Exams

In the first thirty-two years of our careers, students abhorred exams. They considered them to be the bane of their existence, a teacher’s plot to trick them. However, they knew exactly what material they would be covered on the test.

You can imagine my surprise when two weeks ago a Form I (freshman) class asked me if I would give them an English exam once a week. “What!” I exclaimed. “You actually want more exams?” Their answer was an emphatic and resounding, “YES!” So, I started asking even more questions of not only them, but my other two English classes. It was unanimous, they all wanted weekly tests.

It turns out that four years ago, the math department in an effort to improve their scores started a Math League. I still don’t understand what all it entails, but a weekly math exam is given to every Form III and IV student on Thursday morning and twice a month to every Form I and II student. That’s almost 1800 exams to mark (grade) a month! Due to this emphasis, their math scores have indeed risen significantly.

John and I felt that way too much time spent on preparation for the state assessments rather than on true learning. In some ways it is even worse in Kenya. Students aren’t tested here when they finish a unit of study or chapter like in the US. Instead, they are given three exams a term (about every 7th week). Anything and I mean anything can be on these exams. It might be material covered in class, but more than likely half of the exam is over material they have never even seen or discussed. These three exams determine students’ GPA and ranking in the school. There is no such thing as a privacy act here. The scores of every student are posted on bulletin boards for any person to see.

During the months of October and November Form IV students (seniors) take the K.C.P.E. exam. This exam determines if the student will even be allowed to attend college, what college they will attend, and even what their area of study (major) will be. There is no such thing as individual choices. Test scores determine their entire academic future.

So you can see why they consider testing to be so important. It is literally life or death to them. I don’t know if I will be able to keep up writing and marking exams for my students every week, but I’ll try. They think it is so important and so I’m happy to do what I can to help them improve in English. My tests won’t affect their GPA or ranking, but will constantly reinforce and emphasize skills that will be covered on the K.C.P.E.

Here’s something else you might be interested in. Class time isn’t used to give these extra exams. Instead, I am going to school at 6:30 am on Tuesday mornings. This is prep time for them (study hall). It is a perfect time for them to take the test. Could you pass an English exam at 6:30 in the morning?

Almost a Child Bride

Last week I had my Form I students write a composition about a real life experience, something that actually happened to them. The themes were: A Close Shave, A Perilous Experience, A Nerve Jarring Experience. Unfortunately, most of them created a fiction story. However, this one is true. This student’s father was going to marry her off at the age of 14. I’ll let her tell her own story in an edited version.

A Close Shave

It was on a Friday morning when I woke up at the crack of dawn. On that day we were going to have visitors. I quickly ran to the frog’s kingdom (outdoor bathing area) to have a shower. Without wasting time I went and dressed in my best dress. After that I went to see what was happening in the kitchen.

Mmh! I was welcomed by the fresh aroma that wafted in the air. My mum was frying some chicken and mandazis (fried bread similar to doughnuts). I sat next to her and asked her about the visitors who were coming. Tears started falling down her cheeks like a waterfall. For sure I wondered what was happening.

I stood and went to the dining room to have my breakfast. At around nine o’clock I saw an old man coming to our home. I did not know whether he was our visitor or not. I quickly ran and told my father that we had a visitor.

When the visitor arrived, I was told by my father to go outside because they had a serious issue to talk about. After some hours my mum came while crying and told me to run to Grandmother who lived in Kenya to get some assistance. My father was planning to take me off to be married.

I wondered how I could run from Tanzania to Kenya, but I decided to do so because I did not want to follow the customs and traditions of the Hehe tribe. My mum packed for me some food and within a minute I was off.

I arrived at my grandmother’s three days later feeling hungry, thirsty and tired. After my grandmother served me a delicious meal, I explained all that had happened. How I crossed the border and how I arrived.

After listening to the story, she took me to my aunt’s to continue with my education. I thank the Almighty because when I came to Kenya I knew how to speak English. (The official language in Tanzania is Kiswahili. Very few can speak English.) I want to pass my examination and have a good career so that I can go and teach for the tribe the importance of education especially for girls. That is why I am in St. Monica’s Girls High school.

Blessing at St. Monica's

St. Monica’s is a public secondary school, but is under the management and supervision of the Catholic Church. This week we had a visit from Bishop Crawley. He had a busy morning blessing our new computer lab, breaking ground for a new dining hall, and planting trees.

