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Port of Call |
LAST UPDATE October 11, 2005
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| September 26, 2005 |
Mombasa, Kenya –
GET Challenge Programme: Speaking English on Safari |
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| The English speaking safari presents an exciting challenge for Peace Boat GET students. |
Greeted by a beautiful sunset, arrival in Kenya kick-started a cultural adventure for students of Peace Boat’s Global English and Espanol Training (GET) programme. Accustomed to intensive study in a classroom environment, 78 GET students were able to test out their communication skills in a stimulating setting on an “all English speaking safari”. |
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| Peace Boat participants are treated to a lively performance by Peter’s Band members. |
Organized by musician Peter Orwa Awour’s safari company, Conqueror Tours, students were offered more than just a look at Kenya’s wildlife. In addition to the safari, Peter has formed “Peter Band” a band of young Kenyan musicians and dancers who present and teach live traditional music and dance. In this way they were able to give GET students a taste for the culture of Kenya. Peter’s Band spent ten days onboard Peace Boat prior to arrival in Mombasa in order to introduce participants to Kenya’s colorful and unique language, culture and wildlife. |
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| GET students Waji and Maki and English teacher Abigail Connolly proclaim an elephant sighting. |
After an energetic welcome from Peter’s Band drummers and dancers, GET students were divided into vans for the duration of the safari, starting with a trip from Mombasa to their lodge, in the heart of Ngutuni Game Sanctuary. The hasty drive through potholed roads around Kenya’s second largest city provoked nervous laughter from students, which was quickly replaced with silent awe as the convoy of vans drove into the dusty red expanse and bright blue sky of rural Kenya.
With GET teachers facilitating conversation during the two-hour journey, students encountered their first challenge: communicating with their local drivers and Peter’s Band musicians and dancers, who also joined the excursion. Students who had attended Peter’s Band members’ Swahili language classes onboard Peace Boat were also able to attempt Swahili, Kenya's national language. Swahili (called Kiswahili in Africa) is widely used by people of different ethnic groups in Kenya and other parts of Africa, who also speak their local tribe language. English, the official language of Kenya, is taught in schools.
The first taste of safari wilderness was a drive through Ngutuni Game Sanctuary. Excited students spotted many different animals, including zebras, giraffes, elephants and an array of spectacularly coloured birds. |
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| Elephants camouflaged in red dust, which they cover themselves in to cool down from the blazing sun. |
After this introduction, GET students were ready to explore the largest national park in Kenya, Tsavo National Park. Spanning over 20 000 square kilometers of rolling plains and scattered vegetation, the park is divided into East and West. Participants hoped to spot an array of animals and birds during their safari in the East park. They were not disappointed, and came within close range of herds of elephants, zebras and giraffes. |
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| A lion relaxes under the afternoon sun. |
The highlight of the safari for many lucky students was the discovery of a pack of sleeping lions. Oblivious to their title as kings of the jungle, they dozed in the sun, ignoring the scores of cameras that captured their every movement. |
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| Stunning sunsets are commonplace in Tsavo National Park. |
Back at the lodge, participants were treated to a cooking show from Peter, who cooked ‘ugali’, a traditional Kenyan food made from corn flour and water. Peter’s Band then took the stage for a performance of African drumming, singing and dancing. As the music died down students and teachers relaxed on the balcony under a star filled sky to watch shooting stars, while just a few metres away a family of elephants took a late night drink at the water hole beside the lodge.
Peter said he was proud to share his country’s beauty with the GET students and teachers. “It is wonderful to be able to share the sweetness and power of the nature of Kenya. I hope everyone spreads this message of Kenya”, he said.
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| A student presents a small skit in English, with help from teacher Andrew Reeves. |
After a sunrise safari the following day, students and teachers had a long list of sightings to compare, including giraffes, lions, zebras, cheaters, leopards, gazelles, antelope, buffalo, elephants and ostriches.
An English workshop was then held, with students acting out safari skits in English. GET Coordinator, Audrey Howatson said the safari reinforced one of the GET programme’s key goals, and that is to emphasize actual communication over memorizing grammar. “It’s such a great opportunity to use English as a tool to communicate between different cultures,” she said. The students were able to spend time with the Kenyan dancers and drummers, and learn about Kenya’s culture, she said. “They could communicate not just through language, but dance and song as well.” |
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| Nona Arakawa, of Yokohama practices a traditional Kenyan instrument, the Greater Kuda, which is made from the horn of an antelope. |
GET student Mizuka Sakahira, from Hiroshima Japan, said she enjoyed the safari. “It was tough to speak English all the time but it was really exciting”, she said. The cultural exchange concluded with everyone singing traditonal Kenyan songs in Swahili, Japanese and English. After the action packed adventure, exhausted yet satisfied teachers and students headed back to Mombasa to reembark on Peace Boat.
Throughout the 51st Peace Boat voyage, GET students will be encouraged to practice their English and Spanish-speaking skills through cultural exchange in many more ports. |
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