Typical Student Questions

Friday afternoon I taught a coworker’s class as he was sick. Perhaps taught is the wrong word to use. I always like to answer questions before I begin the day’s lesson. As this was the first time I had been in this particular class, I asked if they had any questions, not just English questions.

Here are some of their typical questions:

How many children do you have? This is a question that is not discussed in normal Kenyan society. I think perhaps it is due to superstition. You don’t want the evil spirits to know about your blessings. If they know, they might cause harm. If you know someone well, they know about your family, but it is not common when introducing yourself to give private information like this.

The next question is always, “How many grandchildren do you have?” An important part of African culture is the continuity of family lineage. Having children is a mark of adulthood and extremely important as a measure of your worth. Childless women are a disgrace. It is a man’s duty to abandon a barren woman in order to beget children. They can’t begin to imagine that our daughters’ lack of children doesn’t bother us. It doesn’t matter that they have successful careers that are extremely satisfying.

“What is your traditional food?” The main staple of their diet are corn and beans. They don’t have the variety in diet that we do. Every day they eat ugali with sukumawiki (chard) or githeri (cooked corn and beans). It is a special treat to have rice which isn’t considered heavy or starchy enough to be filling. Other special treats are chapati (similar to tortillas), meat of any type, chips (French fries). The school diet is: hot black tea and 2 slices of bread for midmorning tea, lunch depending on the day ugali or githeri, and supper is ugali. They don’t have variety. They do get one small piece of beef (beef cube) in their stew on Saturday evenings. When the girls go out for school trips, they love to get soda and white bread for their meals, sometimes samosas. They don’t think we eat nearly enough.

Circumcision is an important rite of passage. It marks acceptance into adulthood. The entire community celebrates the circumcision of those old enough. They can’t understand that we don’t have a similar practice to mark the transition of a child into adulthood. Thank heavens, female circumcision is a dying tradition in most places in Kenya. People don’t talk openly about it.

They also can’t believe we don't pay dowry to marry. Here a man’s family pays a dowry to the wife’s family. It is a symbol of her worth. It is a sign of respect to her parents for raising her. The dowry might include animals such as cows and goats, luggage, fabric, food staples and an amount of cash. It is usually a large amount that takes several years to pay off. Simon, one of our teachers, is probably in his early 40s. They have two children that I know of but probably more. He has paid off the dowry for his wife and is going to have his marriage blessed in the Catholic church in two weeks. It is a big celebration that the entire school staff is looking forward to.

A later question is “Do people in your country practice witchcraft?” It is quietly practiced here. They do believe that people can curse you. It’s not as bad in Kenya as in Tanzania where it is rampart. Anything bad that happens is usually attributed to a curse someone has placed on you, especially the death of a young person.

Things they can’t believe:
We don’t send our students to boarding school.
We don’t teach Christian Religious Education in our schools.
The majority of people know how to drive.
We don’t have a national identification card.
We can survive in the winter. (Keep in mind they don’t have heat in their homes.)

It's interesting that they shake their head at our culture, while we shake our head at theirs. I always pray that I am learning the best from their culture as they learn something good from our culture.