Wow! These past few days have been pretty
incredible! I spent the mornings at the two different sites, teaching
(basically, reading stories…expanding English comprehension??? With repetition,
they are beginning to understand me
more..and repetition is how they learn most things. ( I need much more repetition to
understand them, though!) Exams are being taken everywhere this week, so I had
to really see where I might help, instead of hinder. I found in the “baby classes” I could keep
the rest of the class busy while the teacher worked with two or three. It still boggles my mind how the children are
just expected to keep themselves quiet, sitting next to their classmates, maybe
sharing a small chair, for what seems like endless time….no books to read, no
paper to draw on..no assignment to do(copy from the board) …just sit there and
be quiet. They are not perfect in doing
this, but far better than I would expect! But, what a waste of learning time) Yesterday, in P1, all the children had
“organized themselves” and were kneeling on the cement floor, using their chair
or bench as a desk. The teacher spent a great deal of time just getting them to
put their surname on..and then their “religious” name on. There were about 4 older girls trying to help
this process. I have no idea how a test
could be taken when the children had a hard time getting their name on the exam
form…and having it quiet enough to hear the directions. WOW!
Yesterday afternoon and this afternoon
I had the two ladies I’ve sponsored for lunch.
Timothy(Hope 4 Kids Field officer) was with Rose (about 26, she has 5
children, was married at 15), and her sweet year old Sarah…and they loved EVERYTHING! They were game to try it all and appreciated
it so much. Timothy has been exposed to the staff of H4K often, so knew a lot
about our food and liked it. However, he
had never had deviled eggs…nor the chocolate no-bake cookies I made. He wanted recipes for both, as he likes to
cook!
This afternoon was almost the complete opposite concerning the food…but NOT the appreciation of my efforts.! Lona( about 54, no children but raising some
relative’s) was not about to even try anything except the ice tea ( a drop or
two) and she did enjoy the powdered drink packet in the bottle of water! She didn’t try the tuna noodle
casserole..deviled eggs or tomato/cucumber salad. She also tried the fresh fruit that I put in
a little watermelon half (fancy!) and the store bought cookies. After much encouragement, she also tried a
bit of my chocolate cookie. Doris, new
friend and interpreter, revealed she did not eat fish!..so that wasn’t touched
by her as well..though she did try the eggs.., and the garlic toast I
made..which,surprisingly, she liked!
But, again,they appreciated my attempts..and we laughed a whole lot! as we learned about our different cultures.
What happened at the end of the day..I wish
you could all have been there! Peter had told me we could get
my twin bed and mattress to Lona’s..but I couldn’t believe it could really
happen as he promised me! Well, Lona is
probably about ready to try out her new bed in an hour or so,..delivered to her by a rider on a bicycle!!! I even took a video of them tying on the
slats, putting the bed frame around the bike and tying on the rolled up
mattress…and then it all being driven
off by quite a small young man! Totally unbelievable !and all for 2,000
shillings.. or about $1.00!
TIA!!!!!
Public Holiday tomorrow() so I’ll
just be packing up(I’ve given away half of my clothing and most of the
school supplies so it will not be as heavy! I started with 70 lb. bags...and now probably have bags of 30 or less each. I'm packing up my water and it weighs a ton!
Belated Happy Easter!!!!At the Prime Hotel...and missing everyone whole lot! Went to my favorite church,in a tent...and felt totally loved. My last time there. Now that I know the songs and dances! I'll miss them so.
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