Tembelea blog ya Elise Finder kwani ni moto
Tanzania
Week Three
I had a week full of ups and downs this week. I decided to introduce both worksheets and the concept of reading comprehension into both of my classes, starting on Monday. The class has workbooks with stories in English in them. Usually their assignment is to copy the story line for line, and thats it. (in my fourth grade class the story was about buying groceries and in my third grade class the story was just a dialogue between two boys who point out birds, and students, and children, and dogs) I had them read the story together and then answer questions on the worksheet about the content of the story. It bombed, nobody understood a word they had just read in either class...so we we spent the rest of the week going line by line and working together to get the meaning of the story across. We've made some progress, but its still a challenge. I hope if I just keep doing a little reading comprehension everyday for the next two months, maybe at some point they will start to understand how to read and then answer questions about it. In both classes though, I have one or two students who want to learn so badly and are really excited about trying new things, so they keep me going when it gets tough.
Outside of school, I have had a lot more free time this week, which has been a wonderful treat because I got to visit two orphanages, as well as the United Nation's Rwanda Tribunal.
The first orphanage I visited is called the Upenda Orphanage and is only for very young children. During the rainy season (which is fastly approaching) the kids must spend all their time in a play room inside. This play room was disgusting and the floors, walls, chairs, and toys were all covered in urine and feces. So me and a few other volunteers spent several hours bleaching and disinfecting every inch of the room. The kids at this orphanage were so sweet, I really hope the disinfecting helps them have a healthier rainy season! The second orphanage was called Kili Kids, I had so much fun just playing and rough housing with all the kids there. They were wonderful and enjoyed getting a chance to play with adults, I am going back after school today to visit them again, and I hope to start going regularly. (I cant wait to put pictures up of them too, they are so cute and love to cheese it up for the camera)
The UN Rwanda Tribunal was a powerful experience. It made the genocides that happened in Rwanda seem much more real to me. I sat in on a trial of a man named Prosper Mungiya (I'm not sure of the spelling of the last name). Unfortunately, it was hard to follow a lot of what was going on (although my Model UN experience from high school helped a lot). What was clear though was that the UN is truly trying to bring a sense of justice to the war in Rwanda.
Tomorrow I am leaving for a Safari after school! Those of you who know me well might be surprised that I am choosing to spend three days among wild animals like lions, but after seeing how beatiful the nature in Africa is, I am really anxious to get out and spend time in the National Parks. Next week I will put up pictures of my adventure!
Picutres!
It takes about three minutes a picture to upload, so these are just a few of my favorites! Enjoy!!
My students after I gave them popcicles. They love the camera, and all fight to get to the front of the picture!
Playing at recess in the school yard.
Me with a lizzard on a stick!
This is swimming in a waterfall with another volunteer.
This is in the market place
These are two of my favorite students! On the right is Fatuma and on the left is Debeakia (im not sure of that spelling!)
This is my class, they go crazy when I get my camera out!
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