Amy Regan: Kenya Fellow, NYU

Today we interviewed Abel, the headmaster.  Following Abel’s interview was Jane’s, the newest teacher at the school, only 24 years old.  Jane is a stunning Maasai woman, thin with curly hair and the outfit typical of teachers the world over; a floor-length skirt suit.  She is married with two children, and teaches the 140 or so 3-6 year old children in Early Childhood Development.  She was sweet and silly with an infectious giggle that came tumbling out throughout the interview.  After, we found a group of girls practicing songs for church in one of the classrooms.  We audio recorded as much as we could with an empty battery, and the girls kept singing and singing for us.  A crowd of students followed Zippy as she filmed, and a smiley little girl named Mariam climbed into Lexi’s lap.  I ran out of batteries and ran to the house where the group is staying to pick up more.  On my walk to the house, two girls named Brenda and Patricia were gathering firewood by the road.  I walked with them and we chatted casually about their day at school.  They are boarding students who stay with one of the teachers, Edna who gave me her green scarf when I complimented it on the first day.  As the three of us walked, each of them carrying firewood and me carrying toilet paper for Moses’ house.  We passed the Catholic Church where a much smaller group of students were practicing songs for mass.  The girls walked me to the school gate, and quickly returned to summon me to their home where Edna wanted me to visit.  I stayed for over an hour in a wonderful visit with my new friend.  She is also, incidentally, Mariam’s mother, the girl I had met just an hour before.  The three of us enjoyed traditional Kenyan tea that Brenda and Patricia prepared.  It was an odd separation of the girls who were boarding- Brenda and Patricia- and the family of the house- Enda and Mariam.  Edna’s husband is a teacher in a school 3 hours away, and walks back and forth each weekend.  Edna is in a masters’ program in Nairobi, hoping to earn a higher income for her family and guests.  Currently she feeds and houses 9 boys and girls.  I regretfully left Edna’s after giving her my email and hoping to keep in touch, and went to dinner with the rest of the group. 

After dinner we had a treat.  The pastor, Jeremiah, had prepped the students to perform for us.  All the boarders filed in behind the few rows of visitors.  The first to perform was the youngest group, singing a sweet song of praise.  Then there was a skit of a radio broadcast in Maa, which made it funnier than the expected Swahili, and those in the audience other than the American visitors were roaring with laughter.  The final 2 songs were the highlight of the trip by far.  The first was a warrior song and dance of all boys, with harmonizing chants that blended the younger tenor and older bass.  The faces of the boys were full of focused pride, continuing the traditions of the Maasai warriors.  Many of the boys will leave school to study warriorism after they are circumcised.  They will live together and uphold the traditions of their ancestors, a distinguished honor that many anticipate throughout their primary years and is a reason that some boys do not continue to secondary attendance.  For the final song, the girls joined the boys in a celebration song that was literally too big for the space.  The students sang in unison, with a few boys and girls leading the chants accompanied by a solitary instrument, the long dark horn of an impala.  It was a perfect end to a perfect day.