Pole pole is Kiswahili for "slowly by slowly", and I have often heard the phrase from my Kenyan friends as advice to me. It also describes well my learning curve here.
Each day I am growing, which, I suppose, is a typical observation from anyone in a foreign environment. Some days I grow a bit through small successes, and other days when I make adolescent mistakes the spurts are more severe. But little by little, day by day, I am learning how to move beyond the idealism of trying to affect the world, through the disillusionment that comes from smacking my nose repeatedly into the wall of disappointment, and into this quest to make a realistic impact on a community scale.
Ten days ago I devised a contract for the staff of Oloile Secondary to sign. Rushing back down the hills from Loitokitok to the school with the forms in hand, I failed to predict the obvious: the teachers would be apprehensive about signing an agreement because they are not used to such things. It was raining past the point of down pour when I arrived, and the sound of the water against the tin roof was deafening. The late afternoon sky had prematurely darkened, and I should have taken the sign that the timing was wrong. Anything I rush here backfires. Though the contract is written firmly in favor of the worker and was meant to give the faculty confidence in their job security, it was not until I made amends by holding a meeting the next afternoon just to explain the terms that I was able to abate the skepticism they felt. I can't blame them, given the corruption most here are accustomed to. Thankfully, after recognizing my mistakes, and slowing to a Kenyan pace, the entire teaching staff signed on for at least two years. Some even have guaranteed five. Most importantly, Eve, the head teacher, has committed herself to three, a decision I awaited all weekend and am delighted to have received. So through my mistakes, I am learning, pole pole, to slow down and to listen.
There are moments though that I am lucky, days filled with good work and fulfillment, hours when I imagine that I have accomplished something, nights when I go to sleep excited with the seeds I am seeing sprout. I hope that with greater experience, knowledge and insight those moments will become more frequent, but for now I cherish them when they arrive.
The teachers and I met on Monday night for our first Teaching Seminar, and I am excited about what will happen in the ten weeks to come. We are discussing practical ways of engaging the whole class. Our four rooms are stuffed with fifty students each and each lesson is manned by one teacher. I wish we could make for smaller class sizes, but the fact is we are now turning students away daily. By putting my first two week's time into observing each teacher in lessons and taking careful notes on ways we might improve the atmosphere in these overcrowded classes, I earned some trust from the faculty as someone who would listen before acting. And though I am proposing some ideas that seem outlandish to them- suggestions like team teaching and peer observations, I believe that slowly by slowly, the teachers will come along. I am learning to take the time to get faculty leaders on my side and to get others to also own my ideas, because when I have tried to take the lead by myself, I have eaten a full plate of dry resistance. But mostly I am learning to believe that good ideas can be implemented and made to work, when conditions are right. The programs I am devising will have life, as long as I don't fall prey to needing the approval of everyone, which I am prone to, and, at the same time, avoid monopolizing the arena of ideas by speaking too much. For now I am starting small, practically.
This week I encouraged the teachers to learn the students’ names by making seating charts for them to fill in, giving the students name tags, and offering a financial reward to any teacher who knows the names of 90% of the student body by month's end. Those suggestions sound so simple, but here they are new. We discussed ways to invite more participation in class- calling on students randomly, walking the aisles to involve the back rows, and welcoming wrong answers, so hesitant students do not fear ridicule. Next week I will set up partnerships between those who teach similar subjects and ask each partner to observe the other during one class a week in order to take notes on how the ideas we are discussing are affecting teaching methods. I am hoping that if this peer to peer evaluation works and real conversations happen between colleagues, then programs will take hold and a system of accountability, that does not depend on my input, will be in place.
Slowly by slowly, I push through the wishful thinking of world scale reform, past the cynicism of corruption and broken systems, and into the work of practical grass roots programs. These small moments of satisfaction are like sips from the cup of hope. Pole pole, I believe that the community will be transformed.
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