A Change of Location

Written Thursday, November 23, 2006

We’ve changed locations, not permanently but for a period of a few weeks. Our new home is at MCF Yatta, just 30 minutes down the road from MCF Ndalani. This past Monday we were talking with Peter and he suddenly mentioned that we were moving to Yatta the next day. We didn’t see it coming at all!

But it’s good, we’re enjoying ourselves here. Yatta is where they have the girls training school and also some of the Gr. 9 and Gr. 10 students. The girls school is a two year program. The new semester is just beginning, so there is a lot of transition and change happening. In addition to this, the high school students are in the middle of their year-end exams. So Lindsey and I have exchanged French beans for students and muddy dirt for chalk dust. We are now teachers! Another career to add to the growing list of experience that we’ve been getting here – farmer, tour guide, photo journalist, cook, child caregiver, laundry maid and the list continues. The great thing about our teaching is that at last we are doing something actually connected with our CIDA job descriptions. I’m teaching about HIV/AIDS and Lindsey is running classes on agriculture. I am also the new home economics teacher and Lindsey is teaching an English communications course. There are so many hats to worn here at MCF!

Our presence here is very timely because we’re able to help the teachers through this transition time. There are over 80 new girls here. Quite a number of them have children, so we now have another 20 or so babies and small children running (or crawling) around. Our living accommodations here are very sweet. We live in our own little brick cottage that feels like a mansion. Lindsey and I are sleeping in separate rooms for the first time in nine weeks! We also have a comfy kitchen and living room. The bugs are pretty minimal compared to Ndalani. It’s amazing what four solid walls and an air-tight roof can do to reduce the insect infiltration.

All of our friends and family from Ndalani have been checking up on us. Peter stopped by tonight to make sure that we were settled in. Kush instructed his two friends here to keep a close eye on us. He also sent us a text message tonight to make sure we’re okay. We said that we’re teachers and that “classes occur in real time.” (He’s somewhat obsessed with 24.) The girls here have also been taken care of us by escorting us to our house, making sure we’re fed, that we know where everything is, etc. Between the cushy living accommodations and all the pampering plus the lighter work schedule, it really feels like we’re on a holiday. I now have all this wonderful extra time and free mental space to do the things that I’ve been longing to do for weeks, like floss. I lead a simple and happy life.