Kenya Part 3: Kibera & The Mashimoni Squatters School

The mornings of our work days were spent at Mashimoni Squatters School, which lies in the heart of Kibera, the 2nd largest slum in the world housing over a million people in a mere 10 kilometers. The schools in Nairobi were off during April but many of the children don't eat if they don't come to school, so we were part of an effort to put on a holiday program giving the kids a reason to come to school and eat. It was a rewarding and humbling time.
The drive through Kibera is incredible and stirred up a lot in our hearts and minds. In a way I was prepared for Kibera, and yet I wasn't. I wasn't prepared for the narrow dirt road full of potholes, people, and animals or the tiny river of sewage flowing through. I wasn't prepared for the small children jumping up and down, waving, and shouting "how ah yoo, how ah yoo, how ah yoo" until they could no longer see us. I wasn't prepared for the fact that Kibera is truly a world unto itself. There are businesses everywhere-from the man on his chair with a sign and a stack of phone cards to the tiny cramped market and the "movie theater", a small room with a tiny tv playing features from the eighties. Most of all I wasn't prepared to confront the reality that this is their life...all day, every day. Mufini, the school's cook put it very poignantly when he said, "Most people know that if they're born in Kibera, they're going to die in Kibera."
Mashimoni Squatters School is one bright spot of hope in that harsh reality. Though it's a simple place, it's beautiful, well-kept and offers the opportunities of a good education.
As an experienced teacher I was humbled by the teachers who work with very little resources in classrooms with tin roofs, no electricity, and no extra space to speak of. One day we had to stop teaching as the rain poured so hard on the roof that we could no longer hear! The class sizes were huge and the need was great, but the teachers there are ready to meet them.
Our team did rotations of VBS, soccer, team games, and crafts working with groups over a hundred for half hour or hour slots. The children were very responsive (most of the time!) and seemed to enjoy the time. Because of large numbers and a language barrier we didn't get to know the kids at Mashimoni as well as we would have liked, but it was great to be a part of such important work and each member of our team has a few kids that we will always remember.
One of the highlights was tea and bread with the teachers each morning. I didn't love the very creamy, very sweet, rice-tasting Kenyan tea, but I really enjoyed visiting with the teachers, hearing their stories, and sharing the joys and pains of teaching life with them.
The last day was really special. The school did a small program for us with singing, dancing and poetry. We closed with a word of prayer and the Swahili song that Dibo taught us...Toisema Asante. It was very hard to go.
Here's a few pics of Kibera and Mashimoni Squatters School. Please forgive the amount, it was so hard to choose. I'm so annoyed at the typos and forgotten captions that are in the slide show but it took FOREVER to create and I refuse to redo it, so try to look past them! :)