New Website!!!

Hi everybody,

 

The last few months have flewn by soooo fast that I did not realize that it is already January. After a few months of not knowing when and where to go I finally have booked my flight and I will fly out to Kampala, Uganda this Thursday 27.1.2011. As I was quite impressed with interest all of you have shown in my blog last August I thought I just set up a complete new page for the next years project including a blog, photos and locations etc. You will find my new website on: www.wenckeinafrica.org

 

I hope you will enjoy it as much as you enjoyed the last one.

--
Wencke

A Chaotic Morning

I guess our group has been quite spoiled with very good organisation by the hubs in Mombasa and Lamu which we were reminded this morning on our first day of training in Malindi. First of all, we did not know until yesterday afternoon/evening whether we would train or not. Then we found out that we are running 3 courses (PC Maintenance, Introduction to Spreadsheet and Train the Trainer). However, 1/3 of our team was down with a stomach bug so we were only 6 to go to the school.

When we arrived there only two trainings were planned to in the school and my course which I took over from Shellyas she was sick (Train the Trainer) was supposed to be held in another school. We could not have our small group to be separated and there were two rooms available. Now talking to one of the guys that was involved in organising the training in Malindi he wanted to tell me that we need to respect adults and have to go to the other school as the teachers were told the course is going to be there. Now, that was also the person that told us he meets us at 10am in the hotel on Sunday to discuss what is planned and never showed up nor answered his phone or answered texts. So that person wanted to lecturing me about respecting adults and on top of that he is only 19 years of age and seems to have issues with women.

Hmmm the one that know me can probably imagine my reaction to all of this. Basically he told me to rearrange was not possible and my answer was just like the Nike advertisement: "Everything is possible." Surprisingly he did make it possible but all of the sudden with all this chaos most of the teachers did not bother to show up anymore. Instead of starting my course at 9 I started at 10:30 am.

A teacher in my morning class (we split the courses and held each course in the morning and in the afternoon so people could take advantage and learn as much as they could) told me that he was told about the courses by his principle on Saturday and was promised more information on Sunday - which never happened. So he showed just up and there he was in my course. Although the day was quite chaotic the courses run very well and our three sick people at the hotel were all feeling much better. So all in all it was a great day.

--
Wencke

From Lamu to Malindi

Yesterday morning we started our journey from Lamu to Malindi our last destination for training. Our first transportation was a little wooden boat which is also called a ferry. Our team of 10 with all our luggage and 23 locals needed to find space on the ferry. The captain wanted to get more people onto the boat although the 33 of us already struggled for space.

In the middle of our journey all of the sudden water leaked into the boat. Only two of our team started to get worried were all the locals seem not to mind. I already prepared myself with getting my passport and credit card into my pocket so just in case I have to swim I would have the most important possessions with me. Fortunately, the boat made it to the shore and we entered a bus for 5.5 h to Malindi.

The bus was full and even some people needed to stand. On the way there were regular controls by police and army who were interested in the Somalian passengers in the bus. At one stage we even had to armed guards with machine guns sitting infront of the bus. I was explained that they have started doing this as the bus route was quite close to the Somalian border and 10 years ago there were foreigners removed from busses by Somalians. When the guards entered I was a bit worried but did feel a lot save after I heard that story.

There were 3 Somalians on the bus - two women and one child. At one of the police controls we had to drive into the police station (if you could call it a station really) and the bus was searched. When we continued our journey the Somalians were not allowed to get on the bus and had to stay behind.

The street to Malindi was more like a road made of sand rather than gravel. After 5.5 h we arrived in Malindi with no incidents and we went to our hotel. Now we are waiting for the local Camara representation to tell us what will happen. We still do not know if we are training and if, what courses we need to teach. As three of our group are sick with stomach bugs we also need to see what we will be able to deliver.

