Annual General Meeting

Both St. Anthony's and St. Moncia's are Catholic schools in Kitale. Their governing board known as the Board of Governors (BOG)is similar to our school board. They meet monthly to take care of the business of running the school. Bishop Crowley is the chairman of both schools. That shows his interest in good quality local schools. In the Kitale dioceses, St. Anthony's consistently ranks first in academics and St. Monica's in the top five.

Each school also has a Parent Teacher organization that plays a similar role to our PTAs. Parents and teachers are working together on projects to improve the schools.

Once a year the school holds an AGM (Annual General Meeting). Kenya's love acronyms! The purpose is to allow the BOG, PTA and school administrators to let the parents know of progress, issues, and needs. The parents have the opportunity in the Open Forum to speak about any topic they wish. Important guests are invited and a Chief Guest that is the keynote speaker.



The day started with Mass. These are the liturgical dancers leading the procession as the priest enters to begin Mass. Mass was followed by the meeting and speeches. One of the topics discussed was the need to purchase a generator because Kitale seems to be having electricity problems and the school is frequently without electricity.

The final activity was a late lunch. I was on the committee to help purchase food and supplies for the High Table. We also supervised the arrangement of the room for the special guests.

Click here to see more pictures of this day including many of my fellow teachers at St. Monica's.

Daily Life

A friend recently asked how do you avoid being sick and getting intestinal bugs? Well, we’re really careful about what we eat and drink.

We cannot drink tap water. So we have two water filters. It probably takes about four hours to put our drinking water through the filters. The first basically takes the dirt and other impurities out of the water. The second removes microbes and bacteria. That is the water that we use to drink and brush our teeth. We take water bottles with us wherever we go. You can also buy bottled water most places that are sealed with a plastic rings just like in the States.

When buying fresh fruits and vegetables, wash them in water that has a small amount of Clorox in it, especially those that will be eaten raw. However, it’s fine to use tap water when cooking.

We buy our meat from an Asian Kenyan woman that has deep freezers where she stores the meat. The meat is frozen when we buy it so we simply move it from her freezer to ours. We don’t buy from the local butchery where the meat is exposed to the air hanging from hooks in the window.

When eating out, which doesn’t happen very often, we are careful about where we go. The two restaurants that we frequent in Kitale cater to Western customers. I understand there are a couple African restaurants in town that would be fine, but we haven’t had an occasion to visit them.

John and I both drink the morning tea and eat the lunches prepared at school. I’m sure they aren’t cooked in the most hygienic situations, but our digestive systems seem to tolerate them.

Here are a few other interesting items about our daily life.

At home:
• turn on the hot water switch for the shower a couple of minutes before showering
• fill the water filters both in the morning and evening
• turn on the outside lights about 7:00 for the night security
• put any open food items in a sealable container
• keep the rechargeable lantern charged and in the same place so you can find it when the electricity goes out
• turn on the electrical outlet before you use an appliance
• take daily malaria pill at breakfast

When leaving the house:
• open closet and cabinet doors to avoid mold and mustiness
• don’t forget to put on sunscreen
• take your umbrella with you every day because it will probably rain at some point
• take your water bottle
• carry a bag for your dirty shoes if walking to school
* make sure you have your phone with you

At school:
• shake the hands and greet everyone in the Staff Room the first time you enter each day
• carry a piece of chalk and a pen to class with you because there are none in the classroom
• carry a wrap or jacket with you in case you get chilled
• keep the Oxford dictionary beside you as you mark compositions (British English and American English are different!)
• if marking exams, take the calculator to school because they don’t have them

Click here to see an earlier web album of household items that are different in Kenya than the States.

St. Monica's Teachers to Mombasa

Teaching doesn't have many perks in Kenya. However, many of the better boarding schools send their teachers on a trip during August holiday. Several weeks ago Bishop Crowley mentioned that I would be going to Mombasa, the Board of Governors (school board) had approved the trip. I knew the past couple of months there had been many discussions about where to go in the staff room . But as with many things, information is hard to come by because of organization style. I was looking forward to staying with Mary and Doctor Susan while there.

