What is YOUR impression of Africa and its inhabitants ?

Ask a friend who has never been to Africa what their impressions, their ideas are of the continent, and they will give a variety of answers.   Poverty, starving children with big tummies, AIDS, robbery, slum dwelling, guns, corruption ... they might mention the wildlife programmes they see on TV ... but this isn't the Africa I know.    True, all of the above do exist and happen in Africa, but there is SO much more that is good, than that which is bad or negative. 

We build our impressions of other countries and peoples on what the media what to show us, to give us to read.  Bob Geldorf ... Angela Rippon ... Princess Diana holding a black baby ... Nelson Mandela ... 'The Constant Gardener' film which showed us the Nairobi slum of Kibera.   But our friends impressions and the offerings of the press are only scratching the surface; Africa is so very much more than these. 

Walk along a lane in rural Africa, and everyone catches your eye and smiles; if you respond with a greeting, you are drawn into a complex series of greetings 'How are you ?'   'I'm well'  'How are YOU ?'  'Well'    'How are your family ?'  'They are well'  and so on ...any bad news is kept for later in the conversation.   Africans are on the whole very friendly, welcoming, generous, hospitable.   You are their friend, before they are your friend !   The media impression of strangers being accosted, robbed, injured is just not as it is.    True, in the big cities like Nairobi, things are different ... but there are certain areas of British cities I wouldn't want to venture into after dark ! 

When it comes to all the bad things about Africa we read about and watch on TV, probably 99% of Africans never suffer famine, total poverty, violence ... but do we ever hear about calm, every-day life in African communities ?    Why not ?   Because its not newsworthy !   Just think how often countries like Canada, New Zealand ... even Botswana in southern Africa, feature in the news.   Just about never ... because they are not newsworthy !   The citizens of this vast continent go about their every day lives, as they have for generations, ignored by the outside world, who hunger for drama !  Africa is a beautiful continent, full of wonderful people, most of whom have enough for their needs.  

Take my word for it ! 

Visiting schools (2)

One day we all went in a taxi out of Kisumu about 12 - 15 miles to visit two schools very close to one another.  Gill had previous connections to one of them through a friend who had donated money for buildings and uniforms, and her home area in the Forest of Dean had connections and exchanges with the other, bigger school.

I think photos will tell the story better than lots of words !

School desks are VERY basic and often seat five children to each desk.  

The desk in the foreground is not the roughest we saw !

Classrooms have a blackboard ... and very little else in the way of equipment.

What can Kenyan children learn from a poster of Postman Pat ??

But the gift Dan brought of two balls was VERY welcome indeed !

Gill helped the teacher to help a child with learning difficulties. 

We felt there was SO much more we could have done in the schools we visited.

Using mud to make letters on the floor as an aid to reading.

New uniforms, paid for by English donors !

(All Gills photos)

Gill, Nigel and I were all teachers, and we felt keenly the frustration of not being able to stay and help the teachers to learn more of techniques for teaching, especially of handicapped children.   As a speech therapist, Gill was able to show one of the teachers a few simple things to help her with children who were deaf and therefore couldn't hear speech to copy.  I would have loved to have the opportunity to take spoken English classes with the younger children, teaching them rhymes and riddles and some of the African traditional tales to enlarge their vocabularies.  Art too, using simple materials found locally, would be good for young children. 

I want to be able to do this as a volunteer later in the year if I can ... and it would be fun to see if the children near the work site still remember  'Four stiff standers, four dilly-danders, two lookers, two crookers and a wig-wag' !!



STOP PRESS !

I've just had an email from one of the team, saying that Paul has now started on training young carpenters ... four boys ... and a GIRL !  

That's something I hadn't expected ...but why not !

Hopefully more will start to be trained soon ...

Visiting schools (1)

One morning Gill and I managed to sneak away from working on the site, and instead went to visit the Lutheran School for the Mentally Handicapped.

