Eric Melvin, former Head Teacher of Currie Community High School recounts how our link with Chogoria Girls High School was established and has developed.

Sitting here looking out at our garden on a rather cool and windy May morning, it is hard to believe that just a few weeks ago I was all those many miles away in Africa. At times it seems almost like a dream that I was actually there in Kenya and teaching at Chogoria Girls High School. However the memories are very clear and I have some photos to prove that yes, Lynda and I were actually there, staying in the Hospital Guest House and enjoying once again the warmth of the Kenyan sunshine and the friendships that we treasure so much.

So how did it all start? My first ever contact with Chogoria came in the summer of 2003 when a small group of Kenyan educationalists, including Margaret Riungu, the then School Principal of Chogoria Girls, and David Mbae, the Principal of Chogoria Complex Primary School, visited Edinburgh and were brought to Currie Community High School. I will never forget the sight of Margaret arriving in the school dressed in her beautiful flowing Kenyan costume. That visit was followed up in November when Purity Muthoni, the Head Girl of Chogoria Girls came to Edinburgh as one of the 2 Kenyan delegates to the Commonwealth Youth Conference. I can remember sitting in my office before the start of school and hearing a buzz of excited murmuring from the Foyer outside. I went out and there was Purity with Wilson the other Kenyan delegate from Chogoria Boys’ High School standing there in their school uniforms surrounded by a crowd of curious Currie pupils. My first encounter with that famous school uniform!

With the help of the Education Department of the City of Edinburgh Council and the British Council we established a Global Schools’ Partnership between the two schools. This has resulted in a programme of exchanges and curricular links that has brought considerable benefits to both schools. One of the benefits of course has been the opportunity for Lynda and I to return to Kenya to work as voluntary teachers in Chogoria.

My most recent visit was 8 weeks spent between January and March of this year with Lynda joining me for the last 3 weeks to help at the Complex Primary School.

So what have been the main impressions of this most recent visit? I certainly came much better prepared than on my previous visit in 2009. I arrived this time armed with a copy of my timetable and a syllabus summary sent to me in advance for the classes that the school had assigned to me. So I was able to start teaching right away accompanied by my box of chalk as there are no modern teaching aids in the classrooms. There you are with your chalk, a blackboard, a text book and your class. So no technology; worksheets or group work, just good old traditional classroom lessons with constant interaction between you and your class.

One obvious difference between Kenyan and Scottish schools is class size. Both of my Form 2 classes had 47 students while my Form 1 class had 50. My senior Form 4 class though had only 24 students.

Given the size of the classes and a failing memory – a clear sign of advancing years – I hit upon the idea of giving each student a card on which they wrote their first name. The idea being that when they wanted to answer a question, as well as holding up a hand, they also held up their own name card. That way at least I could refer to them by their names. A lot of learning in Kenyan schools is done by memorisation. I had discovered on my last visit that when a student answered a question, her answer came straight from the memorised text of the course book. So I tried hard to get the girls to show me that they really understood the information that they were giving by asking them “can you give another example?” or “can you explain that in your own words?” With a bit of prodding I managed to get some discussion going as well.

I was particularly interested to see how much common ground there is between the Kenyan National Curriculum and what is taught here in Scotland. The ‘History and Government ‘ syllabus that I was teaching to my senior class, 4X, included the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions; the Transport Revolution; the ‘Scramble for Africa’; The First World War; the Russian Revolution; the League of Nations; Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany; the Second World War; the United Nations and the work of the Commonwealth. Assuming that there are similar overlaps in other curricular areas then there are real possibilities here for the partnership links between the 2 schools to move to a different level.

Once again I found the students to be hardworking, enthusiastic, unfailingly cheerful and exceptionally well-behaved. During my 8 weeks at Chogoria Girls I never once had to check misbehaviour. The students were also very concerned about my welfare. They made sure that the board was clean and if I broke my piece of chalk or bumped into a desk, then they would apologise. “Oh sorry, Mr Eric,” as though my carelessness was in some way their fault. So I was certainly well looked after.

I was well looked after too by all of the staff who were unfailingly kind, thoughtful and courteous. It must have been a bit unsettling to have this visitor parachuted into their staffroom. However I was made to feel most welcome and was very well looked after particularly by Douglas Gitonga, the Head of Maths, who was my ‘minder’ and with whom I shared an office; Joseph, Moffat and Grace of the Links’ Committee, Mrs Kinuti, my Head of Department; Rozna and Catherine of the support staff and so many others. I think that we should be adopting the Kenyan practice of going out of your way to shake the hands of your colleagues when you greet them first thing in the morning. And talking of mornings, my goodness what a long day for the girls! I wonder how many of our students would manage with getting up at 4.45am and working a very full day until lights out at 10.00pm?

Given the importance of the Kenyan National Exams (and Kenyan students sit National Exams from their first year of Primary School!), it is understandable that so much time is spent on assessment – far more than in Scotland. The senior students carry 8 subjects into their final exams – and they are examined on what they have learnt during their 4 years of secondary education. A very heavy burden.

