Derby educator returns to U.S. after mission in Africa

Says she will miss friends she made in Kenya

By Lois Knapton

Director, Special Education

Derby Public Schools

After months living in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa, I am headed home to Derby.

 As the 747-400, double-decker airplane attempts lift off, I am filled with mixed emotions. 

Lois Knapton

 I remember how excited I was to be going to serve in Africa, but this time, the excitement is not the same.
Although  I am looking forward to seeing all my friends, family, and colleagues, back in the U.S., at the same time, I know it will be an emotional struggle to re-integrate into a society that is so opposite to what I have been living in for the last three months.

  I am already missing the many intimate friendships I made with the Kenyans. 

 Although I lived in a "normal' house at night with all the amenities, including "house help," during the day I worked deep in the slums of the Mathare Valley... and words and pictures simply cannot describe it.

 Some of the Kenyan people Knapton met

In the slums, there is no sewer and no running water, no washing machines, no bathrooms, no stoves, no sinks, no refrigeration, one bed for 10 people, dirt floors in a tin shack; and maybe there is a small kerosene cook stove where rice is boiling.  

A walk through the slums

They lead such a simple, yet so difficult life, solely based on survival and lead by their deep faith.   In this survival mode, there is no room for "American" thinking... Americans are loud. Many are materialistic, egocentric, self-centered, fast-paced and on their own "mission" to make "me" feel as comfortable as "I" need.  

This outlook on life is completely the opposite of how I have been living for the last 2.5 months. My anxiety toward re-integration is real. 

As I did my first load of laundry on U.S. soil, my mind kept flashing back to the many women, hand washing their clothes and bathing their  children in a small bin filled with  water they had lugged on their head for miles. 

 Driving home from the airport, we passed a 32-foot, fifth-wheel trailer being pulled by a Ford 350;  a house on wheels used for vacationing, probably for two people. That house could fit 12 families in Kenya. 

It is amazing what we can do without. We are all human beings...how can our experience of life be so opposite yet so much the same?

Knapton training teachers in Kenya

As an educational leader, I knew my leadership skills would be put to the test..and I passed with flying colors.  

This was a big challenge and I learned so much from these people. I was successful in developing procedures and forms describing referral and assessment for students with special needs. Then I held 23 teacher, parent, and student trainings to inform all stakeholders of the new system.  The remainder of my time was dedicated to job embedded professional  development of their first special needs educator. 

In Kenya, some teachers actually have been studying special needs in college but the K-12 school systems do not yet know how to use these teachers.
I was truly implementing a cutting edge system...and it is evolving. The new resource room was being painted as my plane lifted off.
I learned that leadership matters.  At any level, the leader  truly is the key to success.  A good leader is rarely seen. A servant leader stays in the pack with all their colleagues, as the pack moves toward their vision and aspirations.  

At times, the leader needs to put forth a new idea, get stakeholder buy in and move the system forward. That is what I was able to do in a third world country; and I was successful. 

Another lesson I learned was sustainability is key. A good leader puts columns in place to sustain the implemented changes.  
In Africa, whenever I trained, or developed forms, or devised procedures, I had a Kenyan take the lead on the action because I knew I would not be there forever and I needed to know someone else could carry the torch. 

I learned that no matter what I did do, I am not indispensable.  Any job I have, I know I can be replaced. When a leader thinks they are indispensable, that is when they will start to crumble.  Leaders should never believe they are indispensable.  We are all replaceable.  However, some leaders are more successful than others; I will always give 110 percent at my job.
  Clearly, excellent leaders have earned their status by producing successful outcomes.

I thank all of you for your continued support while I was away. And I thank you for continuing to read my weekly column. If you pass me on the street, stop and say hello. I would be happy to share my experiences in more detail.

  Now to start a new adventure, another school year in Derby. I am sure it will not be without its challenges, but I am also sure of another thing, I am a different person.

 I am confident in my leadership abilities, I have softened my views on what I "need" versus what I "want"; my outlook on life has changed dramatically.

             
"Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff." 

Here I come Derby.