Mwathani agocwo! Sorry it has been such a long time since my last post... at the end of September we finished orientation, and I moved out to my placement for the year. I am now living at Icaciri Secondary School about a 4 km walk from Gatundu town up a red clay road that is going to be pretty impassable during the short rains later this month. Our school has about 300 students, 200 girls who board on campus and about 90 boys who are day scholars from the surrounding villages. It is definitely more rural than Nairobi, and I love it!
There is one other volunteer, Kari, stationed with me at Icaciri, and we are sharing a flat on the school compound. There is no electricity where we live except for three hours in the evening when the school generator is on from 7-10 pm, but we don't really need it for anything except light when we are cooking dinner so it hasn't been an issue thus far. Our kitchen consists of a sink, a counter, a single propane burner, and a small table for storing vegetables from the local market. Luckily we do have running water (most of the time) and a filter to make it drinkable.
Our first day at school was hilarious. Since we are more in the interior of the country now and away from the city, many of the villagers, including our students, have never interacted with a mzungu before. Kari and I got out of the car to shrieks of laughter and pointing from the windows of every classroom. Our first walk around that night ended up with us in a circle of about a hundred girls all patting our arms and rubbing our hair. Every time we opened our mouths to speak there was a fresh peel of laughter as our accents and version of English are much different than the Kenyan version. Luckily the girls are getting more used to us every day, and we are learning about a side of Kenya that we hadn't seen before.
I am teaching biology to the Form 1 students which is roughly equivalent to ninth graders in America. The school system is a lot different from ours, but very similar to the British system from what I hear, a remnant of colonial times and institutions. I think I will also have the chance to help teach CRE (Christian Religious Education) to some of the other Forms which should be an adventure as the Kenyan church and theology are uniquely their own as well.
I finally have an address and can receive letters at the school PO Box, so feel free to write to me anytime!
Icaciri Secondary School
PO Box 66
Gatundu 01030
Kenya
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