A Short Update

Working at Lolupe

Working at Lolupe Primary School near Turkana was a totally different experience than my time at Munanga in Western Kenya.  Due to budget constraints, I was only able to go to the school twice a week for three weeks.  The first week I was with D, so the visits were to introduce me and conduct the focus group with the teachers.

The staff is much smaller at Lolupe, with about 7 teachers and 2 volunteers teachers “in-training.”  Together they teach 8 grades plus the ECD classes, so they are stretched really thin.  The school day also ends after lunch because it gets too hot in the afternoon to carry out classes.  This means that at 2 the teachers rush out and I was usually unable to convince them to stay and work on the website in the afternoon because they have really busy home lives.

Although the coordinator at this site was upset that I wasn’t able to come every day or stay any longer, he didn’t do much on his end to make the best use of our time.  He was gone the first week that I was there, and on my second-to-last day he was not there either.  I understand that he is busy preparing for exams, but he didn’t let the teachers bring the HO computer to use on that day!  That meant that I didn’t have a computer to use to teach the staff HOW TO USE A COMPUTER…. The thing he was so concerned that I would not have enough time to do.  I had my personal computer there so we did our best, but it died soon after I arrived so we were out of luck.  I felt bad, but I left early that day because I was so frustrated.  I also hosted weekend meetings and afternoon sessions at my hostel that no one came to… I understand that this is their time off, but even the director who was begging people to go didn’t come!

Because of my shortened time at the school and how busy the teachers were, I was unable to form the kind of connections that I did at Munanga, though everyone was really nice.  It also meant that 5 days a week I was just at my hostel typing up reports and stories that the teachers had written.  This did not come close to occupying all my time.  I even finished the first section of my Master’s Paper early, if that gives an indication of how bored I was. 

There is very little to do in Lodwar town, and it is so hot most of the time that you have to stay in doors.  I went out to eat three (attempted) times.  The first was really fun and a nice diversion, the second the restaurant had run out of food, and the third we had to call our orders in a day ahead of time to ensure they would have food.  It was a different kind of life.  I cannot say that I disliked my time there, but it was a relief to return to Nairobi after 20 days.