It's been awhile

Low tide

It has been a while since our last blog post. We were back in the U.S. for a while, but now we’re back in our home, by the beach on the Indian ocean. No matter what trials living in a developing country present, we take time nearly every day to enjoy the stunning beachscape.

Two of Tucker's favorites - the orange ball and the beach

One of the biggest concerns for us as we work toward opening Mudzini International School is finding the right staff. Aside from Randy and Susie, all of the school’s faculty and staff will be Kenyan. The School Manager position (an expanded Business Manager role) is critical in Kenyan schools. Fortunately, we think we’ve found the perfect person. You may remember, as shared in a previous blog, Randy spent the day traveling with a high ranking official from the Education Ministry, Zack Kabiru, assessing schools in the bush. Zack, Susie and Randy have had many opportunities to wax philosophically about education in general and about education in Kenya. It turns out that we are absolute kindred spirits. These conversations were so gratifying that we decided to take a chance and inquire if Zack would be willing to leave his government post and sign on as our School Manager. Zack is keenly interested in becoming part of our team. Our assumption is that after many years of working with the Ministry and finding time and again that aspiration isn’t realized in

Headmaster and two future MIS students.

implementation, Zack is heartened by the opportunity to see all that he believes come to fruition to our school.

We’ve had several opportunities to learn about both public and private education in Kenya. All of the Mudzini girls currently attend private schools. For the most part their days are filled with lectures, rote memorization, and grueling schedules. The middle school age girls have described their day at the Maryjoy School in detail for us. How very different our school will be!!

Maryjoy School – Grades 6-8

Monday – Saturday. Grade 8 students have half day of exam prep on Sundays

4:30 am – wake up call

5:00 – 5:45 prayers

5:45 – 6:30 chores – hand- washing clothes

6:30 – 7:00 breakfast (one cup of porridge)

7:30 – 12:30 classes

12:30 – 1:00 lunch

1:00 – 3:30 classes

3:30 – 5:30 sports

5:30 – 6:30 dinner

6:30 – 8:30 classes

9:00 – 10:00 homework

10:00 – lights out

In addition to the exhausting scheduling, the school has a strict discipline code. Students who speak out of turn, forget to do their homework, miss class, or otherwise step out of line are subjected to public humiliation (squatting in the courtyard for hours), caning, or labor tasks (scrubbing floors and walls).

A nearly finished classroom - There are 44 super large classroom!

Under the banner of “managing expectations”, which has become a primary life strategy for us, construction of the school has been slow. So, we’ve had to delay the opening a bit. We will open for non-fee paying students for the third term of the Kenyan school calendar in May. We will open for fee paying students in September and run on the international school calendar – September – July. Though, construction has been slow, we are beginning to see what the finished classrooms will look like. Stunning!!