Juliet's Kenya Days blog

Letter from Judy to Caroline & Martin 6 May 1976 –

Well this is the first day of term. No, Graham is not at the staff meeting – he and Silas Matende are still working on the timetable – perhaps this will convince Wangai that they are so incompetent that someone else had better do it next time ! Perhaps there are special problems this term – they’ve certainly been working on it long enough – 12 hours a day for over a week – yesterday they worked from lunchtime until 9pm without even a tea break which must be a record for Silas and Graham ! The kids were pleased because they were able to eat G’s first supper and I had to get him another when he finally turned up ! There is no replacement for Martin so the English Dept are going to be working quite hard for a change – Philip has 32 periods and no doubt others about the same – there is no replacement so far for Jim (O’Sullivan) but one is expected I believe – anyway Wangai can always do the economics – he is only teaching 3 periods this term and has combined his 5th and 6th year talks to give himself more time. You know they dug all those holes – well now they are filled with trees, costing 5000/- in total. They have planted a new hedge behind our house (right across both exits). They are also realigning the hedges by the Marete’s, Assaraf’s, Stevenson’s, and Obonyo’s houses as the headmaster doesn’t think the existing ones are in a straight enough line. Tom refused to let the men touch his but eventually was overruled by Wangai. Philip Chesterton made the mistake of going away for a week – when he came back all his hedges had been dug up so now his house is open on all sides.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 7 May 1976 –

Fiona has gone back to school already and has been put up a class so she’s now in the top class. She says her teacher is very nice and she has enjoyed herself so far. Juliet and Helen go back next week but have been enjoying the comparative peace of being the last ones on holiday and doing all kinds of things. They have endless dolls houses made basically from cardboard boxes which they decorate, and have been making furniture from hardboard and plywood using a fretsaw.

Letter from Graham to David 12 May 1976 –

The timetable work is the worst thing I have done in a long time. However I fixed my own lessons so that I only have one on Saturday morning (there should be 3) and none on Friday afternoon.

Letter from Juliet to Grandma and Grandad 18 May 1976 –

We have started school now and are working hard because this term we have exams. I am doing logarithms which I think are great fun and are so much quicker and easier than long multiplication and division. In English we are reading ‘Northanger Abbey’ by Jane Austen. So far I think it’s quite a good book although it has some hard words. From the school library I got a book called ‘Rosy Is My Relative’ by Gerald Durrell. Have either of you read any books by him? If you haven’t you had better start ! It says in one of his books ‘for ages 9-90’. I think they are lovely books especially ‘My Family and Other Animals’.

Letter from Helen to Kerry May 1976 –

We started school a week ago and on the second day somebody lost the key of the classroom door ! We later found out that the man who cleans our class after school left the key inside the class and locked the padlock. So the smallest girl had to climb through an open window to get it. Fiona can read quite well, she is on 11a now.

Letter from Graham to Grandma & Grandad 24 May 1976 –

I have been running cross-country several times with the boys. You can imagine the amazement of the small children who saw me puffing along in a most un-European style. They think it’s funny if I walk past their homes, never mind run. Of course their reaction is childish but I like to see them happy, even if it is partly at my expense. Also the schoolboys are amused by my running, especially if they can beat me. Needless to say there are plenty who don’t beat me. Perhaps I have said it before, but the schoolboys at Alliance are very pleasant as well as intelligent. One hopes that later in life they will remain pleasant and not indulge in corruption and bribery as many privileged people apparently do here.

Letter from Graham to Martin & Caroline 7 June 1976 –

The school is not the same without you and we (Judy and I) have moved into a different groove. WPG put a notice on the Urgent board asking if anyone could take 2 students into Nairobi for tennis on Saturday mornings. Someone wrote “yes I can if Saturday lessons stop” and endorsements of “so can I ” and “hear, hear” were added. Personally I am taking work seriously now so I don’t go to parades or assemblies and have refused to take a Games set. Form 4s are even more serious poor things.

Letter from Graham to Tom & Mary June 1976 –

My work is quite pleasant and I keep myself out of trouble nowadays, just. I steadfastly refuse to punish students for lateness, lack of work, or similar antisocial behaviour. Our establishment likes people to conform and be tidy so today I told students with short hair to get it grown and the tallest and shortest ones should get closer to the average height. They laughed so much I think they realised I was mocking the establishment. Some of them are very much aware of what goes on around them.

Letter from Judy to Grandma & Grandad 15 June 1976 –

You asked me what age the boys are that Graham teaches. The youngest are 12 years old but unlike British schools it is unusual for boys to have done their full complement of primary schooling by that age so many are a good deal older when starting secondary schooling – which means that they are in their twenties when in the fifth and sixth forms. Actually it is very difficult to tell how old a particular boy is ; they don’t seem to change through adolescence as much as European boys and of course they are treated as school boys by the authorities even if they have a wife and children at home as some of them are quite old enough to have. I think the older ones do resent being treated as young boys but are prepared to put up with it because of their need to get good results. I think also that Graham is popular with them because he treats them as people with minds of their own and not little boys who have to be told every little thing. Unfortunately some of the teachers out here have got quite out of touch with different attitudes nowadays and think they can push people around, including the students and their house servants, just because they are white and fairly well off. Fortunately they are a minority.

Letter from Helen to Grandma & Grandad 15 July 1976 –

All our exams are over now, I’m glad, and guess what I came in class ? First! Mum and Dad asked me if I wanted anything within reason. I have not thought of anything yet.

Letter from Judy to Caroline & Martin 20 July 1976 –

It is the height of exam mania here with everyone rushing around tearing their hair – Graham has so far managed to keep up-to-date with the marking/reports timetable kindly issued by WPG so is in a relatively unruffled state of mind apart from a slight tiff with Silas who was discovered reading the newspaper in the staffroom when he should have been relieving Graham at invigilating and was quite unrepentant when shown the error of his ways ! RGD is crossing off the hours until he can fly to UK and marry his Margaret – he is amazed and disgusted that Philip Chesterton should have been able to mark two complete forms of 2nd yr English in the same time he managed to finish 10 scripts of the same ! The Kinshotts have been having an exciting time with the local police after Curry (their dog) bit one of the askari’s kids and someone tried to get money out of Colin by taking legal action. I gather both the police and the headmaster thought this excessive and finally the action was withdrawn.