HABARI: NEWS SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2012
I left for my summer trip to Kenya late in August via Dubai because the air ticket was cheap and flights were faster. I believe it was because Europe was still congested with Olympic visitors. On arrival in Nairobi the capital city of Kenya there was a congested traffic jam, it took us almost three hours for what usually would be one hour from the Airport to where the traffic would be easily flowing for us to drive to my home town. After the jam I made another two-hour drive to my home town with my niece and a driver who had come to meet and welcome me home. The schools were still on holidays expected to report back in about four days and this gave me time to visit with some of my family before I got busy with the school matters. All Schools were supposed to report back on September 3rd after a four weeks break but the teachers in public schools decided to go on strike that took almost three and a half weeks before they could come to settlement on their salary demands with the Government. Although teachers in private schools were not on strike because they are not paid by the government, news about the teachers’ strike made some of our students report back late as parents in remote places were not sure whether the private school like mine were going to open. The head teacher and other staff in my school kept calling parents to give the message that we were open and by the end of the first week of opening more than 85% of our children had reported and lessons were going well. This is my first time to be in school when the children report form home; usually I find them in school. This time they did not expect to me to be there but unexpectedly I had to welcome them back this time. I had such a loving experience with some of them who got so excited when they saw me, they left their parents who were accompanying them and for a while ran to me and were happy that I was there to welcome them back. One parent who had not seen me before and whose child came to my school after my last visit wondered how her son got to know this stranger (me) he was coming so happily to greet only to be told this is Father Ntaiyia.
In about eight days all our children were back and learning was progressing well and on the day I was leaving children were preparing for their internal monthly tests.
Concern was being raised over the negative impact the teachers’ strike was having especially on candidates of this year’s National Examinations sighting standard eight (8th graders) and from four (high-school seniors) normally expected to start in October. Affected students were expressing fears that they may not be ready for the all-important examinations. Kenyan teachers called off the strike after signing a deal with the government. Because of the strike, the National Examinations that normally start in October were pushed by three weeks to recover time lost during the teacher’s strike and allow all children to cover the areas of syllabus that they may not have covered as a result of the strike. New dates for ending the school year have been set and schools will close for the third trimester on November 23, instead of Friday November 2 as scheduled earlier and will re-open on February 4 next year for the first term of 2013 although this proposed opening has been challenged and we are waiting for the actual ruling on it.
The second trimester next year will begin on June 3 and end on September 6 while the third trimester will run from September 30 to November 29. The changes will also affect private schools where learning was not interrupted during the strike period.
SCHOOL VISITORS: I had visitors from Austria who gave funds for construction of showers and toilets and a few parents who were able to attend. After being entertained by the children’s songs, traditional dance and poems, Mr. Heini Staudinger the main representative of our Austria friends was requested by the children to accept a Maasai Name “Lemayian” which means ” of blessings” as a sign that like all other friends of Father Ntaiyia School he and his friends in Austria are a blessing to Maasai children. Afterwards I invited Mr. Heini to cut the tape and declared the children’s showers and toilets buildings open for use.
DEVELOPMENT: As I was coming to the completion of construction of showers and toilets in June this year, I requested additional help from Mr. Heini Staudinger. After some communication on this I had given him a list of a few things that I still wanted to do in school. The priority was harvesting rain water from our school roof so that children can have soft water because as I had mentioned before our borehole water became very salty and we are not connected to a public water system. The next thing on line is construction of an administration building and a library cum computer teaching room. As I was leaving for Kenya Mr. Heini Staudinger and his generous friends had consulted each other on my request and had agreed to give more funds. I already had someone working on the estimates for harvesting rain water and a contractor for building and after Heini released some funds, work on both projects started while I was visiting Kenya. It is my hope that the work on water will be done soon and that in six months these two projects will be completed.
I also had a meeting with Sisters of St. Joseph, a local congregation in Kenya with whom I have been discussing the possibility of them coming to work at the school. Their superior and her council have promised to give us three sisters in January next year, two will be teaching and one will be taking care of domestic work in the school. I will give more news on this soon.
Fr. Symon