We caused a riot today. 3 girls managed to turn a school upside down. We didn't know it would happen!
Today's our second day on-site in the secondary school but our 3rd day in Kenya overall, but it feels like we're already residents of the country by now!
Our days at the school are brief and numbered. We can choose to get in, teach the girls then leave, or get in, interact with the girls and teach and be taught by them. We chose the latter. As much as we planned our program to revolve around us being the teachers, we're adamant on being the students as well.
The entire team enjoyed today's teaching experience - we split up 2 classes of around 23 girls each into groups and each member gave her group today's lesson (which was conveniently called "Lessons", with teaching websites such as BBC Learning, Khan Academy and Purdue OWL). Each and every student in the classes was so open to learn and explore without reservation the website we put together for them. The prevalent question they asked was ways in which they can continue their education in a place like Dubai and whether scholarships were provided or not. If that's not dedication, we don't know what is.
"You changed the atmosphere of the school," and "you're giving them exactly what they need," were some comments we received from the teachers and administrators of the school. In between classes, instead of chilling out at the teachers' lounge, we chose to go out and talk with the students of the school to get to know them better. We talked about what we wanted to be when we grew up, what we knew of each other's cultures and what both sides are hoping to get out of this experience.
Before we knew it, around 100 students formed a circle in their courtyard and taught us their traditional dances. It was spontaneous - we didn't plan for the girls to bring out their fur-covered drum, start singing and drag us to the middle of the circle to join in on the fun.
We made some amazingly bright friends along the way who we can see will one day build Kenya.
Here's a video of our first day at the class:
Today's our second day on-site in the secondary school but our 3rd day in Kenya overall, but it feels like we're already residents of the country by now!
Our days at the school are brief and numbered. We can choose to get in, teach the girls then leave, or get in, interact with the girls and teach and be taught by them. We chose the latter. As much as we planned our program to revolve around us being the teachers, we're adamant on being the students as well.
The entire team enjoyed today's teaching experience - we split up 2 classes of around 23 girls each into groups and each member gave her group today's lesson (which was conveniently called "Lessons", with teaching websites such as BBC Learning, Khan Academy and Purdue OWL). Each and every student in the classes was so open to learn and explore without reservation the website we put together for them. The prevalent question they asked was ways in which they can continue their education in a place like Dubai and whether scholarships were provided or not. If that's not dedication, we don't know what is.
"You changed the atmosphere of the school," and "you're giving them exactly what they need," were some comments we received from the teachers and administrators of the school. In between classes, instead of chilling out at the teachers' lounge, we chose to go out and talk with the students of the school to get to know them better. We talked about what we wanted to be when we grew up, what we knew of each other's cultures and what both sides are hoping to get out of this experience.
Before we knew it, around 100 students formed a circle in their courtyard and taught us their traditional dances. It was spontaneous - we didn't plan for the girls to bring out their fur-covered drum, start singing and drag us to the middle of the circle to join in on the fun.
We made some amazingly bright friends along the way who we can see will one day build Kenya.
Here's a video of our first day at the class:
Al Bedaya Team in Action from Al Bedaya on Vimeo.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's update!
Al Bedaya Team - signing out
Very impressive girls! Are you going to teach the college faculty the dance? I think what you are beginning to see is how the education process is not linear but a collage of relationships that move in this case from technology to friendship to simple humanity. What was the take home today?
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