Visit to Kenya - Educational Care

By Sara:

I had the fun opportunity to visit our colleague, Mwikali, in Nairobi and spend a few days with her meeting the people she works with through a Resonate program called Educational Care.  We also stopped at the Resonate office and visited with Margaret, another colleague (below: me, Mwikali, Margaret).

It was really meaningful for me to get the chance to see and talk to other members of the Resonate regional team and see what they are doing.  I enjoyed our time together and the good conversations.  Now I feel more like a teammate with them since we have bonded in person in the place where they work.

Mwikali works with a training called Educational Care, which is aimed at helping equip teachers with good teaching practices supported by biblical principles.  We visited a couple of different schools and were able to talk to some teachers who are going through Educational Care trainings as well as some of their students.  One of the biggest points many of the teachers mentioned was the importance of understanding their students situations and listening to them, rather than making assumptions and punishing them without knowing what the student is going through.

It was also fun to see the creative ways the schools are using their space and resources to make a good learning environment for their students.  Maybe my memory of elementary school is faulty, but I don't remember such brightly colored walls or shelves in our classrooms!

One of the schools even has a small vegetable garden and some chickens so they can supplement the students' lunches with greens and eggs.  I saw their schedule of meals for the week and these students are definitely getting a good variety of healthy food!

We also visited a group of older students who Mwikali and a teacher were mentoring throughout Covid.  They have a "club" and have discussions and Bible studies together.  At first they were shy, but by the end of our time together, they were more talkative and curious about Uganda.  They asked me a bunch of questions about schools and young people in Uganda so I could go back and find out the answers from Ugandan kids.  I'll talk to some of the Bible study group youth and send their answers to Mwikali to share with her students in Kenya.

Something I found really helpful from that discussion with the students was hearing how they, as part of the group, have each shared a dream they have for their life.  I like how it gives them an area in which they can support one another and keep encouraging each other as they go through school and life. 

I'm so thankful that I got the chance to spend time with Mwikali in Nairobi!  Now I hope she will get to come visit us in Soroti sometime in the future!