School Days

The Chicken Pox Scare: After school one day, the dorm mom of my 4^th graders called me up with disturbing news – a suspected case of chicken pox. My student was to spend the night in Student Health and I should be aware. In the morning, my principal confirmed that she did indeed have chicken pox and told me I’d have a list soon of the kids in my room that hadn’t had it – the vaccine isn’t so popular out here. Of course the class was abuzz and we prayed earnestly for my little girl, that she wouldn’t be afraid sleeping in the infirmary, that she wouldn’t itch too much, that God would heal her, that she wouldn’t miss her parents. While the kids worked, I made a big sign on butcher paper to brighten up her room in student health, anticipating she’d be there for a week or so, and the kids started coloring it and writing little notes.

And then the object of our prayers walked through the door. Misdiagnosed chicken pox. She was fine. The half-finished sign rolled up and stuck in the closet.

Boarding School: When kids live at school, life looks different. The school bells ring all throughout the day, including the start of dinner, end of sports practice, and night curfew. I’ve been hanging out at some of the high school girls’ dorms and I am shocked by how much homework they have. I really don’t think I worked this hard in high school! I was invited to dorm dinner this week at Tembo, which is the 2^nd-4^th grade dorm. What a job those dorm parents have, keeping charge of 12 little boys and girls!

The school plans activities every weekend for the students. Friday night is Titchie activities . . . so far we’ve had an ice cream social and bingo night. Last Friday night I found myself standing in my classroom at 7pm, staring at my students, trying to play “parts of speech bingo.” I had to laugh. This week we forfeited our Friday night activity because Saturday was . . .

TITCHIE FIELD DAY!!

Theme: Pirates of Kijabe. (I am proud to say I suggested that one.) I love field day, even if it is on Saturday. =) My station was the parachute (aka “Hoist the Sail!”) and was quite entertaining. A lot of the siblings of boarding students came too, so it was a full crowd. And since so many parents were visiting, it was Senior Store this weekend, meaning I waited in line for 45 minutes for an awesome cheeseburger. AND . . . this morning the most fantastic doughnuts in the world were delivered to my door. I cannot even describe how amazing these doughnuts are, and I’m not even a doughnuts person. Sooo . . . I’m going to have to come up with a creative way to dispose of the 11 vanilla glazed pieces of heaven in my house right now . . . yikes.

Arrg! The first grade teacher and me!

Parachute fun.

Little kids getting in on the action.

MY precious kiddos!

Rain

Funny how the rain dictates much of life here. Generally, the rain cramps my style, but it’s not fair to complain when the farmers are so desperate. We’re nearing the end of the rainy season with little to show for it. Every day during chai someone prays for rain. Almost every Kenyan in the area has their own shamba – garden – in which they grow the majority of their food. Obviously no rain means a poor harvest, but it brings other problems, too. Elephants from the valley started making their way up the hillside to the villages around RVA, searching for food. They caused quite a bit of panic for many of the workers that walk down here every day. My worker, Gladys, told me she heard people screaming one night and went outside to see the elephants trampling some shambas down the hill from her house. Scary! (Although I admit I’m dying to see them . . .)

Another bizarre effect of the rain is that it causes a plague-like epidemic of flying ants to rise from the depths of the earth to attack the innocent people living in the area. I have no idea where these things come from, but they are disgusting. One rainy night I was at my friend Courtney’s, enjoying a lovely time chatting away, when the flying ants started crawling under the door and buzzing about her house. It was like a horror film as we stuffed towels under the door and took shoes to the ones that somehow squeezed through. The incredible thing is that the kids here EAT them. They fry them up or just pluck off the wings and crunch away. One got into my class yesterday and I literally spoke the words “you may NOT eat that in my classroom!” and then thought, what did I just say?

