DreamLand School

Dreamland school

It was great to get back to school and dreamland school was just a special as I remembered it.

We have both been teaching lessons which has been a real blessing. It is amazing to see just quite how well behaved the children are and how they are all so keen to learn, they value their education so much and it’s a delight to see. You wonder sometimes how they can love and value these lessons so much as the way they learn is so very different to our ways but dreamland school are certainly doing something right to be producing such studios, well behaved and delightful children.

Christmas card competition..(jo Finlay)

Gemma and I ran a Christmas card competition with the year 6s and 7s classes.. We arrived in school and within 10 mins we were winging a lesson that we hadn’t prepared for, but the children were just so well behaved and so eager and interested, that we soon felt at home.

We asked the four classes to come up with original ideas for their card by firstly getting them to write about their Christmas day.

I felt all choked up when one little boy, Tim, read his piece of writing aloud. It started..

“On my Christmas day there is no snow, there is no Santa, there are no gifts… but we have an amazing day….’’

The Christmas designs we asked for were to be African, Christmassy and unique… i guess that was a bit of a tall order, but we were pleased with the results that we got and the enthusiasm that they approached this task with.

It was a real incentive for them to know that the winner would have their card printed and taken to all kinds of places in Europe, places that theythemselves may never get the chance to see…it just reinforced nicely the message that I was trying to get across that there is such a relevance and a place for art, that if you have the guts to share your imagination out loud or on paper.. then who knows where it may take you.

One of the boys Joseph, I could really identity with… He sat scribbling away and could hardly get his ideas down quick enough. No sooner would he have started one sheet before he was asking for new paper for another idea…his drawings were scruffy and rushed, but he had something. At first I though he was just a bit hyper and he would soon calm down…but he came back to continue this artwork in his lunch break and after school, it was like he had found deep inside himself an new and special gift that he was desperately quickly trying to unwrap.

We selected 4 finalists and presented them with a prize, and I was delighted that Joseph was one of them. The finalists came up one by one and as they did they received a big round of applause and they proudly accepted .. We saved Joseph till last, I felt most proud of him and the passion that he had put in. As Gemma called his name we didn’t hear applause, instead the room filled with laughter and Joseph walked to the front with his head hanging low. It was awful like we’d got him up there to humiliate him….

I asked the teacher later why the children laughed and her answer was

‘’no one would ever expect joseph to win, even me…he does not excel in any subjects….. ’’

I wondered if I would have been in the same boat as joseph, if my education was in Kenya? I really felt for all those wonderfully creative beings living all over this continent that are branded as stupid because they don’t have academic minds.

However, I was proud of Joseph and was all the more delighted that he proved them wrong. As far as I was concerned he was the one who had excelled most of all.

Look out for the Christmas cards, or do ask me for more info, as they will soon be printed and available to buy in time for this Christmas.

Art projects ( Finners)

One of the things I really wanted to do on my return to Kenya was some big art projects in school… and moreso after the whole joseph Christmas card comp thing. I went back to dreamland to work with more children and again to encourage their creative minds and abilities. Again encouraging the thinking that your idea can start small but become turn into something big and beautiful ..they know ‘art’ as tracing in the back of their lined exercise books and so i wanted to challenge that.

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This project was on creation..Each child drew a day of creation on a large circle and we stapled the circles together to create large 3D orb globes that we hung, instantly brightening up the huge dark stairwell.. as we were in te process of hanging them, I disappeared off to get some more staples and returned to see a huge crowd had formed around the globes. The children stood around in wonder.. and with a sense of ownership that their piece of work contributed to something such as this.

Dreamland (Jo Riley)

My last few weeks were spent teaching in the school and hospital.

For me it was my first time in Dreamland school and was a real privilege to meet and teach these wonderful children. I taught classes in years 5,6,7 and 8 about the heart. I wanted to make the lessons as interactive and interesting as possible as their lessons usually consist of just copying off the blackboard or from an exercise book. In my first lesson it turned out they had put two classes together and so I had 60 pupils and the teachers deserted me. They were so well behaved and enthusiastic to learn though, so it was not a problem. They never seemed to want me to stop. Sometimes the teacher that should have been teaching the next lesson never turned up or it would be lunchtime but they would not leave the lesson . I also taught each of these years a few first aid classes which were good fun and had them all bandaging each other up. I also saw some of their more mischevious side during these lessons!

The hospital staff were so enthusiastic and eager to learn. They made me feel really welcome and part of the team. I taught them basic life support, ECG performance and interpretation and first aid. They really work as a great team at the hospital so much so that all the staff including the groundsmen turned up for my teaching sessions! This was really nice but made the teaching a little bit difficult particularly when teaching ECG as I could see that some of them were struggling to understand what I was teaching. Even though I kept saying this teaching might not be relevant for some of you so feel to leave, none of them did!

I spent a week teaching the main doctor at the hospital physics of ultrasound and ECG interpretation. He was really eager to learn and a quick learner and it made my job easy. Since I've been back he text me one day really excited to say he had performed and interpreted an ECG on a lady and diagnosed an MI. I was really excited to hear this especially if you remember from a previous blog entry that until then the nearest place to get an ECG was a 2 1/2 hour drive away. (However, the ECG machine is very old and is unable to record all 12 leads plus it takes about 1/2 to do what would take 5 minutes and be much clearer with a more modern machine). During my time there I had lots of people coming up to me worried about their heart or chest pains and I realised that there is a definite need for more knowledge and facilities in this area.

I learnt a lot during this time especially about being flexible. One day I was to teach first aid to the health co-ordinators from each of the local units. It was due to start at 9am and I was all ready to go but there was no sign of anything happening. It got to 11am and still nothing had happened as not all the health coordinators had arrived I started to get a bit worried by this but was told "Relax Jo this is Africa. If you can't do something today you just do it tomorrow". How I wish that attitude worked in the UK we'd all be a lot less stressed but I am determined to take this more relaxed attitude back with me.

On our final sunday we visited Dreamland's sunday service (a service for all those who board there) It's is a service that's organized and led by the children. Its began with 30 mins of worship, some leading the singing some banging upside down barrels as their drums and every other child dancing.. there wasn’t a stationary person in that building (except us of course) and it was just so lovely to see a complete lack of inhibitions.. Where regardless of age and gender all these children were dancing and worshipping god.

The children of dreamland really are a joy to be with and it was a sad day when we said goodbye. The children sent us away with a wodge of thank you letters each…

Dear Jo Artist

The reason causing me to write is to say thank you.

I never knew I would be able to make my own Christmas card but I did. You made me know the true colour of art and its to have your own imagination not copying.

As you go back I hope that you will come back again.

God bless you for everything you’ve done to make us use our imagination.

May Gods grace be with you till we meet again,

Bye,

Yours faithfully,

Tim

Dear Jo Doctor

My main aim to write is to thank you for sacrificing your time to come from England to Kenya to Kimilili to Dreamland to teach about the heart.

We are very glad for that good thing you did for us even we know how to give first aid to a victim injured by fire or when playing on a football pitch.

Now we know how the heart pumps blood to other parts of the body and we say thank you

Yours faithfully

Kelly