Thursday, July 23, 2009

Getting Down to It

So we're really getting down to the last few days here in Kibwezi-- we leave for Nairobi on Saturday around noon! We've been trying to pack a lot of stuff into a short period of time, but have met some road blocks, so to speak.

The first of which is the staff at the primary school. Greg tried to hold a meeting on Tuesday afternoon to continue training of teachers with the laptops. However, after 30 minutes only Joseph had come (who already is very well aquainted with the XOs), and he simply informed Greg the rest of the teachers probably weren't going to come. Needless to say, we felt pretty disrespected & discouraged by this encounter (or lack thereof). It's been really difficult for us to get the teachers to participate and, while it's obvious that the students love the laptops, the teachers seem pretty apathetic to the whole situation. It's frustrating because we're leaving so soon, and when we're gone they're not going to be able to use us as a crutch to teach their lessons anymore. I've decided to just throw all my expectations away at this point, because that's probably going to end up being the best strategy.

Another obstacle has been field day, which is on Friday. The teachers and students are so focused on field day that yesterday they cancelled all the classes so the students could practice. It kind of blows my mind that a country and school that are so focused on education would spend so much time on field day. So we lost a day where we could potentially have had some of the teachers teach classes instead of us (because we have yet to get to that point yet). Theoretically there are classes today, but I'm not holding my breath.

Additionally, Greg and Bob are having some problems with the server & router we were given, so they've been spending a lot of time trying to figure that out. We just don't have enough time left and the Kenyans somehow don't view all this as a pressing matter, even though if we don't teach them now, we're afraid the XOs are going to end up just collecting dust.

This post is such a downer, I know, but I'm just trying to be realistic & honest about some of the trials we've been facing within this project. I'll try and post at least once more before we return to the states. Keep us in your thuoghts & prayers as we travel within the upcoming week!

-Kate

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