On Tuesday, the STRIVE high school students arrived!  They took the first day easy as they began their acclimation. Wednesday morning was our first run together as a group, which was a slow and easy two to three miles. The majority of the day was spent exploring downtown Iten, in which the STRIVE group split into groups of three and completed an extensive scavenger hunt. Several groups were able to find America-themed clothing which came in handy for the Fourth of July festivities and had a special dinner at Iten Club to commemorate the special occasion. Although America’s independence is a sore subject for Cat and Fran, the Brits in the group, we still enjoyed our meal together.

We began our service learning together on Thursday, discussing topics of African history ranging from colonization to ethnic riots to the future of slums. Later, we learned about failed service projects in Africa and talked about potential ways to improve community service efforts, like listening to the community.

Friday was a special day for the high schoolers, as it was our first time to teach Kiptabus students. We had been prepared an English lesson to teach with the help of several Kiptabus teachers. Because we had so many STRIVERS to help teach, we were able to split the class of 50 Kenyan students into smaller groups of 4-6 to have discussion-based learning.

Our first weekend together was marked with two fun day trips. Saturday, the high schoolers and group leaders hiked Torok Waterfall. They got so close to the waterfall that they even got mist on them. Because the interns had completed the hike several weekends ago, they took a matatu van to Eldoret for lunch at Java House, a popular Kenyan chain restaurant. On Sunday, the group traveled two and a half hours to Lake Baringo, where we ventured out on the lake in two boats. During the ride, we saw hippos, alligators, and several kinds of fish. As we reached an island in the center of the lake, our tour guides spotted several birds—called fish eagles—and whistled at them. The guides threw fish in the direction of the birds, which promptly dived down and retrieved the fish! After, we docked our boats at one of the islands in the lake and met Kenyans who have lived their whole life on this one small island. They gave us a brief tour of their home and highlighted the natural hot springs that boiled beneath us. We returned in the afternoon and capped off our first week together with a slow long run in preparation for our first full week of service!