Update One: It began in Nairobi

The following was written by Kevin Hand who has just returned from Volunteering in Kenya with Cosmos Education.

Habari! Hello from Kenya!

Our international team has been working in secondary schools in Kenya for the past few weeks and in the coming days they'll head down to Zambia.

I was just recently in Nairobi and I'll give you a brief overview of what we've been doing before I hand over the task of writing "Updates" to our African team members. I've also included some pictures.

Students at the Buruburu Secondary School in Nairobi gather outside for a hands-on activity during which they will be challenged to measure the height of the flag pole using a pan of water.

So after months and months of emails, phone calls, and planning, it all comes down to landing on the tarmac in Nairobi and seeing what needs to be done. Will our three Zambian team members successfully arrive in Nairobi after their painfully long three-day overland journey from Lusaka, Zambia? Will the schools we've scheduled give us the right amount of students (~100) for the right amount of time (~3 hours), or will they surprise us and give us 1000 students for an hour? Will we be able to get all of our hands-on activities and experiments working robustly? Will the team mesh well and enjoy working together? Will I get dreadfully sick from eating some sketchy samosa from a street vendor? All these questions and more circle in my head as the plane pulls into the gate at Nairobi International.

Thankfully, Susan Murabona, our CE Global treasurer and CE Kenya treasurer, and Bridget Somboya, executive director for CE Kenya, met me at the airport on Tuesday night and whisked me away to the campsite where we could catch up over some food and plan the weeks ahead.

We spent the first few days revisiting schools to confirm our planned visits for the upcoming week, and visiting a few new schools to fill in the gaps for those that were in exams. Our schedule included a great mix of high-end privileged schools within Nairobi and much less privileged rural schools in the areas surrounding Nairobi. Reaching such a range of schools is important because the students from different backgrounds benefit in different ways by interacting with our team. However, the task of teaching for such a range is always a fun, but difficult challenge!

A student playing the role of a computer in Susan's 'Tin-can Internet' Module.

Having confirmed our school schedule, the next task was to work through all of the teaching modules and make sure each team member was well practiced and prepared for their individual module. In some cases this was easy, in other cases it took a bit of brainstorming and some creativity to turn an idea into something the students would enjoy and find instructive. In the end, it's always easy to find inspiration by walking the aisles of the supermarket and hardware store.

By Saturday morning, our team for the first couple of weeks in Kenya was complete. The Zambians had arrived safely and Tanja, a grad student at Stanford, had landed in Nairobi after a flight delay.

Susan Murabona, treasurer for CE Global and CE Kenya, talks with students about science and technology and the role of science and technology in health, the environment, and sustainable development.

We spent the weekend working on refining our teaching modules and doing some team-building activities. Below is a quick list of the members and the various modules presented in the secondary schools.

• Susan (Kenya, Computer programmer). Module: Binary numbers dance and the Tin-Can Internet
• Bridget (Kenya, Veterinarian). Module: Health ­ HIV/AIDS
• Peter (Kenya, Engineer). Module: The science of trees, analyzing the health and history of trees and examining their role in the global ecosystem (working with Eric)
• Isaac (Kenya, Communications Student). Module: Electricity & Magnetism/How Generators Work (teamed with Tanja).
• Kim (Kenya, Aeronautical Engineer). Module: Math activity involving geometry and a clever trick to measure the height of a tree (working with Kevin and Mulenga).
• Rukia (Kenya, Medical School). Module: The science of health, drugs, and medicine (working with Judy).
• O'brien (Zambia, Environmental Health Specialist). Module: HIV/AIDS, the science of DNA and how viruses replicate. Also working with Kevin on Microbiology module.
• Judy (Zambia, Graphic Designer and Drug Counsellor). Module: The science of health, drugs, and medicine (working with Rukia).
• Mulenga (Zambia, Researcher working with orphans and HIV/AIDS patients). Module: Math activity involving geometry and a clever trick to measure the height of a tree (working with Kevin and Kim).
• Jessica (USA, Graduate student (social work)). Module: the science and social ramifications of HIV/AIDS.
• Tanja (USA, Graduate student (physics)). Module: Electricity & Magnetism/How Generators Work (working with Isaac).
• Eric (USA, Graduate student (civil & environmental engineering)). Module: The science of trees; analyzing the health and history of trees and examining their role in the global ecosystem (working with Peter)
• Kevin (USA, Graduate student (geology)). Module: Math activity working with Kim and Mulenga. Microbiology: making Winogradsky columns that will be monitored in the months to come.

O'brien Daka of Cosmos Zambia discusses careers with students.

Our first week in Kenya brought us to six schools in and around Nairobi. During the second week the team worked in the towns of Naivasha and Nakuru. In the days and weeks that follow, we'll be sending out emails with stories and descriptions from individual team members. Through their voices we hope you get a sense of what we're doing and how we're making a difference, student by student, on the ground in Africa.

Cheers and thanks again for your support!
Kevin

Read the Zambian Report.

In Kenya, Cosmos Education Kenya is Registered Society No. 26710.
In the United States, Cosmos Education is a Project of The Tides Center, a 501(c)3 non‑profit organisation.
In England and Wales, Cosmos Education UK is Registered Charity No. 1100278
Cosmos Education Zambia is registered under the Societies Act in the Republic of Zambia, Registration No. ORS/102/35/3017.