Micah Lekadaa

Title:  teacher

Subject: Standard 6, 8 English, Social Studies, and Christian Religious Education

Hometown: Arsim, Samburu County, Kenya (Northern Samburu)

Bio:

Micah comes from Arsim in the northern Samburu County.  He has four brothers and two sisters.  Two of his brothers look after their livestock.  One sister was married off to an older man and the other is still young and in school.  He emphasized that his parents chose the husband for his sister.  He recognized that it is different in our culture.

“It’s our culture.  Sometimes it’s not fair, but it’s our culture.”

Nobody in his family is a teacher.  One of his brothers is studying to become a doctor at a medical college in Meru, Kenya.

Career:

This is his first year teaching and NWPS is his first placement by the government.  He began teaching at NWPS 10/11.  His favorite subject to teach is English.  He enjoys teaching writing and reading in English.

Q&A:

How long have you been teaching here?

“Actually, I am a new employee here.  I just have one year now.  I got my job here 10/11. That’s just last year.  This is my first school.  It’s good.  I am enjoying it.  The first year was a bit hard to me, but as time went by, I cope with the situation.  Now I am comfortable and confident in the class.”

What made you want to become a teacher?

“It was my first career.  I just chose it. “

Why did it interest you?

He developed an interest in the profession of teaching while he was a student.

Micah discussed that he liked the familiarity of school and the career of teaching.

Was there anything that surprised when you first started teaching?

Micah expressed that he was a bit nervous when he began teaching standard 7 and 8 because the students were very curious about him being from another area.  The students are also older and not that far in age from Micah.

“I’m fresh.  I don’t have experience. So the first time I went to class, sometimes I lack confidence somehow.  I don’t have all that confidence to stand before them…especially the upper grades.  Then I developed confidence.  Now it is perfect.”

Is there anything that you would like to know from our teachers?  Is there anything that you would like to ask?  Is there anything that they could help you with?

Micah is very curious about what New York City is really like.  He wants to learn more about our culture through writing if he cannot travel to the United States.

“I just feel like I would like to travel abroad one time.  We are not all that able here in Africa, even able to fly to abroad countries.”

What do you like and dislike about teaching?

Micah feels strongly that teaching is a noble profession that will be rewarded by god.  He informed us that, in Kenya, many teachers become pastors after they retire.

“As I said, because it was my first career. Secondly, I like it because I just like helping people.  It’s a noble profession.  I just feel like helping these kids to be better.”

“It is tiresome.  At the end of the day, you become so tired sometimes when you don’t feel like eating.  That will definitely affect my health…if I don’t eat.  But we have to persevere…to helping out these kids achieve their goals.”

Are there any resources that you feel would help you?

Micah informed us that they are in need of maps, especially maps of Africa.

In explaining their social studies curriculum to us, Micah mentioned that in standard five, students study the people of Kenya, in standard six, they study the people of Eastern Africa, and finally, in standard seven, they study the peoples of the rest of Africa.  He informed us that they move from “the known to the unknown.”

Click here to listen to the interview.