My previous visit from August – October 2009 took in the tense last weeks before the final exams. Arriving in January, this visit took place during the first weeks of a new session, so there wasn’t quite the same pressure. Indeed this allowed me to experience a feature of life at Chogoria Girls that I hadn’t really seen before- the girls could dance, sing, act and play very competitively at sport. (Strangely, for such a creative and athletic people, these subjects are not part of the Kenyan National Curriculum). So I had the real pleasure of accompanying teams from Chogoria Girls to 2 all-day sports’ festivals. Having just assumed that the girls only had time for academic work, I was very pleasantly surprised and impressed to see the girls put out teams for basketball, handball, hockey, volleyball, football and even rugby. And my goodness they played very hard to win. I found myself appointed as the rugby coach. When I suggested that at our 1st practice they should play touch rugby, (arguing that the ground was very hard and that several of them were playing in bare feet), I was greeted with hoots of derision. So it was full bodily contact as they piled into rucks and flung themselves into tackles. I am still amazed that no-one was injured. One lovely memory is driving home from an all-day sports’ tournament in the school bus (‘Apollo 11’) enjoying a beautiful sunset with the girls singing us back to school.

Now I knew that Chogoria Girls could sing and dance a bit as on our 1st visit in 2004 we had been entertained by a production of singing and dancing in a show called ‘The Link.’ Somehow this had been written, cast, costumed and rehearsed during our 10 day stay. The show was the creation of Mr Ephantus Nkonge, the then Depute of the school. (He is now the Principal of a school in Nairobi and we had the great pleasure of having supper with him and some other close friends on our last night before returning home.) This time Lynda and I were able to accompany the school entries for the District Festival of Music, Dance and Drama. This was held over 2 days in a nearby High School. Under the direction of another old friend, Phares Mwangi of the English department, the girls had been rehearsing until late in the night – we could hear them in the Guest House. The school had entries for several categories including dance, drama and solo verse. As with the sport, the girls put everything into their performances. The dance in particular was a riot of colour, singing and movement. While the drama production bravely tackled some serious contemporary issues including abortion, alcohol abuse and rape. I was delighted to learn later that the dance and drama entries had won through to the National Finals in Nairobi. A tremendous achievement.

What can you say about ‘Kenyan Time’? I think that here in Scotland we are perhaps over-concerned about punctuality. Kenyans though seem to have a very laid-back approach to time. To be fair though school assemblies and timetabled classes always started on time but on other occasions, time was a very elastic concept. So for example, at short notice I was asked to deliver a Powerpoint presentation on ‘Administration in Scottish Schools’ to a large conference of Divisional School Principals being held at Chogoria Girls. The organiser from the Education Department requested a 2 hour presentation to be followed by questions and discussion. The talk was scheduled for 0930 in the morning. Everything though was running late from the day before and continued to run late. (Lunch set for 1.00pm was not taken until 3.00). I eventually got started at 3.30 but was told to cut my presentation down to 1 hour and with no time for questions and discussion.

There are some particular highlights worth recording:

· the early morning walk from the Guest House up the dusty lane to Chogoria Girls with the sun just rising. Passing on my way children going to the Complex Primary School, all in their school uniform and with the youngest wearing blue balaclavas as for them it was cold first thing.

· those whole-school assemblies in the Academic Square with the rising sun catching the top of the teaching block and the beautiful singing reaching up to the clear blue sky with the swallows swooping and diving overhead.

· the cheery enthusiasm of the girls both in and out of class.

· meeting the 4 students sponsored by Currie Community High School and appreciating what this funding has meant for them.

· the friendliness and commitment of the staff – both teaching and support.

· an unforgettable motor-bike ride hanging on for dear life behind Catherine, who in turn was hanging on to our driver, as we roared up a dirt-track road to visit her daughter’s school in the hills above the tea factory.

· an equally unforgettable matatu trip back from Meru with Lynda. At one time there were 22 passengers crammed into the clapped-out vehicle designed to take 14. With no seat belts, passengers hanging on outside and a driver with an apparent death-wish we were very relieved to reach Chogoria without hitting another vehicle or coming off the road.

· the school trip to the Rift Valley – the flamingos at Lake Bogoria; the pelicans of Lake Nakuru and standing very early one morning with Lynda and David Mbae on the rim of the famous Menengai Crater after bumping our way up the narrow dusty track in a tiny tuc-tuc.

· teaching 4 Scottish Country dances to the girls from 4x. Practising with them on the grass outside the Guest House and watching them with great pride as they danced in front of the whole school at the farewell Concert.

· watching Lynda and a group of 12 pupils from the Complex School perform ‘The Hokey Cokey’ at the Farewell Concert and getting the whole school to join in.

· walking back home to the Guest House at the end of the school day and sitting enjoying a coffee on the veranda watching the sun go down behind the ancient Flame tree – a survivor from the original forest of Mount Kenya.

· standing outside the Guest House before going to bed and looking up at the star-filled African sky.

So some wonderful memories to share and to enjoy. My wish is that the partnership link with Currie Community High will continue and that others will enjoy the same experiences as Lynda and I.

It’s certainly an exciting time for Chogoria Girls High School. The hard work and achievements both in and out of class have now been recognised as the school has been selected to join the elite group of Kenyan National Schools. This is a great honour and is a credit to all those associated with Chogoria Girls. Can I conclude by wishing them well as they embark on this new chapter in the school’s history. Under the excellent leadership of Virginia Gitonga and her Deputy Lucy Nyaga I am confident that the school will rise to this challenge.