We left on Wednesday morning and returned home early Sunday morning. I think all but two teachers went so that meant there were about 35 of us. We took our own school bus and had two drivers to share the driving duties. Most of us has a seat to ourselves, so we had plenty of room.

On the way down we stopped for a late lunch at place called, Kikopey, known for roasted meat. I understand it is near a grazing area where they raise many animals. Our men especially were thrilled. There were many shops that were grilling meat: goat, beef, chicken, sausages. As a small group, you order the meat that you want and were served ugali, tomatoes and onions on the side. It was OK, the men were a lot more excited about it than the women. Roasted meat is a real treat and Kenyans don't eat it often.

When we arrived in Nairobi on Wednesday night we hit rush hour and were caught in a jam (traffic jam). When we got to the downtown area several of the younger men teachers spent their time standing in the back of the bus watching traffic out the back window. Welcome to the big city! I think everyone appreciated having an hour to find snacks, bathrooms and stretch.

We got to Mombasa about 7:30 am. They hadn't called ahead for reservations so the first order of business was to find a place to stay. I recognized that we were only a few blocks away from Susan and Mary's house the first place we stopped. I gave them a quick call and less than 5 minutes later Mary picked me up. I ended up spending the entire day with them. We had a great visit, ate PIZZA for lunch:), and went to a mission group to order furniture. The Brother than ran the mission was a friend of Susans. Both of them had worked in Kitale for a number of years. We had a wonderful visit and got some good information on nonviolent communication. On the way home we got ICE CREAM! Pizza and Italian ice cream on the same day. What a treat!

I spent Friday with my fellow teachers. As pedestrians, we rode across the ferry to the south coast. (The city of Mombasa is on an island. You drive over the causeway to approach it from the west, but must cross on the ferry to get to the south. To get to the north you can use a bridge. The beaches are both to the north and south.) We had a little excitement on the return ferry trip. It got caught in the current, traveled downstream and turned a 90 degree angle at one point. We were never in any danger, but many people were pretty nervous.

Just like many tourists, shopping, shopping and more shopping is what they were most interested in that afternoon. I trailed along listening to them bargaining. Once a price was established, I did purchase a couple of lessos (fabric used to cover their good clothes when they are working).


We got to the beach about 4:00 that afternoon. It seems that many Kenyans are afraid of the water. It makes sense: they don't have swimming pools and there is very little water in rivers, ponds or lakes for swimming. Even though I had a swim suit on under my clothes, we were only there for an hour so I didn't bother to take off my skirt. I was the first one in at low tide. I went back several times and told the men they needed to take off their shoes, roll up their pants, and come on in. Finally several did.

There was a small boat that offered to take us for a ride out to the reef. There were about a dozen of us that went. It was a glass bottom boat, so we were able to see fish, urchins, coral, etc. They were so excited and amazed. It was so much fun watching them. Francis, David and I were the only ones brave enough to go sit on top of the boat. I'm sure they all agree that I am pretty crazy not being afraid of the water and sitting on the roof of the boat.

Mary, Susan and I spent a relaxing Saturday morning chatting and eating. We left about 1:00 that afternoon and didn't stop nearly as often on the return trip. During one of our stops the biggest purchases were honey, woven baskets, and carved wooden spoons. I'm guessing there were many happy wives when their husbands returned home with gifts.

We arrived in Kitale about 6:30 am. I had asked the driver to drop me off at a gas station that is only two blocks from our house. His comment was, "Is someone going to meet you there?" I was going to just walk home. The people sitting around me wouldn't hear of that. "It's too risky," they said. I'm sure it wasn't really. It's a major, wide road in a good part of town. We walk on it all the time, but I did have a couple of bags. So, I called John so he could meet me. You could see and hear their relief when they saw John and our car. I don't think anyone at home needs to worry about me when I am with my fellow teachers!

