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.

What I Can't Do

Everyday I look around me and see people who are in need. In need of what you might ask? Sometimes a lot, sometimes a little but no matter what they need sometimes it is not within my reach to provide what they are looking for. I would like to think that unlimited bank accounts and unlimited money would make people’s lives in Kenya all better but unfortunately this is the tip of the iceberg. Seeing the amount of people struggling to make ends meat each day reminds me of how much more then money the people need.


The almighty dollar seems to make the world go round. This is the sad truth. Without money, people are left with the inability to buy things like food, shelter and clothing. Even if they can produce these things themselves, they need money to buy material, supplies, and land to meet the above mentioned needs. I’ve been in a couple of situations where money is what I offered but I knew even then that money does not solve the problem. I had a long conversation with a young woman (16) whose stepfather drinks and has kicked her out of the house. Her mother is in complete compliance with her husband because she cannot find a voice for herself. The daughter was lucky enough to find refuge with a woman in town but has to provide all of her own food and clothing as money is tight for the woman who took her in and her family. The girl works washing clothes and cleaning floors for 50 cents a day and is struggling to pay for her education at ACREF. Right before midterms, she was asked to leave the school because she hadn’t paid her exam fees to write the midterm examinations. She asked me for the 200 Kenyan Shillings, it would cost to write her exams and hesitantly I gave her that money, the equivalent of $2 CAD.

We were told not to give money to individuals and although I understand why we were given those instructions in that instance I just could not let her be kicked out of school and leave her education in Form three (Grade eleven). I saw her take the money and give it to the teacher directly at the office so I knew it was well spent but I did not feel great afterwards. I just kept thinking that although she had the money this time, what about the next time money became tight for her? What about the next time she had to pay her school fees? The problem of her accessing her education does not simply end with me giving her money to pay her exam fees, it ends when she is able to afford that education or better yet when the education is provided to her at no cost. I don’t regret giving her the money but I hate the situation because it feels impossible in my hands and I feel like I can do nothing to help her. I can and will continue to support ACREF but the reality is that there are millions of children around the world that continue to have the same problem accessing education.

There are other issues beyond money that in three months I can’t just solve. Having the skill sets and resources to look after these issues seems removed in the context of Canada, and even further removed right here in Kenya. The student that eats paper to numb his hunger in my early Tuesday morning class or the man that sniffs glue outside of the public school I visit six times a week. These people have addictions that are beyond my control as a student finishing an undergraduate degree in history and religious studies. How do I council these people when I don’t even have the beginning of an answer. The world has enough food to feed everybody on this planet but yet these people have addictions because of the hunger they face each day. It seems easier to access these problems head on in Canada. The simple answer is to recommend counseling, notify Family, Children Services if need be and have a case worker help the family find resources from a food bank or counseling agency. I understand that there is way more to the story but to reflect the reality of Kenya, its lack of a social support system and access to addiction therapy and counseling paints the differences loud and clear.

What can I do? How can I help? Sometimes it seems impossible to do the right thing. Sometimes you help where you can while other times you pass the man on the street because you feel so helpless in offering real help to someone who is in real need of help. Its one of the most frustrating feelings to have: powerless. Although I have gained valuable experience and have had fun helping where I could and knowing that teaching and education would hopefully stick around with the students I taught, too feel powerless is still a frustration and reality. I knew I couldn’t save the world when embarking on this three month journey but hopefully this frustration will drive me to create as much action as possible so eventually the larger problem can actually be tackled. Until next time…

What Do I Share?

"You Cannot Escape the Responsiblity of Tomorrow by evading it today"

-Abraham Lincoln

Over my time in Kenya, I have been sharing with all of you my stories and experiences as well as thinking about the environment that I find myself in for three and a half months and the challenges of successes of the people I meet within the community each day. Why am I keeping a blog? The first answer is because it is a requirement for my program. I have been asked to critically think about my experiences within Kenya and post them on the blog. The deeper answer is because I truly believe that I have a responsibility to share the stories of the people I meet.