The situation here demands from us to be very flexible and not to get angry at the locals as this is their pace of life. Actually I really got used and enjoy the slower pace of life :D

--
Wencke

Good-bye Lamu

Finally we have internet connection again as Rosanne (one of my team members) has mobile internet which did not work on the island of Lamu. Unfortunately, our time in Lamu is over. This little island of the coast of Kenya really touched my heart. Only one day on the island and the community there recognised us as Camara teachers and just welcomed us with so much friendliness and warmth that we all felt like we are part of the community. Everybody was just so friendly that you did not feel like you were a foreigner. The community displayed such a big support for the work Camara does for the community and were very grateful for our presence and our teaching.

The education we bring to Lamu has such a high value to them that they organised a big graduation ceremony on Friday evening after the courses have finished. The graduation was held in the main square in the courtyard of an old fort. The graduation was started with speaches from quite a few political officials of the island stating how much the community appreciates our work and how much they have to continue supporting Camara in achieving their goal.

Interesting was that the majority of the students were woman. After the speaches which also included two of our team to speak some of the certificates were given out. After the official part was finished everybody got an ice cream for refreshment and then all the students came to us to thank us with hugs and loads of picture taking.

I found the ceremony very moving and was really sad to leave this beautiful people behind. I cannot believe we only have 5 days left in Africa as I just enjoy the teaching so much. This truly is a life changing experience and all our western worries seem so ridiculous. I also found here that the picture we get pained of Africa implies a wrong impression of the life here. Despite all its issues this continent or countries we should not forget that the people are sooooooo beautiful and friendly. Their motivation, engagement and hunger for knowledge has absolutely over-whelmed me.

--
Wencke

Lamu and the life of Pole Pole

finally, I find the time and the internet connection to give you an update on our work here in Kenya. Since last Saturday we are on Lamu an island of the coast of Kenya. Interestingly on this island the only transportation is with boat or donkey. There are only two cars on this island and one is the ambulance. I have not yet figured out who the other one belongs to.

Life in Lamu follows the word "Pole Pole" which is Swahili and means Slowly Slowly. When I already thought that the clocks in Mombasa are ticking slower (That is literally translated from German ;) then there are no clocks on Lamu. Walking in a normal pace in the street attracts the locals attention and they tell you to slow down and not hurry. Although people at home would think you have too much time on your hand walking that slow. I do enjoy the timelessness. I guess the Ramadan also slows the people down as they cannot eat nor drink from 4.51am until 6.27pm.

My class here in Lamu is much more open to discussions than the group from Mombasa. Although none of them is a teacher and the concept will not help them in organising lessons in school the group enjoys the introduction to ICT in Education. One of my students works in the museum and thus, showed me around Lamu Town yesterday and told me and Dom (fellow volunteer) about the Lamu and existence of the German Post Office Museum. Yes, I could not believe that this small island has a German Post Office Museum :D Although the Germans were only here for a short period of time in the 1800s they managed to established a post office. Don't you just love efficiency?

We will be here until Saturday and then leave back to the mainland to Malindi. There I hope the internet connection is faster so I can upload pictures. The internet here also follows the motto: Super Pole Super Pole ;)


--
Wencke

ICT in Education - Day 5

Today was the last day of this week's course. Each group had to present their work they have done during the week. All I can say is WOW!!! Their presentations were fantastic and a class that started very quiet and shy turned into a big discussion group. I was watching the students that have not said much all week asking interesting questions and getting into factual discussions. I have seen a student going online to check for the accuracy of facts etc. The class today proved that they have learned everything I was teaching them this week as the main point they should have taken away was to work with each other and to share knowledge. I can proudly say I have succeeded and I am soooo proud. This feels good!

It was sad to leave them today but I will see them at the graduation which is a day before we fly back on August 26th. I also have some new facebook friends now ;)

--
Wencke

ICT in Education - Day 4

I cannot believe it is already Thursday and the course is over tomorrow. The motivation and fun from yesterday even grew today. Everybody came into the class and started right away to work on their projects. Today is also the first day it rains and it has cooled down a bit. I am not cold as I am still in a T-Shirt but most of my participants were cold today. The artefacts I have seen so far are lovely and I cannot wait for tomorrow see their presentations. It fills me a bit with pride about their newly learned skills and motivation to use the learning theory I taught them in class.

