Well it has been a while. sorry for the delay, been busy getting better and taking care of ruth. Two weeks ago i was quite sick, and went to the hospital with a 103.8 temperature. I had the classic signs of malaria but when i was tested it turned out that i had a bad infection, so i was out for a week. Once i got better Ruth hurt her ankle and ended up with a cast, and i became her personal maid.
I am beginning teaching again. I will be teaching life skills, which sounds like a class for the mentally handicap, but it isn't. It will be for all the form 1 (freshmen class) It will mainly focus on self-esteem, emotional awareness and other such things. I live in a pretty rural community, and the kids that i am working with really don't have much exposure to these concepts. Hopefully i can work a little sex-ed and relationship development into it as well. They are taught basic sex-ed, but most don't have very good understanding on family planning and how relationships are truly supposed to work. Especially the girls think that boyfriends and husbands exist for the purpose of buying them things. While the divorce rate is very low, may couple live apart for jobs or just because they don't like each other. For example the family i live with. We live in Meru, about 4-5 hours north of nairobi, but the father lives in nairobi and tries to come home on the weekend. This is very common. And absolutely foreign to me. But this is what happens in a developing country, people take jobs where ever they can find one, and the rest of the family stays in the hometown to have the support of the extended family.
Speaking of family, the Kenyans are so much more close knit then i am used to. Ruth has over 50 living first cousins. 50. she can even name them all. when i told her i have 3, and one of them i don't even know, she thought i was kidding. Even if the family doesn't really like each other, they are still there for one another and support each other. I think this plays a big role in the suicide rate being so low. family closeness and respect. they respect their family, their elders, and just people in general. Of course there are matatu drivers, miira drivers, drunk people, crazy people, that have no respect, but these people are thought of as really rude and manner less. It is a significant insult to call someone manner less.
There was a suicide around Christmas time in a family that is quite close to mine. Everyone was so sad and upset about it. They just didn't have any experience with this type of death. The individual was an alcoholic and a drug user, but was also a very nice person and well liked. People just couldn't understand how they could do that to themselves and their family.
well that is all for now! love you all sooo much and miss you more! hope that everyone is doing well!
xoxox suz
I am beginning teaching again. I will be teaching life skills, which sounds like a class for the mentally handicap, but it isn't. It will be for all the form 1 (freshmen class) It will mainly focus on self-esteem, emotional awareness and other such things. I live in a pretty rural community, and the kids that i am working with really don't have much exposure to these concepts. Hopefully i can work a little sex-ed and relationship development into it as well. They are taught basic sex-ed, but most don't have very good understanding on family planning and how relationships are truly supposed to work. Especially the girls think that boyfriends and husbands exist for the purpose of buying them things. While the divorce rate is very low, may couple live apart for jobs or just because they don't like each other. For example the family i live with. We live in Meru, about 4-5 hours north of nairobi, but the father lives in nairobi and tries to come home on the weekend. This is very common. And absolutely foreign to me. But this is what happens in a developing country, people take jobs where ever they can find one, and the rest of the family stays in the hometown to have the support of the extended family.
Speaking of family, the Kenyans are so much more close knit then i am used to. Ruth has over 50 living first cousins. 50. she can even name them all. when i told her i have 3, and one of them i don't even know, she thought i was kidding. Even if the family doesn't really like each other, they are still there for one another and support each other. I think this plays a big role in the suicide rate being so low. family closeness and respect. they respect their family, their elders, and just people in general. Of course there are matatu drivers, miira drivers, drunk people, crazy people, that have no respect, but these people are thought of as really rude and manner less. It is a significant insult to call someone manner less.
There was a suicide around Christmas time in a family that is quite close to mine. Everyone was so sad and upset about it. They just didn't have any experience with this type of death. The individual was an alcoholic and a drug user, but was also a very nice person and well liked. People just couldn't understand how they could do that to themselves and their family.
well that is all for now! love you all sooo much and miss you more! hope that everyone is doing well!
xoxox suz
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