All you need is Love

A while back, I was attending a student alumni mixer at St. Jerome’s University. Little did I know at that mixer that I would run into a teacher who taught at my high school. This teacher truly followed her bliss as a high school student engaged to an old order Mennonite to a university student who signed up for math but there wasn’t any room so she landed upon religious studies. Eventually she ditched the boy, graduated when there was no jobs for teachers in Ontario and moved halfway across the world to teach in a developing country and this led her to helping to build houses for the poor. The story in many ways seems to mimic a lot of my aspirations but it was the idea that she presented at the end of her discussion that has stuck with me and made me reflect on in my time in Kenya. The teacher was trapped in the tragic tsunami in 2006 and it was in that moment that she knew it was time for her to return back home but she said that day and the days that followed that what she witnessed was the true courage of people. In that moment she said the people didn’t need food, water or shelter, in that moment after the water settled, they needed someone to hold their hand and tell them that everything was going to be alright. She sings to her students in class, the classic Beatles song, “All you need is Love” because that’s what she believes to be true that all a person really needs is love.

The reality of a person that lives in a slum can be a bleak existence. The people in Kariobangi have captured my heart. People continue to go through life each day trying very hard to sustain life when it does not seem like they have much of a reason to continue living. What makes someone with a disability or a family of thirteen that lives in a one bedroom apartment keep going? They do it because of the relationships and bonds that bind them to the community and web that is weaved around them. There is a simple beauty in the people here. I see it in their smiles and in their work ethics. Joanne told us early in September that when we think of real tragedy, we have to think of a family that lives in a crowded temporary housing structure, with both parents that lost their income and a famine that prevents them from having any sense of nutrition. The truth is that there are probably very few (if any) people that are within my circle that have encountered real tragedy. These are the people that astound me while I’m here. Take ACREF for example, a lot of the students there are self sustaining themselves and fully supporting themselves on their own. I can’t even imagine what that is like for a high school student and couldn’t even imagine living that way myself yet these students are some of the most wonderful people I’ve met along my journey and have inspired me and continues to drive my passion for education.

Personally, I think I’ve felt something that I never expected to feel in Kenya. Recently I have been very emotional with finishing classes and saying goodbyes to my students. The first time I tried to say good bye to my Grade five students I didn’t even make it through my first sentence without tears running down my cheeks. It was only three months and whenever a roommate would bring up the countdown to the last day of classes, I would actually start to cry and need a tissue. On my last day at ACREF, I was in the staffroom saying goodbye to the teachers and I was what some would call a wreck. We had to go to the auditorium and during my goodbye to the students I told them that the teachers they have at ACREF are simply the best teachers I have met during my time in Kenya and then the yelps and tears part two started. I told myself I would not cry in front of my students ever, well the rule mind over matter didn’t hold true. I don’t know why I am so emotional about leaving. I am extremely happy for my immediate future; seeing family beginning a new step in my education and hopefully looking for a greater purpose but I can’t help but thinking about the people I’ve met and what their continued journey means for them. The fact that I’ve grown so close with the people around me makes me know that something has happened for me and hopefully has made something click for me in being an educator, teacher and hopefully friend.

People need food, clothing, shelter, education and healthcare. The Millennium Development Goals exist because they contain all things that people need in order to get out of poverty. While the goals themselves have been deemed unattainable, it doesn’t mean there no longer needed- people I’ve met and people around the world continue to struggle to provide the basic rights of life. The people also need something to believe in, they need a purpose and they need someone to hold onto too. The students I taught called me friend, told me that I gave them something to believe in and said that I have taught them about the world and their role in it. I hope that I offered them love. I can’t fix their situations. I can’t give them enough to provide all of their basic rights but I hope the love that I showed them will give them a sense of purpose and raise them up as a human being.

Humans need love. People need to feel safe, protected and assured. Love is a start to this message. Love makes life bearable. Love can and will save people in circumstances that are beyond anyone’s control. If people have true love in their life, their undying passion will make them treasure the little moments in life. The first lesson is love. I hope collectively we can try to make decisions with love, make it a daily practice and transform the world starting with ourselves. All you need is love, love is all you need.

Power in the Classroom: Who Should Be Responsible?

