Adventures in Kenya Series - Day 4 - Cheery Children Education Centre

There is so much to tell about that happened today. I hope I can remember it all.

The day started with a drive into the Kibera Slum. After a short 200 foot walk, Tracy Hansen and Kyrsha from NGGE, Livinstone, and me came to the Cheery Children Education Center. Livingstone had previously taught here, and Tracy has spent a lot of time with these children, both in person during the past month and virtually where she has been teaching them via Skype. Tracy and Kyrsha left after a half-hour to do attend to some NGGE business.

I have Skyped many times with Emmily (the Head Teacher), Jairus (the director of the school), and Livingstone here at the school, and finally arriving in person was special.  Most of the students recognized "Teacher Tracy" immediately and had big smiles on their faces. 

Jairus and I said our hellos, and then Emmily took me on a tour of the school.  They have over 300 students in grades Pre-K through 4.  Most of the students are in the younger grades. Each of the classes in grades 1-4 greeted me with a poem.  One was in Swahili about the need for cleanliness, one was about the importance of education, one was about the need to pay attention. Many of the students in grades 3 and 4 recognized me as "Michael" from previous Skype calls and the Distance Teaching Project Videos.

After introductions, grades 3 and 4 crammed into one small classroom to have a Skype call with Iro in Greece.  There are so many classes that want to Skype with the kids while I'm here, but unfortunately with the time change, it's difficult to make it work with many of them. Since Greece is only an hour different than here, it has been easy to connect with Iro.

The children told me that they were studying English nouns, so we brainstormed a few nouns to use for our call. They chose "school, teacher, classroom, desk, and sock."  When we Skyped Iro, she taught us the Greek translation of the words, and the chidren shared with her the Kiswahili translation. We had a lot of fun with the word "teacher," which has two translations in Greek depending on the gender of the teacher.  

Afterward I interviewed a couple of children about the call.  They were a little nervous on camera, but afterward they started playing with my camera and pretending to interview each other. They wanted to be the interviewer instead of the interviewee. First they pretended to interview Livingstone, then they wanted to interview me.  So, I turned on the camera and let them interview me. It was so much fun! I can't wait to see that video - I've got so much video footage that I haven't even started going through it yet. And, it's only day 4...

Next, I brought the hands-on math materials that I carried over with me in my luggage to the 3rd and 4th grade classes.  We spent some time playing multiplication games with the dice, modeling subtraction with cuisinare rods, and using base-10 blocks to model addition problems and to build understanding of our number system.  Most of the materials that I brought are modeled by our Wallenpaupack stuents in the Distance Teaching Project Videos that we've been making.  I got a request from their teacher to make a few videos on division, since that's a topic with which they struggle.





For the second day in a row, my math lesson got cut short by a visit from Vestergaard.  Today they were delivering the filters to the schools.  When they arrived at Cheery I again thanked them for their partnership with Project LINC and took a few photos.





After the people from Vestergaard left, the older students were playing in the small courtyard with a eucolyptus tree. Some of them had jump ropes.  I joined them and (poorly) jumped rope. When I asked them if any of them could do tricks with the jump rope, they didn't know what I was talking about.  I pulled up a YouTube video on my phone of 30 jumproping tricks.  We took turns trying them out.  It was loads of fun.



After a nice lunch of rice and beans, Steve Sherman and a group of students in South Africa Skyped in to talk to the older students.  We started with Mystery Skype and the kids at Cheery tried to figure out what African country they were talking to. We brought in a globe, and eventually they figured it out.  Then, the students on two different parts of the continent got to know each other with a few questions and answers.  Both sets of students supported English Premier League football clubs, which made for a fun moment.





Next, Beverly Ladd Skyped in to Cheery's second grade class with a few of her second grade students in North Carolina, USA. The kids here taught her students to count in Kiswahili. When I met them in the morning, I had promised them the chance to be my teacher today, so I played the part of student as well and tried to pronounce each number correctly.



