I discover it is six weeks since I last wrote a blog post…. Things have a habit of getting busy around here. Here are some of the things which we have been getting up to.

Robotics Competition

February 3rd saw the 10 man robotics team, plus two mentors and two coaches, take the 90 minute trip into Nairobi for the National Competition. There were 14 other teams competing. We arrived first, and had the dubious honour of doing our three presentations first.

Then we had a practice run on the competition board. That did NOT go well – the lighting was quite different to our setup at RVA, and the use of light sensors to follow keys line on the board did not work at all. The students managed to recode two of the three tasks which relied on that approach, and got a reasonable score in our first competition run.

One of our team spent most of the rest of the competition trying to recode the third task, without success. But despite this, we managed to get top score for the robot game:

The team also won third prize for their presentation on Core Values:

Mid-Term

The following weekend was mid-term. Lesley and I went out to a smart restaurant in the neighbouring town of Naivasha to celebrate her birthday. We ate on the first floor terrace with beautiful views over the savannah.

Preaching

The following weekend I was preaching at the school Sunday service. My theme was Christs saying ‘I am the good shepherd’ and I included this video during my sermon, which kept everyone’s attention at least for part of the time.

Weekend Away

By this stage of term, especially having not been away over mid-term, Lesley and I felt in need of a break. We were put in touch with the owners of a cottage deep in the forest, about 90 minutes drive from RVA.

It was an idyllic spot…

with a stream at the bottom of the garden (watch out for snakes….)

This was the view from the roof terrace.

It was a very restful weekend, but not without its excitement, since the electricity supply was erratic, to say the least, so both our evening meals were eaten in candlelight. At night we could hear many animal noises, including hippopotamus!

This lack of a reliable infrastructure brought home how lucky we are at RVA, where there is a diesel generator that kicks in if the local electricity supply fails (which it often does).

Chapel

In March I also spoke in chapel, talking about the symbology of Christianity, and suggesting a move away from the cross as the main Christian symbol, to something which also more explicitly captured the resurrection. Here was my starting point: a stylised empty tomb with the stone rolled away.

School Day Fun

Every so often the students have a bit of fun dressing up. A couple of weeks ago, there was Dress as a Teacher Day. Here you see me with one of my students who did a good job of mimicking me (she was disappointed I wasn’t wearing my white shirt that day):

The theme another day was Dress as Your Former Self. Here we see me attempting to look like a primary school pupil. I am not sure if it was good luck or bad luck that this day fell on the date that I gave my chapel talk to all the high school students.

Singing ‘Hallelujah!’

Finally, this weekend, a community choir that Lesley and I joined in January gave a performance of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus at the service at RVA. The choir is made up of students and staff from the school, staff from the local hospital and bible college, members of the local church in Kijabe, and people drawn from the local community. Several more performances are planned this week, finishing next Sunday in the local Kijabe church service.