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3 July (Tuesday)

Page history last edited by pinkhamc@... 10 years, 11 months ago

3 July (Tuesday) In the morning Anne wrote each student's name on a white board and then Malaina took a picture of that student with the name plate held in front of them and another picture without the name plate. Next, Chris recorded the student's height and I recorded his or her weight.  After that each student went outside where Lisa, Christopher, and Haily helped them select slippers as a reward.  In other words, most of us continued what we had been doing on Monday.  It does take time to do this for 400 students. We had to take off their shoes for the height and weight measurements.  Some of these shoes look like they are never taken off. The knot was tied so tight and the shoe fit so snugly that it was almost impossible to get them off.  It quickly became apparent that some kind of a pointed tool to help untie the really stubborn knots and a shoehorn to put the shoe back on again would have been very useful.  Since it was their winter, many students had extra clothing that had to be removed.  Often the clothing would be left behind in the excitement so we finally put a name on each article or pen/pencil set down so we could be sure it would be returned to the rightful owner.

 

All this record keeping is necessary to track the health of the students and to have photos for the sponsors.

 

After our usual lunch of a peanut butter and honey or jelly sandwich and a banana to eat and water to drink, there was a rest time.  I used that time to give the science teachers (Vincent, Victor, Bernard, Joakim, Jeremiah, and Emily) some extra pointers on the microscope including how to prepare slides using the standard onion skin and cheek slides with methyl blue stain as examples and explained that we needed data on how long it takes for the African sun to charge the batteries for the microscopes.  I also sampled the water running in the ditches, fully expecting to see all kinds of microorganisms.  I used a dropper to take some of the water from just below the surface.  Nothing showed up.  Then I used the dropper to stir up the sediment and look at it under high power.  Again, nothing but the red silt grains showed up.  I suspect the water in the ditches is mainly from laundering and body washing.  If so, it includes a great deal of soap, especially phosphate-bearing soap since there is no law against its use in Nairobi.  Perhaps the soap kills everything or perhaps only microbes too small to be seen at 450X were present.  This is a mystery worth further exploration.

 

Elizabeth taught preschool with a substitute teacher from another grade since the regular teacher was out sick that day.

 

When we got home, we all got our dirty clothes and put them into the washer and hung them up to dry.

 

For supper, we had chicken, French fries, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes.  The first two were fried in oil heated under a charcoal fire.  They had a strong but interesting taste that I had noticed pervaded the entire slum area.  I had thought that smell might be caused by something else, but instead, I realized it is a product of cooking. 

 

After devotionals and sharing of our most memorable event during the day, David Okusi and his assistant showed us designs for a piece of African attire using the material we had selected the evening before.  After we made our choices, they took measurements and told us they would be ready by Saturday evening.  Following that, we started off to bed.  Unfortunately it wasn't long before Malaina found herself locked in the upstairs bathroom.  It took about an hour for xxxx to chisel the lock off so she could get out.

 

The backs of storage containers.  The one on the right is the library.  The chicken may or may not belong to the school.  They are raising chickens for eggs and meat, but they are kept in enclosures elsewhere in the compound.
Three of the teachers in front of the above scene.  Seated are Vincent, the closest, and Joakim.  Valencia is standing.  She is the Deputy Director. 
Carl teaching the teachers.   Victor is standing next to Carl, then Joakim and then Bernard.
Charging the batteries in the flashlights used as a light source.  Note the solar cells facing the sun. See the microscope as modified for further detail.
  Our wash area.  Note the washing machine in front of the blue roof drain pipe.  Also notice the many clothes lines that we used to dry our clothes.  The sink in the foreground was used for outdoor cooking.
  David (on the right) and his assistant

 

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