Project Details 2010.

For the sixth year in a row, our training project is being implemented by the joint efforts of Queen's Health Outreach East Africa (QHO) and Youth Empowerment Strategic Scheme (YESS), a Nairobi-based grassroots youth organization. QHO is a registered charitable organization that is exclusively managed and operated by student volunteers from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. YESS is registered with the Kenyan government as an independent youth group and is comprised of students and recent graduates of universities in East Africa.

This year, project is returning to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi after spending 2 years in the more rural areas of Rongai and Nakuru. The team will spend 8 weeks in Nairobi, reconnecting with schools taught at previously as well as teaching at six new institutions. Project will also consist of outreach activities such as community clean-up, tree planting, and temporary HIV testing days as well as networking with other local organizations that provide health and educational support in Nairobi.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

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.
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1 comment:

  1. MarkJune 14, 2010 at 11:02 PM

    Hi Sheila

    It sound as if your experience at Embakasi Girls Secondary School was very well received and that your new program seems to be taking a very sucessful move in the right direction. I am sure those girls will remember you even after you have left. It is nice to see that they are very reception to your approach and that they are getting something out of the training. Good luck with your upcoming week. We are all behind you.

    Love Dad

    Mark Herrndorf

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