Hello again everyone!
I hope this delayed e-mail finds you all very well and happy.
The
man at the post office now knows me by name. When I walk in to check if
I have any packages, he says, "Booz-dok!" I ask if there's anything for
me and he hauls out piles of boxes! Lucky students of Amazing Grace.
They have received more gifts in the past few weeks than they have in
their entire lives. My sister sent three enormous packages full of
goodies and my Aunts have also sent two packed with school supplies. I
think the man at the "posta" is getting sick of me...already! The kids
absolutely loved the jump ropes, the beach balls, the books, pens,
colored pencils and especially the sweets! Though explaining to them
that they couldn't KICK the beach balls was a challenge! Who ever heard
of a ball that wasn't made for kicking?! When I opened the first box
from my aunts, "oh my God" was all I could say. I had never seen so many
pencils! When I opened the box from my sister, "oh my God" was also all
I could say, I had never seen so many maxi-pads! The 6th and 7th grade
girls were so happy! The teachers are worse than the kids when it comes
to handing things out. They all want one for themselves or to take home
for their kids, so it has been frustrating at times. I'm learning
though, I took the last box directly into a classroom and gave each
child in 7th grade a pencil, then let them pick two colored pencils. I
did the same in the 6th grade classroom. Otherwise they are "school
property" which means they sit in a drawer in the office and when the
teachers want them then they send a student to go get them. The students
rarely get to actually use them. Even if they only have two colors, at
least they can use them when they wish. I got thank yous and
appreciation for the pencils, but when I brought out the pens, then I
got ooooh's and aaaaah's. They love their "bics" around here, and of
course they are more expensive than a pencil so they are the best gift
of all, well I suppose it's a toss up between a bic and a sweetie! When
they realized I had sweets to hand out as they got their lunch, I was
swarmed, literally. Then they would try come to me after telling me
they hadn't gotten a sweet. Of course I can't remember which has and
which hasn't gotten one. I guess sugar has the same addicting effect on
all of us...turns a regular person into a desperate lunatic! I don't
think I'll be handing out sweeties again(: The next day they were still
begging for more, especially the teachers!
I especially enjoy the
beach balls that are globes. As we toss it around the classroom, each
student has to name the country their thumb lands on and which continent
that country is on. When I showed them where I live and where Uganda
is, I explained the route I took to get here and that I took four
different airplanes to get here. This brought more ooooh's and aaaaah's
and many questions. We spent the rest of the class period talking about
airplanes. Is it cold inside an airplane? Is their a toilet on the
airplane? How do you know which airplane to get on? Can you bring a
parachute and jump out?! When I told them it took me almost two days to
get here, they wanted to know if their was food on the airplane? How
many people are on the plane? If their is a compass on the plane? And of
course, how much did it cost to fly here? I told them, $1,000. USD,
which is what it costs to get here...not home. Then, inevitably, the
next question was, "when will you take us to America?"
Instead of
actually teaching classes the past few weeks, which has proved to be
difficult and rather ineffective since the young ones don't understand
what I'm saying, I've been working one-on-one with some of the young
kids who need help reading. Since so much of their learning is done
through call and response it is very easy to sit and move your lips but
not actually know how to read. Of course they don't have books at home,
they don't read with their parents when they're small so they love the
books I bring into the classroom. They are enthralled with the pictures,
especially of animals. The fact that a lion is a cat, a kangaroo keeps
it's baby in a "pocket" and the sharp teeth of a grizzly bear gets them
screaming! After much difficulty explaining that I wanted only one
student to read the words I was pointing to I quickly found out who
could actually read and who couldn't. In the 3rd grade classroom their
were students who couldn't identify all of their letters. I wonder how
they made it this far, they take exams regularly and the exam scores are
purely what determines if you move on to the next class level or not.
When I went into P3 to ask teacher Obed if I could take Christine to
read with me he said, "yes, take her. She is doing very bad, I'm going
to send her back to P2". There's no sugar coating it, she isn't doing
very well and she'll never pass the upcoming exam. The exams in P1 and
P2 are mostly pictures and matching. That's how she passed, this will be
her first time taking the exam when she'll have to be able to read. I
took her hand and led her to the back corner of the office, where we sit
hunched over a little desk in the dark corner. We work on her letters,
L, T and I are very confusing for her. As I point to the words in the
"Dick and Jane" book that my sister sent, she squints and tries to move
my finger out of the way. My finger is not touching the word, but she
moves up and down and around trying to see what is hidden. I ask the
teachers about the eye doctor, I plan to take her to the hospital to see
the optometrist. Who knew "Dick and Jane" were such good books?! About
90% of the kids have trouble with the words "up" and "look". Dick and
Jane look up, up, up about 30,000 times on the first page! perfect!
Christine has the word "look" mastered and every time she reads it she
looks at me and smiles. I give her a big hug and send her back to class.
My
sister also sent a book called, "Under the Ocean". The pictures of
sharks, whales, coral, sea horses, the many colorful little fish were
mind-boggling to them. "All of these animals live in the ocean?" The
concept of salt water and certain animals only living in the ocean and
others only living in freshwater was also new and amazing to them. The
fact that salt water will kill you if you drink too much of it was
unbelievable, all that water and it will kill you?! Of course, they've
never seen "Finding Nemo" or "The Little Mermaid" nor have they seen the
"National Geographic" channel or anything like it. So their mesmerized
faces soaking up these photos in disbelief was priceless. Then, we got
to the picture of the scuba diver! Another thirty minutes spent talking
about the oxygen tank, the mask, the bubbles coming up from the person
breathing, and the fins. After all that, one student asks, "that is a
person underwater?" "Yes!" I tell him, "it's a person!" This discussion
led us to oxygen tanks and people climbing Mount Everest
and how it is possible to go to these places, underwater or so high up a
mountain only when you have oxygen in a tank to breathe. Then come the
questions about the sharks and the big fish and if they will eat the
person. Every picture inspired one of two questions, "Do they eat
people?" or "Do people eat them?". Explaining that "yes, they can eat
people...but they don't USUALLY" then explaining that humans swim in the
ocean, was pretty perplexing to them, I guess I can understand the
confusion there!
I think some of them thought I was telling lies,
or "deceiving" as they call it, others were simply amazed and stunned
into silence!
After we read the book I gave them each a piece of
paper and told them to draw a picture of something important to them.
They loved that, they were silently "shading" away for a while, when I
pulled out the scotch tape that my aunt's sent. I don't know what was
more exciting, the fact that these 7th graders got to display their
artwork on the classroom wall or the gadget that dispensed this sticky
strip that can hold the pictures up on the wall. The next day I came in
the classroom and the walls were plastered with pictures. They had used
the tape to hold up multiple pages, it looked like wallpaper in some
spots! Unfortunately some of the classrooms are just wooden slats and
water leaks in so not every class can display their artwork.
As
of Wednesday the 17th of April, the water tank and gutters are fully
functional and now we are praying for rain. It has rained consistently
for the past month, without fail, it has rained for at least an hour
every afternoon.
Patience, persistence and faith are extremely valuable qualities in a human. It will come.
Thank you again for spreading your generous selves all the way to Uganda!
Love to you all,
Bonnie
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has. ---
Margaret Mead
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