Saturday we got together with the sponsored, secondary students – these are students who were sponsored through Nice View Academy and are now in secondary (high school). They were to bring their year end results (school year ends in November here) so we could discuss their progress individually. As is usual here we weren’t able to start on time, which we wanted to start at 11. At 11:30 2 girls showed up and by noon we had 5 out of the 10 so we decided to order lunch…I say “order lunch” so casually but it actually involved finding one of the workers at the Academy, estimating how much it would cost, sending the worker to the chicken place (on foot), having him wait there while the chicken and chips were made (13 1/4 chickens and 13 chips-french fries) then foot it back to the Academy…not a simple task, but I digress…
We ordered lunch then began the big talk with the 5 that were there – the white girl in front is NOT a student 🙂
We discussed school work, making good choices, hanging with friends, not getting into trouble, sex, drugs and a lot of other subjects that are usually not talked about in the Kenyan culture. We told them they could ask us anything, we’ve raised 4 of our own so no subject is taboo to talk about. As the conversation went on lunch came and the rest of the students showed up all around 1pm…we really must teach these kids to be on time 🙂
Lunch was simple but chicken and chips is a treat to many of these kids because it’s just not something they or their families can afford often, if at all. I have to say, and I told the kids I would be telling everyone this, they were the quietest group of teenagers I’ve ever been around. I guess I was used to our kids having friends over with loud talking, games going on, music playing, pizza boxes piled on the kitchen counter…and in Justin’s case (our eldest son), boxing matches going on in the backyard!
After lunch we excused everyone to wait outside while we talked with each individual student. We discussed their grades, if they were having any issues at school, why (if they did) their grades declined, how was the stress level, boy/girl issues and just basically let them talk and tell us what was happening in their lives. Here’s a small sampling of what we heard and I ask for your prayers for these kids:
1) Many of the students said their grades were incorrect. Some of the teachers were letting lower grade students mark reports and not checking the grades. We confirmed this with one student’s report card…we simply added up the grades and came up with a different overall letter grade. Another students marks were 40 points below what they should have been.
2) One student was involved in a sit-in…not what she called it but that’s basically what it was. This involved a teacher who did not get the classes final grades for the students. The students wanted their results and said they wouldn’t leave the campus until they got them. This was a great opportunity to discuss the right way and the wrong way of “putting your foot down” with authority, listening to all sides of the issue and keeping a cool head.
3) Another student is so stressed at school (remember most of these kids board at school, so are living at school for 3 months at a time) because other students are stealing his personal items while he’s in class. While in class his mind is on whether someone is taking his stuff or not. He also has stresses regarding his family. Both his parents are no longer living and he lives with his grandmother during breaks from school. His older brother was helping his grandmother but has become distant and doesn’t help any longer. He doesn’t know how to help and says he cries out to God to give him strength to continue his schooling.
4) Another student is failing all her classes and doesn’t see any hope for her future. We are continuing to talk with her and see if a trade school may be more in line with her education.
5) Another had her grades decline and when we asked what the issue was she replied “I don’t have the text books”. There are around 50 kids in her class with 3 textbooks – 1 for the teacher and the other 2 for the students. The school is unwilling to buy more books.
BUT we also had some praise reports:
1) John received two A’s…first time we’ve ever seen an A for these kids and he was #1 in his class!
2) Another student was #5 in his class
3) One student moved up 9 positions out of her entire class
4) Our Form 3 student encouraged the new Form 2’s to work hard, she said “it’s tough”
Overall it was a great afternoon. We answered questions, talked honestly and basically listened to them . We can’t fix most of the problems but we were able to encourage them, let them know we care and that we’ll be praying for them. I ask that you too keep these kids in your prayers, they have a lot of work ahead of them along with many obstacles but with God’s help they will continue to run the race!