Kenya Day 2

Posted: July 17th, 2013 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »

Spent yesterday at a school.  It was in semi-rural Nairobi.  Lots of goats abutting the school, sunlight, trees.

This morning we went to our first slum.  Streets are very tight.  Trash everywhere.

You walk past tiny huts, one after another, maybe with some corrugated metal, no electricity, no running water, fewer square feet than my car, and boom!  Out comes a well dressed adult with a kid in a school uniform.  You need to look closer to notice the fabric is ripped and frayed etc.  The contrast of the proud people and the bleak physical landscape is stark.

This young fella was excited to come to school.  In fact, all 10 of us on this trip have been amazed at the universal zest for schooling we see among the pupils.

In the afternoon, we visited another semi-rural school.

One thing that’s interesting from an American perspective is that religious education is a required part of the curriculum for all public and private schools.  It’s even on the equivalent of MCAS…the national 8th grade exams.  Schools either teach Christian or Islamic tenets, depending on the neighborhood.  What struck me, as I sat in Grade 6, was that the learning standards are quite similar to American character education.  That is, there’s some “pure religious stuff” —

Q: Gideon’s Father was called

Moses
Jacob
Joash

I didn’t know.  Do you?  Joash is the answer. I was leaning Jacob.

But other themes were character traits — humility, being kind, working hard.  Sound familiar?

And while I would like to “work hard” and type more, it’s late here.  Catch you tomorrow.