Theatre fun

26 May 2009
What a day, what a day, what a day. I had so much fun today, just such an excellent time.
I spent the day working with the blue cross centre in Nyalenda.
After jumping on the back of a motor bike into Nyalenda I arrived to the centre and had a bit of a chat with James. The other volunteers and myself discussed the various areas that the project would cover, discussed some of the aims and objectives and brainstormed the wide range of themes that the young people saw as issue and challenges to other young people from this same neighbourhood. We are avoiding the use of the word slum and using neighbourhood instead. It was really interesting to hear the opinions of the others and I enjoyed asking questions trying make some more discussion. I explained the ideas behind forum theatre and how it worked. James helped to clarity and gave a bit more background to it all. After a good couple hours of work planning and discussing we broke to have some sodas and just chat about various issues. It was great to have a bit of a debate. James was great at asking the right questions to trigger discussion about topics such as abortion, drug abuse, marriage, circumcision, etc.

(some brainstorming on forum theatre and issues affecting Nyalenda district)
After some more planning and brainstorming I went with two of the volunteers to buy some of the things that the centre had put on their "wish list". Thanks to a donation by mum we bought 10 chairs for the centre which as well as being used generally in the building, the main use will be for group counselling. At first counselling is one on one and then it moves on to group counselling where people can support each other and share experiences.

(chairs donated by mum for group & 1on1 counselling)
Also using money donated, we purchased a pot and lid, sugar, salt, oil, bags and corn for popping as the first step in making the centre sustainable, through its use of revenue generating activity. Some money has been put aside already to buy sweets and a fridge has been purchased to hold sodas, they are just waiting on electricity to be connected. This is very expensive and something I am looking into helping the centre with using the money donated but I want to ensure some aspects of sustainability etc. It will be a big chunk from the donations so I want to think about it and check all the info out first.
In the late afternoon we met up again to start some practical drama activities and discussion. James lead us in some stretches matched with a call and response chant which I think used a langauge from Zambia. This really helped to break the Ice, but some members still seemed a little reserved. I then introduced a drama a warm up game which eventually developed into the main improvisation and forum theatre "model" for this session. For explanation of this drama activity I will use the format below, I came up with it when documenting rehearsals at DLD.
Freeze improv game
Explanation of themes:
The idea of this activity is to break the ice and have people acting and interacting with each other. It was used help to introduce the ideas behind forum theatre and get people in the improvisation frame of mind. A big range of themes were covered as the activity was not content specific.
Rules:
Spect-actors are to stand in a circle. Two actors start to improvise in the middle of the circle. When one of the spect-actors around the edge wishes they can shout freeze. The pair in the middle freeze in their exact positions. The Spectactor can then tap one of the pair in the middle and take their place, changing completely the action and theme of the improvisation.
Direction:
Was as above
Results and De-brief:
A big range of scenes were thought up and it was great to see everyone involved and working together (after convincing some members). A lot of humour came from the change of one scene to the next.

After playing this game for some time we began to use the theme of drug addiction and construct a "model" scene that we could change the variables of, as used in forum theatre. (a brief explanation of forum theatre) After some time James (who was helping to lead/direct left) the outside are where we were rehearsing. (he is very good at facilitating in the background and letting the young people take control) This allowed me to be the facilitator or "Joker" in the words of Augustus Boal, the inventor of forum theatre, which I really enjoyed. We played and re-played scenes, changing variables, characters, situations and characteristics. The phrase "Play to perfection" was really in the back of my mind during this session. I loved asking leading questions, opposing others opinions and changing elements of the scene to spark discussion on the theme of drug addiction and also on the forms of theatre we are planning to use.

To be acting, directing, facilitating, learning and discussing ideas with people of a similar age was so enjoyable. It felt so good to be doing some drama in a structured way, I don’t think I can put across in words just what a fantastic day it was. I'm so excited to carry on with the project and see how it develops. We are going to have another session tomorrow and I will try and take some more detailed notes for myself. Cant wait….

