The end of week two at Hope Community Center finds me amidst the most torrential thunderstorm, downpour I have ever seen. Thankfully it began during lunch, so everyone was in the dining hall, and all the smart people are still there watching TV. I had plans to lesson plan and blog this afternoon, so I ran back to my room getting thoroughly soaked, and in honesty it is good I did because my room is flooding and I was able to get everything perishable off the floor before it got wet.
Now, so long as the power doesn't go, I am going to try my hand at blogging. This past week has been as busy as the first, although I am beginning to get the hang of things here, or as best one can. I have accepted that I will probably always be a little unsure of what is going on, but I am completely confident that there will always be somebody to tell me where to go, what to do, etc... Even if they are only seven. And that is the beautiful thing about being here, getting to know the children and begin to form relationships with them. I love when I finally master somebody's name and quite mixing it up with somebody elses, and they love it too along with my horrible attempts at swahili which everyone, including me, finds amusing...
Last Sunday was very enjoyable, and I know that I will continue to look forward to weekends here. We had church in the morning , which like devotions is very community with everyone participating. In truth, except for the babies, everyone did participate, and even the babies attended. After breakfast everyone broke into Sunday school classes led by the older children and prepared either a song, dance, verse or something. One of the older girls who I have gotten to know had me come with her class and sing and dance along with them at their turn to present. They also had me give the message, which considering I was informed I was doing at breakfast, I feel I did pretty well with although it could have been better. Then, after church, everyone, including the babies again, went out to the basketball court and watched some of the boys play and really just hangout without chores or studies.
Sadly, for me Sunday ended on a less positive note of my first food poisoning, which left me out of commission on Monday too. My teaching assistant took the class, but I was sorry to not be there. The first few weeks are some of the most important for setting boundaries and expectations. Thankfully though I was back up to speed by Tuesday and got some solid days of teaching in.
My class is great, I like all the kids, but also quite challenging. With the range of age and ability being several years, it is a constant juggling act between keeping the little ones in line when they can be quite naughty, from slipping out of their seats and singing under the table to fighting with each other in the most sibling of manners, to keeping the older most able who are quite good at sums and are beginning to read engaged. I want to be fair to everyone in the class, and this week there were some trying days where I was quite short with my students. It didn't help that I pulled my back two days straight picking up one of the little ones when he was throwing a tantrum.
One thing which continues to amaze me is the commitment the kids have to their education. They take it very seriously, and realize that it can provide such opportunity. Still, there are definite challenges like having to share all the curriculum which means a lot of me writing the book on the board so everyone can see. And if you get caught chewing on your eraser, you are in trouble, because supplies are short too. At the same time, none of the classes at the school here are too big, and the teacher to student ration must be better than so many of the schools in the area. At least the public schools will have up to 100 students(private ones are smaller, but cost), and here I don't think any class is bigger than 30.
Thinking of supplies, let us skip ahead to yesterday, Friday, when my MCC country reps came to visit with the heads of MCC's Global Family Education Fund(the part of MCC that Hope receives support under). The heads had been leading some trainings at another MCC partner in Western Kenya, but wanted to see Hope while they were here. It was nice to see my reps again, if only briefly as I was in class most of the time.
However, the most exciting part of their visit was that they had been waiting on a shipment of computers from Canada that had been filled in with school kits, and it had finally arrived, so each child at Hope was able to receive their very own school bag with four notebooks, four pencils, an eraser, a ruler and twelve colored pencils. I know these details because when I was at my MCC orientation they had us volunteer at MCC's Material Resource Center and I was checking school kits, so fast forward a month and I get to see these kits lovingly prepared by Mennonites across America and Canada being received by students who need them and will use them well. My students were so proud when they showed me in class that afternoon, and many of the kids continue to wear their bags proudly(and perhaps so that nothing will go missing although I hope they are above taking from each other).
Today a volunteer is arriving who will be here two weeks and teach the kids basketball. She will be a great hit as they love their basketball court and I believe it was her father who had it built. I was talking with the Madam, and it sounds like there are going to be a fair few visitors passing through during my year here. I have really enjoyed the other volunteer here as she has been great at teaching me the ropes and giving me an in with some of the kids. She is also great for commiserating with over the terribly big food portions served at meals although finally today I got up the nerve to beg the cook for less and was able to finish my food and not feel ghastly full. There is hope for the future yet! If I can make that a regular happening, my biggest struggle here shall be removed.
Anyways, the downpour is over now, my room only slightly flooded, and if I am going to be a good teacher this week, I should look at doing some lesson planning. Tomorrow is the annual celebration, and should be a lot of fun. I look forward to it, and have been told by my friends, that I should rightly so. That will be included in next weeks blog, so stay posted...
p.s. funny story, one of my three year old students definitely peed on me yesterday... I'd picked him up to hold in my lap so he wouldn't disrupt the class, and then pee! I was not a happy camper...
p.p.s. also, this morning, some of my third and fourth grade friends decided I had dirty ears and proceeded to clean them with twigs... you would think personal hygiene could slide with bucket showers and all, but they don't let anything get by... at the same time, they write me really sweet notes about how happy they are that I am here
p.p.p.s I might get the chance to go to a grocery store sometime this week which is very exciting as it would mean supplementing my diet of beans and maize and beans and rice and beans and ugali(maize stiff porridge)... especially since the supplement here of eggs is what I got food poisoning off of and so I have no intention of eating again...
p.p.p.p.s I like emails, so if you made it to this many p's...
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