Here at the Summer Institute, we’ve just wrapped up a hectic Orientation Session, jam-packed with activities designed to introduce the Instituters to Nairobi, and to Kibera,  while also preparing for what will be a very busy three weeks working with the students at The Kibera School for Girls (KSG). We’ve already packed a lot into the first week of the Institute – it feels like we’ve been here for much longer than we actually have.  We hope this blog will help show our friends, family, & other supporters what we’ve been doing, what we’ve been observing, and what we’ve been thinking about our experiences here in Kenya. Institute volunteers will soon be writing their own personal blog posts, introducing themselves, and sharing their experiences and reflections of their time here.

Volunteers arrived on June 15^th and 16^th, and promptly began to tackle jet lag. They didn’t have much time because the first day everyone was here we headed down to Uhuru Park, adjacent to the Nairobi city center, for a scavenger hunt. Volunteers were given a list of clues to locations all around Nairobi, and were required to take a picture there as well as complete tasks. For example, volunteers had to locate the city market and buy a rose for Shining Hope co-founder Kennedy Odede and write him a haiku. Other stops included the Parliament building (where Instituters asked for the meaning of “Harambee”, the Kenyan motto), the Jomo Kenyatta mausoleum, the Hilton Hotel, and the old railway station.  The scavenger hunt ended just outside Kibera, where we all reconvened and then walked into the school for a brief tour of KSG and the Johanna Justin-Jinich Community Clinic. 

On Saturday, we went to a different section of Kibera, where we were lucky enough to attend a Youth Leadership Conference hosted by two local organizations, including SHOFCO. We were able to discuss leadership traits with a number of Kibera youth in smaller groups while later hearing a speech by Kennedy followed by a panel of local leaders. Being able to sit down and discuss issues with local youth, while also learning from local leaders, was a memorable experience.

On Sunday, we dedicated most of our day to lesson planning for the upcoming week. There are lessons ranging from kickball to ones about voting to arts and crafts to music. We also received amazing training from four wonderful teachers from the Chapin School in New York on how to teach young students--specifically the best techniques for interactive reading with the students.  These tricks of the trade are going to come in handy when we break into our small reading groups each day at the school.  In the middle of this training and hours of lesson planning and preparation, volunteers were able to sit down with a tutor and get a whirlwind introduction into Kiswahili. 

Monday was the first full day spent at the school, and volunteers became acquainted with the building, and put finishing touches on their group lesson plans.  Lesson planning took up the majority of the day, but the most exciting activity was the Kick-Off Assembly, where the Instituters, the KSG students, the KSG teachers, and the Chapin teachers met in the SHOFCO Community Center to celebrate the start of this program. Instituters were introduced to their “family groups”, which consist of 4-6 girls that will work with a specific volunteer for the entire Institute.  Overall, this assembly was a great way to get the entire KSG community excited for the Institute, and acted as a conclusion to the orientation session. The Institute is now ready to get to work after a long time spent preparing. Stay tuned for updates!