Now that our new computer lab is completed, it needed to be blessed it before we could move in. This building project was partially funded with government funds to increase technology courses available in secondary schools. (Our school has about 20 computers for 582 students.) Before the actual blessing, Bishop told the girls how proud he was of their academic achievements. He had just come from visiting schools in another district and was extremely pleased with the good behavior of our girls during the ceremony. He mentioned he had sent a “granny” (that’s me!) to teach in their school. He talked about how important it is to have an international

flavor in schools and learn as much as possible about other places in the world.

This picture is taken on the veranda of the computer lab. Bishop is on the right, the president of the PTA is next to him, Principal Akech is talking to the girls, and the chairman of the Infrastructure (Building) Committee beside her. The others are members of PTA.

When a school needs or wants to expand they don’t get tax money from the government or pass a bond issue. Instead, they hold meeting(s) with parents of students who are currently enrolled. The school presents their building and finance plans. The parents then decide whether or not to accept it. If it is approved, each student is assessed a certain amount as part of their yearly school fees. Any future enrollees are included until the building is paid off. Thus, only parents of students finance building projects, not the entire community.

St. Monica’s wants to expand. They currently have three streams of students and want to increase to four. That means they have three classes of approximately 50 students (150 total) at each grade level. In order for a school to break even financially, they need to have at least two streams. The first step in this expansion plan is to build a new dining hall. Once that is complete, they can use



the current dining hall as a dormitory. I’m not sure how long ago this plan was adopted, but they have collected over $25,000. It will cost about $50,000 to build a building like this. That means they have enough to start construction.

These photos are of the blessing of the building site and ground breaking.

Just like students anywhere, the girls were excited to get out of classes for part of the day. It was hard to get them settled once the ceremonies were over. However, it provided a great opportunity to talk about the importance of education when we returned to class.

Not all chili powder is created equally!

It is so nice to be able to have my own kitchen again. However, cooking is an adventure. Ingredients here are a little different, so even if I am using a familiar recipe, it doesn’t always turn out the way I expect. Last night was a perfect example.

I wanted to make burritos, Chipotle style. All you need is meat, rice, beans and toppings. That’s easy, right? Not quite so. I’ve learned to make some pretty good guacamole with the avocados that are in season, so that part wasn’t a problem. I can substitute chapatti for the tortillas. They can be purchased at the restaurant where we eat on Sundays. Refried beans, taco seasoning, and salsa are not available in the stores. That’s easily remedied by checking the internet. I found recipes for all three. The salsa and beans turned out great. The problem was the taco seasoning. Although I cut the amount of chili powder way down, the chili powder must be several times stronger than what we are used too! Poor John and Russ added second and third helpings of yogurt (sour cream substitute) to their burritos to try to cool them down!

I think I can still use the leftover seasoned mince (hamburger). I’ve frozen it and will save it to make chili one of these cool evenings. When I add more meat, that should dilute the seasoning and make it more tolerable.

On a happier note, John and I had breakfast burritos this morning minus the mince. The scrambled eggs with salsa, guacamole and cheese were great! We didn’t even miss the sausage.

This is John, one of our askari (guards) and groundskeepers. He has just picked some avocados from the tree in our compound. That means more guacamole, avocado and tomato salad, and avocado salad dressing. I even made avocado pudding last week. Not bad at all.

St. Anthony's Boys School

St. Anthony’s Secondary Boy’s school has almost 1000 students with about 50 teachers on staff. The class size ranges from about 85 in Form one (9th grade) to only 50+ in Form 4 (seniors). The boys wake up at 4:45 in the morning, dress in their uniform and get ready for morning prep (study hall) and breakfast. Class starts at 8:00 and the school day ends at 4:15. This time is broken up into 10 different 40 minute class periods. Students stay in the same classroom and the teachers switch classes. In the evening after supper there is another prep time.

Monday and Friday mornings the boys have parade (an assembly) starting before 7:30. The Kenyan flag is raised, the national anthem is sung, religious songs are sung in Swahili, a Bible verse read, and then a reflection of the verse is given by several boys. Two or three boys will then give national and world news. One boy will give what we would call a pep talk about doing well in school. Next, a couple of teachers will give a pep talk, give names of students who have done well in various areas, plus remind them of things that need to be improved upon. Twice the boys “entertainment committee” has given a skit which helps give some comedic relief. Finally the principal gives his speech about ways to improve and why the boys need to give their best effort. Morning parade lasts for over an hour at which time students are standing at attention.

