How things work

I apologize for the massive “dumping” of blogs in one swoop. See, what happens is….

I write down blog thoughts by candlelight before going to bed and then when there is power (which only happens when visiting mission teams come) I hurriedly type them all. Therefore, please forgive the random typos, the disjointed thoughts, etc. I then save all the blogs on my memory stick for the occasional trek to town. There I upload them all at once on the blog!

I realize that I may not always explain in full the ins and outs of life, the school system, and all that jazz, so let me try to fix some of that now.
School here is technically mandatory, but must be paid for, so if there is no money, you don’t go to school. An average worker earns 2000 shillings a day, 2500 if you don’t feed them lunch. (this is the average here in the village). School fees are around 170,000 per child, per term, three terms per year. Students must provide a ream of paper of the school, buy school uniforms, and provide all pens, notebooks, etc.

Kids start school at nursery, baby class, top class, and then primary school. Primary (“P”) lasts from P1-P7. At P7 they take a national exam to pass to secondary school. The grading system is weird here too; 1 is the best, so if they are tested in four subjects, a score of four is like superstar stellar student. Secondary school is divided into two: “O” level and “A” level. O level, ordinary level, is S1-S4. Advanced level is S5 and S6. At S4 they take another national exam to determine whether or not they continue their studies.

Growing up in AZ I experienced lots of daylight hours for getting things done in. Electricity was also awesome for working at night. Here we have only 12 hours of daylight, and two of those hours don’t really count cause it is dusky. Kinda puts a damper on productivity. Everything is harder too. Last time Bekah and I did wash, we literally rubbed our skin off. The palm of my right hand kept getting blood on the clothes. Bekah’s knuckles were a mess. Next time we go to town we want to look for some “corrugated metal” and try to rig up a washboard. We hired a local woman to help us finish the wash since we were sort of derailed by the bloody knuckles / palms. We haven’t done wash since cause it is exhausting and we are ever tired. It is convenient that it has been raining, gives us an excuse not to wash. On the downside, we have been wearing the same skirts for three days now. Tomorrow we will wash.

Are there other things I haven’t explained too well? Let me know, I will try to clear it up if there are.