Click here to see more pictures from Mombasa.

Circumcision

We took a road trip with Katrina in early August to Jinga, Uganda. It is so interesting to travel in Africa because you never know what you will see.

Although Kitale itself has a mixture of many tribes, this area is Luhya territory. They are the second largest Bantu ethnic group in Kenya. Being Bantu means that originally their ancestors came from western Africa and migrated eastward over the years. Traditionally, they are agriculturalists. Depending on where they live they grow cassava, sugar cane, maize(corn)or wheat.

Circumcision in Kenya is an important event in Kenyan culture based upon your tribe. The procedure is not done at birth as in the United States, but rather when a young man enters adolescence. It is considered to be a significant rite of passage as they enter adulthood. These boys are being escorted to the ceremony. Notice the rattles, whistles and cow tails. They are creating a lot of noise so that everyone is to notice they are on their way.

The Lyhya still practice the traditional male circumcision ceremonies. We saw several young men being escorted to the elder’s place for their circumcision or returning from the operation.

They only circumcise their young men every other year in even numbered years during the months of August and December. The boys range in age from 11 to 15 years. An elder performs the ceremony and cutting of the foreskin. Then the boys must enter into a period of seclusion where they are not allowed to see their mothers or any other females. These boys are wearing dress like garments because the ceremony has been complete.

Once the time of seclusion is over, a feast is held in the village to honor the young men. At this point, they begin counseling by the elders on skills, appropriate adult behavior, and tribal ceremonies and history. They are no longer able to live with their mothers and sisters, so a bachelor hut is built for them on the family compound.
Not only are they wearing dresslike garments, but the boys in back have had their faces painted with mud during the ceremony.

Note: Most people today have their sons circumcised at a hospital by a doctor between the ages of 10 - 15 years old.

Click here to see more photos of typical Kenyan sites.

Mount Elgon

The town of Kitale is located in the foothills of Mt. Elgon, about 40 km away. Mt. Elgon was formed by volcanic activity at least 12 million years ago. It is now an extinct volcano that was once higher than Mt. Kilimanjaro. It is located in both Uganda and Kenya with the majority in Uganda. It is huge being 80 km in diameter with five major peaks, the highest being 14,140 ft above sea level. This photo of Mt. Elgon is taken from Kitale, about 40 miles away.

The rocks forming Mt. Elgon contain sodium. This has caused elephants to form caves on the mountain. They dig into the softer rocks behind waterfalls with their tusks to be able to eat the salt found there. What they leave behind on the floor of the cave is then eaten by smaller animals like buffalo, bushbuck, hyrax, leopards, hyena and monkeys. The last known cave-in caused by elephant mining was in 1982.
We spent a day at Mt. Elgon National Park hiking to two of the caves, Makingeny and Kitum, and viewing the wildlife there. Kitum Cave was the inspiration for the movie “The Hot Zone” about an Ebola virus outbreak. Two people became ill with Ebola, one in 1980 and the other in 1987 after visiting this cave. However, the US Army’s Infectious Diseases Unit and Kenya Medical Research Unit examined the caves. They found no evidence that there was any connection between the caves and the disease.
One of the many waterfalls on Mt. Elgon.

We had a wonderful day. Since it is the rainy season we hired a 4WD vehicle to tour the park. I’m sure glad I wasn’t driving! We needed the 4WD many times. When you enter the park, you must take a park ranger along with you. He/she carries a gun in case you meet wild animals. Fred, our park ranger was a great help. I still don’t know how he was able to stay clean when I got so muddy! During the day we saw zebra, baboons, colobus monkeys, velvet monkeys, bush buck, water buck, deer, and guineas.

Standing at Elephant Platform.

Click here to see more pictures.

Victoria Nile

Here we are standing at the source of the Victoria Nile. Lake Victoria is to our right and the Nile River is to our left.


The night before rafting standing at Bujagali Falls.


The Nile River is 6650 km (4132 miles) long making it the longest river in the world. There are two major tributaries: the White Nile and Blue Nile.