At the end of the day, Emmily led a Skype call that she had previously set up through Skype in the Classroom. The children at Cheery have been connecting with kids from all over the world to teach Swahili and about their lives in Kibera.  This call was with a class in Florida. Since Jairus had told me that Emmily was shy about being on camera, I snuck my GoPro camera into the back of the room and used the app on my iPhone to record parts of the call without her knowing it. She got a good laugh when I told her afterward.




When the school day was done, Jairus and Livingstone walked me back to Barnabas's house through the Kibera Slum. I had asked to walk instead of driving. I knew that avoiding the uncomfortable parts of Kibera would also prevent me from understanding why I am here. As we stepped over sewage water and rubbish, passed children playing a game that looked a lot like running bases with a ball of garbage, and walked on the railroad tracks, I asked as many questions as I thought polite of Livingstone and Jairus to try and learn more. I took a few pictures after asking them if it would be appropriate. Jairus kindly showed me where he lived and explained about the different areas of the slum, and the different kinds of dwellings. Seeing pictures before coming here did not come close to complete experience I had today that included the smells, sights, sounds, and vibes that you get from really being in a place.  What I had seen around Barnabas's house on the edge of Kibera was not at all indicative of the way people live just a few minutes walk away.








This evening there was a large group of us at the dinner table.  A few friends of the family joined us, and we had an interesting conversation about politics, both in African countries and in the United States. The Kenyans were shocked to hear that much of the political system in the US is heavily influenced by money from large corporations.  I was enlightened about much of the goings on in Africa that I had no idea about due to the lack of international coverage from American news outlets. When one of the men at dinner mentioned that he came from President Obama's home village, I mentioned that I had met the President. That got a very enthusiastic reaction, and they got a chuckle when I brought up POTUS's very soft hands.

Today was incredible. At each place I go, I wish I had more time to work with the kids and teachers. Tomorrow promises to be pretty amazing as well.  I will be at both Havilla and Cheery as the water filters from Project LINC are installed, and I will be leading a 7 party group Skype call with both schools and all the students from around the world who helped raise money for the filters as they are passed out to children to bring to their families. I'm excited to let our students in Pennsylvania, as well as the others in Greece and Kansas, see the product of their great work in this project.

One of the highlights of the day was definitely getting video messages from my daughter and my wife. I miss them so much, and seeing their faces and hearing their voices makes me so happy.

Tomorrow will be a busy day.  It's time to clean up and go to bed.

Adventures in Kenya Series - Day 3 - Havilla Children's Center

Today was a great day. This morning Livingstone picked me up at Barnabas's house and walked me to the Havilla Childrens Center where I spent the day teaching, recording interviews, facilitating distance learning opportunities, and learning from the wonderful students and teachers at the school.




Havilla has about 115 Pre-K through 2nd grade students who all live in the Kibera Slum. The school does not have a lot of resources, but it does have enthusiastic students who love to learn, and teachers who are commited to helping them do that.








Most of the Pre-K and Kindergarten students did not understand English well enough for me to communicate much with them.  They did love coming up to me and grabbing my shorts or tugging on my arm yelling "Teacher Mike!" with a big smile on their faces.  They were very excited when I gave them the crayons and paper that my son Michael Jr. had raised money to buy for them.  We had a great "chat" about the things that they would like to draw.  They promised me to make lots of pictures and to have Livingstone take photographs to share with me. I can't wait to get them and share them with Michael.





The year two students and year one students were a lot of fun to work with.  I talked with the first graders about the English words they were learning and helped them find real examples in their classroom.  Then, Livingstone and I connected with our friend, and fellow Skype Master Teacher, Iro Stefapoulou in Greece. The children shared the English word they were learning with Iro and showed an example.  Then Iro taught them (and me) the Greek translation of the word.  After they all repeated the Greek, they then taught Iro the Kiswahili translation of the word.  It was an amazing learning experience for all of us, and luckily Livingstone captured it on video.  When I've got some better bandwidth and upload speeds I'll get that up on YouTube and share it as well as the many other videos I shot today.

