Glossary of Terms

We hope some of the following notes may help you in understanding all of the Tumaini Kids’ posts! As always, you can email us with any other questions that come up when reading the kids’ posts.

Best,
Claire and Lara!


A note on spelling:

Kenyan pronunciation makes Ls and Rs very hard to distinguish, thus many children (and adults) get them confused in writing. The children regularly write “pray” when they mean “play,” and have horrible problems writing the names “Lara” and “Claire.” Additionally,
“Read” and “Learn” are the same word in Swahili. For this reason, you see in many posts children saying they ‘read’ at their school, when they mean study.

Some Common Terms:

• CRE: is Christian Religious Education, which is a required course at the public schools the children attend. Kenya is supposed to provide education in the religion of the child, but more often local religious predominance limits the number of religions offered.
• Fellowship: A student led worship service of wild dancing and singing (“presentations”) that the children run every week at Tumaini.
• Form: Secondary school, or high school, is made up of four forms: Form 1, Form 2, Form 3, and Form 4.
• Githeri: A traditional dish – a mix of maize and beans – that the children at Tumaini eat for 70% of all their meals.
• Leaver: A leaver is an individual who has already graduated from secondary school.
• Manager: The head of Tumaini.
• Matron: There are two matrons at Tumaini. Along with the Manager, they make up the only full time staff.
• Reverend Muindi: Reverend Muindi is the recently retired champion of Tumaini and one of the most revered ministers in East Africa, respected not least for his social activism.
• “Tution” (Tuition): is an extracurricular academic course the children are required to take during vacation times.
• Standard: Primary school goes from standard 1-8, encompassing both US elementary and middle schools.
• Ugali: A bland maize polenta which, for unknown reasons, is the favorite dish of most Tumaini kids!