final blog

Final Blog

                Saying goodbye to the kids was the last thing on earth that I wanted to do. I was on the edge of crying a couple times. The kids were so sweet; I kept giving them hugs, and they would give me a letter. When I opened them that night, they were all love letters saying things like “We love you,” “God bless you,” and “Don’t forget us.” Saying goodbye was really hard, but I knew as we drove away from the school that there was a part of me still there and a part of that school in me. It’s something I never will forget.

                We threw a party for Class VI, VII and the staff. The kids were so excited – I heard someone say that the kids were showing each other what they were going to wear to the dance. When everyone got there it was funny because the girls were in the middle dancing but all the boys were on the side just talking. I tried my best to get the guys to dance, but once I got them out there and I turned around they were on the side again talking. I was surprised at how good a couple of kids were at dancing, but when I told them that they were really good, they would get all shy and stop. The teachers were really happy, and a couple of the younger ones danced.  The Tanzanian dance that they did was really cool because everyone knew it and when I tried, I was spinning the wrong way and it didn’t end well. I wish in America there was a dance that everyone knew that wasn’t the chicken dance. At 6:30, the power went out at the club, so we went outside and it was the end of the party. We got bracelets from the kids, flowers, and many, many hugs. Some of the teachers and I exchanged emails, and they were super happy that we came to LOAMO, but sad to see us leave.

                Yesterday, we went to a Maasai village that was a two hour drive from Arusha. It was so cool there because, since we spent most of our time in the city, we didn’t see a lot of the wild, but out there it was like it was taken right out of a book. Our guide, Freddy, was so cool – he was a senior warrior (which is when you are above 30 and had gone through the entire junior warrior training). There were a couple of junior warriors there, and they followed us around for a while. We went into the bush, which is what the Maasai people call the wild land. When we walked around, the guide explained how the warriors can survive out there, which is amazing because all it takes to survive was to cut open the right tree and drink what was inside, but if you cut open the wrong tree, you can die. We stopped at one spot to try and throw the spear that a warrior carries around. The spear wasn’t that heavy, but to throw it and keep it balanced so it sticks in the ground was hard. Ms. Gutmann was the only person to get it to stay in the ground. The saying “practice makes perfect” definitely came in hand here. On our way home, we saw zebras running around, a couple of giraffes chilling, and some monkeys playing around. It was so cool seeing some animals like that.

                Africa was amazing and I’m going to be sad as I look out the plane window and see it disappearing in the distance. The school was amazing and I’m so grateful to have gone there and made a difference that they will never forget. 

Last blog

Final Blog

                Saying goodbye to the kids was the last thing on earth that I wanted to do. I was on the edge of crying a couple times. The kids were so sweet; I kept giving them hugs, and they would give me a letter. When I opened them that night, they were all love letters saying things like “We love you,” “God bless you,” and “Don’t forget us.” Saying goodbye was really hard, but I knew as we drove away from the school that there was a part of me still there and a part of that school in me. It’s something I never will forget.

                We threw a party for Class VI, VII and the staff. The kids were so excited – I heard someone say that the kids were showing each other what they were going to wear to the dance. When everyone got there it was funny because the girls were in the middle dancing but all the boys were on the side just talking. I tried my best to get the guys to dance, but once I got them out there and I turned around they were on the side again talking. I was surprised at how good a couple of kids were at dancing, but when I told them that they were really good, they would get all shy and stop. The teachers were really happy, and a couple of the younger ones danced.  The Tanzanian dance that they did was really cool because everyone knew it and when I tried, I was spinning the wrong way and it didn’t end well. I wish in America there was a dance that everyone knew that wasn’t the chicken dance. At 6:30, the power went out at the club, so we went outside and it was the end of the party. We got bracelets from the kids, flowers, and many, many hugs. Some of the teachers and I exchanged emails, and they were super happy that we came to LOAMO, but sad to see us leave.

                Yesterday, we went to a Maasai village that was a two hour drive from Arusha. It was so cool there because, since we spent most of our time in the city, we didn’t see a lot of the wild, but out there it was like it was taken right out of a book. Our guide, Freddy, was so cool – he was a senior warrior (which is when you are above 30 and had gone through the entire junior warrior training). There were a couple of junior warriors there, and they followed us around for a while. We went into the bush, which is what the Maasai people call the wild land. When we walked around, the guide explained how the warriors can survive out there, which is amazing because all it takes to survive was to cut open the right tree and drink what was inside, but if you cut open the wrong tree, you can die. We stopped at one spot to try and throw the spear that a warrior carries around. The spear wasn’t that heavy, but to throw it and keep it balanced so it sticks in the ground was hard. Ms. Gutmann was the only person to get it to stay in the ground. The saying “practice makes perfect” definitely came in hand here. On our way home, we saw zebras running around, a couple of giraffes chilling, and some monkeys playing around. It was so cool seeing some animals like that.

