First Day Teaching

Monday, February 22, 2010 - rflory

First Day Teaching
By Matt Hickman, 2009 Kenya Intern Leader

Dozens of inquisitive brown eyes fixed upon me—a clueless, solitary, Caucasian man. Struggling to find words appropriate to the situation, I merely said, “Hi, I’m Matt.” Moments earlier I had been thrust into a 6th grade classroom in the village of Elengatta, Kenya. I had hoped for detailed instructions, but I received: “Ask them questions, and they will ask you questions.” Attempting to follow these instructions, I asked the class, “What would you like to know about me?” I received nothing but stares as blank as the chalkboard behind me. How would I fill a day’s worth of class time? After petitioning God for a breakthrough, I broke the awkward silence with a discourse on

America. Then I sheepishly asked the class if they had any questions. To my delight, one boy raised his hand. “We are not getting you.” It turns out that my Southern brand of English is a far cry from the Kenyan version. Kenyans speak in a choppy, unsure sounding manner. With my drawn out vowels and shortened suffixes, I may as well have spoke to them in Korean. After adjusting my speech to their understanding we had a great time with one another.

Upon reflection later, I recognized my initial communication attempts came from a desire to pass the time quickly so I could get out of this uncomfortable situation. Only when the boy pointed out my inadequacies did I remember that my teaching was, in fact, for the class’ benefit. Our efforts to help others are completely futile when we have ourselves in mind.

Matt first connected to NMSI in 2006 through a summer internship in Kenya. God opened his eyes to a calling to missions and led him to serve as the Director of Summer Internships at the Center for Global Outreach (CGO).

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