The year 2 students were awesome as well.  I worked with them in their maths class - using hands on counting chips that our Wallenpaupack students had modeled with them as part of the Distance Teaching Project. The lesson would have gone on longer, but I was called out when the representatives from Vestergaard came to talk about the water filters that are being delivered tomorrow as a result of Project LINC.  For those unfamiliar, Project LINC is a collaboration between Iro's students in Greece, students from the Andover Middle School, and some of our Wallenpaupack students in which money was raised to provide clean drinking water and filters for all the children at Havilla and the Cheery Children's Education Center while in school, as well as filters for many (194) of the families at home. Money is still being raised to get filters for the rest of the families.






After meeting with the Vestergaard representatives and conducting a video interview with them about the project and their outreach programs, I went back to work with the year 2 students.  This time we had a Skype call with Amy Weems from Louisiana.  The kids shared all they knew about Kenyan foods, and "Teacher Amy" shared with them some of the foods in Louisiana.  I learned that the word "gumbo" means "okra" here in Kenya.  That's where the dish gets it's name.  Kids here found the concept of a "pig roast" to be mind-blowing.




At the end of the day, Beth Heidemann's kindergarten students Skyped with the year 2 students. They had recently had a virtual field trip to the Mitahato Teaching Farm in Kenya, and they wanted to know the names of the animals in Kiswahili.  They would tell us the animal they saw, and the kids here would then teach them the Kiswahili word.  At the end of the call, the kids in Kibera learned how to make turkey noises, an animal of which they were previously unfamiliar.



After school I came back to Barnabas's house, sent some video messages to students back home and my children, and had a Skype call with my wife.  I miss Lori a lot, and it was so nice to see her face and hear her voice.

As evening aproached, Kyrsha and I went for a walk to see the local shops around this part of Kibera. There is an amazing economy here.  I don't know how else to explain it other than it seems there are tiny shops everywhere selling everything you can imagine.  I enjoyed talking to the produce sellers and learning some new fruits and vegetables.  I bought an ear of grilled maize for a snack off one vendor to try.  Odd to me, oranges here are green, lemons are green and look like large limes, and there are lots of produce items that I've never seen or heard of before.


For dinner, I was again welcomed to the dinner table by Barnabas and his family along with Tracy from NGGE, Kyrsha, and a neigbor. I had ugali and liver, sauted pumpkin leaves, and rice.  Ugali is a lot like polenta, and it was a very enjoyable meal.  I also tried some of the local mango.  I'm determined to experience things here to the fullest.

I'm exhausted, but looking forward to my time tomorrow working with teachers and students at Cheery. I've been connecting with that school for well over a year, and it will be great to see Emmily, Jairus, and the kids in person tommorrow.

Adventures in Kenya Series - Day 2 - Hello Nairobi and Kibera

Last night's flight was uneventful.  It was nice having an aisle seat so I could get up and stretch my legs every hour or so.  I got about 2 hours sleep before we arrived at 6:15 AM.  The sunrise as we walked of the plane onto the roll-up steps was stunning.  It was a "Wow. I'm in Kenya" moment for sure.

It took me about 45 minutes to get through customs and baggage claim.  Livingstone and his friend Jackson were there waiting for me as I walked out.  We hugged and said our hellos before Jackson drove us in a van back to Kibera to drop off my things.

The ride from the airport intoduced me to two things: the Nairobi traffic jam, and the Nairobi way of driving in which you apparently aim for other people and cars in an effort to make them get out of your way.  The drive took well over an hour to go about 8 miles.

We arrived at Barnabas's house (He's the director of the Havilla Children's Center) in Kibera, I organized my things, took a quick shower, we headed off to Downtown Nairobi to buy school supplies with Kyrsha, a member of Next Generation Global Education who is here working to better education.  To get there we had to take a bus, which was an experience in itself.  I've always believed that the best way to experience a place is by acting as a local.  This was definitely a "local" experience. There's simply no way to explain the experience to someone that hasn't done it.  It's half roller-coaster, with lots of swerves to avoid potholes.

