pikipiki pictures

Here they are!

pikipiki

One of the most engaging things with the teachers we were interacting with over the last few weeks, were the poems and chants that are so powerful for encouraging language. On our way to the last day in Maseno I made up this chant and Nancy added pictures. A pikipiki is a motorbike:
and they do carry all the things mentioned and more

PIKI PIKI

One pikipiki rolling down the road,
Two pikipiki losing half his load;

Three pikipiki taking kids to school,
Four pikipiki do not know the rule!

Five pikipiki, chickens on the back,
Six pikipiki bouncing down the track;

Seven pikipiki, three girls on the seat,
Eight pikipiki driving in the heat.

Pikipiki on the left .........
Pikipiki on the right .......

I love my pikipiki -
We are such a sight!

- Patricia Crossley

Singing with teachers

lunch arrives

A group of widows in Kakamega make lunch for our groups when we do day-long sessions. Punctually at 10.45, they bring kettles of pre-mixed tea and fresh mandazi-small donuts, which are impossible to resist.
Most sessions go to about 2 pm when the ladies re appear carrying plates, cutlery and bowls of cooked food. We usually have rice, potatoes, stew and a delicious mix of cabbage and onions.

Teaching language and raising awareness

The last three days have been taken up with teacher workshops offering strategies for reading, writing, vocabulary development. We had a smaller group than expected, but that always leads to better interaction. Next week we go to Maseno where we expect about 50 participants.

Thanks to some donations, I have a workshop planned for the beginning of February with clergy about responses to domestic violence, which is very widespread and even accepted as normal here in Kenya. The topic is usually swept under the rug. I hope to break the reluctance to even talk about it. I did a mini presentation last year with a 100 or so rural women. It wasn't easy to get them to understand what the point was. 'If my husband doesn't beat me it means he doesn't love me.' I'm hoping a dialogue will start through the churches which have powerful influence.

No towing service here!

A few months ago our landlord was in a traffic accident with his brother's car. He wasn't hurt, but the unuseable car has been sitting in the compound covered with a green tarp. Last week we came home to find a big truck sitting there with the car's front wheels on the tail gate and the car body balanced on an oil drum. After much consultation, several young man were recruited from the neighbourhood to manouver the whole vehicle into the truck

A day off at last!

Just relaxing after a busy week. Teacher seminars went so well and job training applicants were literally jumping up and down with joy. The fellows (no women as yet) doing driver ed (which will include motorbikes) were in Kakamega two hours early for the start of their course.
On Friday we trained three new schools for Read for the Top to start this month (one secondary and two elementary). We were truly blessed to have with us Kenyan teachers who have run the programme to share what a huge difference it has made in their schools. One school is a Virtues school and the Head Master also spoke to the group. Then the teachers did a simulation exercise which opened their eyes to what their students will encounter.

On Saturday the group forming a marketing cooperative met and elected their sponsors (who sign the legal documents) and their interim executive. Once they have completed the paper work the Department of Cooperatives will give them some more training and they can invite other producers to join. Their target is 100.