25 May: Green Tea and mosquitos

Avenue Of Roz

First stop this morning was to Migosi school which I haven't been back to since my first trip here. It was great to see Roz's trees so big (AKA the Avenue of ROZ) plus the water harvesting system still up and looking in good condition, however now there is big Unicef water tanks that hold much more. There are two new classrooms, one of which was a government funded building and the other from Barclays Bank UK. The head there is a real go getter and applied to the Bank, I think he just has a lot of balls and is very motivated. You can tell this by looking at his school, the beautifully planed gardens and trees as well as a highly motivated staff team. They are the second biggest school in Kenya with over 1500 pupils and have a huge number of class rooms. E-merges presence can be seen in the form of painted class rooms and a huge line of trees as well as good toilets and some newly build urinals that we were looking at to see what we could plant around them to soak up the ammonia from the urine/sand pit that’s below it.
After that we went to the Bustani farm, while Tyler had a look round a took a peek at some of the plants to see how they were doing. It looked much or tidy and well maintained than when I was last there. It became apparent that they did not have enough feed to give to the chickens so we drove up to by feed, only to find that there is a big shortage so we could only by half a bag which last just 3 days. Both Marcel and the Lady there said the best thing to do would be to drive and pick some up from this place that is about 30KM from the farm. When I asked her how much it would be there she said probably about Ksh350 but where we are they charge about Ksh500. Suddenly my eyes rolled and you could see dollar signs. I asked Marcel if we could go to buy a whole truck load and take it to the farm, then let the boys sell it to make money enough to feed the chickens for a long time. Marcel and Tyler thought it was a great idea, I guess its one of those good example where my business sense can be worked into this kind of NGO work. I think Marcel and I are going to go and pick a load up in the truck later in the week.
Next on the monings list was St. Marks school, which is in Nyalenda one of the big slumb areas which faces many challenges for the youth growing up there. Having a strong school there is so important and the headmaster showed us almost a 10 point increase in exam results (which they have not reached in a decade) which he credits to the work E-merge has done to make the learning environment improved therefore increasing the moral and self esteem of both students and teachers. We looked at some of the holes in the asbestos roof which need fixing before we go on to work on a water harvesting system that will flush toilets and to divert water which is very important as the school floods so easily. (it is the school Peter and I pumped water out of for two hours last week).
The job of replacing all the asbestos roof for iron sheeting would be hugely expensive, but I came up with the idea that people in England could donate 8 - 10 pounds and personally buy one sheet of metal that could have their name written on it. With enough donations for one metal sheet we could re roof the whole of one class room block. Saving the kids from inhaling carcinogenic particles. Undisturbed asbestos is not the end of the world, but this stuff is crumbling a lot in places and I think really should be changed if possible. I'm going to suggest the Idea to a few people back home, but I cant really head up any fundraising or spreading of the Idea as I am all the way here. I hope someone will volunteer to take on the project as it could make such a difference to a school of almost 900 kids.
After an awesome lunch made by Roxi, Marcel and I went off to Kisumu boys school and the Ministry of education to ask about chair and table designs and also for a second opinion on text books. Both of these things are towards the Lefungu high school E-merge is starting. I'm finding sorting the tables, chairs and lockers difficult due to all the different necessary quotes and working out. Mostly because I spent so long on one design only to find out that we were to change it, this was at first Bart changing his mind but I also see now that a different approach would be much better but also more expensive. Its difficult working as the middle man, when doing Rendezvous stuff I know exactly what everything costs and how much we have in the bank to play with. Here with E-merge I need to keep costs down but really have no idea about there accounts and money distribution to projects.
Now I'm just chilling with a green tea typing this blog over a green tea while trying to right the mosquitos off. I went to the gym today which was weird as its such a luxury and western thing, but it felt good so I may be a bit spoilt and join for a month. I just find it hard spending £25 on a membership when I know that’s two and a half replacement roof sheets at the school.

"Mate, feels a little too colonial for my comfort"

24 May: Bird watching at 6 AM.
Another early start on my day off, followed by another journey on the back of the E-merge truck. We took out a wooden boat with a little engine and had a bird/animal guide give us a kind of water safari around Lake Victoria. Seeing the Hippos was very impressive and I got much closer to one than I did in 2007! This time the boat was much more sturdy so I felt more safe, the sheer size of them never ceases to amaze me.
Bart was having a whale of a time, he went crazy looking at all the different birds and knowing their names, as well as fussing over his new camera which was very funny. Every day we have moments where Bart says or does something and I stare back at him with a face that pretty much says "what the feck are you chatting about", its so funny and we both know it happens.
Being on the calm water in such lovely weather was great but bird watching is definitely not for me. You can just head down to Trafalgar square with some bread and see just as many birds he he he. Plus it felt a little colonial being Mzungus (white people) taken around the water by a Kenyan. Between Steve Erwin & David Attenborough Impressions I couldn’t help putting on a posh voice and saying "golly gosh look at that local chap". A nice morning but not my thing.