Last week we traveled with Katrina to the source of the Victoria Nile in Jinga, Uganda. There it begins with a spring at Ripon Falls at the end of Lake Victoria. It empties into the White Nile after passing through several more lakes. The White Nile and Blue Nile converge in Khartoum, Sudan. There it continues northward toward its mouth in the Mediterranean Sea. The water travels at a rate of three km per minute. It takes 3 months it to travel from its source to the Mediterranean. Incredible!

Katrina wanted to white water raft on the Nile. Previously we had rafted on both the Colorado and Rio Grande Rivers which have level 3 rapids. Rapids are rated on a scale of 1 to 6 based on their difficulty. I must say, the Nile was much more fun and exciting. We spent a day on the Nile traveling a total of 30 km. Locals call the Nile a “pull down river” meaning it flows at one level, the rocks pull it down to a lower level where it is nice and smooth before being pulled down again several kilometers later. We were pulled down five level 5 rapids, five level 4 rapids and the smaller ones were too insignificant to count!

While there we met people from Belgium, Great Britain, Turkey, Slovenia, Germany, South Africa and Uganda. It was a great day. We started near the Owens Falls dam where the water was nice and calm. There we learned the commands we would need throughout the day. We flipped the raft to practice getting back in and getting into the crufix position in case we got separated from the raft and needed to float downstream.


Kayaks and two oar rafts accompanied us in the river as safety precautions. If you got separated from your raft these boats were there to pick you up. At three different points when the water was calm, we could leave our raft and swim or float downstream. That was great fun. Even though we were all just a few feet away from one another it was amazing to see how we would get in different currents that would take us at different speeds down river.

They provided all three meals for the day. Lunch was half of a pineapple and biscuits (cookies). The fresh pineapple was wonderful! The evening meal was a BBQ back at our campsite. The beef shish kabobs had the best meat we have eaten since we’ve been in Africa! Vegetables, fruit, rice, potatoes, and chapatti completed our meal.

It was a wonderful day!

Click here to view pictures of our rafting adventure.

School Visitor

Our friend, Mary Oldham, came to visit last week. Mary is a fellow Maryknoll Lay Missioner, class of 2010. We along with twelve others joined MKLM in September and attended a three month orientation in New York. That’s when we first met Mary, a fellow Midwesterner. She was also assigned to Kenya so we traveled on New Year’s Eve to our new country. We were together in language school in Nairobi until April. At that point we moved to Kitale while Mary moved to Mombasa. We were delighted to see her again and get a chance to visit about our ministries.

Mary is coordinating a project called Maryknoll Fathers AIDS Orphans Project in the Archdiocese of Mombasa started in 1999. This project addresses the educational needs of children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS. They come from marginalized families who have very limited economic opportunities and live in slum areas surrounding Mombasa. Many of the guardians are living with HIV/AIDS and have other children to care for. Some of the orphans in the project are living with HIV/AIDS themselves.



She also deals with schools, but in a totally different way than we do. She is involved with finding schools that will accept her children, placing them, the admissions process, paying fees, etc. She was very interested to see how schools function on a daily basis and what education looks like in Kenya.

She was able to spend one day with John at St. Anthony’s and the next at St. Monica’s. Unfortunately, the boys were taking exams so she was only able to meet the teachers and other staff and see where John works. Since we were still holding class at St. Monica’s, the girls were thrilled to be able to talk with her and ask her questions.

Although she isn’t a teacher, she is a natural in the classroom. She started off each class telling a little about herself and then opening it up to questions. The questions ranged all the way from: Tell us about your family. Are you married? What are you looking for in a husband? What are your traditional foods? Where did you go to university? How is life different in Kenya from the United States? What are some of the challenges you face in Kenya?

Of course, the girls were thrilled to have another visitor from the United States. Mary continued to reinforce the importance of studying hard and getting a good education. Education is the way out of poverty and to reach Kenya Vision 2030 economic and social goals.