I promised pictures of some of the children i'm teaching so here you go, the one of me with them all is my class 4 and they're the main group i teach. I also sometimes give a hand with class 5 and class 6; class 6 always seem to come running to me with questions about maths and so my mental arithmetic is being tested daily.
I also seem to be relearning most of what i studied in primary school and had hoped never to see again!
Shikamana is a community school - funded by sponsors and wellwishers, it is also in a temporary placement this means the classrooms are made out of sheets of wood and they have dirt floors. In the dust little bugs (funza) or jiggas breed, these bugs like to bite and bury themselves into the childrens feet,, once there they lay their eggs and the child gets 'infected'. The poor child who this has happened to is in agony till the bugs are removed. To prevent this the children are asked to wear closed shoes (but not all can afford this) and to bring water to school with them to water the floors. One day i went with my class 6 girls to fetch water, it has to be pumped up from a bore hole and you have to pay the owner of the bore hole a shilling a gerrycan of water. Walking back to the school they all balanced their pots of water on their heads, i tried but with no luck whatsoever!
The good news with Shikamana is that they have just bought some land and are now planning on building a permenant structure, this should mean good classrooms and better hygine for everyone.
On Monday afternoons once lessons are over, i've managed to partly take over the art club. Before i came along they were just doing drawings and copying pictures from storybooks, now i've got them doing sketches of their friends without looking at the paper (this has caused a lot of laughter at the portraits), finger-painting and drawing their personalities with shapes and squiggles. I also want to do some paper mache with them as it was such a success with the BA children.
I've been seeing the kids from BA at the weekends - when they don't have school. We've been trying to go to the beach as often as we can, as all the children love it there - however the tides not always in our favour and so we make fun at home.
One day when it was pouring with rain we decided to hold a dancing session, i asked to be taught the dances the children did in their shows (i'll explain in a sec),, and in return they asked to be shown any European dances i know. They were really impressed when i managed to learn all the steps to 4 of their dances, and trying to teach them the macarena ended with a line of kids on the floor- collapsed in hysterics. We even had a few of the boys showing of their brake dancing, never in a million years would i be able to learn!
I've been helping with odd jobs around the home too, such as unbraiding hair (they have to redo their hair for school every week), sorting beans/maize/greens and i was taught how to make chapatis!
A couple of weeks ago we had a group from a primary school nearby come to visit us, the children from the school bought us bags of rice, green grams, soap and lots of sweets (so they were welcome visitors!) and in return we cooked a huge lunch for them. It was a fun filled day with football games, skipping and an African style of rounders, the kids in purple are the ones who came to visit:
The shows that the BA children do are 30-40 minute dancing shows at hotels nearby, every Sunday they put on their best and we head off in a VERY full minivan to Leopard Beach Hotel. They also perform at other hotels but since i've been here they've only gone to Leopard as the tourists are so few at the moment. Our show is announced and the children dance to famous African gospel songs, the dj mentions that the children are orphans from a home and that their 'here to seek our support' - this means we get a few tourists donating money to our cause, or some of them buy the cd of the music the children are dancing to. We also offer for visitors to come and see the home (since i've been here we've only had one couple) and then maybe sponsor a child,, the home is funded purely by donations and has no other source of income although the pastor is currently working on other ways to gain income.
Last week we had the first visitors since i've been here, i went with the pastor to pick up the couple and then we took them to the nursary, the primary school and then to the home where the children work and live. As i've been here for quite a while i've gotten used to the way things are here, but showing the couple around the home and seeing things through their eyes made me realise once again what a different world this one is to the UK. Also that day i found out 3 of the children from BA (and one of them who has become a good friend of mine) have been told by their various headmisstreses/masters that they cant go back to school after half term because their school fees haven't been paid. It seems so unfair to me that these children cant go to school when they're really desperate to, and then in the UK we have so many children who skip school because they cant be bothered to go.
I know you're all eger to hear more about my host family so let me give you a short bit of family history.
Prisca is mamayangu here and her husband called Gikaru works in Nairobi and comes home some weekends. Prisca also has a younger sister called Charity who lives nearby with her 9 year old daughter, Stephanie, i think Stephanie was the first real friend i made here with her first sentence to me being 'I can beat you in swimming! I'm faster then you!'
Over the last month and a half/two months i've become really close with the three of them and they feel like they've always been my family. I've also made friends with all the neighbours in our area and i cant ever go into Ukunda without meeting someone i know, it feels great to have settled in so easily but also quite scarey as nothing here can remain a secret!
A couple Prisca knows quite well got married recently and so the four of us went to the after-party of the wedding, there was an overload of food and drinks and lots of loud african music which we all danced to. One of the guests was a really, really, old lady (a mzee) - and she was dancing her heart out, to see an oldie dancing here is quite a sight to see,,, and to see a mzungu (me)is also a fairly rare sight... so too see a mzee and a mzungu holding hands dancing together is probably something you would tell your grandchildren about - you can tell what a uproar we caused!
Another odd bit of news: I've managed to have my first ever shower in the rain :D ...I got home from a jog one morning only to find we had no water (and theres still no water!), luckily only a few minutes after i walked through the door,, the sky opened up and bucketed thunderstorm rain. I decided rather than having a flannel wash i wanted a real shower, so i changed into my cossie and stood outside. I managed to shampoo and condition my hair and soap all over, i did have a bit of help from a tub collecting rain but i can say my shower was purely natural rainwater.
Right i hope this post has satisfied your thirst for another few weeks, i do have some more photos to put up but loading them here takes a looooong time - so please be patient.
If you want to know any more about BA or Shikamana please leave a comment and ask, or the BA email address is:
bornagainkids@yahoo.com
and i'll try to find out Shikamana contact details if anyone is interested.
Siku njema - Good day!
