Back in the US and A

Just got home, currently rooting against the Yankees in the 13th. Sox have already begun to turn things around now that I am back on home soil. The safari was a huge adventure. Probably 2 or 3 more posts coming, plus some pictures, but for now here is my wrap-up from St. Al's:

Days 18 and 19- Endings

I have just finished up at St. Al’s and left Tumaini Centre, and the feeling is very mixed. On the one hand, I confess that I crave comfort and companionship of friends and family, so getting closer to those things feels good, and even being able to watch CNN International in my hotel now is a little too exciting.

On the other hand, nearly everyone I saw today expressed a moving combination of thanks for the time I was here and requests that I stay longer or return soon. It was tough to tell what I was accomplishing at times, and it is likely that some part of the goodbyes were simply good manners, but I did feel like it was also partly hearfelt, which made me feel both good and guilty.

Thursday was again divided between time at school and time at the office, starting out with Dennis and the database. My former colleagues at admissions (some of whom are now Powerball winners) will understand how boring data entry can be- this exercise compares best to doing SSRs, except without any chance to check internet or email, and each student takes about 7 minutes operating at maximum efficiency with two people working together. The good news was that Dennis seemed to be picking it up a bit better than Ben did, and he committed to finishing what we could not get done (which will be close to ¾ of the work).

After a few hours of data drudgery, I walked back through the mud (still more rain) to teach the Freedom lecture to the other section of Form I, and I believe it went very well. I would probably be a better teacher if I had any confidence in my chalkboard writing, but I certainly learned something from the first go around, and I found this group very engaging too, although it should be noted that every class and group I have met with has been dominated by the boys, even though Form I is purposely skewed at 60% girls to account for typical attrition.

The class periods came at the end of the school day, so the students ordinarily would have been leaving for games after our session, but the weather meant no games, and thus I stayed around for a while just to talk with the students and have a little fun. I had my last three Red Sox hats to give away and decided I would have a contest to award the prizes.

The girls suggested a singing contest and the boys a dance-off, and in some ways I wish I had come up with some way to accomodate those thoughts, but I didn’t think I could possibly judge, so I went with a trivia contest instead, and the winners were two of the best participants in class discussion (boys, of course). When I broke out my camera to take a few pictures of the class, pandemonium took over. Everyone wanted to be in the frame, and the mugging was intense. It was nice to see them having fun.

The fun was in contrast to my next meeting with a group of 12 first formers who had formed a sort of study group. They asked me to advise them on the best format for their discussions, and I was both impressed by their dedication and a bit concerned that they were so intense. The group evidently meets daily and reviews material from their courses. Given that classes go from 8-5 daily, it seemed like maybe it was too much, but they are clearly dedicated. Among their questions was how to prevent people from laughing during their meetings. I admit I was confused on how to help.

I went home and packed up, and enjoyed my last dinner with the sisters, offering my sincere thanks for their hospitality. I would not have imagined myself saying that and meaning it even two weeks earlier, but they really made sure I was well taken care of, and the rates were more than reasonable. We prayed together as we left, and Rose, the young student sister who has been the most friendly, gave me a gift (rosary beads) and a letter to mail to her family in Silver Spring.

In the morning I finished cleaning out my room and left my bags in a locked room, then went over to school without any definite plan. I was able to see most of the students I got to know and say goodbye, as well as saying farewell to the teachers and Kiambi, and all of them thanked me for coming and also asked me to give their regards to my friends and family in the US. You are all invited to St. Al’s any time.

Around noon I mucked up the hill and walked through Kibera for the last time to go meet Dennis. We worked on the database again for a while, and he looked like he had the hang of it by the time we finished. Then we sat and talked for a while. I had not had much opportunity to talk to Dennis previously, as he had been so busy with helping the graduates, especially Florine, the young woman on her way to the US who had all kinds of visa problems (no surprise to me).

It turns out Dennis has a moving story too, like almost everyone in Kenya. He is the 8th of 11 children, and, at age 30, the second oldest surviving member of his family. He was helped through college by a Jesuit who was impressed by his ability in Catechism school, and he ended up student body president in his senior year. His mother died of cervical cancer on his graduation day, leaving him as the head of the family, with three younger sisters and three orphaned daughters of his older brothers. His new responsibility forced him to cancel his plans to enter the Jesuits, a calling he had felt very strongly.

Along the way, he has won awards for leading students to impressive exam results in the subjects he taught, including as an unlicensed English teacher before he graduated college. He has a great passion for teaching and looks forward to resuming some teaching duties at St. Al’s in the near future. He would also like to pursue a graduate degree at some point, hopefully in the US (his undergraduate college is actually a branch of St. Mary’s (MN) in Nairobi), but he needs a lot of support to do it. He had to leave a bit early that afternoon to celebrate the 6th birthday of one of his adopted children. I made sure to pay for the cake and soda, but I wish I could have done more.

When I got back to pick up my bags, my friend Irene, the housekeeper, had a difficult time letting me go as well. She has been particularly jealous of my time recently, and she insisted that I stay another night, but with a prepaid hotel room and an early departure in the city center, it made no sense. I finally persuaded her to let me get my bags by offering to show family pictures, but she has insisted that I return to Kenya as soon as possible and call and write often. I still don’t know what I did to impress her.

So it was that I got in my taxi and left for the Hotel 680, where I am being bombarded with news of scandal involving the Patriots (Belicheck fined $500k) and Formula 1 (McLaren fined $500 million!), as well as the “success” of the troop surge.

In an earlier journal entry I mentioned one of my frustrations in comparing the type of work I am doing with medical work like that of Partners in Health. I realized later that I should have said that I believe that education is just as important as medical care, but the results are longer term and thus harder to see, and the process takes a lifetime. In the end, if more of these kids can be encouraged to learn and to stay in school, they are the ones who will become the doctors and the people who can build the economy to support both better healthcare and more education.

What I have done is not enough to make a real impact in learning, but I hope I have done something to help students think broadly anyway. My role has been equal parts teacher, consultant, and journalist, and I am not a professional in any of those fields, so it took me a while to figure out how to do any of them properly. As I was saying my goodbyes to students today, so many of them wanted to maintain some type of contact, a difficult assignment without the help of email. But others just wanted to thank me, for showing them, in the words of Form III Eileen, “that there are so many people who care” about them, and telling me that we are all together in Christ. Hard to imagine hearing that in the US. And that makes the trip worthwhile if nothing else.