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New Primary EDC
New Primary EDC
This wonderful structure was commissioned only this January. The rooms are wide, well ventilated, high ceilings and bright. This building replaced the cramped close quarters for day care of those under 3, the play room (age 3), the pre-primary 1 (age 4), the pre-primary (age 5), and then upstairs grades 1 to 3 (ages 6-8). The teachers are clearly happier as there is no longer the noise pollution of the previous close quarters, it is a bit cooler and much brighter. Access is much easier and designed for even the youngest child to feel at home. While, this is not one of the most exciting moments of the zimmytrip, but perhaps it is one of the most practical significance. Shelter is a basic human need, and this well designed modern school facility is a testimony of the entrepreneurial spirit of MCF that facilitated its funding. It also shows that the focus of this NGO is on the best welfare of even the most vulnerable of its rescues. Expect a MCF Narrative on this the new EDC and the excellence of educational processes found within this building.
Today I taught only the girls of grade 11S as the boys were somewhere else on a project, and the other class 11N was cancelled. I took advance of the time to spend time with all 120 children toddlers to age 8 in the levels mentioned above.
I filled up my day with a bit of rest, and meaningful conversations with two of Charles' children: Isaac, Dickson and Grace. We looked at the failures of so called Northern NGO interventions in the lower income countries in Africa and other places. I was delighted to find that what I have been learning from Ian Smillie (about the systematic errors that have led to no real changes in poverty rates, high mortality rates, and terrible suffering) was consistent with the educated observation of Charles Mulli and his children. I had the opportunity to talk about the lectures from the United Nations Development Program Report of 2023: "Gridlock," and the keen observations of Ian Smillie. They were very excited to learn that at that academic level there were observations validating their own observations, being on the ground in Kenya. It is so encouraging to be inside a living work that is providing concrete and sustainable solutions, made in Kenya to a significant Kenyan issue.
Helen the Head Teacher
Helen the Head Teacher
Helene is a kind, smart and very resourceful head teacher. She has a strong, firm, yet kind presence that brings 120 young students, many of whom have been neglected or abused. The sensitivity she shows for her staff and their helpers increases security and self confidence. Each child comes with their own set of behavioral issues, learning struggles and emotional states. Helene in full team-work with medical advice, psychological specialists, chaplaincy, and social workers design custom interventions for each child. Of course, one must realize that these teams have long and deep experience with this student population.
I am sure that child specialists in Canada would appreciate and learn much about how these teachers create a holding environment that so embraces the child that it counteracts effectively the trauma and deprivations into which most of these child were born. As I understand empathetically the lives of these youngsters, I cannot reflect that I and those around me in Canada have truly won the lottery of birth!
Before dinner (about 1930), I sat outside the Secondary School and several of my students came alongside to chat me up. The Mission choir began their choir practice and so I watched and listened. They sang a moving version of the great hymn To God be the Glory, which I suspect is in prep for the upcoming Graduation in MCF Yatta, which I am eager to attend. I caught the practice of that piece on video for use in Canada. Supper time came and I headed to eat fully expecting day was done. It was not. Dr. Charles unexpectedly arrived and chose to eat with me. It was a great meal where we talked like the two old men we are about world events, theology, and lived experiences/observations. How it is we have become close friends given the vast differences between is a gift horse I cannot even begin to understand, and one whose mouth should not be examined. And that was the end of the night...sleep well!
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