The Zebra Village

It’s been one week at the project and already I’m exhausted. Our mornings are generally quiet with the children at school so Sara and I spend that time making worksheets for them to do when they return after lunch. Though, we never seem to create enough work because all of the kids are really eager to learn. Just yesterday, John, one of the older kids, wanted me to teach him fractions even though his class isn’t doing them yet. I couldn’t teach fast enough for him! As soon as we touched on one concept, he’d want to move right on to the next. I think he’s one of the few who knows how fortunate he is to be getting an education. There are some older girls at the project who, if they weren’t staying and going to school, would be married off by their guardians. Some of the children spend all afternoon with us in the classroom doing flashcards or helping each other with homework. I wish the students at home would be so diligent!
There are some frustrations. We don’t have the resources to teach the children everything they need to know and with 60 kids in a classroom at school, I highly doubt they’re going to get it there. This is why Sara and I want to make sure we work with each kid individually on their homework. We figure they never get that and they love it. Often, we have to send a kid outside because we’ve been working with them for so long and the other kids are sitting around waiting. Very rarely they will say they are tired and want to go play.

Right when we arrived to the project the children hung around us. The first thing they asked was if we knew Obama or Michelle Obama. I think they were disappointed when we told them we had only seen them on tv. Sara and I are a bit of a novelty to them still so they are constantly clinging to us. Two kiddos in particular who do this are Joshua and Rashid. They are six and seven years old and follow us everywhere! I’ve decided that pulling my camera out is a nuisance because all of the children want to be in pictures, or take pictures, or see pictures…it drives me crazy. Also, I never see my watch.

Our colleagues are great. Three of them are German volunteers here for a year long program and two are locals whom stay with the children all the time. Many of our evenings are spent talking over chai so it’s nice. This weekend, Sara and I are back in Nairobi running errands and doing laundry (we don’t want to use more of the projects water than we have to). We’re glad to be back to a toilet and shower, if only for two nights. : ) Now we’re off to get some supplies!