The International School Eindhoven is visiting the Mombasa Children this week with 13 students and 4 teachers. Every day, two students report on our experiences...

Day 1

Today was our first day in Kenya! We met for breakfast at 9.AM. Well, most of us made it on time. It had extremely  good fresh tropical fruit. (Yes they peeled it in front of us!)  After breakfast, we sorted shoes and socks and were instructed on what would happen in the rest of the day.  We boarded matatus, which turned out to be vans and our mode of transport to Bombolulu (which I thought was pretty cool J )

The Bombolulu Center for the Handicapped was interesting. They sold everything  from plants to wheelchairs though it was clear they depended on that to keep their jobs. The entire family of the workers lived there and their children went to school there too.

We took a twenty minute walk through the slums to the Victory Frèretown Academy. While we were walking through the slums we had a little girl following us and we let her get in our group photo. We all agreed that being there in person was far different from seeing a video or a presentation in an assembly; we got to see what life was really like for the people of Bombolulu, but also smell and listen to it.

When we got to the school we were all really excited. The first thing we saw was this massive construction which we help build through our funds.   The well is 70 meters deep and it was a really big construction. This made us feel good because we helped them get the well running.

Then there was an impromptu assembly and students all stood in lines  outside. They introduced all their teachers and then we got introduced ourselves, and then they sung their way back to class which was really cool!

After that we were allowed to go sit in some classes. Cris and I were in standard 7, who were doing mathematics, after that I went with Emma to the nursery, where the kids were singing for us and dancing and then we took out our cameras and started to take photos. This was really interesting, as all the kids got excited and enjoyed looking at the camera and were jumping up and down.

Mom, I’m fine, by the way. We all are.

Cris and Ellie

Day 2

Today, we had to wake up at quarter to seven. This was very early for us and this then meant that we were very sleepy throughout the day, but we managed to survive the day.

Today was the first day that we taught  our lessons. We missed the first hour of classes because the transport (Matatu) was late. Once we got there we had to quickly get ready for our lessons. Ines and Robyn taught English, and Belle and Julia taught science in the morning. Then in the afternoon Carmen made her kites with a group. Ellie and Roderick taught separate maths lessons.

As well as this we then started with the first aid, and fitting and giving the shoes to the children from the people in The Netherlands. The children were also excited about getting their shoes and when they came out they had big smiles on their faces and a very proud walk. The first aid was very busy, we had lots of children come over with small cuts. Some of the other children were all gathered around watching what we were doing, they also helped with things too.

A group of students that live there were also there, this is because they are still waiting to go to secondary school. A small group of I.S.E students had fun with them playing football and passing the ball around, and getting to know each other.

We had a very nice day, it was also interesting and a lot things to process.

Robyn and Carmen