We had a quick breakfast and after breakfast, Thomas and I
went on the game drive with private primary school students and Euphantis. We
went on a four hour game drive. I think
I have now seen almost all of the animals at Lewa, except for the hippos. During
lunch, we had a great conversation with the two teachers from the school, I was
surprised that they were only eighteen years old, we talked a lot about how the
education system works in Canada and the U.S. and they shared a lot about the
education system in Kenya. After the game drive, we set up a test at the
Conservation Education Centre (CEC). After the game drive, we went back to the CEC
and started to set-up the computers to test the students about the game drive.
Unfortunately, we had connection problems with the 1.5 version OLPCs. But we
worked it all out, by instead having the students reading the answers aloud.
After the test, Euphantis gave everyone a small souvenir.
When we got back to camp, we found out that our tent had
been broken into by a monkey. He took our only bag of chips, I can’t imagine
how smart this monkey was, they had a target and they went for it. ---Jonathan
Zhu
Today, we had a very fun and exciting day. Breakfast, as
usual was delicious, and after travelling a good 20 minutes we reached Ntugi
Secondary school. Nayyir and Mr. Woodroffe decided to visit the playground
being built by Mr. Denstedt at the Primary school.
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| The playset to date: it only requires railings, ballister and roof. |
Although very hot, Mr.
Denstedt and his team were working tirelessly building the playset with the
majority of it completed. Many kids were admiring the playset that they would
soon enjoy, and Mr. Woodroffe and Nayyir decided to play a little game with the
kids, aged 3 to 4 years, in which the students had to repeat the actions and
sounds made by Mr. Woodroffe and Nayyir. The kids had a thrill of a time and
didn’t want to go back into the class, so Nayyir and Mr. Woodroffe decided
that, with the consent of the teacher, to sing and teach the students about the
English alphabet. Many students immediately joined in on the song, and the
activity was enjoyed by all. After we played with them, they all jumped on the playset swings -- they are ecstatic about the playset.
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| At one point Mr. Denstedt counted 6-students on one swing!! |
After Mr. Woodroffe and Nayyir returned to the secondary
school, we helped the students out with their science projects. Nayyir helped
out a student analyzing the content of phosphoric acid in coke, in which the pH
level of the acids played a huge part. Also, Nayyir taught a student about
different themes in Biology, like Genetics, Reproduction, and diversity of
living things. I was very surprised that the student immediately learned a ton,
indicating that he sure was a quick and a sharp learner.
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| Nayyir and Ntugi Student |
Andrew and Justin helped a group with their Biology project,
demonstrating how oxygen was pumped by the heart and moved through the heart
and the muscles.
Lunch came late, but it was as good as always. Immediately after lunch, the basketball game
commenced. The Ntugi team ran fast and
demonstrated good zone defense, taking the lead in the first half. In the second half, we switched to man-to-man
defense, got some points, but were unable to turn the game around. The final score was 25 to 20 for the Ntugi
team. Shortly after the basketball game, since most of the
students were in class, we organized a volleyball game with one of the gym
coordinators. Although, most of our team had very little experience, we put up
a hard fight only to succumb 25-21. Although we lost, the game was greatly
enjoyable.
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| David and Ntugi Prefects. |
After school the students flooded in again. Some were there to work on their science
projects, and others came to play music on the electric keyboard brought a few
years ago. But most came in to learn
typing. The lesson plan made by Andrew
went faster than originally thought.
Instead of having to come back another day, they learned how to type in only
45 minutes, leaving 15 for practice. We
look forward to teaching the Subuiga students tomorrow. --- Nayyir Ismail
