Ossian and I open the heavy metal gate onto the street. It is wide with red dirt footpaths running along either side, no pavements. A steady trickle of people are walking on the footpaths in the shadows cast by the trees that tower overhead, trees belonging to large tropical gardens, one after another after another, flanking the sides of the road. A elderly lady is walking towards us carrying a big bundle of firewood. It is tied to her back with a strap that passes over her forehead. She greets us as she passes, stopping briefly to touch Ossian's head.
Lila and Uma come running from the house, their rucksacks on their backs, hair brushed neatly back. Adharanand follows behind them. Ossian and I give them a kiss and wave them off as they slip into the stream of commuters on the footpath, off on their way to spend the day at the Nairobi Steiner Waldorf School. Today is the first of three days they will spend as guests of the school, Lila in Class 1 and Uma in Kindergarten.
Curious to see what a Steiner School in Kenya was like, we all spent the morning at the school yesterday. Lila and Uma seemed to feel at home as soon as we arrived, and were keen to join their respective classes. The school is only two streets away from where we are staying, set in one of the large tropical gardens. As you enter from the main street a security guard walks over to the gate to let you in. Nailed onto his wooden guard hut is a plaque stating that the hut was built as part of a class project by the children. Placed amongst the trees are wooden cabins, each one a classroom, with tidy footpaths linking one to another.
We are shown round and talk to a few of the teachers. All have trained and taught in the Kenyan state system, re-training in the Steiner curriculum when they join the school. Many of them knew nothing about it before, applying to a job vacancy at the school without really knowing what a Waldorf School was. Out in the countryside to the south of Nairobi is another, larger Waldorf school, where they receive their training. I am told that this other school has many of the local Masai children in its classes, as well as children from further afield who board at the school. Although the children in the Nairobi school are mainly black Africans, there are also several Asian and European children, and Lila and Uma do not stand out.
Much of what we are shown is very familiar to us, the insides of the classrooms, the toys in the kindergarten, the colours of the walls. But unlike in the Steiner schools in the UK, uniform rules seem more relaxed here, with logos and cartoon characters popping up on clothes and rucksacks. There is also a football pitch and regular matches against other schools in the area.
We join in circle time with the Kindergarten, and amongst familiar nursery songs are some traditional Kenyan ones, with the teachers chanting and clapping as the children dance and stomp. Afterwards the children sit down to share a meal of ugali, spinach and fish, prepared by the cooks in the school's kitchen. As we leave we are invited to an upcoming festival to celebrate the start of the rainy season.
A few days later I ask Uma if she liked going to Kindergarten. "No" she replies, "I didn't like it". She has a big grin on her face. "I loved it."
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