One of the biggest challenges in telling people’s stories is representing them as accurately and responsible as possible. I want to be as careful as possible in relaying my experiences on my blog and respecting the people I interact with each day. I think that no matter how difficult it is for students to communicate these stories, I think it is their responsibility to do so, so that people can begin to know and understand what is happening within the world we all live in. The more people that know these stories, the better a chance that things will be done regarding human rights issues and basic humanity. If more people understand that families live in temporary structures mounted in dirt that becomes mud during a rainfall, have no access to toilets and no access to education, then hopefully this will challenge the way people reading this blog live their daily lives in Canada and whomever is reading this around the world. The more that these stories are reported, the harder it becomes to ignore that people in Kenya and across the developing world have to choose between their basic rights like healthcare, education, food and shelter.

I have tried my best to ensure that I have protected the privacy of those individuals that I meet. I’m not here to exploit the people and exploit their circumstances just to get a few more blog hits or a better mark in the class. I want to share what is happening in their lives and why their lives should be important to the everyday person. I don’t want people to give individuals pity or pettiness. What I do hope is that I’ve made you think about the system. Its not enough to know that a man who tried to steal a motorbike was almost beaten within our neighbourhood; we all (myself included) need to think about why the system supports the behavior of a collective justice system and why the courts and the police are corrupt in matters like these. Its not enough to know that children sleep in the kitchen without understanding how money is distributed and the corruption of the ministry of education in Kenya. I can’t just tell stories without giving context about the  forces behind the stories.

There are stories that I just can’t tell. Some stories, I’m not ready to explain. Some stories, I still need to make sense. Some stories are just not for telling. This is where accountability and responsibility come into the discussion. It would be irresponsible for me to tell some of the stories of the people because there is a certain amount of confidentiality and safe guarding that comes into play and I know that it isn’t my role to tell these stories like a tabloid dropping a major headline without thinking about the repercussions. I refuse to shatter the serenity and peacefulness of these stories.

When I come home, I already know that a lot of people will ask questions like ‘What was it like? How did you find Kenya?’ These are all the immediate questions that come to someone’s mind after encountering a Beyond Borders alumni and this is where I think the greatest amount of personal responsibility comes into account. I know I cannot come back from Kenya and simply state that this experience was amazing. Yes, it was amazing but only saying it was amazing and not explaining the ‘why?’ Is a disservice  to those that are going on future exchanges, to a captive audience that wants to learn and do something and a disservice to the people that have supported us financially and emotionally every step of the way. We need to rise up to the call of action and tell the stories of the people. Personally, I know that I want to go on a pursuit of quality education for at risk youth, I want to make sure students are in school instead of playing in that garbage pile on the street and I want to ensure that teachers and parents are educated on how important their role is in the education model. These are the things that I need to talk about and share and advocate for. My role is not simply to advocate because although I have seen teachers lashing students 12 times across the arms and children sniffing glue in the streets; I’ve also seen the ability for hard work to pay off. I’ve seen students try and succeed. I’ve seen students challenged and think and do better. I’ve seen adults who are active community members who work everyday to make a better Kenya and a better community.

To do all of the above is not the easiest task in the world. To be honest, sincere, responsible, compassionate and act with integrity when working with marginalized people is hard. Everyone in the world deserves running water, an education, love and shelter. Everyone in this world deserves a fighting chance but not everyone gets that chance and that’s what makes it hard. The problems I encounter everyday here should be non-existent and it is in this frustration that the greatest learning and self reflection takes place. The truth, I want to send a huge ‘F*** you’ to the world to get their attention but the system does not work this way and if we truly want to challenge the system in which we live, we must be sincere, responsible, compassionate and have real integrity in sharing the stories of the people we’ve met on our journey. 

You Can't Explain Life when you Don't Understand it Yourself

Teaching for me comes with successes and failures. I feel as though I’ve had both in Kenya but this week I feel like I failed my students at ACREF. I feel like I failed to educate a young man on the value of being human. The first problem is that no one in this world has all of the answers. If we did have all of the answers, we would live in a strange, euphoric utopia. When students are so desperately trying to get all of the answers, a teacher eventually has to be honest and say that they themselves don’t have the answers to all the questions that a student asks.