Rain means my kids take off their shoes when they come into the classroom – on, off, on, off – all day long. It means they are allowed to play in the room unsupervised while I chug my coffee with the teachers during recess. It means yelling over the pound of rain on the tin roof as I try to teach. It means I run around during my lunch break taking my laundry off the line and hanging them in the attic. Rain means I don’t collect my shower water to pour over my flowers in front of my house. This process gets a bit tedious but I have started to feel guilty every time I watch water go down the drain. Rain means the ‘roads’ turn to mud and my floor will never stay clean. Rain means those wellies were a good buy. :)

First Day

8:00 Eager children, pictures with the teacher, shouting in the hallway, backpacks, parents, timid hellos . . . the first day of school started off like so many others. I welcomed 16 cheerful faces into fourth grade and started them to work, going over my expectations and procedures. While many of the standards are the same, so many things were different about this first day.

Six of my students are boarding here and their dorm parents' daughter is in my class as well, meaning almost half of my students live in the same house. The others live either on upper station - RVA, or lower station, which hosts two hospitals and a Bible college. My beginning-of-the-year questionnaire started with: Where are you from? Where do your parents live? And . . . I had several kids ask me how to answer that question. I told them I was right there with them . . . "Where are you from?" still sends me for a loop.


10:00 Chai time. Kids grabbed a snack on the way out to an (almost) unsupervised recess time. They know where to find their teachers - the staff room with tea or coffee in hand. The 25 minutes flew by, and after debriefing about the morning, we prayed for our students, especially the new ones, and for sickness and safety.

11:55 Lunch! I took the boarders down to the new cafeteria and dropped them off . . . the rest disappeared to their homes or to settle on steps around Titchie. I headed home myself for an hour of catching up on email.

1:00 The kids lined up outside the room, chattering excitedly about our Titchie hike. After bathroom needs completed and water bottles are filled, the entire elementary headed on an almost two-hour hike around lower station. We learned which tree the Maasai use for deodorant - prompting all the sixth grade boys to finish the hike with leaves stuffed under their armpits. I relinquished the teacher 'field trip panic' and trusted that my kids would make it through ok . . . and they all did. And I got to play outside for a good two hours of my afternoon!



3:30 The last of my kids straggled back from the hike, grabbed their gear, and headed home. This teacher paused to reflect on a good first day, a new class, and the responsibility of educating these 16 little ones.

Anticipation

This is it, kids. Life is about to start! Over the past couple weeks I’ve been to 5 days of new staff orientation and 2 days of all-staff in-service, trying to learn all I am supposed to know about being on staff at RVA. It was unlike any other staff meeting I’d been to . . . since we’re not just teachers, we are dorm parents, heads of maintenance, food services, activities, deans, administrators, finance, counselors . . . and the list goes on. It was my first time to meet some staff members and to be part of the big picture – a lot of good-natured teasing and jokes about losing your retirement package or getting a raise . . . neither which apply when you live as a missionary. . . he he he.

Topics covered included how to reduce your electricity bill by turning down the thermostat on your hot water heater, where to rent a lawn mower, and reviewing the pet policy so as to keep your neighbors happy. A big part of the meetings were “the clipboards” with opportunities to serve and help out with activities – meal coverage, Sunday school, committees, blood donors, town escorts, dorm coverage . . . I’m learning that you don’t just teach at a boarding school. There are many other jobs that need to be covered. I’ve signed up for a few things – 11^th grade girls dorm coverage once a week, I’ll be doing a ‘caring community’ group once a month with my friends the Nagles, donating blood (ha), and I’m the teacher liaison for our new Accelerated Reader program. My automatic involvement in all Titchie activities means I’m not as available for high school things . . . and although I could’ve signed up for more, I didn’t want to get overwhelmed my first term.

