Hi!
Hope y’all had a wonderful week. This week’s blog is derived form Julia Webie’s Internship report. Julia hails from Germany and was in the country from the 20th July 2011 to the 06th September 2011. She not only had a chance to volunteer in Nairobi but also in Kakamega, Western Kenya.
Here is a glimpse into her experience:
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Internship Experience Nairobi
During my time in Kenya I mostly worked at the Mary Immaculate Rehabilitation Centre in Mukuru,(Nairobi) where I assisted in teaching and counseling the former street boys and also spent a lot of their free time with them. I helped the weaker students in class and also cooperated with the regular teachers during the classes.
For me, it was very rewarding to work in the centre, because I felt that the boys and also the teachers really appreciated me being there.
When I started the regular school year was almost over, so during most of my stay the kids only had very few classes in the morning and a lot of time for themselves during the rest of the day. This made it easy for me to get to know everyone in a more relaxed atmosphere and as I got to know everyone better, the boys started to come to me, talk to me about all sorts of issues and ask me about everything. Though I did not actually teach my own classes in the centre, I could still do some “teaching” of my own, as for example more than once a question from a boy like for example “Can you show Germany on a map” ended up in me and a group of kids sitting around a world map and me telling them about all different countries they wanted to know about.
What amazed me most while working in the centre was how interested and open the boys can be, once you get to know them. It was great to see that most of them are really interested in learning something and doing well. They told me about their lives and also asked a lot of questions about education and the future, this made it easier for me to encourage them and understand their way of living and their culture. So I think both me and the kids learnt a lot during my stay there.
Internship Experience Kakamega
I spend 10 days in Nambacha in the area of Kakamega, teaching computer classes in Chebuyusi Boys High School. This was the most challenging experience I had in Kenya, as people there were completely surprised that we actually showed up and as they did not expect us, they did not have anything to do for us at first. We were the first interns ever to go to rural schools in that area, and it already took us days to make them understand what we were actually there for.
So during the first couple of days we only taught few lessons, but it was not enough to really teach the students all the basics. The problem was that they did not have any free spaces in their timetables and other teachers had to give up their lessons for us…
During the last three days we also started to teach basic computer skills to those teachers who were interested. This made more sense, as then we had smaller groups, the teachers could come to us whenever they were free and they were really interested in the possibilities computer can provide for their teaching. The business teacher for example thought the monitor was a television when we started. After two days he was already able to create spreadsheets with blank T-accounts for his business class students, which they always did by hand before. For people like him, knowing computer basics can really change their everyday work life. By the time we were about to leave, most of the staff had realized that they actually have use for us and would like us to extend our stay..The time in Kakamega was very impressive and though it was quite hard at the time I am really happy I went there, because I feel like there I got to know “the real Kenya”. Of course Nairobi is impressing, but it is just not how the majority of the population in Kenya lives. So I think it would be a great and challenging experience for interns in the future.
Things I learnt
Apart from getting to know the culture one of the most important things I learnt in Kenya is to really appreciate things more that seem normal to everyone in Germany, like access to education. In Europe the education is generally free up until high school, while in Kenya I experienced that a lot of people have to struggle to provide their kids with the basic education. And also smaller things like having electricity at all times were not an issue that I ever thought about before I came to Kenya. Now I am more aware of issues like that and I think it is important not to take all this for granted.
Challenges
One of the challenges I faced while in Kenya was “speaking the same language” as the Kenyans. Though everybody was speaking English it was sometimes still difficult to really understand each other. I often experienced misunderstandings due to cultural differences, which I had to get used to first to avoid them. For example while I think something is a simple thing to ask, my opposite could even feel offended and refuse to understand my point. However, this was happening less often later during my stay.
THANK YOU!
Finally, I would like to thank TOFAUTI for organizing this internship, I really had a great time in Kenya and met people and gained experiences I will never forget! Keep up the good work!
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Thank you, Julia, for sharing the warmth of your personality to all you met. In today’s world, such is priceless.
Cheers.
(Compiled by)
George Stanley
Documentation guy
Tofauti on The Move.
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