KISII
Week one of the project and all the Project Workers have settled into their new homes for the next nine weeks. They are staying in a great variety of homes, from clay-walled houses complete with cows, chickens and goats to fully furnished houses with indoor bathrooms and TVs, allowing volunteers to become addicted to the array of delightfully cheesy Mexican soaps with their dodgy English dubbing and melodramatic story lines of love, murder and passion. To the Coordinator team these are known as the ‘luxury palaces’ which far outshine the Kisii central house.
Week one of the project and all the Project Workers have settled into their new homes for the next nine weeks. They are staying in a great variety of homes, from clay-walled houses complete with cows, chickens and goats to fully furnished houses with indoor bathrooms and TVs, allowing volunteers to become addicted to the array of delightfully cheesy Mexican soaps with their dodgy English dubbing and melodramatic story lines of love, murder and passion. To the Coordinator team these are known as the ‘luxury palaces’ which far outshine the Kisii central house.
It has not been a typical first week to the project, with the Kenyan teachers’ strike holding fast and with no signs of ending. The Coordinator teams in Kisii and Kakamega focused on visiting PWs in their half-deserted schools to suggest ways to keep busy. We also took volunteers to visit post-programme schools to bring inspiration. With the deadline for central pot applications around the corner, many have been using their time to come up with detailed applications for water and electricity installation. Alongside this they have been taking inventories and getting to know the few form 4 students being taught ‘unofficially’ by Board of Governor teachers. It has been a hard year for the current form 4s, who also missed school during the recent elections.
The Coordinator team have also done some meeting and greeting in town. In Kisii we met with the NGO Aqua Clara to discuss future partnership. In Kakamega, they have been taking the opportunity to meet with local District Education officers and in Kisii,we met with the Minister for Education for the new Kisii County Government, part of the brand new system in Kenya. It was really inspiring to talk to him and hear his plans for education in Kisii.