My form one math class has over 85 students. The two aisles between desks are only about 12 inches wide. There is an art to gliding down the aisle I am trying to perfect without catching my slacks on screws sticking out of the desks. The desks remind me of antique desks with flip up tops. There is only about two feet between the front row and the chalkboard where I stand.

Most of the boys come from the Rift Valley Province, but we have some from other regions of Kenya. Teaching math in Kenya is different from the US. Even though math is a universal language, I have discovered many cultural differences in its lessons and methodology. Students have algebra, geometry, plus basic math in Form One, not an entire year of algebra like in the US. Because of culture, some of the explanations have to be different. The books are boring by State standards and most of the examples are only for the very basic problems. Yet, the good news is that a textbook only cost about 5 to 7 US dollars compared to 60+ dollars back home. I have had to ask another teacher more than once how to use a chart or table as I have never seen a similar one before. Once explained it seems easy and logical. Very few boys have a calculator. Every two or three boys must share a textbook as there are not enough to go around. Also, it is not uncommon for boys to share pencils, pens, rulers, compasses, etc.

Extracurricular act ivies offered after school this term include choir, entertainment (drama), science club (we have boys who have qualified for the National Science Congress in Mombasa), and basketball (on a dirt court so when it rains ….), net ball, hockey, and football (soccer). One huge difference from back home is that ALL form 4 students quit extracurricular activities to focus on their studies for the national exam. In fact they have extra classes and extra studies in Forms 3 and 4th to prepare for this test. This exam, the K.C.S.E., determines not only IF they are allowed to go to college, but also WHAT college they will attend and what their MAJOR will be once they get there.

The following are some things that have happened to me that would seem unique to a teacher in America. I have been asked to counsel a Form 1 Samburu student (like the Masaai) who wants to leave school so he can be like his friends and herd the cattle, goats and camels. I hope I will be making a trip in the next year or so to north central Kenya to visit his family if we can convince him to stay in school. A second is having the class clap for a story I told on how to remember the 9s multiplication facts. This week a student asked me to say a special prayer for him so he can do better in math. A daily occurrence is students catching me as I leave class asking me to mark (grade the work they just completed) to see how well they are doing. A student in Kansas would never ask for extra work let alone ask to have a teacher double check to make sure they are doing it correctly.

I feel so blessed to be working with such bright, willing students. John

Our House

Let me take you on a tour of our house. It is a brand new house. We were able to move in on May 2nd, although many small things weren’t yet complete. Our house is small, but very comfortable and adequate to meet our needs. It is definitely a home built with Westerners in mind. There is no way the majority of Kenyans would be able to live in a house like ours. Most Kenyans live in tiny one or two room houses built of mud, timber, stone or galvanized tin.

Click here to see pictures. One of the first things you might want to know is that there is no heating or air conditioning in homes here. The temperatures have been averaging in mid 70s during the daytime and at nights in the mid 50s, so there really is no need. You’ll notice on the picture of the outside of the house that the two outside sections of windows open outward to let it air. This works really well. Open them in the morning after breakfast to air the house during the day. Then about 6:00 you’ll need to close them as it starts to cool off. You’ll also notice the metal inside the glass. This is a safety precaution that all homes have. It adds a nice decorative touch to our house.

We had our couch, armchairs, coffee table, dining room table, four chairs and two end tables made by a carpentry shop by another ministry, FPFK. You can see that they did a great job. They used cyprus wood to create simple, strong and functional furniture. The chairs are very comfortable.

The floors are all tile as are the kitchen and bathroom walls. There is a fireplace in a corner of the living room. We understand we will be lighting fires in it in the next few weeks as June and July are the two coldest months. Area rugs help to add warmth and color.

The dining room is separate from the kitchen. You’ll notice a small window on the left side of the dining room. It is to the kitchen. I’ve put my plates and silverware in the sideboard at the end of the dining room. It is really handy to set the prepared food on the kitchen counter just below the window and then once in the dining room reach in and put them on the table.

You’ll notice that the kitchen has plenty of counter space and cabinets. We have to filter our water before we can drink it. There isn’t room in the kitchen for the refrigerator; it is in the hallway off the living room. This is a great little area as it has access to the bedroom, bathrooms, and our study.