                Africa was amazing and I’m going to be sad as I look out the plane window and see it disappearing in the distance. The school was amazing and I’m so grateful to have gone there and made a difference that they will never forget. 

Last blog

Final Blog

                Saying goodbye to the kids was the last thing on earth that I wanted to do. I was on the edge of crying a couple times. The kids were so sweet; I kept giving them hugs, and they would give me a letter. When I opened them that night, they were all love letters saying things like “We love you,” “God bless you,” and “Don’t forget us.” Saying goodbye was really hard, but I knew as we drove away from the school that there was a part of me still there and a part of that school in me. It’s something I never will forget.

                We threw a party for Class VI, VII and the staff. The kids were so excited – I heard someone say that the kids were showing each other what they were going to wear to the dance. When everyone got there it was funny because the girls were in the middle dancing but all the boys were on the side just talking. I tried my best to get the guys to dance, but once I got them out there and I turned around they were on the side again talking. I was surprised at how good a couple of kids were at dancing, but when I told them that they were really good, they would get all shy and stop. The teachers were really happy, and a couple of the younger ones danced.  The Tanzanian dance that they did was really cool because everyone knew it and when I tried, I was spinning the wrong way and it didn’t end well. I wish in America there was a dance that everyone knew that wasn’t the chicken dance. At 6:30, the power went out at the club, so we went outside and it was the end of the party. We got bracelets from the kids, flowers, and many, many hugs. Some of the teachers and I exchanged emails, and they were super happy that we came to LOAMO, but sad to see us leave.

                Yesterday, we went to a Maasai village that was a two hour drive from Arusha. It was so cool there because, since we spent most of our time in the city, we didn’t see a lot of the wild, but out there it was like it was taken right out of a book. Our guide, Freddy, was so cool – he was a senior warrior (which is when you are above 30 and had gone through the entire junior warrior training). There were a couple of junior warriors there, and they followed us around for a while. We went into the bush, which is what the Maasai people call the wild land. When we walked around, the guide explained how the warriors can survive out there, which is amazing because all it takes to survive was to cut open the right tree and drink what was inside, but if you cut open the wrong tree, you can die. We stopped at one spot to try and throw the spear that a warrior carries around. The spear wasn’t that heavy, but to throw it and keep it balanced so it sticks in the ground was hard. Ms. Gutmann was the only person to get it to stay in the ground. The saying “practice makes perfect” definitely came in hand here. On our way home, we saw zebras running around, a couple of giraffes chilling, and some monkeys playing around. It was so cool seeing some animals like that.

                Africa was amazing and I’m going to be sad as I look out the plane window and see it disappearing in the distance. The school was amazing and I’m so grateful to have gone there and made a difference that they will never forget. 

Last Day Teaching

                                                                     Last Day Teaching

Yesterday, I started to get to know the 4^th grade class more and more. I played a lot of games with them and the kids got very competitive over everything.  One of the funniest things happened when we played hangman. I wrote everything down on the board and the first girl I chose guessed the entire word correctly! I had no idea how she got that answer, so I stood there in shock for a second, because I didn’t believe it. I was funny that every time I turned around to write on the board, the kids would be a foot behind me when I turned around again. We then played “Simon Says”, and the kids were so loud that I was yelling most of the time, and my voice was dead after.

                Yesterday I went on a home visit to Godfrey and his son, Brian’s, house. Godfrey is the cook at LOAMO, and Brian is in kindergarten.  It was a thirty minute drive to the house – up a mountain and tucked away behind some trees. After we drove out of the trees, there was a small little community hidden back there. It was one of the most beautiful places ever; it was green and full of life. When we got out of the car, we were instantly greeted by the grandma and the neighbor’s kids. The grandma had to be older than 90, but was walking around the hill like it was nothing. She gave us a hug and a huge smile; you could tell that she was very excited to see us. I was glad I got to go there and see some African culture, like how much everyone respected the grandma. If she said it, it would be done. When we walked into the house, it was very cozy. The house wasn’t that big, probably a little bit bigger than my garage, but it housed seven people. Godfrey, his wife, and his five kids all lived there. Godfrey said that he rides his bike to school every morning. He drops Brian at the bus stop, but he isn’t allowed to take the bus himself. I was really surprised that he rode his bike, because, when coming home, he has to ride up a huge hill with bumps and holes all over it. He said that because they live so far up the mountain, it was really safe and everyone knew each other. The family was amazing, and I’m happy that I had the chance to meet them.

