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!