It was my birthday. Once again I was traveling. It must be an unconscious effort to avoid the unpleasant and increasingly frequent personal holiday. However, this time I had my family with me. Rebekah made sure I did not forget, and had special treats prepared for me by the flight crew on both flights. Nothing like a birthday treat at 30,000 feet and 3 AM.
We were heading back to Kenya. Land of the red dirt. This time we would drive south, towards Mombassa and Tsavo park (near Voi). We arranged to volunteer with a local charity group, and would be staying on a private game reserve. Usually the facility hosts large school groups from Europe and the Middle East during summer. However, as the school year had already begun, and there was a travel advisory for the region, we were the only ones there. Again.
Since our kids were technically in school as well (we are home schooling this year), we tried to make it as educational as possible. For one 'science project' we learned how to make paper using elephant dung. A very useful skill. I have posted the diagram above in case anyone else is interested, and a video will be coming soon. E.D.P. stands for 'elephant dung paper'.
It was a surprisingly dirty and labor-intensive endeavour. For best results, baby elephant dung is required. Adult's eat too much roughage (i.e. trees), and their dung can be hard to clean and work with. In addition, normal dung (like cow, horse etc..) is not 'rough' enough and will just make a mess. Shayne said baby elephant dung was the 'Goldilocks of poo' - just right! Not too soft, not to hard. In fact, elephants barely digest their food at all. That is one reason they have to eat so much and are so huge. Ineffective digestive systems.
There was a lot of pounding, cleaning, sponging and picking involved.
The end result was a thick, brown, rough paper. Just like all the ancient books of Africa were written on. Or not.
Luckily, the lodge where we were staying also had a separate lab, full of microscopes, skulls, insects and other specimen.
The kids spent hours finding things to look at under the microscope - bugs, plants, flowers and so on. They decided we needed one at home (a microscope that is, not more bugs).
The name of the location was Camp Tsavo. It was a huge reserve, with all of the big 5 wandering around (minus only the Rhino curiously enough, since that was on their logo). It was near the end of the dry season, but we had water in the camp. Unfortunately, this meant more then one night was spent trying to keep the elephants out with a blow horn and banging pots. They can do serious damage to a camp.
We took time to learn a few other useful skills, aside from making paper, like building shelter, making a fire, and tracking animals. I do not think we would last long in the bush on our own.
However, most of our time was spent working in the local village--at the school to be exact--Sasenyi Primary School (from preschool until high school.)
We worked on school desks, and a water project. The kids helped out when they could, but spent most of the time going to class and playing with the other children.
We also visited a women's group and helped them plant some trees. This was also part of a water conservation effort. Water (or the lack thereof) plays a major part in village life.
The people have had no crops for three years, and walk many kilometers each day just to get water for cooking and drinking.
To be honest, it was hard work. It has been a while since we have done that type of manual labor. Rebekah would have killed for a skill saw, or chop saw, or even a normal saw with decent sharp teeth. The soil was like hard baked rock, and the tools kept failing apart. But it was hard to complain when you looked around.
The school had over 700 kids, and only 11 teachers who rotated between classes, leaving the kids alone much of the day. Each class was filled with different age students, depending on ability (for example there was a 11 year old in preschool because she she had never gone to school and could only speak one word of Swahili).
The school has no running water and no electricity.
At one point it started to rain a bit. Many kids came outside with cups and bowls to try and catch water that leaked from the gutters. The gutters were installed to bring rain water to the large storage tanks so there is water for the children during the dry season.
They do not have many text books, and each one is shared between 6 to 8 students. These books are then returned back to the main office each day. We spent some time teaching a few classes as well. It quickly turned into fun games.
Some times we would eat lunch in the book room (which had bats living in the ceiling somewhere).
Meanwhile, all the school kids would line up by grade to get their lunch. The charity group we worked with sponsored free school lunches for the year. You can see them all lined up below.
See if you can spot Weston in this photograph:
The fact the school provided a free lunch is one reason there were so many kids at the school. For some, it was the only meal of the day. Here the women are picking out the rocks and sticks before cooking.
It was a mix of beans and corn. Every day.
This mix was cooked over wood burning fires in this smokey room. Most schools in Kenya can not offer this luxury. These kids felt lucky.
Meanwhile, we still had to deal with the occasional grumpy child or bad mood in our family. We resorted to a new form of punishment. The child (or adult) was forced to wear the 'smile' mask for a few minutes, until they could turn things around. It seemed to work okay. Too bad we had to use it so many times!
Back at school the kids were so friendly and happy to chat and play. It reminded me of my experience going to School in Kenya as a 12 year old. Being swarmed by mobs of kids; touched, poked and laughed at. I could relate to what Weston and Shayne were going through.
They handled it very well. Shayne spent many hours reading to children. She declared " I like THIS school SO MUCH more than my old school." She helped by going over their homework, playing chase with the preschool children and introducing the older girls to new hand clap games (like 'Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky') in the photo below.
Weston spent most of his time playing games. He tried to introduce baseball (more like stickball.) It was a big hit, with kids flying around the school yard in wild packs chasing a tennis ball.
He also helped build a new garbage pit.
The local kids really were so much fun. We arrived and left feeling like rockstars, often chased by adoring fans! It seemed that way at least? With no TV, there is a low bar for entertainment.
Every day our kids came home a disaster. They played hard. It almost looks like Weston is still wearing socks. Nope. Just dirt.
Before we knew it, our time at the camp was done. We drove back to Voi to catch the bus (8 hours) back to Nairobi. It was a different type of vacation, but very rewarding. It was hard not to leave with a soft spot in our hearts for the Kenyan people.
Shayne wanted me to add:
"I thought I was going to be the one who was helping them, and it turned out, that I was right!"
Nice.
(It's an inside family joke.)