                Today, I went on another home visit to a boy named Miguel’s house. Miguel is in kindergarten and his brother, Mejooly, is in 4^thgrade.  Their house was a three minute walk from the school, and it is a really nice house. Right when you walk in, there is the family room with a couch and a bed in it. The next room is the kitchen, with a bathroom off to the side, and then there is a bedroom. The boys lived with their mother, Rachel, who works at the Palace Hotel in Arusha. The boys’ dad died a year ago because of Meningitis. When we asked questions about the dad, the mom stayed strong, but looked like she was about to cry. She either has the morning shift or night shift and the hotel, so she either gets to see her kids in the morning or at night. About half of her salary goes to paying rent, and then the rest is for school fees and food. The family looked really happy, and they are all hard-workers. I learned when you think it’s the end, when you persevere, you can make a life for yourself.  I’m thankful that I had the chance to meet this wonderful family.

               

 

One Week To Go

One Week To Go

                We cleaned the school on Saturday.  It wasn’t what I expected, there were no mops, so we used an old sweater soaked in water and disinfectant but it worked like magic. The water that we used to clean everything came out of the school’s water tank, so we tried to use each bucket as much as we could. After a while, the water would be really dirty and we would have to go change it out and use the new bucket as much as possible. Scrubbing the walls was one of the hardest jobs because the mud on the wall was as hard as a rock. Sawyer and I scrubbed for what seemed like hours, and probably was. At the end of the day, I was so tired, but it was definitely worth it. It was funny because one of the teachers said that her room was so clean that she didn’t want to go into it. The cleaning staff was really thankful, and at the end, I had a good feeling inside of me because I knew that I did something good.  I knew that we had made a difference at the school.

                Yesterday we went to an orphanage that was out of the city. When we were driving out to the orphanage, I saw the incredible African countryside, and it is one of the most beautiful things ever. It’s full of green and at some places looks like it’s been untouched. It reminded me of home because of the mountains and how amazing it looks.

When we got to the orphanage, the kids were ranging in age from 3 years old to 19 years old. At first, the kids were very shy, but they warmed up really quick. We went to the field out back and played soccer for a long time, and then we played a whole bunch of other games and threw a Frisbee around. I am way better at Frisbee than at soccer so I played with the Frisbee way longer than playing soccer. There was one boy who was around 10 or 11 years old and he was like an acrobat. He could do flips starting from just standing on the ground and climb up his friend so that it looked like they were a totem pole. I stood there and thought for a second that I could flip right there off the ground. I gave it a second thought and realized that if I tried it would not end well. At the orphanage we found the cutest puppy ever named Ziggy. He belonged to the orphanage, but they didn’t have a lot of food or medicine for him, so he was very skinny and sick. The orphanage was amazing and I wish I had the chance to go there again on this trip. It filled me with joy when I saw the kids, with huge smiles, showing off all their tricks to us.

                Today, I taught in the 4^th grade class. It is very different from the prep class, but it’s still very exciting. The kids are older and more mature, but they still have a lot of energy and are very funny. There is one boy in my class named William, and he was showing me his notebook that was full of drawings that he drew. They were amazing; it looked like they were done by a professional. It was funny at first because he was really shy about showing them to me, but I kept telling him that they were great. When I said that, he had a huge smile on his face, which then made me have a huge smile on my face. I tried drawing a picture, but his was better by far. I was super happy at the end of class because I knew that I had just made that kid’s day, and he walked out of class with a huge smile on his face.