``Those who can`t Teach`` vs. ``It takes a Village to Raise a Child``

As I prepare for a career in teaching, I am thinking about what my personal teaching philosophy should be and how I will put my teaching pedagogy into action. This year as a Beyond Borders student I was tasked to read a chapter from Paulo Friere`s Pedagogy of the Oppressed where he writes about the power balance within the classroom. Friere describes the relationship between the teacher and student as being unequal where the teacher holds the majority of the power over the student. In order for valuable consumption of education to take place, Friere believes that the student needs to be given an equal amount of power in the teaching dynamic. As I begin to think about what kind of teacher I want to be, I know I want to teach students but I want to learn from them as much as I teach them. This basic form of equality education has been unfortunately compromised in the classrooms I have taught in while in Kenya.

The teacher exclusively holds the power in the education model and the students are left in a vulnerable and sometimes volatile environment. In the education model that I have seen the teacher student dynamic is often better described as a servant relationship where the teacher is the pompous master and the student is used as a support system. For example, if the teacher needs anything the student must be responsible for knowing what the teacher requires. This relationship can be as simple as a student getting a piece of chalk or a textbook that a teacher left in the staffroom or a teacher that refuses to erase the chalkboards and has a student stand in front of the class to erase the chalkboard for the teacher. Students are also treated as servants when they are asked to get water or tea for their teachers or even run errands for their teachers like delivering forms to places as far as thirty minutes away. The education model in this form is oppressive. The model is firm in the sense that too many teachers are behaving in this manner and that it is considered acceptable behaviour and appropriate to the teacher student relationship.

The teacher holds even more power in more serious matters. Discipline is a subject that I`ve written before. I`ve seen discipline used far too many times which has made me loose favour with many teachers I`ve met along my journey. I will remind you that caning in Kenya is illegal and no teacher is allowed to lay a hand on a student. Still caning does happen and every classroom I`ve been in carries a cane. A vast majority of teachers responses indicate that as long as a child is not bruised and that no mark is left on the body then there is no proof. The surprising thing that I`ve encountered is that every time I have seen a student get more then ten lashes or cry from a beating a teacher has given, a parent has gone to the classroom the next day and filed a complaint. The complaint action seems like a step towards progress but unfortunately because there is literally no bruising or marks on the child, the teacher denies that a beating took place. Because the teacher is the one holding the power and the voice of the children remain unheard, the teacher always wins.

The school itself continues to yield power. A free government education forces students to pay uniform fees, desk rental fees, lunch fees, examination fees and I`m almost certain that I`ve seen teachers take a cut off the top of these fees. These are children that are raised in a slum; families live in poverty and must sacrifice for children to be educated and the quality of education isn`t even that high. Furthermore, even if you have the approximately $500 CAD per student to send your kids a low level private school, it is a huge chunk out of a family income of approximately $3500 CAD. In no circumstance is the family even given an opportunity to have an ounce of power in the education model but they are the ones paying into the system. The school forces students to clean the classroom, wash the cement and creates of subordinate culture on a daily basis.

I understand that a power relationship will exist in the classroom model. A teacher will always be seen as the leader in the classroom and has a job to educate the children but it is how a teacher yields their power that dictates what kind of environment is created. Teachers should be striving to reduce the innate belief that they are the professorial model and must be obeyed. Instead, teachers should try to create as much of an egalitarian relationship as possible where students feel their ideas are valued, listened too and taken into serious consideration. Parents must be given an opportunity to provide input and be educated on what the general teaching pedagogy of a districts classroom is like. Educational professionals who are not just looking at the bottom line must contribute and work to balance these important objectives. These steps will reduce the extreme power imbalance of the classroom.

Most of all, I believe that teachers must stop treating children as stupid and parents as useless. The saying, ``Ìt takes a village too raise a child`` should be applied and put into action where resources are invested into children instead of the child investing energy into the resources. The truth is that teachers care less about students because for the most part, Kenyan teachers themselves work in oppressive environments and have a low standard of living. The popular mythical statement, ``those that can`t, teach`` is a Kenyan reality and unless people start to adjust their perception on both of these statements, the education model will remain forever flawed.

