The Daily Routine

4:45     Awake from slumber.  Is that the sound of a beating drum? No, it's just the cook's assistant hacking at a log to obtain wood for the open fire. Drift back to sleep.
4:55     They shouldn't be out of bed yet, but some of the girls from the dormitory giggle and call out as they begin their morning ritual of washing and preening.

5:00     The bell sounds. This is the official start to the students' day although it is still dark in this equatorial part of the world. More and more voices join the chorus. They have been asked to be considerate towards others who are sleeping, but after all, they are teenagers. The cows start to moo. The dogs reply.
5:10       Drift back into a semi-sleep. While drifting between awake and asleep the rooster crows.
5:45    Some particularly loud girls call out only 10 metres from our bedroom. Awake again. The cows are still mooing. Drift back to sleep.
6:15       Footsteps passing by - many of them. The girls are heading towards the school rooms to begin their self-directed study. This is a good thing as soon it is fairly quiet except for the occasional cow, dog and rooster. Drift back into a deeper sleep.
7:15       Oh no!, it's quarter past seven already - must get up. Shower, dressed, quick bite of toast and tea (or if time permits, some of Desleigh's home-made muesli first (N.B. a 650g packet of decent muesli costs $9 in the supermarket).
7:40    Head over to the staff room (20 metres away). Shake hands with whomever is present, followed by the obligatory "how are you" with the reply of "I am fine".
7:45     The bell rings. Students (not as quickly as you might expect) gather for their morning assembly. They have come from a 45 minute revision session, usually attended by some of their teachers who have work to finish or revise. there are formal assemblies on Monday and Friday, bible talk on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and class meetings on Wednesday. There are prayers, readings, short inspirational talks and announcements. At formal assemblies the Kenyan flag is unfurled and the national anthem sung. A drill from a marching group precedes the unfurling. Occasionally we are asked to speak on these assemblies, especially the bible talk days.
8:15       Lesson 1 . There are 45 lessons in a week and the average teacher takes about 28. With 8 classes and 14 teachers there is always a fair number of staff in the staff room. I have a very light teaching load, only 9 lessons of Geography each week (plus some bible studies). The extra time is spent assessing English comprehension, providing professional development for teachers and working on policies and procedures in the school. Alan, the school principal, is a very intelligent man, and very easy to work with. We both have grown-up children and are closer to 60 than 50!
8:55      Lesson 2. At this school the students stay in their room and the teachers move around.
9:35     Time for a 10 minute break. Students go to the toilet, sit in the shade or, more likely, stay in their room. They have a great attachment to their classroom.
9:45      Lesson 3, and it's not even ten o'clock yet!
10:25    Lesson 4.
11:05      A longer break - 20 minutes. The students line up for their morning tea - their first food for the day. The staff gather in the staff room for mundazis (wonderful doughnut-like treats) and Kenyan tea. The tea is black tea that is delivered in a thermos with milk and sugar already added.
11:25     Lesson 5.
12:05     Lesson 6.
12:45     Lunch. The students line up for a bowl of rice and beans. Staff are provided with much the same thing inside the staff room. Serving bowls are brought in by the cooks. One of the female staff members will plate-up and distribute the meal to each table. One day may be rice and beans, the next ugali and meat, the next rice, potato and cabbage. Meat is infrequent but carbs are always plentiful.
1:25     Bible studies. This is taught by a select number of teachers plus some community members. Most of the staff receive an extra 40 minutes lunchtime. Us volunteers are rostered on one week in three.
2:00    The bell rings and the students have 5 minutes for a toilet break. The staff have another 5 minutes in the staff room.
2:05     Lesson 7.
2:45     Lesson 8.
3:25     Lesson 9. I don't know why, but in the afternoon when it is hotter and the students are tired, they have fewer breaks!
4:05     Fifteen minutes for cleaning the class rooms. There are rosters, but this early in the year it is not being done consistently (note to self; this is something to work on).
4:20 Optional sport or 'clubs'. This includes journalism, art, CYC, singing, marching - and the soon to be formed ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP (I hope).
5:00     The day students leave for home. The boarders have an hour or so to wash, socialise or play more sport. We retreat to the mansion and brew some coffee in the Kenyan 2499 shilling ($30) coffee drip filter, with genuine Kenyan ground coffee.
5:30     Unless lured by a short nap, we will go for a walk, or watch the students play sport, or challenge them to a game of badminton. Tabby likes to go running - the poor, misguided soul. An hour relaxing and catching up on emails is also a popular choice. Des seems intent on reading all of the  "Laura Ingalls Wilder Series". She is not teaching other than bible studies,  but when Form 1 arrive there will be lots of students who need help with English comprehension.
6:45     (Or thereabouts) The boarders line-up for their evening meal. As yet there is no meeting or dining hall so the meals are consumed outside on the grass or in the classroom.
We also try to have our evening meal at about this time. Our major complication is when there is no water or an unexpected blackout occurs. Actually, is there such a thing as an expected blackout? To be honest, there is in Kenya. Whenever it rains there seems to be an accompanying power failure. Please ask an electrician why this is so (it may need to be a Kenyan electrician).
7:30     The bells rings once again. All boarders assemble in one classroom - yes, somehow all 100 fit in. We don't know what will happen when 50 or so Form 1's arrive in a couple of weeks. The boarders run their own meeting. There are songs (usually two to start with), often sung with great gusto and lots of refrains and extra 'echoes'. Then a prayer followed by a short talk - sometimes a student, sometimes one of the field workers. Then another song, and finally a prayer. Once the formalities are over the announcements start.  This is often to do with "a lost jumper" or the request that "everyone should arrive more promptly and listen more intently to the giver of the word!" Occasionally one of the prefects will get annoyed with the antics of someone up the back (am I back in Australia?) and will berate them in Swahili. We figure that this is to shield us from the invective.
8:10     The meeting is over and the boarders stream back to their classroom for unassisted study. We head back to the mansion for tea and crumpets.
9:30    Boarders start preparing for bed. The girls head in one direction to their brand new dormitory and the boys head back to the old dorm rooms. The two dorms are separated by two houses. Surprisingly, there is little need to enforce the "no fraternising" policy.
10:00    The final bell sounds and all boarders are expected to be in bed. They will be up early tomorrow so they don't need much coaxing. Neither do we.