Kenya Project exercise 2
In 2007 Laura went with a group of sixth-formers on a Fulchrum Challenge project helping Kenyans to build onto Oldinyol village school (Oldinyol meaning Hill School in Swahili). The exercise below is one to do if you have plenty of time to spare. Otherwise, do exercise 1!
1 How many of them were there, altogether, who went to Kenya?
2 How many of these students had Laura never met before?
3 How important was laughter in the group?
4 Laura didn’t get on with a small number of people in the group. What adjective had they clearly used to describe her?
5 It was clearly an emotional time for the students. What two points are made about crying?
6 What two points are made to explain the high level of emotionalism during the students’ time away?
7 Some students clearly felt emotionally a bit raw, a bit exposed, because they reacted in a more extreme way than usual – but what does Laura say about other students?
8 Why did some girls find the project more physically demanding than the boys did?
10 What was it about a particular group of girls that impressed Laura?
11 To pace themselves they sometimes worked in shifts, because of the heat and the demands of the work. How is the timing of the shifts described?
12 How does Laura describe the pace at which they collected rocks off the hillsides?
13 What delayed their getting started on the work?
14 How long did the trek they went on last?
15 Why did they get up so early on trekking days?
16 Why, on approaching Rift Valley, did they walk without talking (they just kept on trudging, kept on going)?
17 What surprised Laura and the group about the people they came across?
18 What 4 reactions does Laura mention about the villagers?
19 What three points does Laura make about the children they came across calling out ‘give me your watch’?
20 What did the children do when the group passed by them, in a truck?
21 What phrase is used meaning something caused them to have strong feelings or love or compassion?
22 Does Laura accept that this project was ‘just a jaunt’?
23 What three recommendations would she make, with hindsight (ie now that she know what she did not, before going)?
24 Does Laura see herself doing something like this again?
25 What points does she make about the experience long term?