Tuesday-Wednesday, June 26-27, 2017, part 2

Isaac’s children go to a day school in Narok called Legacy and Heritage Primary School.  It was founded, and continues to be run by, a woman named Margaret.  She was not around when I came here last year, but it didn’t take long to see that she is an incredibly strong woman.  We would later learn that she has even stronger views about education, government, the Masai, children, parenting, health care, women… and on and on and on.  It’s my own fault, though; I was the one asking the questions.  Regardless of this conversation (that took place just before we left), her school really is beautiful.  The grounds are impeccably kept and the children are very well behaved – there was nobody kneeling outside the headmaster’s office.

Karen went and worked with Tatiana’s teacher first.  It was a 1^st grade class and they were learning greetings.  “How are you?”  “What is your name?” … that kind of thing.  She was incredibly animated and role-played each scenario to illustrate to the children what it might look like outside the classroom.  It was quite entertaining and each child was engaged.  Karen was surprised that there didn’t really appear to be any kind of a lesson plan.  She’s been in that position before, so she took it in stride.  We took more photos of the class outside.  These children are simply adorable.

We then went to Caleb’s class wehre the students were out on break.  That just means that they’re playing in the courtyard between classes.  Obviously, that meant that the room was empty.  We called but no one answered.  Before we could turn around and leave, the children all came running in – another student had gone to fetch them.  We sat and talked for a bit before releasing them back to their recess, and proceeded back to the principal’s office, and this was where she began speaking.  Although I never saw the soapbox come out, I’m pretty sure it was there.  I asked some questions because I found her comments interesting but the rest of the group weren’t engaged in the conversation – Margaret was really only talking to me.  Of course, I wasn’t aware of this at the time and I’m fairly confident that the conversations went on for much longer than it should have.  Well, we finally found an ending and she walked us to the car.  That’s a very common Kenyan tradition.  When visitors leave, the host walks them to their car to “give them a push.”  Margaret was definitely in her element.

We headed back to the hotel and decided to forgo dinner.  Instead, we made peanut butter and jelly and washed it down with water.  It was enough to do the trick and soon we were fast asleep.  Truth be told, I’ll have to check with Karen and Andrea regarding the validity of this entire storyline.  Any corrections will be made in the next entry.

Before leaving I could see young girls trying to touch Karen's hair as she walked by.  Once I pointed it out to her, she immediately removed her ponytail and waited until everyone was satisfied.  They were amazed at the color and how soft it was.  There also amazed with the hair on your arms.  The young boys would stroke my arm as iff they were walking through a heat filed touching the ends of the high stalks.  once we were sure there was a smile on every face, we departed.

We were invited back to Isaac's for dinner where Leah prepared rice, goat and spinach.  The food, as always was delicious.  The girls are still unsure about the goat.  Actually, that's not true - they are very certain about the goat, but they're being very good about it.  Sleep will come easily tonight as we're still getting used to the time change.  Our bodies will adjust when it's time to head home.