Wednesday, February 26, 2014

A TYPICAL DAY AT SHALOOM

Some of you have asked what a typical school day at Shaloom is like, so I'll try to give you a glimpse. Of course, no two days are ever the same, and the only thing predictable is "nothing is predictable"! When I arrive at the school around 8:45am, most of the children are already playing in the outside play area. I open the school and the classroom, and tidy up a bit. The children play with toys inside the building after washing their hands outside. We try to start class by 9am, but some of the children arrive late because they all have to walk, and some of them live far from the school.
Kasi & Justina play with the babies

Most of the children don't have toys at home so they enjoy this time very much. It doesn't usually matter which toys they play with, as long as they get some time to use their imagination. The girls generally like to play with the baby dolls, and I get a kick out of the way they try to carry the babies on their backs, the way the woman do here. Building blocks and Legos are a favorite for most of the boys. They also like to play with the hundreds of bottle caps that have been collected over the years. Some of the children count them, and others make designs on the floor.


Buseleke & Omari, and Jeremia in the background
Kasi, Tobiasi & Jeremia



















Once the toys are all cleaned up, the children and I meet in the smaller classroom to work on English. We practice greetings and I have them identify familiar objects in English. We also work on songs in English, such as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Head, shoulders, knees and toes". I brought my computer into the classroom a couple of times and played these songs for them on You Tube. Check out our You Tube video below! We've been practicing without the video each day since we recorded our little video, so I don't think it will be too long and they'll have it down pat!
Practicing "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes"


















While the children and I are working in the classroom, Rehema is preparing uji, a nutritious type of porridge. After an hour in the classroom, the children move out into the larger area for their breakfast. The children usually don't get breakfast at home before coming to class, so this period is very important. They drink their uji and have fruit, hard boiled eggs or mandazi (a type of sweet bread). We give the children uji every day but try to give a variety of the other foods. They don't ever complain about what they're given. They appreciate it all.


















Following breakfast, we have a half hour session on learning numbers and counting in Kiswahili. It was a little challenging, at first, for me to teach all of the numbers in Kiswahili because they are so different than English. But I've finally learned them well enough that I can stay ahead of the children and catch when they say a number incorrectly. Most of them can already count to one hundred but recognizing the numbers will come later. That's what we work on most of the time. I'm impressed with how far the children have come after only a month in class. They don't get much help at home because many of their caregivers are illiterate, or poorly educated, at best.         Next on our schedule is outside playtime...


















 
Following a half an hour of outside play, we move back into the classroom. We work on Kiswahili letters next, which unlike English, are taught by sound only. I find this a bit more challenging because the sounds of the vowels are different than in English. The "a" sounds like "ah", as in bah humbug. When I teach the letter "e", I have to say the long "a" sound, as in hay. The "i" sound is like our "ee" sound, as in beet. Luckily, "o" is the same as in English. The "u" sounds like our long "u", as in Luke, but isn't called "you", as we say, it's simply "ooh". The consonants are taught by their sounds, as well. On a positive note, there are no silent letters in Kiswahili words. This makes pronouncing the words a bit easier. The letters always have the same sound, and every letter is heard.





















The last period of the day is spent on being creative, coloring, learning colors and shapes, or learning a little something about Tanzania. It was during this period we made our little huts and Valentine's Day cards.


















We had a group picture taken at the end of the day, recently. A new student named Dollos, joined our class this week, so now we have 13 students. A couple of the parents had come to pick up their children so they were invited to get in the picture, too. The parents are the adults in the center of the back row. Rehema and I are also in the back row, as if you didn't already know that. James, my language helper, is the one who took the picture. He works in the office at Shaloom Center, and has been helping me with Kiswahili for the past couple of weeks. What a blessing he is!  THANKS FOR VISITING OUR CLASS!! See you again, soon.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

DANI'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!

