A fleet of school buses carrying learners on education tours chock the parking area adjacent to Fort Jesus Monument, within Mombasa’s old town, forcing more other buses to scramble for distant packing slots elsewhere.
As Anne Njeri Gathea, a teacher from Mariira Primary School in Murang’a County explains, the experience and value of the trip is immeasurable.
“We are here to promote local tourism, but again the experience is amazing. As the schools reopen, we are going back wiser, and armed with more quality teaching material than we were at the end of last term,” Njeri explains.
Her colleague Evans Njogu says the trip which was sponsored by the parents through the school’s Board of Management will help the teachers gain firsthand experience and sharpen their qualities in teaching.
Apart from Fort Jesus, they have visited several other sites around the Coast such as Diani beaches, Kenya Ferry and the Mombasa airport.
Similarly, Samuel Mwendwa Mulwa, the head teacher of Inokoni Mixed Day and Boarding in Kilungu Sub County in Makueni County, accompanied 191 pupils from the school on an educational tour to Fort Jesus.
“We want our pupils to come and have a feel of the history of battles that took place here. In history, these children have been learning about Fort Jesus but they have never seen it,” the Inokoni school head as says:
Learning by observation, Mulwa asserts, produces better results and impact on learners because it creates a lasting impression that lingers in the learners’ memories.
And it is such a booming business for Simon Ngunu an ice cream vendor within the Fort Jesus area alongside his colleagues who unanimously admit to having made a kill out of the August vacation.
“We have seen multitudes of visitors and the business is going on well. We are really selling ice-creams and we have made some good sales,” he says.
Andrew Kenga, who sells fried peanuts, is equally elated. He says during the vacation, he made enough to pay for next term’s school fees for his children, thanks to the overwhelming number of clients he got out of the educational trips.
“On most of the days for the past two weeks, I sold the entire stock and got home with more than enough cash,” Kenga shares
For more than 420 years now since it was built by the Portuguese in the year 1593 to serve as their military base, the Fort has lived to tell a historic tale of war and slavery.
Other Coastal sites that have been at the center of attraction for educational tours include Gede ruins in Watamu, Jumba la Mtwana in Mtwapa, the Vasco Da Gama pillar in Malindi, the Twin Tsavo National Parks in Taita Taveta, among others.
By Hilton Mwabili
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