Workshop number two...

Our second ECD workshop
By 6:40AM the truck was ready, all the materials loaded and four weary eyed mzungus (white people) stumbled their way into the truck. We were on our way to Disciples Of Mercy School where we were hosting the second of our Early Childhood Development (ECD) Workshops, this weeks theme was understanding the chid.
We had a hell of a lot of setting up to do as we had planned to make building blocks with the teachers. This involved 20 blocks, 4 different colour paints, turpentine, two types of brushes and rags to clean the brushes for 120 teachers. Not an easy task to setup for. Also, we wanted to be especially careful not to harm any of the furniture or the floor so we covered the hole room in newspaper and sheets the Marcel and I had bargained over the day before in the market.
Making this weeks learning material (the blocks) went really well in the end, despite not quite having enough material as we did not expect the turn out to be as good as it was. It’s a strange thing when you have to tell an adult to calm down and wait a moment for a brush or some paint to become available. I found it ironic that when I was handing out the paint brushes these adult teachers were grabbing them out of my hands like kids themselves, well more like animals actually. These are the people who should be teaching sharing and social skills to young children, funny eh!
Roxi gave a fantastic talk about the development of the brain and understanding the child ages 0 - 2. I really enjoyed standing at the back and watching her talk so passionately. She did such an amazing job. Watching her I felt really proud as I knew how much work she had put into what she was going to say. Looking round the room at attentive faces, 120 teachers that were volunteering their own time to help strengthen their skills, it really made me feel that the work we were doing was worth it.
I had prepared some notes on flipchart paper which I placed behind me, as well as some notes to help me to speak. I was careful not to write my whole part down as I didn’t want my eyes glued to the piece of paper. I had put mini activities I could do to break up the speaking in Bold. When it actually came to speaking I found that the notes were more of a hindrance than anything else. I didn’t get lost and have to pause but they just sort of slowed me down. Its amazing how quickly the time went and I managed to skip out most of the mini activities which is something I really wanted to do as I'm aware how boring being lectured at can be. I did stop and ask questions to the group quite often though. I really enjoyed talking to the large group of people. I know it was the drama student in me, but I enjoyed making sure I varied the tone and intonation and used strong body language. Its funny, I very took on the dynamic of Ralph from our countries good, a character I had played. I was being myself while I spoke, but felt that I kind of relaxed into that characters speech pattern and movement dynamic. After finishing I didn’t feel to great, realising that I had spoken for about 40 minutes and done exactly what I didn’t want to do, plain lecture. I felt confident that I spoke well and passionately. I was talking about the development of the child and understanding them from 2 to 6. All worries aside I seemed to get good feedback from the participants and was very surprised that Francisca the area officer for ECD wanted a copy of my notes. For me that was a real achievement, that the area officer wanted a copy of the notes that I had collated myself, my talk cant have been too bad then.
I'm definitely going to work on the content and way I present it more ready for the next workshop. Hopefully I can overcome some of the things I didn’t feel to great about above.
I ended with the talk with the quote "Play to Perfection" which I love, whether your talking about education through play with a kid, rehearsals in drama, or just in life as we never really stop playing. I stole this quote from Andrew Fielding my Drama teacher & Director at DLD and definitely think its wise words. So thanks Andrew (not that you'll be reading this) for that little quote, not just so I can steel it when talking to others but so I can keep it in the back of my head and when possible try and live by it.

Kotching in Kisumu

We've been working pretty hard, its a great feeling during the day that everyone is off doing different things. In the evenings the team all chills together while some listen to music, some organize paperwork and some (Generally me) sit at a laptop shouting at excel trying to make spreadsheets.

I cant quite remember the last time I blogged so I'm just going to start from Monday, when we went to visit the district education officer to ask about the registration process of the school that we are building in Lefunga (1.5 hour drive from us in Kisumu) the process doesnt sound too bad although the school year doesnt start till febuary so we have made the decision to use the school with its books and desks as a resource centre for form 1 kids from all around, as long as we can find a suitable teacher and a way or paying her. I say her because it is going to be an all girls school, and unless we want to build a maternity ward next door I think a female teacher is best.

