2nd Term

2nd Term

We had exams to open the school term this time. As usual, things were unnecessarily complicated. Still, everything seemed to come together by the end. It didn't help that I was on duty also, but the students were very cooperative, and the staff was pretty docile, so this was a mostly beating-free week.

We are getting a new teacher for Swahili, and there is another man who is doing his teacher training in English. In other words, my workload is unchanged. On the plus side, a certain colleague of mine is going to have a lighter workload. Maybe he'll only come to school twice a week or so. Our headmaster is working on getting more teachers and support staff, so I am keeping my fingers crossed there.

I am also trying to figure out trips to several different parts of Kenya during this term. I'm not sure I have earned it, but I have earned the role of tree-guy in our Peace Corps group. That may result in my being consulted on a proejct to plant 28,000 trees. That would be awesome. I have also been asked to visit another teacher to work on some corn harvesting technologies and a business volunteer for some charcoal work (which may result in a side trip for advising another volunteer on cook-stoves and a few other ideas). I also want to go back to Kibera and check out a library that is being opened. And Jackie might have me doing some follow-up work on plastics recycling in Nairobi. The funny thing is, I'm really not sure that I know all that much about most of these things, but I'm going to give them my best.

I started a compost project at school today. That seemed to go pretty well, but I'll report back on the results. Also, during the session, I mostly spoke sans accent. This is me hoping that my students will slowly start to understand me when I talk like an American. I may also be doing a charcoal project here soon. I am also looking into adding some neem and jatropha to my new moringa plants (and maybe a few other trees too. Fun fact: we were told during training about the issues of propagating Prosopis trees in Kenya. Maybe we would have listened more if they had added prosopis is also called mesquite). I should be setting out the drip irrigation kit soon. Does anyone know anything about raising napier grass? I need to learn about that ASAP.

Finally, probably my most important (and quite possibly most challenging) goal for this semester should be the weight gain. I think I have dropped more than 40 lbs since coming to Kenya (yikes!) and my weight is currently lower than it has been since I was in 6th grade or thereabouts. As I said, I'm going to work on it.

Go Cubbies! Hot streak!!!