Today I taught my students how to draw self-portraits. Their pictures are so cute! The kids got so excited that I brought colored pencils. It’s great to see them so excited and all the kids returned the pencils at the end of class I didn’t even have to ask! They are so unselfish, so unassuming, I just love them.
I also brought a pencil sharpener today. The kids don’t have their own and neither does the school, so they sharpen the pencils using their little fingers so the pencils are dull with wood splintering off the sides of the pencils. They were so excited to see a pencil sharpener! They all WANTED to sharpen the pencils so I let them take turns. This was insane to me… I got to thinking about back to school shopping when I was a kid, picking out my very own pencils, pencil sharpener, colored pencils, crayons, notebooks and stickers. Here they lack even the basics, and what I can bring in everyone has to share. It’s a dramatic contrast which makes me feel exceedingly lucky – both to have had the privileges that I had as a child and to see firsthand what it is like not to have such material benefits.
A funny story – I was teaching and one of my star pupils jumped off the bench and ran up to me with his backpack and started hitting me with it! I was so startled and surprised I kept saying “kaa chini! Kaa chini! Acha! Acha!” – which means sit down, sit down, stop it, stop it. Well turns out there was a GIANT stick bug on me and he was trying to kill it! Eventually it fell off my back and on the ground, and the kid stepped on it. He’s probably my hero even though he’s only 4 years old!
I’ve had a few questions about school supplies: there’s a difference in terms of what can be sent to me and what can be sent to the school. The basics like pencils and paper that the kids would keep should be sent to the school, and extras like stickers and storybooks can be sent to my program. Of course you can send anything to either place and it will definitely get used!
My school:
Anglican Church
c/o Julius Simeo
P.O. Box 148
Bagamoyo, Tanzania
Cross Cultural Solutions:
Dana Vettel
Cross Cultural Solutions
c/o Zik Kundy
It’s so great to be developing relationships with the kids too. One of my kids, Naithfat, doesn’t have a backpack like the other kids. She brings her things to school in a torn black plastic bag. Another kid, Abdul, is so smart I can’t stand it! He should be advancing in school faster he already knows everything I am teaching the other kids. Nurdin is my know-it-all troublemaker but he’s super smart too so I am trying to create challenging assignments for him. My little star is Emanuel and he’s so sweet, he’s very quiet and well behaved and he tries so hard. It’s really sweet.
Alright time for lunch… bye!
I also brought a pencil sharpener today. The kids don’t have their own and neither does the school, so they sharpen the pencils using their little fingers so the pencils are dull with wood splintering off the sides of the pencils. They were so excited to see a pencil sharpener! They all WANTED to sharpen the pencils so I let them take turns. This was insane to me… I got to thinking about back to school shopping when I was a kid, picking out my very own pencils, pencil sharpener, colored pencils, crayons, notebooks and stickers. Here they lack even the basics, and what I can bring in everyone has to share. It’s a dramatic contrast which makes me feel exceedingly lucky – both to have had the privileges that I had as a child and to see firsthand what it is like not to have such material benefits.
A funny story – I was teaching and one of my star pupils jumped off the bench and ran up to me with his backpack and started hitting me with it! I was so startled and surprised I kept saying “kaa chini! Kaa chini! Acha! Acha!” – which means sit down, sit down, stop it, stop it. Well turns out there was a GIANT stick bug on me and he was trying to kill it! Eventually it fell off my back and on the ground, and the kid stepped on it. He’s probably my hero even though he’s only 4 years old!
I’ve had a few questions about school supplies: there’s a difference in terms of what can be sent to me and what can be sent to the school. The basics like pencils and paper that the kids would keep should be sent to the school, and extras like stickers and storybooks can be sent to my program. Of course you can send anything to either place and it will definitely get used!
My school:
Anglican Church
c/o Julius Simeo
P.O. Box 148
Bagamoyo, Tanzania
Cross Cultural Solutions:
Dana Vettel
Cross Cultural Solutions
c/o Zik Kundy
It’s so great to be developing relationships with the kids too. One of my kids, Naithfat, doesn’t have a backpack like the other kids. She brings her things to school in a torn black plastic bag. Another kid, Abdul, is so smart I can’t stand it! He should be advancing in school faster he already knows everything I am teaching the other kids. Nurdin is my know-it-all troublemaker but he’s super smart too so I am trying to create challenging assignments for him. My little star is Emanuel and he’s so sweet, he’s very quiet and well behaved and he tries so hard. It’s really sweet.
Alright time for lunch… bye!
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