                It’s crazy to think that we only have a week left in Africa. It has gone by so fast, and I don’t want the day to come when I have to say goodbye to all the sweet, huge smiles of the kids at the school. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Happiness

Happiness

                I have felt a lot of happiness over the past couple of days, and it’s a feeling I love. I have tried teaching the kids a lot of new games, and some of them are a great success, while others fail miserably. In a lot of our games, the kids hold hands and get in a circle, so when I tried to teach them “Red Rover,” they would hold hands, but keep getting in a circle, so that did not work. Soccer is the main sport, so I had no trouble setting up a soccer game. The teachers are really strict on the students, so when I tried playing “Simon Says” they wouldn’t get the concept of not do what I said when I didn’t say “Simon Says.” Then I got a lot of questions about the game like “Who’s Simon?” After that, I started laughing, and then the kids started laughing at me, and I couldn’t stop laughing, so the entire class laughed for about a full two minutes. I was in a good mood the rest of the day. Back in the states if something like that happen people wouldn’t be laughing they would be like oh wow what an idiot.

                In class I do a lot of jobs for the teachers; I grade papers, teach lessons, write on the blackboard, erase the blackboard, and play with the kids. One of the hardest and most over-looked jobs is sharpening pencils with a blade. The first time I tried, I didn’t get it even close to being sharp and everyone laughed at me, but today I can sharpen the pencils like a master.

                I started talking to a kid named Bazil, and he is so adorable that I just want to pack him up and bring him home with me. Bazil is really good at soccer; I was playing soccer with him and he could just run circles around me. He said that he has two older brothers and one younger brother, but none of them play soccer. I asked him how he got so good and he replied by saying that he plays at school or with rocks with his friends when they’re not at school. When he scores on me when we play soccer, he will look back and have a huge smile on his face like he is the happiest kid in the world.

                Today was sports day at the school and the only sport that they play is soccer, so we played a lot of it. I have never played soccer before so when we played, I got a foul for using my hands probably about five times, but when I did everyone laughed, so it was all a good time. After a while, I started getting the hang of it, but the kids were still way better than me. I was having a lot of fun, and I felt like I was getting way better, but by then it was the end of the day and the principal called it a day, and we had to go home.

                Everyone walked away happy today, and I feel like everyone should do that every day. 

Kimaro

 

Kimaro

                Over the past two days, I have taught in the Prep Class. Yesterday I was really nervous to teach because I was still getting used to the kids and settling in with the teachers. Today when I taught and I looked back at the class the expression on the kids’ faces was priceless. The kids were looking at me in amazement; they always had huge smiles on their faces and seemed like they never blinked. Today teaching was a lot easier because I knew most of the kids’ names and I was comfortable in the classroom and with the teachers. I love the kids they are all I look forward for tomorrow because I love smiling at them, and having them smile back is one of the best feelings ever.

                I gave the Prep Class a huge jar of hand sanitizer and the teacher, Happy, read all the directions and rules. She made all the kids who were younger than six years old stand up and say that they can’t use it because it was against the rules. She also said that if it got in their eyes they would die but she said it in a joking manner. At first I thought the teacher was being serious but then everyone started laughing, so I started laughing, too, realizing how cool the teacher’s and the student’s relationship is. Even after the teacher would slap a kid in the hand they would always say goodbye at the end of the day with a smile on their face.

                Shame: if a kid doesn’t do well on a problem or messes up a lot they get shamed. That is when all the kids and the teachers throw their hands up in the air and yell “shame, shame, shame” and then a song that I don’t understand. It is very weird to watch because the kids who are getting “shamed” don’t do anything they just stand there and take it. I was very confused the first time it happen because I thought the kid would start crying or would actually get hurt. I know now that this is part of their culture and is accepted everywhere. One of my favorite kids is Godwin. He has the cutest face and has the funniest laugh, but he is a huge trouble-maker so he gets shamed a lot.

                Kevin, Nicole, Mrs. Gutmann, and I went to a house visit today. We went to Mr. Kimaro’s house. He is a teacher at the school and has one son who goes to the school. The visit today has definitely changed my outlook on everything. He is an amazing man. When I got back from his house I was speechless. Mr. Kimaro lives in a house that was the size of a college dorm room, with his family of five. I admire him so much because he took so much pride in everything he owned. There is a bed that already takes up half of the main living room, and then there is a couch with two chairs and a coffee table in the middle with just enough for walking room. The room connected to it is even smaller and is even more packed. There is another bed, a stove, and jugs of water all over. In the corner are all their clothes stacked up in suitcases. Mr. Kimaro is a teacher at LOAMO and is a student at the University of Dar es Salaam studying computer technology. I really feel for Mr. Kimaro and his family. He borrows money for everything and then when he gets his paycheck he has to pay back all his debt. Mr. Kimaro was so open about everything and is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. Visiting the Kimaro’s house today has definitely changed my life and I am grateful that I had the chance to do meet this family.