All About Joska

Joska was WOW! (The word wow has taken on a new meaning for me here--not only can I now give someone a wow, but it has become an adjective to describe something that is excellent and exciting and good). We arrived at Joska on Tuesday late morning and returned to the team and Narobi last night in the late afternoon. The time flew by, as we knew it would, and it was hard to say goodbye as we prepared to board the van. Even now, my mind and heart are full of Joska and it is hard to know where to begin...

A rough start...After arrriving and getting settled into our room, we had lunch and then went to meet with the teachers of Joska. This was something that we had been eagerly anticipating--to finally sit face to face and talk about what it means to teach and to begin to build a partnership. The teachers had divided up into two groups: Math/Science and English. We dropped Beth off with the M/S group and then Kerri and I went to meet with the English teachers. This was the first of my many surprises re: expectations and reality. We walked into the room and 12-15 teachers were seated in the desks. They looked tired and serious. We began with introductions and then started asking some basic questions...the tricky part was, they just stared back at us. A conversation I had with my sister came to mind and I changed directions. I went to the board and made a happy and a frustrated face on the board and then asked them each to think about and prepare to share one reason that they loved teaching and one challenge they faced. Next, we started going around the room (as I called on them by name) and shared our thoughts and the ice melted. Their love for their students and their desire for them to learn and to grow (both intellectually, individually and spiritually) shown through each response. Relationships were central to all that they did and the greatest joy was tied to the biggest frustration--when a teacher was able to reach a student who had given up and accepted failure and the joy that came when that student not only learned, but that the student was changed and gained self confidence and a stronger belief in themselves.

Our new home...We found we quickly settled into the rhythm of life at Joska. We stayed in a pair of small rooms in the teachers quarters. Each room contained two twin beds and two plastic "patio" chairs and not much extra space. This space would typically house two teachers. Each morning, we took our 5 gallon pail and empty margarine tub and walked down the outside walkway to a small "bathroom"--a 4x4 tin room with a drain in the cement floor. Typically it was in the 50's and we learned too that if we didn't allow time for water to cool, we would get scalded. And our day began with a enjoyable and refreshing "dip and pour" style shower. We adjusted too to using a latrine style toilet and remembering to stop by the room on the way to pick up toilet paper and then going to yet another space to use a the sink (going to the bathroom required 4 stops...).

We ate our meals in a conference room and typically we were joined by 3-5 Kenyans. The food was somewhat the same, but we found that overall, we enjoyed it and worried what the scale would say when we returned to the states. We quickly looked forward to the home fries and Kenyan style donuts as well as the rice, cabbage and various "stews". We also quickly embraced the tradition of taking tea--in the morning between breakfast and lunch and again late afternoon.

The people...Overall, the adults and young people at Joska were amazing. They welcomed us into their classroom and their lives. Their love for God and for the life He had called them to was clearly seen. Their were three groups of people that our time was split between: the students, the teachers and the head teachers/leadership. As I anticipated coming to Joska, I imagined that most of my time with the adults would be academic in nature and then I would spend time with the kids hanging out. It was interesting to see how God led us and that much of our free time was spent with the teacher leadership and how we poured into their lives by just spending time together.

Ben is the head teacher at Joska and was our primary host. He made sure that everything was arranged/scheduled each day and that we had what we needed. At times this scheduling was a bit of a dance b/c we all were perhaps a bit too accommodating so it too a bit of effort to sort it all out (but we did and it went wonderfully). We ate most of our meals with Ben and he became a dear friend. We had many conversations about education, our lives as teachers and culture in general. WE laughed a lot and teased and became at home with one another. James, the assistant head teacher, also spent a lot of time with us in the board room and became to close to our hearts as well. James was often quiet and reflective, but his passion for life, the students, learning and language was captivating and we were continually blessed by both.

Virginia is the student that I sponsor at Joska. We met on Sunday and have the amazing opportunity to see each other every day this past week. Virginia is in grade seven (7 blue) and wants to be a plane doctor (missionary doctor). I cannot count the number of times I would catch her out of the corner of my eye watching me through out the day. She was shy and it took time for her to begin to open up to me, and although I learned many things about her life, there is so much more that I hope to learn about her life. She told me about her family and and how her mother and sister have a small vegetable business in Kosovo (area of Mathare) and that her brother is a carpenter. I also got to spend time with her younger sister who was also at Joska. When I asked if it was hard to come to Joska so young, she smiled and acknowledge that it was tough, but that it was good and that they needed to learn to be independent so that they would be successful in the future. When it was time to go, she gave me a letter that was filled with love and the presence of God... Meeting Virginia and getting to share a week with her was one of the most humbling experience of my time here--that God would allow me to be part of her life and that he would give us the gift of a week together still brings tears.

Often in the evenings, after we had finished dinner, we would go and visit the classrooms where the students were studying. We would sit and chat with them and show them the pictures from home. They would ask us questions about our schools and our lives. They would show us the work they were doing and at times ask us to help on difficult questions. I learned quickly, these kids are sharp and some of the questions were embarrassingly beyond me. When that happened, we would work through the question (they did most of the work) or they would do the question and then teach us how to do it.

In the classroom...On Wednesday, we observed a variety of classrooms and then on Thursday we got the opportunity to teach. Observing the teachers was inspiring. Although they rely heavily on repetition and memorization, they were animated and the students were engaged (taking notes and asking questions). They knew their materials well and they strove to impart knowledge to their students. One of the most striking differences we noticed was how motivated and focused the students were. They had a goal--to pass the exam and go to high school (which is 119 days from today) and they knew that they had to work hard to achieve their goal. They had ownership of not only their education, but of their futures, and it was amazing to observe and be a part of this.

Beth brought an experiment that showed how HIV can infect a community (she will have to explain that better later on better than I can here). The activity illustrated that through only 3 exposures, a 2/3's of a community can become infected. When we were talking about it later, she commented on how it hit her that probably every student had a relative or close friend who had HIV, in contrast to her students at home who had only heard about the disease. She was also able to do a number of hands on activities that related directly to the curriculum. I had the opportunity to work with each 8th grade class and teach poetry. Typically, they work with more formal composition writing so poetry was a good change of pace. I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to engage them, but everything worked out well. I taught a variety of different poems (1 to each class) and after we had worked through the poem, they wrote their own and then a few from each class would share them. It was so neat to see them sit and write, working to capture their own experience and then hearing a piece of their story. As I was leaving yesterday, Eunice and James (teachers) game me copies the students had made of most of the poems written. I have not read through them, but I know that I will be blessed and amazed (and I will try to share a few on here as well in the future).

As I am going to be late for the bus as it is, it is time for me wrap up. There is so much more to share, but I will close with a quote I read in my journal on the day we traveled to Joska: "THE GLORY OF THE LORD IS A HUMAN BEING FULLY ALIVE". God's glory is all over Joska--in the students and the teachers, in the worship times and in the learning. His presence can be seen in each face and as you listen to all that is taking place. I thought often of the verse from Jeremiah--I know the plan's I have for you...for a hope and a future. Amazing things are taking place there. Joska is in each of our hearts. Joska was WOW.