Dani, (pronounced Donny), the son of one of our watchman, had his first birthday on February 7, 2014. His mother wanted to celebrate his special day but wasn't sure how she would be able to have a party or bake a cake. Birthdays in Tanzania aren't usually celebrated this way, but western traditions are becoming better known throughout the country. As you can tell in the picture, Dani is trying to figure out what is going on!
Dani's house

Dani's birthday cake 





The family lives on the property where the new S.M.A. church is going to be built. Their house is very small and Mama Dani doesn't have a kitchen, let alone an oven. I was visiting one day and the discussion came up, so I offered to bake the cake. I had only tried to bake a cake from scratch one other time while I've been in Tanzania, and that was a disaster! Now that I know my little oven better, and am becoming more familiar with the ingredients that are available here, I was successful in baking Dani's birthday cake.


Since their house is so small, Dani's father, Dionis, opened up the 40 foot container on the property, which will be used for storing building supplies once construction is underway. We used the back end of the container for a table and a few chairs. It was a little tricky walking around in the container because it's set on an incline, so nothing was level. But we made the best of it and Mama Dani invited a couple of the neighbor women and their children. Mama Dani's 14 year old niece, Stella, is also staying with the family for awhile since she lost her mother last summer. Dionis wasn't able to join us for the party because he was on duty back at the S.M.A. compound, but we saved him some of the birthday cake. We lit all of the candles and sang "Happy Birthday" in English! One of the woman knew the song, and everyone else tried to sing along. Once I explained, in Kiswahili, that now it was time to blow out the candles, Dani was really confused, so everyone helped him out.
Make a wish & blow out the candles!

















I had found some plastic, disposable plates and forks in one of the stores in town so I brought them along. We served up the cake and everyone seemed to enjoy it...especially Dani! First, he tried to eat with a fork, but then decided that his hands worked better and he ate the whole piece!





Dani even tolerated the birthday hat and traditional lei he was coaxed to wear. 

We had our little party about 4:30 in the afternoon so I thought we would just eat cake and drink tea or water, and that would be all, but I should have known better. No matter what time of the day, when you visit a family in Tanzania, you are served a meal. The women filled my plate for me and they gave me a "mound" of rice, covered with chicken, vegetables, sauce and avocados. The plate didn't look very appetizing to me, and I was already full from the cake, but I did my best to eat almost have of the food. I don't like to be rude or disappoint the host. I know a meal like that was a luxury for them and cost more than they could afford. After the meal, we took a few more photos but Dani wasn't in the mood for that so we walked to the S.M.A. compound to visit Dionis. By the time we arrived there, Dani was in a better mood and we took a few photos next to the concrete giraffe on our compound.



Friday, February 14, 2014

NEW STUDENTS



SHALOOM KINDERGARTEN CLASS IS BACK IN SESSION as of January 16, 2014, with a new group of students, and a better trained teacher! The number of students this year is 12, which is smaller than most years, but we're comfortable with that number because it allows for more one-on-one time between teachers and students. Yes, thank God, Rehema is still with us as an assistant teacher...and so much more!



As our first class project, the students made miniature houses/huts out of toilet paper rolls. I found a website which shows a variety of craft projects geared toward kindergarten students. I adapted one of the projects, using supplies that were available, and by just drawing a house on one small piece of construction paper, and designing a roof on another, the children and I pasted the construction paper to the toilet paper roll...and presto! We didn't have glue available so we used paste, made from a "tried and true" recipe which I remembered from my childhood years.

It was so much fun to see the students work so diligently with their drawings; trying to match their designs with that of the sample. They really take pride in their work. When the work was completed, they were happy to showcase their new houses!




















The children wanted to bring their huts home the day we made them, but I asked them to wait until Friday. On Valentine's Day, each of the children made cards for their caregivers and they were able to take their huts home, along with the cards, as gifts. I gave each of them a small bag to carry their treasures home. The children carried the bags as if they contained gold! 

















                    Making Valentine's Day cards