Tuesday, February 15, 2005
This morning I made a wonderful discovery! I went To Kilamahewa as usual, and began teaching 1-2-3 etc. The day is beautiful and hot, but there is a nice breeze blowing and we are shaded by the corrugated tin roof over the porch where class meets. The children are in good spirits, but one boy in particular, is being a booger!! He is wiggle-ly and distracted, and basically causing lots of trouble. I finally walked over to him and said, “Ache, Emmanulli, ….hapana, hapana….andika 1-2-3”, which basically means ‘stop driving me crazy!’
When he held up his half-piece of paper covered in about a skillion 1-2-3’s, I turned it over and wrote his name in big letters. “Andika”, I said, and he imediately leaned over in deep concentration. Several minutes later, he showed me a fabulous five-years olds depiction of ‘Emanuelli’, with a huge grin. I immediately grabbed him by the arm, interrupted Mr. Masawe in the other room, and showed him. You would have thought the child had found a cure for cancer!!! It was so great! Mr. Masawe cheered, the class clapped, and I hugged him. Needless to say, he calmed right down and I started challenging him every five minutes with something new. It is amazing how a bored kid can become a perfect student with a little motivation! We ended class with a rousing rendition of the Hokey Pokey and Emanuelli was right in the middle ‘shakin it all about’ with a happy smile. Man, I love this job!
After school, I headed back to the house for an afternoon of chores and such. I needed to do laundry and run some errands, so having some downtime was really nice. When it comes to doing laundry, CCS has arranged for women in the neighborhood to do our laundry. It is a way for them to earn some income, and I have to say, it is a wonderful service! I put all of my clothes in a laundry bag, fill out a sheet saying whether or not I want wash, press, or wash and press, stick my money in, and leave it on the porch. A little old woman comes to get it and two days later I get it back. The thing that is amazing is that they do all washing by hand. No washing machines, no dryers. And they get the clothes SO clean!! A bag of clothes costs about $3 to wash, and there is no way I could do it as well as these women! Traditionally, though, Tanzanians never handle the undercolthes of strangers, so we have to hand wash all of our own underwear.
The afternooon ended with yet another Swahili class. At this point, I am somewhat lost! People of the street constantly compliment me on how good my Swahili is, but that is because they have not met Andrew and John, the two young Georgetown boys in my group. These guys have not taken the first note or written the first thing down, and they remember everything!!! At this point, I am happy to live in the present, (rather than figure out future and past tense), and communicate like a cave man. “Me name Anna. Me American. Me teach childs. Me loves Tanzania much.” I think you get the picture!
Tommorw is a big day, so I am going to head to be early. As for today, well, it was just another normal African day! My best to you!! Anna aka Mud Butt