In May, the young man said that he would rather be a slave in Europe then live as a free man in Kenya. I understand that life in Kenya can be difficult; survival as a daily struggle is not something that I have been lucky enough to not need to worry about. It  is extremely difficult to have any amount of hope when you feel that the system around you keeps you in poverty. The idea of giving up your freedom in favour of being owned by another person that has more largely because of the colour of their skin is inhumane and goes against the dignity of the human being. I have tried to teach social consciousness through English and have given students writing assignments to give them an opportunity to think about the world around them. I have also tried to be a coach and mentor to these students and assist them as best possible in their pursuit of knowledge and greater understanding. The world we live in is far from perfect but I want students to understand that they have a role in contributing to the world around them instead of them believing that the world is unchanged no matter how the student interacts with the world. The student came back on Wednesday (the last day of classes for Term II) with the exact same conclusion.

I feel as though I was unable to be a good enough teacher to this young man if he truly believes that being a slave is better then the life he lives today. African slaves in the 15 and 1600’s used to be placed in wooden barrels and brought back to Europe. Some suffocated on their own fesis, some were killed my the rampant disease while the others that made it back to England were forced to be degraded by English aristocrats. That is the reality of the African slave trade. I know that this  is not the answer to what this young man is thinking about and pondering.  Sometimes education is about assisting students in developing their own critical thinking skills but sometimes even the best students can be misguided in thought. I think it is the teacher’s responsibility to help the student figure out in this case what it means to be human and I failed to do that.

The greatest challenge I’ve encountered in teaching besides poverty is the inability of students to understand that my life and the lives of my friends are far from perfect. The students look up to me and in many ways think that I live in a glass house. It is fair to say that I have more and am far more fortunate to live in a country whose laws and systems make it easier for the average person to survive but this does not disqualify struggle from the western world. The students cannot understand that students in Canada use drugs and have drug problems or become pregnant at early ages or that students like themselves will wake up and go to school hungry and return home and go to bed the same way. How can these students understand that living on 1025 Kenyan Shillings an hour is difficult in Canada when if you made that in Kenya, you could live like a king. How can students understand that spending 160 000 Kenyan Shillings on an airline ticket is not a yearly salary like it is in Kenya?

I am not trying to make an argument for who is in greater need but these students desperately need to understand that corruption exists everywhere and that fairness is an ideal that requires a check and balance system no matter what country in the world it is.

I can’t explain to these students what fairness is. The world is not fair. The students know enough to know that. I can’t answer there questions on why developed nations give money to the African union and why the African union cannot pay it back. Why are Chinese firms building Kenyan highways? Why are students learning in classrooms that wild dogs won’t enter? I don’t have these answers, I believe very few people if any have answers to these ethical problems. What I do know is that it is a human responsibility to seek out answers and disqualifying yourself from the solution is not the answer. This is what the young man needs to learn and no matter how hard I tried I could not teach him this lesson.

It’s a lot easier to say that a teacher cannot assist every student they encounter but I believe that the very best teachers strive each day to reach every student. Anything less seems like a failure. Yes, I’ve had successes. When the students in this same class had to answer the question, ‘Do you believe that secondary education (Grade 9-12) should be free?,’ a student submitted his assignment and told me that I challenged him to think about the right to education and what it means. It made me feel that I had an impact, it made teaching totally worth it. Here’s the thing no matter how worth it that one student made me feel, I don’t need to worry (as much) about those students because they get it, it’s the students that are prone to falling through the cracks that need the greatest support. 

I will try to treat this failure like all of my failures as a lesson. The lesson does not become easier especially when you’re dealing with precious people. The lesson currently haunts me especially because of its implications and the capacity of this student in facing the future. The lesson continues to make me think and hopefully my final words to this young man will make him think, “Your statement makes me feel like I failed you. If the only conclusions you can draw go against the principles of humanity then you have to look at your own self worth and deem its value and then look critically at the world around you.”

This is not the Life... Welcome to Being Sick

Since May 2^nd, I have been waiting to get sick. ‘Why?’ You ask, because I was told along with my fellow Beyond Borders students that the time would come when you would be sick during your time abroad. As time gradually passed and my fellow peers from Canada in Kenya fell sick and recovered all from various illnesses, some more serious then others, I started to feel confident that I would not actually fall ill. Its great to be confident about your health but as the sneezing and coughing started Monday night, I knew I would have a cold before making my way back to Canada.