This weekend is New Parent Orientation, for parents who are dropping off their kids as boarders for the first time. We have a full day on Sunday of meetings, introductions, forums, and games for the kids. Monday is the official “arrival day” of all of the students and Titchie – elementary school – starts Tuesday! Still working hard in my classroom to get as ready as I can. We have a lot of resources but some things I’m missing from the States – like construction paper and pencils with erasers on the end. I think I’ll be making more adjustments than the kids – they are totally used to this!

eXtreme home makeover - Kijabe Edition

Here it is, my mouse house - called so not because of a rodent problem (Elyse!), but because of its endearing size. Just don't bring over more than 3 people or you'll have to sit on the floor. It's still a work in progress . . . I have curtains down at the tailor's getting backing sewn in, and plans for some side tables, lamps, etc. BUT I am quite happy with my little place now. It's feeling homey! I hope you can get a feel for it from these pictures.

the living room:

When I first moved in:
(notice the chair in front of the fire, trying to keep warm, as well as the stellar rental furniture.)

(this one gives good perspective, as you can see into the kitchen and bathroom)

And now:
(still some rental furniture but my little couch looks comfy, huh?)

The 'dining room' - aka the table in the entryway.

the kitchen:

Then:
(lovely lace curtains)

Now:
(rigged up some napkins as stand-in curtains. thank you, target.)

Here's my fridge . . . see the cards you mailed me on it? and a lovely drawing. :)

bathroom:

bedroom:

Then . . .

Now:
Got a little creative with some homemade art. You can't really see my anthropologie additions but they are REALLY cute!

Super Missionary!

For your viewing enjoyment, I present . . . SUPER MISSIONARY. This is the Broadway-worthy play/musical that had its debut at ABO. I know I've been short on pictures recently, so if you have 10 minutes to kill, you can watch this thing. In its defense, it may have a lot of inside jokes based on what we learned at ABO . . . and I actually haven't been able to preview this, due to internet speed not really being speedy. I just swiped the link from a friend's blog.

Just a note of thanks - I've received so many cards, packages, phone calls, emails, blog comments . . . thanks so much, guys! I feel really loved. :) Now I'm stealing an idea from a friend - I'd love to get a picture of you so I can keep you in my prayers. My goal is to cover my ENTIRE fridge. You can email them to me - just keep the files small enough to send but big enough to get printed without fuzzy pixelation. I'll let you find that magic formula. OR, even better, just mail me one . . . because sending letters to Africa is cool and receiving them in Africa is even MORE cool.

Coming soon . . . pictures of the house! I've been decorating! :)

What it Means to Teach at RVA

In the two months since I’ve left home, I’ve been going through changes and transitions and maybe lost sight of the goal, what with ABO and then waiting around here for things to happen . . . I may have gotten a little me-focused: setting up my house, my classroom, etc. Today was our first day of new staff orientation, which was more inspiring, emotional, and interesting than the name might suggest. Our superintendent did the devotions and “Welcome to RVA” portion and spent some time explaining our reason for being here. It sounds like a simple thing, but I left feeling really challenged and blessed.

Our primary purpose is to enable the parents of our students to do ministry. I think I got chills as he expounded on the history and ministry of RVA – our students come from 80 mission organizations and do work all over Africa. I knew that stat before I got here, but it takes on a new meaning now. The vision statement is: "Rift Valley Academy seeks, within the African context, to disciple, nurture, and educate students toward Christian maturity for the glory of God." Discipleship is the aim, and education the byproduct.

It is such a joy to work in a place where this is the goal. The history of RVA is testimony to God’s work here – from keeping students safe to providing staff in miraculous ways.

The challenging part is that I feel so inadequate . . . for starters, I’m the only fourth grade teacher here. But more intimidating is the fishbowl atmosphere created within the fence of the school. Everything we do as staff is a witness to these kids. I have so many opportunities to model Christ in my teaching, in my relationships, in my daily habits and attitudes . . . and with that comes so many opportunities to screw up.

Fortunately, I’m told that inadequacy is a good place to be. It’s a lesson I’ve learned many times over the years – that God likes to use weak people, for they are most reliant on Him. He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

I don’t want you to get bored with my blog as I wax eloquently on the privilege of working here . . . so I’m providing this handy link to the Mt. Longonot webcam. That’s our dormant volcano that sits opposite campus. Right now it’s dark but I hope you get a clear view of it tomorrow!