Jambo, Jambo! Or hello and welcome in Kiswahili!
This was the greeting that Drummond Community High School gave our friends from Muthambi Girls and Boys Schools when they arrived at Edinburgh Airport on Tuesday 13 June, writes Librarian and Coordinator Annie Scanlon.
It had been a long year’s organising and fundraising but at last all our hard work had borne fruit and our guests were here.
Excitement in the school had been building for weeks, and the four students and four teachers were given a tremendous welcome at our whole-school assembly the following morning. Our guests were staying at the Caravel Guest House in London Street – a short walk over the road from school.
In addition they presented lessons to our students on Tribal Traditions and Culture, AIDS, Malaria, and how to recycle plastic bags into footballs.
All the activities were enjoyed, but Drummond students agreed that the best parts were the question-and-answer sessions and the socialising. They also got a taste of our community school when they took part in an adult class on bookmaking and went home with souvenirs of their visit.
Meanwhile the four teaching staff were observing and taking part in lessons and meeting Drummond teachers in their own subject areas to exchange ideas and set up some exciting projects for the coming academic year.
We also wanted them to go home with an idea of what life was like in Edinburgh for ordinary children and their families, so they were entertained at homes, went on a ‘typical’ student "pizza and pictures" night out and met the locals at a games evening.
At Edinburgh Castle they were impressed by our history and Crown Jewels, and by our guide and ex-head teacher Eric Melvin who spends several months a year in Kenya working in a school close to our partners.
Drummond students and staff accompanied us on many of the visits to: the Forth Bridges and Dunfermline, Dynamic Earth, and the Leith Tattoo marking the end of the Leith Festival.
Culinary highlights included a Chinese meal with ex-Drummond students who had visited Kenya last summer, cooking and tasting haggis, neeps and tatties. Also our famous fish and chips. All were declared delicious!
As we waved them off at the airport, we were exhausted, but agreed that the visit had been a great success. The Kenyans are looking forward to our next visit to them in June 2012 with eight S5/6-year students.
Meanwhile, the rest of Drummond is asking ‘When do the Kenyans come back?’
[For more information or to support the Kenya Project, contact: Annie Scanlon (Drummond Kenya Project Coordinator), Drummond Community High School [email: admin@drummond.edin.sch.uk].