The cold started with a biting headache on Monday morning, waking up Tuesday morning- I knew I would not be going anywhere quickly. It was simply a head cold, nothing more. My symptoms included a stuffy nose, fever, feeling over tired with a sneeze, cough and headache. Being sick is never fun, add the fact that your in a foreign country makes it no better.

I pondered a couple thoughts when I was ill. The first was a little bit of a confusion. When the office heard that I was ill, the first thing they asked was whether or not I was going to the hospital. I don’t understand why they asked the question. I thought perhaps its because that’s what they think westerners do when they get sick. Then, the woman who cooks for us, saw me sleeping in bed during the day when she came over the lunch hour to cook us dinner. I got up and greeted her and upon hearing that I wasn’t feeling the best, she immediately asked if I had been tested for malaria. Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the concern but I felt confident enough to label the illness a common cold and nothing more. [Update: 24 hours later, the only symptom that remains is a stuffy nose.]

I still don’t completely understand what drives people here to go to the hospital immediately after something goes wrong. Being concerned is absolutely positive and its good that the people are so concerned about their health. Maybe, the people that live here are afraid that they could develop a serious condition like malaria since chances are higher of getting malaria here then in other parts of the world. Having a doctor confirm a prognosis would be a positive step in ensuring and guaranteeing health since their lives are so fragile as witnessed by the low life expectancy numbers of Kenyans.

The health care system in Kenya does not appear to support the belief of seeking medical assistance. There is no national health care plan and little option for those that live on less then a dollar a day. In addition, even those with good jobs hardly have health benefits so all health costs are out of pocket. Unless you work for a multinational corporation or a very VERY reputable company, the chances of having health insurances are slim to none. Being sick also made me think about how easy it would have been for me to seek medical attention. I do have medical coverage through my school and the coverage even covers me as I travel here in Kenya. Even If I didn’t, I would more easily be able to access and afford medical attention compared to the people that actually live here. Kenyans like many in developing countries are forced with the decision to choose between basic needs like food and shelter over healthcare. Last time I checked up on humanity, these were all human rights. It breaks your heart every time you see someone need to choose between their own human rights.

I think I’ve tried to outline some of the real challenges concerning health care in a country like Kenya. The second observation I have is a little more vain and is about the comforts of home. Being a grown up is a lot less fun and filled with lots of responsibility. At home, every time I have fallen ill, it’s a comfort to know that my mom will do my laundry for me, allow me to lie for hours on end on the living room couch and accept my mood no matter how grouchy I am. In Kenya, the laundry is still neatly piled in my laundry box, I have roommates that I have to be nice to no matter how crummy I feel and a mosquito net will never replace a living room couch. Truthfully, It wasn’t as big of a deal as I thought it might be but it was nice to look at photos of loved ones back home and made me think about the people that take care of others. It takes great patience and a commitment to be a parent. I already knew this but seeing what a parent does when you have to do it yourself reaffirms how much of a commitment and responsibility it is to be a good parent. You also realize how much you love and value your family. The family unit is the first agent of socialization and its no wonder the impact the family has on your development.

As far as health care is concerned, I think having a good family is a first step. A good family is a positive first step to ensure that people are looked after enough to stay healthy is sometimes very tough circumstances. Although unsettling, it is good to know that parents are willing to sacrifice almost anything to ensure that children are properly looked after even if it means visiting a doctor or going to a hospital. I think I’ve heard first hand what it means when you have to pay out of pocket for health care. It usually means that your not getting the very best health care option because the system inherently favours those with more and sometimes means that dinner on the table is not a guarantee the next day after a hospital visit.

As I recover and go on with the rest of my journey in Kenya, I will remember that health care is a basic right and a right that gets people out of poverty.

Learning Stops at the Fifth Row

“Before I met you Dr. Greg, I had no idea what education was… But now I think it is like water. It is important for everything in Life.”

-Three Cups of Tea (Mortenson and Oliver 312)

Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘One Goal: Education for all?’ Unfortunately we are still trying to aspire to the goal worldwide and still have not achieved near what we need to in the globalized world. Although we would like to think that everyone has an equal chance at education, this is simply not the case and millions worldwide are still in need of additional resources to help them get an equal step in the door.

