19th October – Clouds

Probably the most exciting thing that is happening here is that the sky is beginning to be filled with clouds. People are clearing little and larger plots of land while looking at the sky. I expect it will take a little while for the clouds to produce anything, and the wind needs to stop blowing so hard as well, but the signs are certainly appearing. There’s a Swahili saying: Dalili ya mvua ni mawingu (the sign of rain is clouds) and so everyone is quoting that these days. The clouds also help the walking to and from school, as at least there’s some patches of overcast now and then.

The not-so-exciting event of the past week has been trying to cope with one of those nasty head colds, with tearing eyes, running nose, sneezing, etc. The sore throat and cough of last week was, I thought, all that would afflict me but I was wrong. At least the worst days were over the weekend so I didn’t miss any school. Today I feel MUCH better, and there’s even some water in the pipes so I can wash my handkerchiefs! Many of the kids in the classroom are coughing as well, so I think it’s a combination of cold germs, dust, and smoke. Folks, while clearing their fields, often burn the brush, so the air seems to have a lot more smoke than usual these days.

The class is going along well and we continue to have a good time. When they were writing an exercise on Friday, one boy was borrowing a ruler from the girls next to him. She was finishing her underlining and he was saying to her, “Faster! Faster!” That kind of amused me. Today I was asked by the Director to make up the English portion of the entrance exam for the secondary school. The exam will be on 6th November, and it seems like many youngsters have already applied. They take an entrance exam and then only to fill the number of available places will be chosen.
One day as I was arriving at school I met a man on a bicycle who said he had come to take an application form for the secondary school because he has a daughter who wants to apply. I asked where he was from, and he named a place not far from here. He said that he would like her to go to a boarding school instead of a day school because so often when girls go home after school they are assigned work to do and miss out on time to do extra studying. What he said is very true, but not all parents recognize that so this girl is lucky.

Tune in next week to see if we’ve had any rain!