Yesterday was by far my favorite day in Arusha. It started with the beginning of my volunteer position at Women in Action for Development. I woke up early and the other girl I am volunteering with and I got a ride to the organization where we were supposed to meet the school bus of pre school students to take them to their pre school. But it turned out we got the wrong time and we were an hour late but it didn't matter, we just waited and we got a ride to the pre school which was about a 10 minute drive from the organization's office.
We got to the pre school and walked into a room of about 40 children ranging in ages from about 4-6 lined up in 3 lines. The two teachers in charge of the children lead them in welcoming us which included screaming at the top of their lungs "TEACHER TEACHER WELCOME WELCOME, TEACHER TEACHER WE LOVE YOU" or some variation on the idea. Then the children split up into their two classrooms- one for the younger children and one for the older children. I went into the classroom with the younger children where they were leaning their numbers up to 20. I helped lead exercises and assist the students who were new to the class. I also made up a dance move to help the little ones remember their numbers.
After their lessons, it was snack time. The children ate porridge while one of the teachers went out and got a plate of cassava for the "grown ups". After the children finished their porridge they went outside to play. The two teachers, Valerie and I talked a little bit over our tea and cassava and found out that one of the teachers is only a couple of months older than me. She turned 21 in June! Its so strange how much older she seems-- she has a job and is responsible for so many lives every day!
Valerie and I went outside to play with the children and it was so much fun! They are so creative with their playing... its amazing how an empty coffee can or water bottle can be the source of such a great play time. The little girls LOVED playing with my hair and spent a really long time just stroking my hair. I also thought of my pre school and the high tech playground and sandboxes we had and thought about how much it has to do with perspective. So many kids were just coming to the window who were not students to hear the class and see what the kids were doing. At one point a little "mtoto" wandered into the room because he wanted to join the fun.
After play time, the children went into their classrooms to get their homework assigned and I helped out in my classroom helping to write out each student's homework... practicing writing letters and numbers.
The bus was supposed to come at noon but it didn't come until one so the teachers improvised by having story time. One teacher told a story about "umoja" with animals and had different children act out different animals. It was great! They also sang and danced and played different games that were just too cute! Me and Valerie lead a song: if you're happy and you know it. They really enjoyed the whole yelling at the top of their lungs thing.
Once the bus came, about an hour late at 1pm we got on the bus with the kids and the 2 teachers and dropped some of the children off in their neighborhoods on the way to the WIA office. Once we got to the WIA office, an American volunteer had made cupcakes for her birthday and for the director of WIA's birthday so we ate some makeshift Tanzanian cupcakes! The American volunteer and her husband offered to drive us home as long as we wait while another woman who works at WIA gets her friend from some market on the way.
We got home safe, don't worry!
Well, Happy New Year! One of the girls in my group bought a "sweet melon" to try for the new year. Tasted like cantaloupe.
Off to Via Via to ear some local music...
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