The shopping was rather uneventful. My son Michael had privately raised $50 for crayons for kids, so we cleaned one office supply store out of every crayon they had for sale, plus a ream of paper for kids to draw upon.  We also bought a projector for one school of 300 kids so they could make their virtual field trips and Skype experiences bigger than a laptop screen.

In the middle of shopping we stopped into a place to gran lunch.  I asked the waitress what was good, and she said, "The fish."  So, I ordered the fish.  Fresh caught tilapia, breaded and fried, with a side of chips masala, which are French fries covered in masala sauce (an Indian spice.)  It was all very tasty.


 While shopping, Livingstone played the role of tour guide, and took me around to some landmarks like the Kenyatta International Conference Center where we stood on the helipad on the roof with amazing views over the city, some memorials, and several of the important government buildings.










 On the bus ride home, I fell asleep several times.  Doze off, hit a pothole, doze off, cut off a car, repeat.

When we arrived back in Kibera I got to meet Barnabas and his family for the first time. I feel so incredibly blessed that they have opened their home to me.  I couldn't feel more welcome here. Dinner was pasta with beef stew, steamed cabbage, and simosas. Delicious.

The peope in Kenya are among the friendliest I've ever met.  Many times today I was the only white guy in sight, but never once did I feel like anyone looked at me even the slightest bit differently.  We can learn a lot from them in the States.

And, now, after the pre-bedime prayer, which is tradition in this house, I am turning in for the night. Tomorrow I will be visiting the Havilla school to start shooting documentary footage, to learn from the teachers and students there, and to help them in any way I can.

Adventures in Kenya Series - Day 1 - Amsterdam Layover

I'm writing this post from 30,000 feet somewhere between Amsterdam and Nairobi.
I want to get my memories from today down before trying to get some sleep on this overnight flight.

Lori and the kids dropped me off at the airport in Newark yesterday afternoon.  It was hard to say goodbye to them.  I'm going to miss them.

The flight from Newark to Amsterdam was uneventful. I sat next to a nice Nigerian woman.  She was surprised that I knew a bit about Nigeria, and that I have collaborated with several Nigerian teachers before.  I tried to sleep as much as possible on the flight, and got about 5 hours of very broken shut-eye, never more than 20 minutes at a time. The best pqrt of the flight was undoubtedly finding these homemade cookies that my daughter snuck into my bag. The note reads:

"Dear Dad,
I love you and I hope you have a great time in Kenya. I know this sounds weird, but I'm super proud of you.
Love, your favorite person,
Abby"

As we approached Schipol Airport, we flew over the tulip fields of Kukenhof.  That was quite a sight. My airplane window photo doesn't do it justice.

Tulip fields from the air

After getting off the plane, I made it through customs, put my carry-on luggage in a locker, and was on a train to Central Station in less than 45 minutes.  When I got into Amsterdam around 8:30, the city was still asleep.  Not much was open so I wandered around getting a feel for the layout and took a few pictures. Dam square was almost devoid of people, and took a panarama.

Outside the airport

Dam Square

At 10AM I made my way to Yellow Bike Rental for a 2 hour small city bike tour that I had reserved. I enjoyed this a lot.  Bike tours are a great way to get an overview of a city in a short amount of time. Our guide Petra was a university student. She brought us to many of the most notable landmarks in the city, and in true university student fashion, told us all the cheapest places to buy beverages. I was the only American on the tour - others were from Australia, Albania, and I enjoyed some nice conversation with a woman from Hanoi, Vietnam.

Petra, our guide

After the tour I stopped into a small cafe near a canal and had a small panini - mostly because I wanted to use their free wifi to send Skype messages to Lori and the kids wishing them a good morning. The mozerella, pesto, and fresh tomato sandwich was pretty good, though.

One of many beautiful canals

Around 1:45 I met up with my friend Marjolein Hoeksta who I met through the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert program. We started the afternoon with a "100 highlights" canal cruise, which was relaxing and enjoyable. It was hard to stay quiet and listen to the narration because she and I had so much to catch up on.

