Visiting The School
We bus to the school, get to know everyone, and walk back.
— 5 min read
Table of Contents
Morning Breakfast
Breakfast was scheduled to be at 8am so we got up at that time. For breakfast, we had eggs, sausages, and potatoes. There's this one hot sauce that they always serve which is so good. Probably one of the best hot sauces I've ever had—better than tobasco.
After breakfast, the engineering group met up to touch base about our projects, responsibilities, and really just how we're doing. We had Martin Cenek, Karsten Zuendel, Cameron, and Katherine. I got to know Katherine and Cameron a little bit better—both are mechanical engineering majors.
Unexpectedly, Martha, the head teacher of St. Mary's Secondary School, had visited us from the school. We exchanged greetings and chatted for a while. One thing I noticed that's different here in Africa than America is that when a person approaches, they greet every single person in the group.
The School
It was a very bumpy ride up the school which is about 2 miles from the resort we're staying at. The moment we entered past the gate, we saw a bunch of students going to and fro engaged in various activities like sweeping, slashing, cobweb removal, and other menial tasks.
They saw us come in and started waving. Literally every student was waving at us. I couldn't stop myself from smiling. It seems like they were just as excited as we were in seeing them.
We parked in front of the the gym which was fairly big. We were guided by a student to a little gazebo that our group hung out at. While we were waiting, we noticed a bunch of students gathering right across. It seemed like they were congregating at the gym for us.
After they all gathered, we started to make our way to the gym and oh my god was there so many students. There were like 500 to 800 students in that one building alone wtf.
We had a surprise development where Hendrick, one of our hosts, told Martin that we would all be going up one by one to introduce ourselves to literally the millions of students in that gym. It was super nerve wracking having to go up there. Before that though, I should talk about the various dances and performances that they did.
It was absolutely stunning the performances that they did. In the background, they had students play drums. It was very beautiful.
Okay so one by one we got up there and it was absolute chaos. The girls were screaming so loud that Katherine's apple watch said 90 decibel warning. Very cool.
And then after us, Martha the head teacher got up on stage. We did a standing ovation for her.
Walking Back
We left the building fast before we got swarmed by the students. We boarded a bus, but then Martin offered to walk back. And so Katherine, Claire, Karsten, Martin, and of course myself walked back. Except for Karsten, I think he got picked up and drove back. Katherine and Claire walked up ahead, but Cameron, Martin and I stayed behind a little bit to take a look at the irrigation farm that was a couple hundred meters away from the school.
After that, on our way back, we walked the 2 miles back and about halfway a guy joined us. He was clearly intoxicated. I couldn't really understand him, but he walked together back with us and at the end tried to extort us for money for giving us a "tour". It was pretty funny.
Dinner Night
After we walked back, we worked on a scholarship project a little bit led by Katherine. She seemed super stressed out given the amount of responsibilities that were thrown onto her.
Then we had dinner at the gazebo and I think most of us met Don for the first time. Very charismatic old individual. He talked about a bunch of projects I couldn't catch up. He also had us sort some money like a mafia gang. It was nifty.