Even in the Western world, students are left without the resources they need to compete in a global economy. The truth is that socio-economic status has a lot to do with how well a student will do in school and those affects often dictate how those students will grow up and compete in a competitive job market. Education is not just about the pencil crayons, multiplication tables, sending kids to school on the school bus or organizing after school play dates, it is a complex system that is intertwined with other parts of life. If students come from low socio economic standings, they can be disqualified from education for reasons like not having breakfast in the morning which consistently could result in low energy levels and low performance levels. Students might not have backpacks, geometry kits or other essential school supplies for the Canadian system of education. Students might have a more difficult time paying for post secondary education or might not be able to afford it at all. 

Resources do exist to help students who do not have the adequate social supports. Of course these resources could always be more plentiful but the fact that resources like Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Send a Kid to school smiling campaign, Pathways to Education, Strong Start, Books for Kids exist say something about a commitment to Education equality in Canada.

Another group of students who can easily be disqualified from education is students with disabilities. Not enough of the proper resources exist in a classroom setting to give students the support they need to exist and work in a normal classroom setting. Special Education budgets are often a major concern for Educational Assistants, teachers and parents alike who want to see students succeed no matter what barriers they may have. When I filled in my teacher’s college applications late last year, I knew that I wanted to make equity and social justice in education a central theme in my teaching philosophy and truly work to make sure that I could do my part to ensure Education for all actually takes place. Although our system has many flaws in it, I believe that we have committed people within our system who are trying to make positive change for the students who are challenged by the system itself.

Being in Kenya, it is extremely difficult to see the amount and variety of students who are left to the sidelines because they simply have natural barriers that prevent them from fully participating in the education system.  There are students in the classes I teach that absolutely must have a learning disability who don’t even know it. These students cannot hold their attention long enough to open their textbook to a certain page number and distract the circle of students working around them making effective classroom management for the teacher incredibly difficult. Students with far worse challenges like Autism are put into normal classes without any assistance and are expected to behave like a normal functioning child and do the same amount of work even though they do not understand and cannot get concepts above a certain level.  

Students with physical handicaps are lucky to go to school if they can go. Mostly students with handicaps are left out of the education system including a girl I met who does not have full mobility of her legs but was given special attention at an alternative school and now encourages parents with kids with disabilities to never give up on their children. Deaf children in Kenya are ‘incapable’ of going to school for a full day so are sent home before lunch to relax. No one actually has faith in these students to give them any sort of responsibility. There is a huge stigma that kids that are different in any shape or form are incapable to grow up to be functioning and productive members of society.

In large classes, especially those with between 60-90 students in them, learning stops in the fifth row. How are students to pay attention when there crammed right next to each other and are at the very back of the classroom and cannot see the chalkboard. On top of this some teachers will deliberately place students who do well at the front of the class so they are given all of the attention while students who need that extra support are once again left behind. Even when there are multiple class sections, head teachers can organize it so there is a smart class, a median class and a slow class so the poor classroom teacher with the poor performing students almost give up hope before the school year even begins.

I try my best to interact with the students that need the greater amount of attention but still feel at a loss to effectively teach them. I offer as much encouragement and empowerment as possible to them because I recognize the side effects of when teachers call them dumb, stupid, slow and retarded. I think this is where the difficulty comes into effect. How is Kenya or any developing country supposed to put in resources to support and enhance student learning when the people in charge don’t believe there is any problem with the system they have now or at least won’t admit it? Even more, if schools don’t have electricity or proper water and sanitation systems, then how do we expect governments to ever invest money into effective learning tools to develop the student experience and curriculum?

The truth is that students are being left behind in the education system. Having one goal being education for all is a lot easier to say then put into practice. Governments need to understand that investing in education means investing in leadership for the future. Like the quotation at the beginning this blog, education is as important as water; human beings need it in every aspect of life to continue to produce ideas that will get people out of poverty and into sustainable living. We need to want a progressive education system and we need leaders who will continue to strive and push towards education equality. It starts with teachers and administrators but there also needs to be community mobilization and people with brilliant ideas that know how to help students and their families and understand, believe in and endorse the principle of an equal education advantage for all students.