Our bedrooms have tons of storage space. They each have a full length mirror in the little recess you can see in front of the rug. We don't have hot water. Attached to the top of the shower is a little hot water heater. Before you get in the shower you flip the switch and magic, you have hot water coming out of the tap! We are using the second bedroom as a study. We each have our own desk and plenty of space to spread out without getting in one another's way.

There is a large cement patio area in front of our house. In a few weeks it will have a nice table with an umbrella, table and chairs. You can see the pots that we’ve planted that will be scattered around. In all that dirt will be a flower bed. It’s silly to plant it now because they are still doing construction on a house next door. Soon there will be a hibiscus hedge between our house and the newest house.

Between our house and Russ’s is a new banda. The old one was leaning and fell over last week. We were excited to come home one day and see that they are building a new one with a raised floor. It is even going to have electricity! It will be great to use in the evenings or for Saturday morning coffee. I think we’re going to initiate it next weekend with a Memorial Day barbecue with Russ and Kathy.

Our compound has five houses in it. Missionaries live in three of the houses and the fourth is the owner of the compound, a business man and his wife. The fifth house is not yet complete. It will probably be rented to missionaries in some point in the future. It is necessary to live in a compound for security reasons. We have someone on the grounds twenty-four hours a day. During the day they are groundskeepers as well as security. At night they are the watchman. We are a two honk compound. When we arrive home our signal to Ocheng or his son, John, is two honks of the horn. That lets them know that it is someone who belongs on the compound so they can unlock and open the gate for us.

Again, our house is in no way a typical Kenyan home. It would be considered to be extravagant and out of the reach of most Kenyans.

First Impressions of School

We are getting a quick introduction to Kenyan education through real life experience! The staff members in our schools have been extremely helpful as we are continuing to adjusting to new procedures and ways of doing things.

The official school day starts at 8:00 and runs until 4:00. Classes are forty minutes in duration. Due to limited space, students remain in one classroom all day and the teachers move from room to room, not the other way around as happens in America. Our students are lucky in that each student has their own desk and chair. The desks are large enough that their books fit inside and don’t have to be piled on the floor. Although our schools have excellent reputations, students must still share textbooks, only two students to a book though. The classes are much larger than what we are used to. Cindy has 47 – 52 in her classes while John has 82!

Assignments are done in exercise books rather than on loose sheets of paper. That makes collecting work to mark (grade) more difficult and much more cumbersome. The good thing is that the teacher doesn’t actually collect the work. Each class has a class prefect that is similar to a class monitor. These prefects are nominated by their classmates, but the final selection is determined by the teaching staff. Among their duties are the actual collection of work and then they and a friend carry the exercise books to the staff room for the teacher. Once the teacher has them graded they call the prefects to come and pick them up and pass them back to the students. That sure beats trying to carry a stack of notebooks over a foot high to another building.

The head of each department has their own office where they can work in quiet. However, most of us do our work in the Staff Room. It is a large room that contains at least 24 large desks. Desks are assigned on a seniority basis. Some teachers must share desks. Cindy is lucky enough to have a desk of her own. She was told it is because she teaches English and has the most marking to do. John is doing his work in the library because there isn’t a place for him to work.

Each morning at 10:00 the students and teachers are served chai. It is tea made out of milk and sweetened with sugar. We both like it very much. The British call it milk tea. Teachers are served white bread with their tea. Most make a bread and butter sandwich that has four to six slices of bread in it. As a rule Kenyans don’t eat breakfast, so it is understandable that they are hungry by 10:00. It’s during chai and lunch that the staff room is the most crowded and the noisiest as almost everyone comes for these.

Lunch is also served for the teachers. We have decided that we will eat the school lunch provided. They are already concerned because we don’t take bread with our chai. In their opinion we don’t eat nearly enough to keep from starving. Lunches are typically Kenyan food: sukumawiki with ugali, githeri, or beans and rice. Githeri is a mixture of red beans and maize (corn). Their version of corn is what we would call field corn in Kansas. It is large kernels of hard, tough corn. It’s not our favorite meal. Ugali according to the dictionary is stiff porridge. It is made out of corn flour (similar to corn meal) and boiling water. It is stiffer than mashed potatoes or even corn bread. To eat it you use your thumb and first two fingers to pinch off a piece. Then you pick up a little bit of sukumawiki to go with it. Sukuma is kale that is finely shredded and cooked with onion for seasoning.


Although Kenyan schools are very different from what we are used to, students are the same all over the world. We are glad to be back in the classroom and enjoying getting to know our newest classes.