Unfortunately, today I noticed there was one group were 3 people knew very little to almost nothing about how to open a document or create a folder or save a document. It made me realise that this course requires some pre-requisites. Now I will go through all their reflection documents and see what they have learned and how they have learned it. Based on that I will create feedback and a grade they will get tomorrow. Tomorrow then is the big day when each group presents their project. They also agreed of teaching me a dance tomorrow after class :D Ahhh I cannot wait for that either.

Have a look at some new pictures I have uploaded to the Picasa Gallery as well.

--
Wencke

ICT in Education - Day 3

Wednesday was a very interesting class as they finally started to apply everything I have taught them. Each of the 4 groups had to create a document or presentation on a topic they have chosen before. In order to do this document/presentation they had to plan the work first with creating a storyboard of their artefact and a task tracking document. Once they have created that they started creating the document/presentation. The groups all got so into the work that they would not leave when the class was finished. I literally had to push them out the door. The motivation they had to do their document/presentation good was incredible. Everybody totally forgot the time.

Afterwards they were all glowing with happyness and told me how much they are learning and how much they like the course. That is great feedback for my little experiment. I have growing very close to the group and I feel sad thinking about Friday when we finish. Although the level of computer literacy is very low the hunger for knowledge and learning is sooooooo big and that makes it just so much fun to train.

--
Wencke

ICT in Education - Day 2

Puh today was a hard day as the heat and the humidity make it feel like training in a sauna. The group was much more open today and seemed to enjoy the course. Today was also more active than yesterday. However, some of the students have very poor computer skills which makes it sometimes more time consuming as I have to coach them much more than others and with 18 people in the course it can be very difficult to attend to all. Therefore, I am happy I have some helpers from my group in the course.

I also discovered today that the 19 PCs I have in the room have different set ups. So some of the application I teach them ar enot on all PCs. The magic word is IMPROVISATION! However, all these little difficulties make it so much more challenging and thus, more interesting. After 4.5 hours training today I feel quite exhausted. The hub here only scheduled 1 break from 10-10:15am. That means that the first part is 2 hours (8:00am-10:00am) and the second half is (10:15am - 12:15pm). I decided that I will add another break in for the rest of the week as it is not only draining for the students but also for me. Through all of the training, heat and talking I keep on forgetting taking pictures of my own class. I will do this tomorrow and upload some in the gallery.

Overall, I love training here and my passion sometimes lets me look like a crazy lady!

--
Wencke

ICT in Education - Day 1

So today I finally had my first day of my 5 day course on ICT in Education. I have not been that nervous before a class for a very long time. It was not clear who would join my class and how many. Therefore, I needed to develop a course that is as flexible as it could get. Thanks to my friends Beryl and Frieda I had a lot of material that support a learning environment that suited a group of all kinds of experience levels. For the one of you that have been studying with me and that have an interest in learning theories I have build my class on the topic of Knowledge Building Pedagogy (Thanks Frieda for sending me your thesis).

I was anxious that it might not be enough information or that it would be a topic where the teachers here in Kenya would not be open to as it advertises a learning environment that steps away from the traditional information distribution solemnly by the teacher. The learning theory is focusing on the learner and project work in the classroom.

The skills and experiences of the group vary from experiences in Microsoft Office applications to no computer knowledge at all. I also have only few teachers in the course of 17 participants in total. The numbers could increase or decrease tomorrow so every day provides a new set of data ;)

Nevertheless, the group is great and they are slowly getting used to my sense of humor (at least that what I like to believe:). I do have to pace myself constantly as my passion increase the speed of me talking. However, the group is participating activily and they have to as I constantly ask them questions. It is noticable that the women are much quieter and more reluctant to participate activily although there are 3 of them that are openly sharing knowledge and information.

I also thought I would run out of topics today but thanks to my ability to speak in any situation I could not even get through all the information I wanted to. So I am certain I have enough material for the whole week.

The most amazing things that I have observed here is the passion the volunteers working in the hub here in Mombasa put into their work (and they don't even get paid). Team in the hub has a genuine interest and put all their heart into the Camara project here. It is a joy working with the team here and they provide an environment that is fun to work without deminishing the hard work and long hours that everybody seems to add to this project here.

Watch this space for more information on my course.

--
Wencke