2 June 2016
Today (Thursday) we arrived back at St.Trizah’s School to continue the big build. However on our return we noticed that the mission had got a lot bigger. Not only are we needing to build two new classrooms, but also now complete three other classrooms, not the one we originally thought! Game on!
One thing that I have learnt from my past three visits to Kenya, is how great it is working with the Kenyan builders. The foreman, Dan, has improved his English massively since …last year and has been telling us about his life, his upcoming divorce and marriage and his credentials. A thoroughly nice guy. It’s fascinating to see that he has a stammer in Swahili, but not English! Although the other builders can not speak English, we communicate using signals and actions. It’s shows that you don’t always need words to get a message across.
My job for the morning was to hit many hammers into the wooden posts that are holding the frame and roof of the classroom. The reason for this, is the posts are then cemented, gripping onto the nails, with the wall. This strengthens the structure of the whole building.
During the afternoon, I took another class, this time an English lesson. I decided that I wanted to know about the 25 children a little more. So I wrote on the board the following:
1. My name is _
2. I am _ years old
3. I live with my _
4. When I leave school I would like to be a _ and because _
Each child had to then write the questions and their answers in their books and read them out in class. What came across is that each child has ambitions; doctors, teachers, pilots, policeman, even a baker. But for me personally, it was heartbreaking to hear that only 2 children, out of 25, live with their parents. They live with one parent, grandparents or other relatives. Unfortunately that’s the normality of the 1.7 million people currently living in the slums of Nakuru.
The day was a great success and a lot of bricks has been laid, the walls are rising! A great group from both Britain and Kenya working together for one cause!