After the cruise we walked for a bit until we found a little fritte shop by a quiet canal.  We each had a cone of frittes (mine were with mayo), and chatted while our feet dangled over the canal wall.  It was an awesome "Amsterdam-ish" experience.

A selfie with Marjolein on a bridge over a canal

When the frittes were gone we set up my GoPro camera on a tripod and recorded a 10 minute video in which I asked her questions about Remembrance Day, Liberation Day, and the Netherlands, and she shared insights about her country.  Previously students in Tammy Lavoy and Tanya Cunningham's classes back home had come up with questions that they wanted to know, and we used those as a guide for the interview.  In addition, Marjolein has set up an amazing OneNote notebook with lots of information for them on their questions.  We're hoping that the notebook and video spark some further research by the kids.  The video will be posted on YouTube as soon as I upload it.  We were hoping to do this as a live Skype call, but we didn't find an appropriate place with good wifi.

We ended the afternoon by walking around the flower market a bit, and chatting over a cup of coffee at a cafe.  She walked me back to Central Station where I cought a train back to the airport.

At 8PM an announcement came on over the airport speakers announcing that there would be a moment of silence in remembrance of soldiers that had died in and since World War II.  When the bugle played and the moment began, you could hear a pin drop in the airport. The reverance was tangible.  Marjolein had told me that even traffic on the streets and trains stop during this moment each year.

Soon afterwards I boarded the flight I'm on now to Nairobi. I thought I might get lucky and have two empty seats next to me for a minute, but the last two people who got on the plane sat next to me. Oh, well. They seem nice.  Not sure where they are from, but Spanish is their native language.

As I'm typing this I just got a Skype message from my wife (I paid for wifi during the flight so I could blog) telling me that Abby has a 102 fever and a bear got into our garbage. I'm feeling pretty bad about leaving her to hold down the fort for 2 weeks. Many of the things that I do wouldn't be possible if it weren't for her being supportive and holding things together on the back end. I don't know how, but I've got some making it up to her to attend to when I get home.

Well, I'm powering down for a while.  7 hours until I touch down in Kenya, and I plan to hit the ground running.  Shopping for school supplies tomorrow so that I have them for my visits to Cheery and Havilla later in the week.  As they say at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida, "Let the Adventure Begin!"

Adventures in Kenya Series - Final Preparations, Packing List

The first leg of my flight to Amsterdam leaves Newark, NJ at 5:50 this evening.  With the time change, I will arrive around 8AM in the Netherlands tomorrow if everything is on time.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous. Many times I have told teachers I was working with or students in my classes that being out of our comfort zone is where learning happens.  So, I figure I'm right where I should be.

The aspect of the trip that has me slighly uncomfortable is the lack of exact planning. When we travel as a family, or when I go to a conference to speak, I use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of every hotel reservation, flight, meeting, etc.  The nature of this trip is that it can't be planned that way.  And, that's OK. I've got a general idea of where I'm going and what I'm doing most days, but where exactly I'll be sleeping, or eating, or what I will experience at many locations is still a mystery to me. I guess that's why it feels like an adventure. I think it's important for me to let the experience happen organically. That's the way I will get the most out of it, and bring the most home.  It's probably a good lesson for me to learn to let go.

Sushi, Thai food, and the Kentucky Derby.
My horse finished 4th

I know I'm going to miss Lori and the kids a great deal while I'm gone. Since this is a professional blog, I rarely bring my personal life into posts, but the three of them are the world to me. I've travelled quite a bit in the last 2 years since winning PAEMST, but this will be the longest I've been gone and the time change and connectivity issues will make it more difficult than ever to keep in touch with them.  I'm still planning to Skype them as often as possible, even if it's evening for me and before they leave for school in the morning.  We spent a great last day together today watching the new Marvel Avengers movie that just opened and then watching the Kentucky Derby with family over sushi and Thai food. Like many great days, this one ended with ice cream.

