Sticky, sticky...

I’m entering a unit with my 10th graders which I’m calling “Crisis of Conscience,” the central text of which is Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, one of my all-time favorite classic “school” books. We just wrapped up Lord of the Flies and I had an awesome opportunity at the end of the unit to connect our reading to the story of the Fall, mankind’s origins, our sinful, depraved nature, and our opportunity to experience redemption, despite all the messes we make along the way. So now I’m feeling good. Feeling excited about what’s to come next.

I made up this little intro activity to do with the class for this past Friday. I asked my students to gather into small groups and gave them each a large sheet of white butcher paper and gave them access to markers, construction paper, etc. I told them that they were to use words and images to create a piece of “modern art” that expressed visually our understanding of, attitude towards, and reaction to all things “taboo.” Everything that’s off-limits. Whatever makes you, your family, your friends, our society and culture uncomfortable to talk about. I encouraged my students to be mature and adult about the whole thing, reminding them that we were entering a new unit where we’re going to encounter some sticky situations and subject matter. Get it out of your systems. Let it out here and now. And then let’s talk about what makes these topics taboo, how we ought to respond to these situations, and what positive action we can take. I thought it was a pretty slick idea.

Unfortunately, I seem to be learning lately that no matter how carefully I plan, these darn kids always find some way to warp a lesson and twist it some direction I’d rather not let them go down. Most groups were pretty mature about it all—actually, I had a really sweet little group of ladies who whispered, “Is it okay if we put ‘sex’ on ours?” to which I responded, “Yep. That’s a pretty uncomfortable topic, isn’t it?” The same group found a really interesting way to express their ideas visually, cramping together all the off-limits words and phrases in one corner of their “canvas” and filling the rest with light colors, safe words, and other “happy” kinds of images. Exactly what I’d hoped to see. But then there were the boys who threw themselves against the wall they’d posted their paper to, waving their arms and blocking the words so I couldn’t see as I passed by outside to check in on groups. “Remember, guys…this is the whole point of the exercise. You don’t have to hide anything…” I mentioned as I passed by. “Oh no, Miss Weiant. You can’t see this.” So of course, now I’m intrigued. And of course, when you’re going to leave a work-in-progress project in my classroom, I’m going to look at what you wrote. Amateurs.

What they’d written read, “The stuff you do with your girl on the weekend [in detail!]” Now, I was never so naïve to think that at even at this little Christian school in the middle of Africa, nothing bad or problematic ever happened amongst students. That they were all perfect little angels. I’d known better than that. But it still caught me a little off-guard—more as to what I should do with the information, now that I had it, than anything else. Another group was working on the floor of the little outdoor hallway outside of my classroom. As I passed by this little group, a male student (who I’m experiencing a couple of minor issues with already) looks up at me with a little smirk, and then looks back down at the words he’d written on his group’s paper. I read the words, and he starts slowly scribbling them out. They were names of other students—students I know to have a hard time with bullying and being misunderstood and disliked. So, great. It’s not like I was personally offended by anything or that anything really catastrophic had happened, and after all, I’d kind of asked for it, right? But nonetheless, I was left a bit disappointed in these kids, and a little lost as to what action to take now that I’ve seen what I’ve seen.

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On a more personal note, there’s some more sticky messes cropping up outside of school. And, without going into detail, I found myself over the past couple of weeks pretty bummed out over some situations in our outside-of-school life…but even more disappointed that it’s happening at all. During my time in college, I had to deal with some pretty complicated roommate stuff, and in dealing with each of those situations, I’d always felt that it really wasn’t my place to interfere or bring up a solution-less problem. My decision to keep quiet was probably also fuelled by my people-pleasing nature and adamant dislike of rocking the boat. I should have known that even amongst Godly, lovely roommates, the same typical living-in-close quarters stuff would stir up. But I think I’d just really resisted the idea of opening my mouth and saying what I felt the Lord was putting on my heart because I just really hated the idea that now that I’ve finally got such a great living situation, now it was time for me to speak up. To get a little sticky and dirty. To make people I’m really growing to love uncomfortable. It’s the same problem I’ve dealt with for years. When you’ve got prophecy, discernment and exhortation as your spiritual gifting, it’s kind of bound to happen.

But the good news was that acting on some prompting from the Holy Spirit, listening to my roommates and a couple other advisers (especially you, mom!), and just committing to love these people, has lead to some pretty phenomenal first steps in the whole restoration and “fixing” process of these little issues. What a blessing! I can’t tell you how great it is—how providential and fulfilling—to be surrounded by people who genuinely desire to build up and out of problems. To receive wisdom and encouragement, and instead of running from it or resisting it, they yield to it. Boy, have I ever got a lot to learn—that’s all I know. And it’s not as though everything’s been fixed and taken care of…we’re still in that process…but I’m confident that the Lord’s got a perfect solution in mind. And that’s enough for now.

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Other little “slices of life” around Nairobi and Karen:

- The container with all of our textbooks and supplies for the year—the one that had been floating around in the Indian Ocean, then docked in Mombasa and stuck in port for what felt like ages—finally arrived the other day. So on Friday, we all ran around (me in a dress and stiletto heels), hauling boxes out of the storage unit and down towards our classrooms. It was like Christmas. It’s amazing how giddy teachers get over things like textbooks and resource books. We’re all just so glad it’s finally here—having those resources it going to make life significantly less complicated!

- We finished season three of Lost this weekend and have moved on to season four. Just goes to show how much time we spend at the house and how addicting these seasons of shows have become. There’s a ton of street-sellers here in Nairobi—carrying everything from bags of corn and peas to cabbage shredders, puppies, and blow-up safari animals. A couple of blocks away, the “movie men” have their designated corner of traffic…and their less-than-reputable services, I’m embarrassed to say, have become an invaluable commodity in our lives here. We’d purchase or rent movies and TV shows from rental places around here, but everything there is pirated, too.

- Amy P, Jen, Becca, one of the high school students and I drove to the Great Rift Valley last weekend to climb Mt. Longonot, a dormant volcano about an hour and a half outside of Nairobi. On the way up, the altitude really hit me hard and I felt like a total dork for being so out of breath, but the view at the top was stunning. The entire inside of the crater is now this huge jungle, all lush and green. I spoke with our high school buddy about life in Nairobi and how hard it is to say goodbye to people all of the time. She’s a really dear girl, and it was nice to have another opportunity to get to know her. Came back burnt and sore, but I think the experience was worth it.

- Went to the movies this past week for Mzuri Monday Madness and saw Taken, the one with Liam Neeson that’s probably been out for ages back in the States. I love a good thriller, but a movie about a girl who heads off to Paris with her friend, only to get abducted and kidnapped by Albanian slave traders, probably wasn’t the perfect pick for a bunch of Americans living internationally.

Love you all! Continue praying. Good stuff is happening here in Kenya, and I love that you’re a part of this, too. Keep in touch—and have a great week!

Kate