-shirts and shorts lol. We've met the Kenyan team and ate some delicious meals made by our cook Sammy who is hilarious and so fun to be around. Everyone is still somewhat jet lagged so we are all a little bit inactive to say the least. Not sure what exactly we will be doing the next few days but I'm sure it'll be a blast!
Thanks for reading,
Craig

Ready to go!

Robynn, Sheila, Craig and I are all at my house in Toronto waiting to go to the airport. We can't believe that the time has come that we are finally getting on our way to Kenya. It seems like just yesterday that we all met after being hired, it's hard to believe that it was over six months ago. We have done lots of practice teaching and preparing for project but as much as you can try to prepare there are so many things that we have yet to learn. We aren't sure what to expect but we are SO excited for the adventures ahead of us. After much rearranging of our luggage we have finally fit all our training manuals and t-shirts into our carry-on bags and we are ready for the next 24 hours of travel.

Kwaheri Canada!

Departure Day!

May 6th has seemed so far away for so long that I can hardly believe it's here. After months of preparation, planning, practice teaching and fundraising we are actually leaving for Kenya in about 5 hours. Crazy!!!

We are meeting at the airport all together, then boarding a KLM flight to Amsterdam. We have a brief layover (3 hours or so) and then we take another 7 hour flight to Nairobi. We arrive around 8 PM, and are being met at the airport by some of our YESS teaching partners.

I can't wait to arrive and get going on project. I'm curious to see our accomodation, and really excited to meet all of the YESS trainers and start working with them. It's funny, because we have prepared for this for such a long time that it doesn't seem like anything extremely out of the ordinary that I'm leaving for Kenya, although it is definitely the least normal thing I have ever done. I know that I am going to really miss my friends and family at home, but know that project will keep me busy and engaged.

Keep checking here for updates from project. We will take turns updating the blog to keep everyone in the loop.