School and Spice Shopping

Last night's rain gave Mombasa the first pleasantly warm day in the week and a half I've been here. The rain stopped about 7, and the power went on shortly thereafter. It was so breezy I left the fan off, then turned it back on just before I left to dry the rest of the laundry.

I called Peter, my "regular" tuk-tuk driver for an early morning trip to the railway station. He showed up 45 minutes later in the back seat of someone else's tuk-tuk. His was out of commission for the day and he had found someone else, come with him to pick me up and then sent us to the station. I had no trouble getting a ticket for the Thursday night train.

After an early morning trip to the railway station to get my ticket for the Thursday night train, I went to Mombasa Academy to observe in Stephanie's Mom's class. Diane runs a special needs class of about 20 students with the help of four assistants, a great ratio for successful learning and the molding of positive behavior patterns . She is calm, firm and creative. The walls are filled with bright posters and drawings, and books, toys and games her own children have outgrown are everywhere.

Stephanie, who helps out a couple hours each day, was particularly excited because the little boy who was her "case study" for the workshop had just learned to request "toilet" that morning using a small single-message device. He pealed with delight at her voice coming from inside the little talker, at the big deal she was making, and at being immediately rushed to the bathroom. The day before he had been taught to request water in a similar fashion. This is a child who had not used any sort of AAC until last week when Stephanie introduced the picture display she had created during one of the workshop sessions.

I spent a bit of time with a bright 7-year old who was using tongue depressors to help with subtraction, but was nearly ready to handle the problems without them. I asked about doing one of the "easier" ones (10-9) in his head. "I already have the 10 in my head," he explained. "Where shall I put the 9?"

Nuala, another of the local speech-language therapists dropped by the Academy to pick me up for an afternoon of shopping, along with her friend Judy, a former OT volunteer in Mombasa. We stopped for Indian buffet  - spicy food and lassi, a refreshing yogurt drink.

Just inside the market area, we came upon a spice shop with good prices. Most were 50 KES - about 60 cents - for sealed 30 gram bags. I left with an assortment of seasonings and spices, genuine saffron (not "Indian saffron," which is actually turmeric), and blocks of jaggery, an unrefined cane sugar (sometimes palm tree sugar), all for other people. Now I'm hoping I can find a good spice shop in Nairobi and buy for myself.

The spice shop haul - my suitcase smells heavenly.

Back to the Poly, then off to Dorothy's to take Brian shopping for school shoes - it's hard keeping size 8 feet in size 7 shoes. Once back at Dorothy's - my last dinner in Mombasa - I watched dozens of chapatis being made for the evening meal and the next day's lunch. I hope the video clip gives you an appreciation for how time intensive the process is - remember, it doesn't include making the dough and forming it into balls.

Then dinner, gifts and goodbyes - not final goodbyes, though, because Dorothy insisted that I be properly accompanied to the train station tomorrow afternoon by Brian and an older cousin. She was appalled that I had made the trip alone this morning.