I'm home! I got here about 9:00 last night and was sound asleep by 9:05. I had been awake for 22 hours and traveled for 41 hours. It feels good to be home--but part of me really misses RVCV. I miss the kids, the workers, and the other volunteers. I am tired and am still noticing all of the differences between America and Tanzania--but that's a good thing! I uploaded some videos. Enjoy!
The last week with my preschoolers was spent on identifying numbers 1-10 and counting. Here is a short video. Since there aren't as many educational materials as there are in my classroom, I found myself being super creative with materials. The curriculum writing went well for PreK and K! Now the other volunteers will have some guidance as to what to cover. I really enjoyed working with Lorraine on this project! She leaves later this week to head back home to NY. Kate leaves tomorrow for the west coast, and Sarah, Emma, Maddie, and Cashen leave in a couple of weeks. Ben (sponsor coordinator) and Heather (volunteer coordinator) leave tomorrow for a month leave. (The long-term staff get a month leave every year.)
Here is a pretty sunset. At
the end of the video you’ll see Ben (the sponsorship coordinator) and Heather
(the volunteer coordinator).
Every morning I got up at 5:40 to get breakfast started. (Most mornings I woke up about 5:15 because the mammas were typically up and moving.) The girls woke up at 6:00, got ready for school, ate breakfast, did chores, and then I walked them to school.
I was totally out of the loop about current events, news, and
gossip. Internet is
difficult and there is not TV. One
of the volunteers, Kate, was really excited about the Royal Family. She kept talking about Princess Kate
going into labor. So
one of the other volunteers, Sarah, spent at least an hour logging onto the
computer to find out the gender. (When
the Internet is up and running, we get info fast. But then we’re usually checking emails
and communicating with family and friends. When it’s slow, it’s really slow,
worse than dial up.) On this particular day, it was slow. Sarah found the information and turned
her computer to keep it private. We
waited for Ben, the sponsor coordinator for RVCV--who just happens to be
British, to come in and read the announcement during breakfast. A few minutes later, the Internet
crashed and the page was lost. Sarah
shared the gender with Ben and he shared his ad libbing-announcement with the rest of us
in his best British accent.
Mamma Upendo (one of the mommas in my house) is a Massai. I asked
her if she would dance and sing in traditional clothing. Her and
another momma performed for us. They were bashful in front of the
cameras, but it was fun! In this video Lorraine is joining in the fun.
Here is a tour of Manyara (the house I lived in). Theresia
froze on my name while touring the bathroom—which is funny because she says it
least 20 times a day. (She recalled Monica’s name immediately
though!) So the next video is of Theresia saying my name over and over
and over. There is also a video of Lucia dancing. She has quite the upbeat
personality! J
The Manyara girls love to dance! There was dancing just about every day. Here is a small taste! (And in case you're wondering...YES--I did try to dance. It took much prompting from the kids, and it produced quite a few laughs!)
During one of the free play sessions I made an iMovie trailer with a group of kids. The kids, boys especially, love super heroes! They also got a kick out of watching the Planet Palooza trailer.
Stay tuned for more details about my presentation. Thanks for reading the blog!!
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