It is situated right next to the main road that we travelled each day to and from the worksite, so we had been curious to see what went on there !   Also, Gill was a recently retired speech therapist, and was keen to see if speech therapy was in use in special schools in Kenya.

The school was pleasantly shaded, with verandahed classrooms, and we arrived just as school started for the day, so we went into the assembly.   There were about 60 or 70 children (some obviously more than children ...maybe 20 - 25 years old) ... and the handicaps of many were plain to see.   We sat at the back and observed the assembly, which was conducted in a mixture of English, Kiswahili and Dholuo.  Many of the children were unable to control their limbs, and some shouted out involuntarily.   But the atmosphere was happy and friendly, and the children were encouraged to join in with simple hymns and responses to questions about the date and the time of day. 

One little boy, about 8 or 9, wandered in and came to the back of the room where he studied us closely; he then climbed quite unbidden onto Gill's lap and went to sleep !   He slept quite peacefully for half an hour; then as the assembly finished, one of the teachers quietly got a mat out of the cupboard, and laid him gently onto it to finish his sleep !   We learned later than he had been abandoned outside the school gate, tied with string to the fence, and the teachers couldn't locate family, and had no idea what his name was, or how old he was, or even what tribe ... for he appeared not to be able to speak.  

We went to see the class of badly autistic children who were being taught by two or three teachers plus helpers to wash their faces, and clean their teeth.  Soap, water and toothpaste everywhere !   It was encouraging to see the teachers all wore surgical gloves for this task, for it is quite likely that some of the children are HIV+.   (Another day, just before we left, we dropped off a box of 100 surgical gloves which we had taken with us, in case we needed them).

Next we visited classes, from those for children who were learning very basic skills such as sorting objects, to simple counting, and then classes where they were being taught to write and even read very simple words.   The aim of the school was to train the children so that when they returned to their home communities, they would have some skills which were useful.

The almost total lack of equipment which we expect to see in special schools in the UK was very obvious.   But the commitment and love of the teachers and helpers, three or four to each class, was apparent. 

Finally, the oldest or most able children were being assessed to see what work skills they could be taught, to give them some chance of employment.   Simple carpentry, sewing, laundry and ironing, and cooking were taught to those most able. 

What UK or US resources could do for these children !  But I compare what is being done now in Kenya to how things were 40 years ago, when handicapped people were obvious on the streets as poor ragged beggars; now at least they will have a chance in life.

I didn't take any photos in the school, as I didn't consider it to be appropriate, but these flowers were growing in the school compound. 

 

I haven't forgotten my blog ...

... but the weather has been so wonderful this last ten days I've spent every hour possible in my garden.   I will get back to this as there are several more 'stories' I want to tell ...

... so I will leave you with this for now and will be back in a day or two !

Reading

In English schools, and in our society generally, we learn to read, then we read the daily paper, or books and magazines ... some read the Daily Mirror, others prefer The Guardian ... it doesn't matter; reading is part of our culture, and most people read something every day ... even if they don't read novels or go to the local library ever !

It doesn't seem to be so in Africa. 

Both Lilian, the lady we employed as our cook, and Lucy, the wife of Paul who together started the carpentry workshop project, both commented at different times when they saw us relaxing in the evening reading, or that we all had two or three books next to our beds.   "We don't have a culture of reading for pleasure" was what they said. 

True, books are VERY expensive in Kenya if they are imported 'bodice rippers' and Dan Brown ! ... but there are African writers such as Ngugi Wa'thiongo and Grace Ogot from Kenya, Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from Nigeria, as well as many others, some of whom are published in the cheap Heinnemans African Writers series.

No, reading seems to me to be something that is taught in schools, as a skill for learning other things, a route to knowledge and possible employment , not something to be pursued for pleasure. 

I visited a couple of homes while I was in Kenya ... not one book to be seen anywhere.  Such a pity books that don't sell in charity shops, or at our twice yearly church fetes, for example, can't be shipped to Africa and given away FREE !   But like so many things ... its the cost ...