Since I have last blogged I have been busy taking classes and going around various schools trying to encourage the children to stay in school and tell them how important education is to them.  It is particularly important to their generation as all their land is being divided up into such small plots because all the families have so many children that they need to pass it onto - therefore the land that they are left with is perhaps just enough to build a mud hut on and not much more, so farming is not an option to them, therefore they musty be educated so that they can go into other jobs and help build the Kenyan economy.

Primary school education is free in Kenya but they must pay for secondary school education which is noramlly about 5 times what an average parent earns, so normally at about 11 they drop out of school.  The Elimu Centre, where I am staying, provide secondary education at a fifth of the normal price, this works out at abouve fifty pounds to for one day pupil per year which includes the tuition and lunch.  However this is still to dear for some families and children, especially those who are orphaned or from a large family.  Therefore someone in England, Peter, has set up a scholarship fund to support the needy who are intelligent and really would benefit hugely from being in school.  At the moment 60 of the 400 pupils at Elimu are on scholarships, and whould not beable to continue in school if it wasn't for those back in England.  So, Pete and I went around various primary schools in the area, telling them that if they scored well in their final exams and were fropm a poor family they still could continue in education with the help of these scholarships and if they were unable to receive a scholarship then the school fees are low enough to be affordable for most families. 

However, even still, some families still are not very good at paying the school fees, and even though the end of the year is approaching, many have huge balances still to pay so the children are sent home until they are paid - which is not necessarily the best solution!

The other problem is that the teachers are then not paid, and generally in Kenya this year money has been exceptionally bad because they had a drought at the beginning of the year, so the teachers then do not turn up to teach the classes! This is especially bad as all the exams  start this week!  So I've been going around the class giving revision classes, or rather teaching them most the syllabus from scratch, from anything from History, Maths and Christian religious education!  What was quite worrying is that none of them had heard of Hilter, and even some, not even the first or second World War!

I thought that I had finally got used to the culture shock, but then was completely thrown when I got into a huge debate with some of the teachers (all male) in the staff room about wife beating, rape and caning children!  All are seen as absolutely fine.  What was even more worrying is how they used Christianity and the Bible to try and justify it!  All but one or two teachers changed their opinion by the end, but some would just not listen and interpreted the Bible how they wanted to!  It was so fustrating.  What is also worrying is that some of the teachers believe that HIV came from an English scientist who planted it in Africa!  These are just a few of the bizare theories they have on England.

What is quite funny is, when I try and wash my clothes in the river with them, all the kids laugh at how rubbish I am!  They all say, 'We hear in England you have some kind of machine that does it for you!'  I think they imagine some robot doing it for you! - Although they do then all help be and my clothes are spotless by the end...amazing!

I am having a great time, and am never bored as there are always about 400 children about.  I've been training the choir, which is very good, and on Saturday i'm taking them on a trip to sing at a church in one of the nearby districts to sing to a music judge.  What is embarrassing is that when ever there are any guest visiting the centre I have to sing to them!  We had open day on Sunday, which was help out side in the field and they all asked me to sing Amazing Grace, just as I started singing the heavens opened and there was a huge thunder storm!  I've never lost an audience so quickly as everyone ran for cover!