School Health Program = My Salvation

Out of all the work I have done here and everything that I do, my favorite times are those I am working with kids. As much as I may dislike spending an uneventful few hours at work in the afternoon waiting for a class, I always (well, almost always) leave the class happy and feeling rewarded. In the beginning this wasn’t always the case, as I think I’ve talked about in an earlier blog post. When the schools weren’t all committed and the students were unruly, the school program could sometimes be the worst part of my day. But now that I’ve learned lessons from the first two terms, and worked out a better system for the schools, I am really enjoying myself.

Planning the school program consists of selecting the topics we would like to teach for the year. The school term in Kenya is broken into 3 terms with a month of break in between each. We try and teach every week in each of the school and at the end of each term there is an exam on the topics which have been covered. In December I sat down with my coworkers and we came up with a list of topics we think are important to talk to the kids about and then tried to cluster them into three terms so that the subjects within each are somehow related. It’s not always possible, but in general it seems to work out. We do the simpler things in the beginning so that the students can get used to the teaching style and start feeling more comfortable with us (the teachers include myself, and my two colleagues Rose and Noor). We increase the complexity throughout the year and culminate in the more sensitive subjects at the end so that students have built up a trust with us and will be more willing to ask the difficult or maybe embarrassing questions about HIV and STIs, FGM and sexual health. By early January we had come up with a plan for the year (a rough plan at least) and started making preparations for meeting with the schools.

I wanted to meet with the schools during the second week they were opened in the new year so that we could get the program up and running early, thereby covering more topics. My supervisor advised me to wait until the 3^rd week to give the schools more time to get into their schedules and work out the beginning of the year kinks. Many of the schools have gotten new Head Teachers since last term. It seems to be common practice in Kenya to fire Head Teachers when the school doesn’t perform on the National Exams even if they haven’t been at the school very long, which seems somehow unfair (and personally, impacts the school program negatively since we have to develop all new relationships and present the whole project again). Finally, we met with the Head Teachers and presented the schedule we had developed. Unfortunately, I was told – for the first time ever – that the schools have exams the last week of every month and would not be able to have classes on those weeks. So we went back and re-drafted the schedule taking out the classes that we felt were less important (a hard job because we think they are all important). We ended up with the following subjects for this term: hygiene, water and sanitation, malaria, problem solving, and transmission of illness. Thankfully, all of the teachers agreed to the redrafted schedule, but by that time it was the last week of January and we couldn’t begin our classes because of exams.

The first week of February I was unexpectedly in Nairobi (taking care of some stomach issues which have been bothering me since before November) and it was up to the other staff to implement. I was feeling a bit nervous about things because I have to remind everyone about the classes and what we need to be doing even when I am around the office. But Noor came through for the program and really did an excellent job. He visited all the schools and even remembered to count the number of boys and girls in each for our records. The only hitch to the whole week was that Winners Academy, one of my favorite schools, was unable to meet for the class because of exams. This was perplexing to me because in addition to sitting down with every Head Teacher and going over each day of the schedule to make sure there were no conflicts, Winners was the school who had initially told me that they had exams always on the last week of the month. Ugh. Things here are ever-changing. Another school, Sunshine Academy, informed us that the time they had set aside for us to teach was actually built into their schedule for Maths and they need to reschedule as well but they need to the Director to be present and OK the time slot. The Director is not usually around though, so even now we are waiting on a call from the Head Teacher telling us when a good time to come and meet with them both would be. In the past when these type of things would happen I would become so frustrated and stressed, but now I realize that I have done my part to make sure that things run smoothly. I cant control what happens at the schools with scheduling, exams, and whatever else comes up (as much as I’d like to), so I cant worry about it. Whatever happens will happen and in the mean time we will do our best to teach the students we can. Hopefully I can keep this perspective throughout my last 6 months.

Regardless of a few hitches, this year’s program is off to a great start. The students this term seem to be much more interested in the classes and we have had fewer problems with getting students to listen. I think starting in the beginning of the year instead of the 2^nd Term, and coming every week to teach is creating a much better atmosphere for the students. At Winners Academy most of the students have already learned the first two lessons because it is such a small school that we have combined classes, and I was so impressed today with the level of participation and the sheer volume of information they remembered from last year. It is really encouraging to us as teachers to see that the students are really learning, and not grudgingly.

At Hyuga Girls, there were many problems with the students last year. They have a late lesson and many of the girls would walk out during our session or just talk to other students through the windows, but this year the students seem more engaged. Maybe it’s because they have seen us come for the program before and it’s not something new anymore, or maybe the class ahead of them prepared them for what we are coming to teach. Maybe it’s because I’ve figured out my teaching style more these days and I can now balance discipline and fun better. I was really surprised last week when Rose and I went for a lesson at the behavior of the new girls, it was a wonderful lesson. Not only that, but the girls from the previous Standard 6 class that we taught last year (and who caused so many problems for me in class) were saying really nice things to us when they saw us through their classroom window. They thanked us for what we taught them and asked if we could come teach them in their new class. I wish we could. I really love when the students see me in town and greet me with a big smile. They call me Madam Rachel.

At the end of each term, at the bottom of the exam, there is a section for feedback on the class. Since the kids in Kenya aren’t ever asked their opinion on what they learn or how they learn, this section has caused some frustration and confusion for them, but sometimes they understand and the information is really helpful. Most of all, the section where they can write comments has been a great motivator for the teachers because the students really say encouraging things. The following are some of the comments we have received:

• you have been so good to us and you have make us know things which had not know and we would like you to come again

• First I like to think you for teaching us very important thing. The lessons were not hard. I am happy because I have an opportunity to teach my peer group about effect of doing sex. Inshallah I will not circumcised my children including my daughter. When i grow up because there is a lot of dangerous thing will happen to my daughter. If my religion Islam does not like uncircumcised girls it is not my choice it is her life, body and choice. It is nice that government of Kenya had cancelled circumcision. I have a chance to teach female/male parent to use the method of A: abstinance, B: be faithful, C: use condom. Thank you SIMAHO my God reduce HIV/AIDS victims.
• I thank you for all you are doing and please continue the same way
• I want to be taught more and more so that I can be educated more than the way I was before our school started this program
• The SIMAHO school Health Program was interesting and during the lessons Madam Rachel and Madam Rose explain to pupils who do not understand some topics. During this lesson you can ask questions and express your feelings.

This is a picture of my colleague Rose teaching a class at Hyuga Girls Primary about puberty and reproduction. All the classes we teach in look like the one below: rows of small wooden benches with seats attached in a cement room, with open windows, and a chalk board in the front. This classroom is very large compared to most of the rooms we teach in.

These are pictures from the day we gave the trophy for Best School in the SIMAHO School Health Program to Winners Academy. They had scored the highest average on the exam out of the 5 schools we teach in.

These are some girls sitting in class during a lesson at Winners Academy.