After working very hard on getting very good prices and designs on lecture chairs, we found another design that seems much better and more efficient so I am sort of starting from scratch again with the chairs and tables for the school. Still working hard on getting the best pricess for school text books, its amazing how it all adds up. I am trying to get reps from the publishers as they provide the best price as oposed to shops. This means spending my days on the phone to different reps. I do find speaking on the phone to kenyans with strong accents difficult but I'm betting much better at it now.

All that work has been E-merge work, I have also been in touch with Salem home but with both our busy scheduals its going to be a while till we can arrange a meeting.
I have been in contact with James and had a fantastic convosation with him over some sodas. It was so refreshing to hear someone that shares the same ideas about certain things and that is so passionate about his work. I visited his new centre in Nyalenda which is a slumb area facing many problems including kids getting involved in alchohol addiction, drugs and prositution. The young generation is faced with a big lack in work, no job preperation and a general bad reputation for just coming from the area.
The aim of the centre is to be a safe place where people aged 10 to 35 can be, rather than being in areas where they are at more at risk from the things detailed above. The centre has many many aims and activities including councelling services, HIV testing and counselling, CV building services, workshops, revenue generating activity and a canteen/shop that will fund the centre and hopefully make it a sustainable entity where James can step back and let the centre and the young people run things for themselfes.
My aim is to help by volunteering my time and possibly helping to plan and run a forum theatre project where young people can discuss and play out situations they feel are local issue.

I feel I have been neglecting a little the descriptions of day to day life here, which perhaps I was writing more of when I was in Bangalore. I guess I am more used to how things are here. I'll try to put some more detail in my next blog. Ive met some great people here, many of which are so happy to help and donate some of there time or services to my own and various projects needs.
The rush of getting around on the truck and taking boda-bodas (bicycles with seats for passengers on the back) is still awsome. I've really enjoyed the amazing group dynamic we have between the team and I'm both sad and excited at the departure of some good friends from the team and some new arrivals. I've enjoyed tucking into some traditional Kenyan food which includes the worlds best BBQ chicken at the Mamba hotel (Kisumu's answer to Nandos) which is well positioned only around the corner. I have also enjoyed settling down to a couple of bottles of Tusker in the evening, Tusker malt is my favourite, it has a stronger tast much like Peroni or Hinken where as plane tusker is a bit watery like fosters, not my cup of tea.

So I'm going to continue working hard, planning for this saturdays workshop on understanding the child, the child centred learning aproach, and the participaroty learning method. I also aim to have allocated some of the donated money from the two band nights at our house to the centre in Nyalenda starting with two chairs for thier counselling room.

There is far to much to write here, I spend my day doing a million things, and its that Buzz that I reall enjoy. Kisumu offers so many oppertunities and I plan to take up as many as possible while giving each my all and not overdoing it. Missing friends and family at home but loving the way of life here.

Its easy to get caught up with big numbers, like the fact that our Eearly Childhood Development workshops are impacting over two thousand 2 - 6 year olds. But its so important for me and I believe the others working here to remember the individual and I am trying my best to keep my eyes open to the places I can help the individual and keep each child in mind that is effected by the workshops. For that reason I've ended with a story below.

The Starfish Story
Original Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.
The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?
You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…”
I made a difference for that one.”

Mzungu in Kisumu

hey hey, so I am not being good at blogging, but here is some bits and bobs bellow. As usual its going from newest down to oldest just to be counter intuative. ooh and if you havent caught on, im in kisumu Kenya now!

16th May

"My names Alex Ingram, I'm from the UK where I am a youth worker and work in the events industry...." is how I introduced myself to over a hundred ECD (early child development) teachers at the first of the eight week workshop that we are running. Its funny that I am putting together a workshop on something I have only recently acquired knowledge on. My introduction of myself and hopefully motivating speech seemed to go down well with many stops for clapping which did make very happy. I spoke of how we are here to share ideas, we are all learning and teaching at the same time. I also spoke of Picasso and how he said that every child is a born artist, the problem is keeping them that way. I said with ECD we can keep them artists for longer and use these skills that all children harness to help learn at this early stage in development.

Other than my mini speech I did a lot of organizing on the day and admin signing people in and sorting out forms etc. I also took a group of teachers to make sock puppets together which was great fun and hilarious. My puppet kicks serious arse!

