Hi All,
We arrived back in the “big” city yesterday and after a week in the village there is so much more to share.
Okay, now on to the adventures of the week. On Monday I taught my first drama class. I’m not sure anything could prepare me for that experience. The way children are taught here is much different in the US. Everyone piled into the classroom and each person has to bring in their own chair. The boys and girls tend to sit on opposite sides of the room which I later found out was not mandatory, it’s just where they naturally sit. I got in front of the 70 or so students and started off by asking what they thought the definition of drama is. SILENCE…..So I had to go to the backup plan which was lecturing them on the basics of theater, plays, acting, etc. Not an easy task. Needless to say I was a bit discouraged. After about 1/2 hour of me talking I decided to try some acting exercises. Of course when I tried to get volunteers once again I got SILENCE….
Luckily for me, one of the students is a guy who lives at Mama na Dada. He is a brilliant kid named Udi although at school I have to call him by his proper name which is Linus. Linus was gracious enough to get up and volunteer to do an improv with me and he was great! I think he helped me out because he saw me drowning up there in front of the kids. As the class went on a few more people came up and did scenes and then it got a bit easier. When class finally ended I was exhausted and went straight back to Mama na Dada in need of some wine. Oh yeah, every time we come back from Kisumu we load up on wine and boy does it hit the spot after a long hot day, sitting on the porch rehashing the incidents of the day and watching the sun set over Lake Victoria. Good Stuff!!
I made the decision that I was going to get all of the kids involved the next time I taught, whether they like it or not. I was a woman on a mission. Tuesday I woke early to a beautiful sunrise and reflected on how wild it is that I was spending my 33rd birthday in Kenya. A year ago I never would have imagined that. Since no one else was up I decided to take a walk to the Shamba which is the garden that is tended by a woman named Jackie. She gave me a tour of the gardens and showed me all the fruit and vegetables they are growing there. The proceeds from the products in the garden help Mama na Dada and it is a wonder to see how big the garden is.
After a brief tour we walked to the beach to buy fresh tilapia from the fisherman who had caught them not an hour before. I wanted to buy fish for the birthday dance party we were having later that evening. For a mere 400 Shillings, the equivalent of about $7 US, we bought enough fish to feed over10 people. And then we cleaned the fish. Right there on the beach. I learned the art of scaling the fish and then gutting it. Again, I never thought I would be doing that on my birthday and I loved it. Especially because everyone at the beach got a great laugh watching the Mizungu (Whitey) cleaning the fish.
The rest of the day was very relaxing and I had the day off of teaching because there was already something scheduled at the school. We took a long walk into the marketplace on the main road and purchased warm beer and sodas for the party. Word got around quickly and more and more people wanted to come celebrate.
After heading back home it was dark and within 5 minutes of being back we loaded up the cassette player with batteries and the dancing began. The party was wonderful and the dancing went on for hours. Literally, people had a plate of food and ate while they were dancing… it was hilarious. The girls also made some amazing banana bread and put a candle in it for me. It was a birthday I will never forget.
Wednesday was a mellow day everyone seemed a bit tired from the night before. I went to class not knowing what to expect but I made the kids participate and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun. When class was almost over I was informed that a few of the students had a play they wanted to perform for the class. I was floored and giddy. They did a great job although half off the play was played to the blackboard so I didn’t catch a lot of it but again I went home happy that they took the initiative. Hope everyone is well and I always look forward to hearing news from home!
Love,
Jami
Jami Rudofsky
May 2005