A sad goodbye

The training ends and we bid a sad farewell to the many new friends and colleagues we have met in Mombasa.

The Aga Khan Foundation has as its aim improving life for the poor and marginalised all over the world, and here we have been working with people from East Africa – Uganda and Kenya. AKF started the Reading to Learn in some of the very poor rural schools about 4 years ago in Kenya and Uganda, and in some of the Nairobi slums schools this year, and are ready to take it further up the school, as well as trying to get the MoE interested in spreading it throughout the schools where it will make the most difference. So our training has been with trainers, advisors and MoE officials as well as two very special teaches – Aisha and Chale.
We deal with reading and writing of factual texts and reading of Maths – it is the first time I have worked with the Maths and it is fascinating. Then David gives us a chance to teach the story genre and Mike and I have a wonderful time letting our creative juices flow! We write an amazing joint story with the trainers and then they set out to write their own stories in groups – what a lot of fun.

The final session is a bit o.t.t and overwhelming. We are praised, thanked and sung to. We are told a story of how a good thing is ever enough, and that people will always scramble for good food. The story ends by saying, “We are hungry in Kenya for good education – please come back and give us some more.” We have so much to share but we have learnt so much from this group. They have such a “can-do” attitude. They keep asking for help in problems like 200 kids to one teacher in some Ugandan schools, now that Education is free – but at the same time, they have already identified so many of their own solutions. They amaze and awe me. I want to shake some of the whiney teachers I know who complain and say things are impossible and never look for their own solutions, but expect them to be handed to them on a plate. I meet people at this workshop whose positive attitude and determination will stay with me always – Aisha who teaches in a poor school with a head teacher who doesn’t really support the programme because he doesn’t understand it, but who perseveres in spite of everything; Atresh and Amina who are the Project co-ordinators in Kenya and Uganda respectively, and who make sure that the teachers are supported and given the help they need; Semmy who is as bright as a button and always has a quick answer; Yusuf who can be relied on to give a well thought out suggestion or who can see potential pitfalls, but is not daunted by them; Mole from Uganda who knows the curriculum backwards and sees all the ways to circumvent it to make sure children learn in spite of it; Rosemary who works for an NGO but is still close to the teachers on the ground – the list could go on and on. And then there are the project managers – Nafisa from Nairobi and Cathy from Geneva, who join us for dinner on the Tuesday night. Nafisa grew up in the Soviet Union in Turkmenistan and she tells us how it was to discover as a teenager what being Muslim and Ismaeli really means. They are both great women and the AKF is lucky to have them on their staff.

The training finished, Mike and David set off on yet another visit for David to the Antique store – it is his 6th visit and today he actually buys something. Some of it will be sent by ship and other pieces need to be packed into his case with the many kikoyis and kangas he has bought. It must have been worth the owner’s while, because he takes Mike and David to visit the school in which he has an interest – a combined madressa and Kenya curriculum, and then he insists on fetching us and driving us to the Tamarind restaurant in Nyali for dinner. He even offers to fetch us after dinner and take us home to the hotel, even though he lives 30km up the coast. We hit a monumental traffic jam on the way, and Yusuf happily drives his vehicle up onto the pavement so he can get to an alternative route – not that it helps much. But it gives us one of our biggest laughs. We have seen tuk-tuks painted with flames like Hells Angels bikes, with crazy names, with two drivers on a single seat (we went in one!) and even decorated with flashing fairy lights. But the one we see in the traffic jam takes the cake – it has one passenger and 5 goats in it! One hang out through the side awning, we see different legs appearing and disappearing through slits in the side and back of the covering, and we see the owner perched on the bar at the side, trying to keep his goats in. This vehicle vies with the bread-delivery bicycle for the most innovative use of a vehicle that I have seen.

The Tamarind is tranquil and up-market – and costs us 10000KS for the three of us! Luckily, AKF will re-imburse us. We sit on a wonderful verandah overlooking the estuary, with the lights of the island opposite us, and the lights of small fishing boats going up and down. We see a fire flare up on the beach opposite, and the sound of the meuzzins is muted and musical over the water. Then back to the Hotel for a last night, and a last dop of Mike’s whiskey (he needs to finish it so he doesn’t have to pack it – I just leave my left over wine for the cleaner) before an early start to Nairobi.

David is on a later flight, so he goes to visit a rural school while we meet with Nafisa, Cathy and Everlyn about the next steps with the project. We try to get to a Masai market, but there isn’t one on Thursdays, so we go to a shopping centre and to the City Market where we have to beat off touts and drive hard bargains so we aren’t ripped off. Then off to bed ready for a 4.00am start.

This has been an exhausting but an amazing experience. I see a new way forward for our own R2L training and look forward to working on implementing it. Back to cold Cape Town tomorrow for the RASA conference and then home! East, West, home is still best!