It's just another day at the office

Day two. I come in to class prepared (well, semi-prepared) to teach. I brought pictures of body parts for them to learn in English. We got off to a great start. They seemed to catch on quite well, but I'm still not sure they fully understood what they were saying. About ten minutes into my lesson, a woman shows up who is identified as the class's teacher. It was pretty awkward. She let me finish the short lesson and then I gave her class back to her. It seems that there was a system (of course, I didn't know it) that the class is following. Her name is Lillian. She's probably around 30 and doesn't know much English, yet she is teaching these 3-6 year old children English.

We start off with the letter A. The older kids (5-6 years) copy words, the younger kids (3-4 years) copy the letters Aa. That is basically how English is taught to all the Moshi kids -- copying what the teacher writes on the board. I don't think they understand what they are learning and it's really hard with no resources to teach them these things.

I already have a favorite student by day two. Sahidi. He's in the younger class (not that the classes are separated), but he's the cut-up of the class. He's dressed in camouflage shorts that are too big that keep falling off to reveal his lack of underpants, a tattered orange t-shirt and mismatched flip flops. He is the one that greats me with a hug and sort of hangs on my throughout the day. He calls me 'mzungu' which means white person and is semi-derogatory. It's literal translation is visitor, but many of the locals identify white people as mzungu. I correct Sahidi everytime, but he doesn't stop.

Sahidi brings me his first assignment (writing the letter 'a'). He had written nothing. Lillian informs me that he can't write. Isn't that what a teacher is supposed to do?! I pull Sahidi aside and helped him with the letter. I'm happy to report that now he can write the letter 'a', but that is all he can write. I find out later that this child is HIV positive. Immediately, I wonder if that is the reason that he hasn't been taught how to write. It's tragic that it seems that they have just given up on him. I am determined to keep working with him and make progress where I can...it's slow and challenging...and probably will be until I depart.

I didn't make it back to the secondary school on this day. There was so much to be done at the nursery and I wasn't sure I was supposed to head over there.

All in all, I think day two was a success...on to day three...