“Children” here is used loosely—many of the students are not that young!
Sunday was not technically a day off for me, as I joined 129 or 131 or so students (it was my job to count them on the bus) and a few teachers and staff on a field trip to Mtwapa. It was “Disability Day 2009” or some such event, and our Deaf students were the first to arrive, followed by, in no particular order, the children with cerebral palsy, other children in crutches/wheelchairs, the albinos, and others whose disabilities I couldn’t superficially observe.
The day consisted of playing on the swings until the other schools all arrived, then watching cultural dances and songs (not necessarily the most engaging thing for the deaf, but there was a KSL interpreter there, which helped a little). After that, lunch was served, then everyone got back on their busses and left.
Numerous children at my school have disabilities beyond their deafness as well, for example the boy on the left, below, is autistic:
And the girl on the left, below, is wheelchair-bound:
These children are just little and cute, so well worth a picture:
And here are some kids on the swings:
The event overall was a hit: the kids get to go somewhere different and the lunch was curry (it was an Indian-sponsored event), and that’s pretty different from the usual cafeteria meals.
I read a lot, sitting behind the big crowd in a cooler spot, since I’m not much for the song-and-dance, and I finished The Professor and the Madman, which I enjoyed very much. It made me want to be an Oxford elite and to dedicate my life to some obscure but important cause.
In other news, I’m sleeping a lot. I don’t think I have mono but I’m definitely very tired, as I seem to sleepwalk through my teaching responsibilities, nap, eat, and then sleep again. There are so many variables, what with the malaria medication, that I really have no idea what’s going on, but it’s frustrating. I feel like 50% is my new 100%.
One of the library computers died, which makes me sad. It was the fastest one—a 233MHz machine, and the only one with USB, and for some reason it’s moving at molasses speed now, taking ten minutes to get through the BIOS. This means I’ll be using the 100MHz machine in its place, which has far less potential. I’ll get more technical in a later post.
The 2008 KCPE results are also in, and they’re basically just a reshuffle of the 2007 results, with a similar average. My school is very happy because we moved up in the rankings, and despite my feeling on the matter I didn’t interrupt to rain on the parade, but really, the change can be chalked up to statistical luck.
Well, I’ve been up for almost six whole hours, so its off to bed again for me!