The workshop was such an amazing success, in fact I was surprised at how well received it was and the amount of participation that we received. Having members of the Government and various education officials to speak at the end really helped to make the workshop feel special and I think is a motivating factor for both the Emerge volunteers as well as the teachers participating on the course.

I'm off to meet James and the internet cafe now to post this blog, so tired from my 6 o clock start (that’s right, on a Saturday too!)

15th May

Okay so blogging is not really the same as in India: limited Internet access, no laptop and a complete different kind of work...and well its just entirely different.

The rain last night was crazy, I mean actually insane. Its one of the rainy seasons now so in the nighttime it buckets it down. We have to strategically place towels to stop my room from flooding. In the morning I went with Peter and Marcel (two guys that work with E-merge) to St. Marks School with a water pump from the farm to pump out the water from where it floods. There has been a project to stop flooding and it is much better there, but still not perfect. Peter and I pump continuously between us for about two hours, the pump is a great design by a manufacturer called moneymaker. You use it a bit like a stepper or exercise bike unlike the traditional hand ones.

Later on Bart and I drove the two hour journey to Le Funga where one of the projects I a lot of responsibly for is happening. We are building the first form of a secondary school attached to an existing primary school. I measure up the room so I could design lockers and storage and also indicate towards the arrangement of desks and chairs once they have been made. We also visited the area education officer to discuss the beurocratic side of starting a school, getting pupils, staff, board of governors etc.

Later on we went to a great local Indian buffet place where I was shocked by the number of Mzungus (white people) they had all come for a friend of a friends leaving party. mmmm good food and even a little dancing. I enjoyed being in the bar for a little while but then it dawned on me that this is what I had come to escape from.

Beginning of first week
I am so happy to be back in Kisumu, it really does feel like a home from home and took no re-adjustment which was not something I thought that would happen.

My laptop has gone a bit crazy so blogging is not easy and accessing all my work is impossible but I'm working on it, plus internet is only at web cafe's.

Okay, so what have I been up to:
Well I've been living with Bart plus two other volunteers one from Hawaii and one from Brazil. We have a great team and work really well together. It has such a dynamic feel as we are all off doing different things working towards the same goals and feeding back and communicating with eachother.

In the last week we have been planning, sorting the logistics and making purchases towards an eight week course for ECD (early childhood development). Its funny that I am helping to plan and leading workshops even though this is something I do not have much experience of...except for when I was a child and experienced education and kindergarten. (which, lets face it, wasn't that long ago) Skills in drama, youth work, music and my own research are all coming in useful and I think its going to be a great course.

I have also been getting quotes and putting together designs for chairs at the High school which Emerge is pretty much organizing. It is a primary school and they are collaborating on making a first year of secondary. So i have been getting millions of quotes, doing lots of maths and trying to bargain down fundi (workers) and metal manufacturers....all good fun!
I have also been trying to get the best deal on books, I think the shop I am getting most from are actually making a loss as I bargained so hard...he he he

I also visited Marc where he is headmaster at his new school Arya, which is amazing. It has fantastic facilities and a great vibe, but is operating at its maximum and turning kids away...playing space is a real issue.. I am looking to help with ICT, school newsletter and fundraising for his hall floor.

Today was very strange as we drove to Salem home... i walked in to find it completely empty and could not here the sounds of kids voices that once filled that building. After a long time of difficulty with funds they finaly moved to there new home, which I visited and seems nice. I am interested to find out more about it. They have definitely downsized and are operating at maximum capacity which is low compared to the old location two years ago. The sheets and farming tools donated in 2007 are still there and in use, which is amazing! I think it shows it is a worthwhile place to keep working with as it is a sign that they are appreciative of support and that corruption is not so much an issue here, although as I've learnt, you still always need to be a step ahead with eyes wide open.
I will meet with Phoebie soon to chat about the home and there needs.

I've been so busy I am sure there are a million things I have left out, I will try and blog sometime soon. But I am really having an amazing time. It is very scary seeing the result of the civil war. Places i visited last time are Burnt to the ground, even big buildings, like a constant reminder of the civil war and current political situation. Things all seem very peacefull but I am keeping an ear to the ground.

Please keep in contact everyone even if I am not so good at blogging or updating. Not having internet at home, laptop dying and being so busy make it tough to find time to sit down at a PC.