First day at Uwawayaki!
Trip Start
Jul 18, 2008
1
2
17
Trip End
Aug 30, 2008
Moshi, Tanzania
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Yesterday, was a full day of lectues and orientation, from 8am to 6pm. My group met with the Uwawayaki representatives; mama Martha (the coordinator), mama Mary (clinic coordinator), and Catherine (a girl who works at the secondary school. They are all locals and seemed to have a great sense of humor. Mama Martha decided to place me as a teacher in the secondary school and told us to come at 9am. I was absolutley exhausted and found myself slobbering on my journal when I woke up again. Haha!
I started the day at 6:30am, when breakfast is served, and was ready by 8:30am for our driver to take us to Uwawayaki. It rained all morning long and so I had to bring mud-proof shoes. Kelsey is an existing volunteer there (she been there for three weeks already), and immediately warned me that there is no structure what so ever at the school and that the teacher is NOT certified. I walked through the one room building into the back yard, where the outdoor (with a smal roof) classroom was. The 40 children started to scream "teacher!" and I walked to the front to introduce myself, "mimi ni Heather." They have a really hard time saying my name and so I wore a name tag (didnt help haha!). We attempted to do subtraction, about a fourth of the children could do the schoolwork and half could write some of the numbers. Next was playtime! This lasted about an hour and all of the children wanted to be close to kelsey and me. There were fights and games but NO structure! After this, they were fed poridge, we sang some songs and walked a few of the kids home. Challenging... but FUN!
We came back and had some lunch and swahili lessons then headed to town. I went with a big group (mistake) and they kept saying "mzungu" (which means rich, white, etc... they see $ signs). After accidentally going down the butcher aisle at the local market, we ended up at a coffee shop and I had a chocolate shake.. yummmm. Ali, Kellie, and I found some fabric ($6 for 6-7 yards) for skirts and purses and we headed home for dinner.
I am more than ready for tomorrow and another day with the kids :-)
Asanteni sana (thank you all)
Heather
Comments
Hey!!
Hi Honey!
Sounds like you're having a blast. Love hearing all the details!! Dad, Chels, Dolly & Tiki all say Hi! We miss you :)
Mom