Returning to Mombasa

Returning to Mombasa

I was in Mombasa teaching at Olives Rehabilitation Centre for 3 months last year and I fell in love with teaching and the school so for the 13 months I was back home in London I thought about my class every single day and how much I missed them and wanted the best for them.

It was a definite that I was coming back to teach at Olives and I couldn't have waited any longer. As soon as my flight touched down in Mombasa and my taxi took me to the volunteer house I was out of the door and straight to school which to my dismay was closed! I had to wait another 3 days to see my class, however walking through the village I was recognised by many locals and spent the afternoon with some good friends I made last year.

Volunteer Josh with Std 5

So I've been back 2 months now with only one remaining and I am already making mental notes on when and for how long I can come back next time. My class' dynamic has changed dramatically, quite a number of children changed schools which was heartbreaking for me but along with growing older it's brought out different sides to other students in the class who now have their time to shine.

Volunteer Josh organising his team on sports day...

A few things have changed, for example we now have PE volunteers who are fantastic and have come equipped with amazing ideas for PE lessons and the same for our Creative Arts lessons (big thank you to James and Molly respectively for some of the best PE and Art lessons I've seen). 

Students proudly showing off the mosaic flag they made in Art

Olives is closed this week and the staff here generously granted my wish of a week off to enjoy myself, I feel like I needed it as I put a lot of effort into teaching and am at school form 8am-6pm 5 days a week and I also teach Saturday Math and English classes (I asked if I could do these hours as they are not a normal volunteer schedule and GVI were happy for me to do so and so was the school ,unless it's my duty to cook of course)which may well be my highlight of my time in Kenya, Saturdays are very relaxed and enjoyable, there are normally about half a class compared to the number of kids on a weekday, even though I want all of my students at school every day, it is far easier teaching a smaller class and you can really monitor every students progress in the lesson.

Group reading lesson

One last thing, we had exams at Olives not long ago and after class 5's Math exam one student called Penninah came running up to me and exclaimed "The area of a shaded shape was in the exam and I got it right because you taught it on Saturday! Thank you!" I was over the moon for her and that sums up why I'm here and why I love every second of it. 

 

Volunteer Josh with fellow volunteers Matt, Steve, Ally and Josh

By Josh Fryer - Volunteer

Returning to Mombasa