As Judy has said in a recent e-mail our days have become somewhat routine. In fact there are times while walking in the late afternoon when I think how simple life is and I wonder why that is so hard to take. We like our entertainment and distractions.

The picture is of the school grounds, a relatively small graveled area, with the owner’s home at one end, bathrooms and classrooms to the left and more classrooms to the right. The area is a madhouse at break-time with children running, playing and fighting. It is a wonder that there are no injuries.

My Grade 6, 7 and 8 students are each challenging, each in different ways. Grades 7 and 8 have a number of boys from Stars. They are enjoyable but challenging. The Grade 7’s love games and contests. They are often among the best students, but if I have not thought of a game or contest to teach an English item they might also simply put their heads down and sleep. I try not to get too annoyed since I wonder if they are getting enough sleep at their home.

There are many small things in the classrooms that remind you that education here is different. There are of course, the school uniforms. While they supposedly promote equality among students, some are so full of holes and so dirty that it is quite obvious the student is from a poorer family. Students carry razor blades to sharpen their pencils, whittling the end to a point. Each room has a small plastic jug (about a gallon) filled with drinking water. There is one cup in the classroom, used by all the students in the class. (This too promotes equality - if one student gets sick, presumably all do, although this has yet to happen.) The classrooms have small windows and are very poorly lit. The lack of light for schoolwork bothered me at first, but the students take it for granted and I have gotten used to it. Finally, the rooms are roofed with sheet metal and when it rains the water pelts straight down, thundering off the metal roof to the point that you cannot make yourself heard. You stop and wait, since the rain never seems to last that long.

Enforcing rules can be a problem. Most Kenyan teachers don’t use games, stickers and the like to encourage the students and without these there are no privileges that can be withdrawn as punishment. Students arrive at 7am or earlier and work and talk and stay until about 6:30 when it is near to getting dark, so they can hardly be kept after school! I try to negotiate, be friendly and positive, but recently learned that the old ways still are quite effective.

Unlike the other teachers, I haven't been checking each student’s homework individually and daily, but rather allowed the students to correct their own work together as we discussed the questions together in class. Early this week however I asked the students for their work before class and to my surprise found that most of the students hadn’t done it. I told them how disappointed I was and that I would tell the home room teacher (expecting he would lecture them). Finally I assigned an essay “Why I should do my homework”. I suggested they should include paragraphs that said homework was a way to help them learn, that doing it showed respect for the teacher and that it helped them develop good work habits. I didn’t give the matter much more thought other than deciding to be more vigilant checking the work before class. The next day I read the student’s short essays on doing homework. Most followed my outline. All were sorry and it seemed that I had made my point about doing the assigned work. Then I read the last essay. It began like this:
“One day our teacher Mr. Milner gave us some homework to write. Mr. Milner went and told our class teacher. When the (home room) teacher heard that he (wrote) down names on a little paper. He came in our class and asked us why haven’t you not done the homework. We were afraid to hear that. He told us to kneel down on the floor. We gave him our hands and he beat on us two good sticks. From today I told myself that I won’t refuse to do any homework.”
I felt pretty bad – it reminded me of the many strappings I received as a student. I hated the idea that I had caused them to be hurt, but I must admit that it seems to have gotten results!