First Day of School

First Day of School
First of all: Praise me. Two days in a row for an update is amawwwzing. I suppose it is a sure indicator that once the sun goes down, I have a lot of free time. Now I am sitting outside with the others, listening to safari stories from the guy who just returned this evening. Every night is a free concert. Last night it sounded like a night club in the distance, and today our boy Sousa is making an appearance with brass bands, which apparently is an occurrence every Thursday, as this is the day of the week families throw something like a good bye party for the brides to be married on Saturday.

Mooovvving on...Today was my first day of placement with the Kilimanjaro Young Girls in Need School (KYGN). I. Loved. It. We met the director of school in town and she drove us out to the school because it is a good 7 kilometers outside Moshi. Just that small distance made for an enormous difference. The second the car left the somewhat paved roads and hit the dirt path, it was an entirely different world. Shacks on the right and the most gorgeous rice fields in front of a mountainous backdrop on the left were, no lie, the most stunning shades of green.

The school to which we were driving is one that primarily teaches math, English (though at the extreme beginners level as most kids only had “my name is” and “teacher,” which is what we are called), and the rest was of course in Swahili. Arts and crafts are done sometimes, and P.E. as well. About 30 girls between the ages of 3 and 7 attend the school, and there are three teachers: Rahab, Emanuel, and Matilda. Today we took aside a couple of girls who were a bit behind the class and taught them simple maths and writing. At recess, we seemed to be the main attraction, and fixing our hair was the favorite activity. School for KYGN ends at about half twelve, so for now I have the afternoons fairly free. That being said, I am hoping to visit a few more placements before I commit fully to KYGN, as transportation to the school is a bit of an issue. However, if all goes well, I will stay with the school each day from 8-noon and then perhaps go somewhere else in the afternoon.

Hope everyone is having fun at home…and hopefully will hear from you soon. Miss everyone… Usiku mwema.