Getting Ahead

The caste system in India was a major obstacle for people to get ahead or move forward in their personal life. Because of the status people were born into in society they could not move ahead in their lives and provide better for themselves in their future. This unfortunate reality caused major upheaval and saw the caste system break down. Although the breaking down of the Caste system did not eliminate India’s poverty or problems, it was a major turning point to create a more egalitarian society. Although Kenya does not have the same rigid caste system as India has, there are certainly many elements that keep Kenya and their citizens behind in the game of life.


One of the things that are ever present in Kenya is the old fashioned and historically important tribes. All of the Kenyans I have met still identify with their ancient familial tribes and identify with the rich heritage that it provides. I believe that tribalism can and is an important part of honouring their rich cultural heritage. Like Canada’s aboriginals, the people of Kenya still want their children to understand about the clothes, dancing, food, language and way of life their ancestors lived. I see nothing wrong with this but it is being overly proud of this heritage that holds Kenyans back.

There is a distinct line between honouring ones heritage and being ignorant of the other rich cultures around you. Students in my secondary school classes will pick on other students because of the way they talk and communicate solely because stereotypically, people within a specific tribe also communicate this way. The students always pick on this one student in class because she talks funny according to them. It is these ideas and this stigma that doesn’t allow for prosperity to move forward. I also had an issue in my class five class where a student called another student a cockroach. This derogatory term was used to describe those killed in the Rwandan genocide and still brings an air of uneasiness to East Africa. Adults seem to be far worse in the tribalism argument. Adults will refuse to rent out office space or residential space to businesses and individuals because of what tribe they belong to and some Kenyans will even refuse to marry or date outside of their tribe.
The majority of people I’ve met are not like this but such is life. It is the people who do act irresponsibly that create the chaos within the society and push people back into a system of slavery that is not defined like it but creates a superiority complex of people and can lead to bigger catastrophe. Culture and history should be wonderful contribution to history. I’ve had the pleasure of having a traditional Kenyan meal from one of the tribes and seeing various dances from different tribes. Its also great to see children learn their mother tongue languages in addition to Kiswahili and English. These are them parts of culture that should be shared and taught but it’s the animosities and grievances that people remember and exploit.

The ability to access certain services for individuals keeps them behind. Kenyans have very little collateral and have very little to offer up so getting loans for business ideas and for housing is near impossible. A lot of people simply need someone to take a chance on them but the reality is that people are no inclined to give people a chance without seeing a clear benefit so the people are often times left with nothing. Even when there are structures in place to support people like youth business loans, finding access to those systems becomes difficult for certain types of people which can actually disqualify those that need the help the most. A good university education can also be hard to come by. Getting diplomas is a lot easier then an actual degree that at a good school can cost 350 000 Kenyan Shillings per school year ($3500 CAD). This price seems more then alright when thinking about it in Canadian standards. Although Canadian students themselves don’t usually have the money to pay for their education, they can off set it by earning money in the summer and having a job market to pay their student loans back afterwards but in Kenya, some middle class workers only make 350 000 Kenyan Shillings a year which puts a huge struggle on affording education, getting a quality education and finding work afterwards. Not to mention, there is no student assistance system because the government simply cannot afford one. Not having access to these essential services disqualifies a lot of people I meet from moving ahead in life.

The system has an important focus on serving the community and community togetherness but there are even greater stresses that contribute to a very aggressive and self centered society including poverty. People have to go through great struggles in order to sustain life for themselves so when the opportunity to advance presents itself, even if it is not the most ethical, people can and will jump through hoops. For example, the internet café that I go to, to update my blog recently had a modem stolen so the eight computers in the café have no internet and the owner who still has to pay the bills does not the ability to generate income unless people need to use the word processing. The thieves on the other hand have a very important piece of technology that they can easily sell on the black market and make a huge penny off of while the internet café owner struggles to move ahead with what I think is a very effective business strategy for the environment he finds himself in.

There are many things within the system that prevent people from getting ahead. Its easy to understand why people have a difficult time overcoming poverty and rising above when the system at every turn prevents them from moving ahead because it favours the wealthiest and most powerful in the society. On the other hand, to see people who refuse to move out of the state of mind of living in community and want to hold on to old vengeances and knowing that it holds back progression is dangerous thinking. It needs to start with the people to work together in cooperation. If it starts here, then hopefully the people can work together to change the system.