Pokot Avoids Flooding
March 19, 2018
The rains have been very heavy and caused a lot of flooding in the process, but fortunately in Pokot there are no floods.
One of our girls was busy helping her mother over the week-end preparing their small portion of land for planting. Maize (corn) and beans grow well in Pokot. They have learned to grow their own food which they harvest and store to help ward off hunger during the dry season.
This girl and her mother also lease land from their neighbors who are not interested in farming and this helps them raise enough crop to sustain themselves. There is adequate rain now, and the crop should be ready in the next 3-4 months.
Schools nationwide close on the 29th of March, and so the girls will be coming in April to Thogoto College for their studies before schools re-open on the 8th of May.
We had our first Choice Club meeting at Kimuka Girls’ School last week on the 14th. We received an excellent reception. The girls were very excited to have the Choice Club at their school and even more so, to hear what we had to teach them. We had an introduction class, and the 3 Club patrons who sat in the class were very happy to hear about the lessons/subject matter we plan to teach the girls. They have no other outsiders coming to the school for Clubs. We are the first Club they have allowed in- it is a very big honor.
The girls are surely thirsty for information. They asked so many questions, and they were extremely attentive. The Guidance and Counseling teacher was amazed at the responses. She said any time she tries to get information from the girls they refused to speak or participate! The secret is getting to the girl’s level and meeting them there. It seems once teenagers gain your confidence, they will eventually open up, entirely! We had almost 2 hours with the girls, and we agreed we will meet with them every Wednesday at 4pm. The teachers will stay out during certain lessons, so the girls can freely share, and ask questions that they would otherwise not ask in their teacher’s presence. We also ask them to write us notes on personal questions and we will find a way to address them. The snacks were very much appreciated; getting snacks in a boarding school is a big deal!
We had a meeting with Shiners School this weekend on the 24th. We are currently looking for other schools for the Choice Club within Nairobi.
