Compared to the rest of Africa, I have found the most quality resources available for the country of Kenya. Your family might spend multiple weeks studying this country (perhaps with some spillover into neighboring Tanzania).
Book of the Week
He read Facing the Lion: Growing up Maasai on the African Savanna, by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton. This is a short autobiography of a Maasai child. He belongs to a traditional tribe of nomads, which must defend their cattle from the wildlife of the African savannah. When he is six years old, a government official came to his home, insisting that each family was required to send one child to school. Joseph (as he was christened by the missionaries at the school) pursued his education so he could protect the traditional lifestyle of the nomads. I appreciate that this book shows the strength of the native people, and shows that modern Kenya is a mix of the old and the new, and both should be appreciated. Parents may want to pre-read the chapter titled "Initiation," which is about becoming a man/warrior in the tribe, and includes a description of unmedicated circumcision. Within the context, it did not feel inappropriate, but some parents might hesitate before handing the book to a daughter.
I had originally planned to start our year with the new graphic novel When Stars Are Scattered, which is a slightly fictionalized autobiography of a young man (Omar Mohamed) growing up in a refugee camp in Kenya. Thanks to COVID, the library is putting my hold in quarantine for a week before I can check it out, so we will include it in next week's reading.
In retrospect, I am glad we are reading both books, as they show different sides of Kenya. I don't want to walk away from our Africa unit with my son imagining that everyone in Africa is a half-starved refugee in need of saving from European or American forces. Understanding the plight of refugees is very important, but I want him to also understand that there are strong, good, and powerful people who are native to the continent.
Another book set in Kenya that I had considered for our curriculum was Warrior Boy, by Virginia Clay. This is a fictional novel about a mixed-race boy who has been raised by his mother in London, but goes to spend time with his Kenyan family from his father's side.
Day 1: Nairobi, Kenya and DIY Atlas page
My favorite photograph this week from The Cities Book (p. 134-135) has zebras grazing in the foreground and the skyscrapers of Nairobi in the background. Kenya is a mix of man and nature, the old and the new!
After my son read the two-page spread from The Cities Book, he began his atlas page. I printed an outline map of Kenya from printableworldmap.net. We used the (slightly dated) map in the middle of Facing the Lion, but maps can be found online. He labeled the capital city (Nairobi), another major city (Mombasa), Kaiser Desert, Lake Turkana, Lake Victoria, Indian Ocean and the bordering countries. The dashed line represents the equator, which runs through the middle of the country. We should have also labeled the Great Rift Valley and Mount Kenya.
Day 2: Worldwide Church and Library Reading
Worldwide Church
He read "Kiconco: 12-year-old Home Builder," which is about a girl from Georgia, USA, whose uncle lived in Uganda (a country which borders Kenya). He had sent a photograph of a grandmother with two girls in front of a dirt and grass hut, which would turn to mud in the rainy season. Kiconco raised money to build a home for this family.
Library Basket
Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees, by Franck Prevot.
This week I had pulled books about Kenya from the "junior nonfiction" section of our library. He read them all in one sitting. Next week we will try some nonfiction from the adult section.
Day 3: Art and Music
Rather than doing all of the following activities, your family might prefer to choose what looks most intriguing or loop the subjects (i.e.-art this week, music next week, poetry the third week, then art again).
Art
Contemporary art in Kenya. I found a news article with nine images of contemporary Kenyan art (as opposed to "traditional" art, like masks and textiles). One of the images includes some naked-ish people. We skipped them.
Music
I searched to find both traditional and contemporary Kenyan music. Kenya has two official languages: English and Swahili. Both are heard in their music videos. My apologies if anything inappropriate is being said in Swahili in any of the following videos. I previewed them to the best of my abilities.
Click on the song title to see the video.
Short clips of music and dancing from many different tribes in traditional dress. Watching this you get the feeling that music was a community thing.
The voices and drums are as beautiful as the scenery is enchanting. So many images of so many different parts of Kenya!
This song, true to its name, is about dealing with coronavirus. There is a catchy chant in the song: "Mask. Keep distance. Sanitizer." And a female preacher tells us we need mercy and the poor kids are out of school. Half a world away, yet so close to home. It was so funny to hear my child's exclamation, "They make COVID songs in Africa?" Yes. Yes, they do. It's called a pandemic because it's worldwide.
This song features Kenyans who went through a rough period of their lives and were defined by a menial job (as shown through English signs held up in the video): orphaned, house-servant, homeless, dishwasher, hawker, etc. By the end of the video we see that these same people have experienced success in their careers: journalist, chef, model, etc. The video footage feels like you're seeing the "real" Kenya (and you probably are).
This is a gospel song inspired by 1 John 3:17. The footage includes Kenyans helping Kenyans: an amputee gets a prosthetic limb, juice boxes are given to the hungry, and so on. The repeated "Wema Wako" is catchy in a soothing way.
I hesitate to include this video, which, while shot in Kenya, does not represent Kenyan musical talent. But if you have any Lindsey Stirling fans in your house, they will love Lindsey's trip to Kenya. Be sure to watch the behind-the-scenes video about her trip.
Read pages 30 and 136 from The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: “Moody Guy” and “The White Rhinoceros,” “The Greater Cats,” “You’ve Got Male,” and “Lion.”
Have poetry snack or tea time (everyone shares a poem. Song lyrics and nursery rhymes count).
Day 4: Documentary or Movie
Disney+
Disney Nature: African Cats. In this documentary-story, the lions and cheetah are named, and an adversary is identified. Thank you, Disney, for doing nature.
National Geographic: Man Among Lions
Queen of Katwe (Movie. A girl in Uganda discovers she has a talent for chess)
Black Panther. I wasn't planning to include this, but the children picked it for movie night this week (it's set in Africa, Mom!).
Day 5: Puzzle and Current Events
Puzzle
This was the first time we got out the puzzle map. Before opening the box, we discussed the map on the cover. Where were most of the little countries grouped? Where were the countries with a "z" in their name (they all touch)? Then I set a stopwatch (on my phone) while my son completed GeoToys puzzle-map of Africa and the Middle East. We made a quick-and-dirty bar graph, and will add to it each Friday during our Africa unit.
Current Event
While he completed the puzzle I went to the world section of my favorite online news-source. One of the top stories of the day was about a private school in Kenya which is closed due to COVID. The owner of the school still needed to make money, and has turned the school into a chicken farm!
Now that's a piece of the school day worth retelling when Grandma comes over.
Extra: Recipe
Kenyan Mashed Potatoes. These mashed potatoes are green! The recipe doesn't call for it, but I made gravy, too.
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