Hot on the heels of the successful Skype link-up, I’ve been showing round Rick this week, an old friend and outdoor pursuits teacher at Bolton School. The intention is to bring over a group of schoolchildren in 2011 to see what Africa is really like, how people live their lives over here and to help at our LivLife Centre(s). The highlight of the week was a return to the village whose water committee I am a member of where we sat under a tree and planned a 5 day hiking expedition over the hills and out to Oldoinyo Lengai, an active volcano and the Maasai Mountain of the Gods.
We’ve also had the company of Kitty and Dave this week, two long-term LivLife supporters and the builders of the playground at the Centre. They’ve been helping us put in a new sports pitch complete with nets on goalposts and everything. We had a short break on Friday afternoon to introduce the kids to the wonders of tug of war which culminated in an absolute trouncing of the Centre staff by a few dozen kids.
Our outreach trial has kicked off in full swing this week with great starting results. I’m working closely with Alex, a Maasai student, who is visiting the different Maasai homes around the area. The first two weeks is very much focussed on research – finding out what they think of education and the barriers to it. Of the 18 homes Alex visited, every one of them wanted him to return to teach them there as their workloads meant they didn’t have the time to walk the 30 minutes to the Centre. Another week of research and planning and that’s exactly what he’ll be doing. Really exciting stuff this – the need is there, the desire is there, and we’ve just found the way to bring it to them.
It’s an office day today (here’s my office below!), catching up on the various piles of paperwork that seem to have appeared and then into some hardcore documenting management processes later on this week. Hoping to get our work experience programme moving as well, which should help our students bridge the difficult gap between education and employment… I’ll keep you posted!
