Day 25 - Last School Day

Today was our last school workshop visit of the project. Going for the grand finale, we had three schools organised for today. To ensure all schools were reached in the allocated times, we had to split up. Myself, Kirstin, Michaela and Micha headed off early to the first school where we met Loreign and Glory and Shelley from UoN. The teacher Winnie led us to a hall with over 300 girls awaiting us. We split them into two for our workshops and they were very perceptive to the activities. We were then welcomed to have tea and bread in the staff room with the teachers before we had to head off to make the next school.

Meanwhile, Kaitlyn, Chelsea and Linda were headed to another school to deliver a more intimate workshop with less children to facilitate more one-on-one discussions and advice.

Afterwards, we all met up to deliver our final workshop of the day (and the trip 💔) to another 330 kids. We decided to do the same workshop with all of them, so had a lot of straw towers to compare at the end. We then had a long question and answer section where the girls asked a lot of questions about engineering, the different disciplines and the different pathways into engineering. Again, afterwards, we were invited for tea with the teacher. We have found the teachers at all the schools and the general Kenyan culture very welcoming and generous. We have been invited for tea and/or lunch on so many of our visits and have really appreciated the hospitality we have been shown while here in Kenya.

Now exhausted from two school visits each and hundreds of children, and also a little emotional about the thought of leaving our new UoN friends and Kenya behind, we made our way back home for some planning for our final meeting tomorrow.

We are so pleased to announce that we have now reached approximately 3,200 children with our workshops during our time in Kenya! This is over triple our original target of 1,000 students, which is far beyond anything we could've hoped for.

I am feeling very grateful for the time I have shared with the children we have met and hope that the enthusiasm they have shown for engineering stays with them in the years to come. I am also feeling so thankful for my new friends I have made at the University of Nairobi and the unforgettable memories we have all made together.

- Ruby <3