Ice-cream is a great way to end a day

Almost every night before bed I read from the Harry Potter series to my son. I've downloaded the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince to my iPad, and I'm hoping to steal a few minutes here and there to record myself reading on YouTube to send back to him to watch before bed.

I started my anti-malarial pills yesterday.  So far, I haven't experienced any nasty side effects. I also had a few cranberry and tonic waters at dinner. I hear the quinine in the tonic keeps mosquitos away, so I'm going to try drinking it as much as I can. 

To be as low-maintenence as possible, I got my hair clipped uber-short.  It's the shortest I've ever had it cut.  As an added bonus, my insanely awesome Tilley Hat fits better now. 

Choosing what to bring has been a challenge. I'm allowed two checked bags that can weigh up to 50 lbs each.  They are both maxed out on weight. 

One bag is filled with supplies for the schools. I'm bringing over base-10 blocks, colored counting chips, lots of different numbered dice, number lines, cuisinare rods, Judy clocks, and fraction blocks for some of the students with whom I'll be working.  I'll be giving their teachers a crash course in teaching with hands-on math materials.  Each of the materials I'm bringing has been featured in a Distance Teaching Project video by our Wallenpaupack students, so the teachers and students will be able to refer back to the videos to see how to use them as well.  In that bag I also have a few books and supplies that other teachers have sent to me to bring. I wish that I could have accomodated everyone that wanted me to bring supplies over to the kids in Kibera, but I just couldn't. We had some left-over University of Scranton hats that people didn't take at Edcamp NEPA, so I'm bringing them to give to new friends. It'll be nice to show some pride in my Alma Matter halfway around the world. The contents of that bag are padded nicely with some stuffed animals that Michael was looking to donate. I'm sure I'll find them happy homes in Kibera.

The second checked bag is filled with my clothes, toiletries, a few more school supplies, and some random items that will be fun to have.  At the request of Tracy Hanson from NGGE, who has been on an amazing trip around the world to promote student and community driven education, I am bringing some maple syrup and pancake mix.  I will be meeting her in Nairobi, and she wants to make pancakes with real syrup for our Kenyan friends.  I'm also bringing her a bottle of Advil, which she told me is tough to get in the parts of Africa she's been visiting (Kenya and Cameroon).  I had to switch suitcases while packing because of weight. The piece of luggage that I originally packed these items in was too heavy, so I switched to a rolling duffle bag that allowed me to get in a few extra pounds worth of stuff. 

Organizing my carry-on bag was a little tricky as well. All of the camera and electronic equipment I'm bringing to document the trip has to stay with me, but I also don't want to lug around a heavy pack all day in Amsterdam.  I'm bringing a GoPro camera with several mounts and an external microphone, my iPad, a Microsoft Surface 3 tablet/laptop, my Nikon D90 kit with a few lenses and filters, and a Dolica Ultra Lghtweight Tripod which is sturdy enough for my SLR and folds up to about 16 inches long and weighs less than 3lbs (less than the syrup and pancake mix in the other bag). The Surface 3 seems like the perfect travel device - lightweight, can be used as a tablet, but still functions as a laptop if needed. I'm also packing a few extra pairs of clothes in this luggage as well - in case my other bag gets lost for a few days. I'll be carrying any important documents and such in a money belt under my clothes, including the checks with money raised by our students, kids in Greece, and kids in Kansas that will provide water filters and clean drinking water to almost 500 students in Kibera schools, and 194 homes in the Slum.

For my few hours in Amsterdam I think I'll pack a small daypack in my carry-on bag which I can remove while in the city.  I'll leave the large bag in a locker at the airport and then pick it up before my overnight flight to Nairobi.  

I picked up a cheap Windows phone that I'll use while in Africa.  The plan is to get a Sim card the first day that I arrive with a phone number and data plan. It'll be kind of cool to have a Kenyan phone number.

I'm as ready as I can be, I think. Next time I post will likely be from the Netherlands as I wait for my plane to Kenya. I think I hear the call to post...