The Beginning

Tan sand, hot sun, trashed filled ground, and lions are what come to my mind when I thought of Africa. But the moment my eyes opened, looking down on beautiful Mount Kilimanjaro and a land of jungle green really surprised me and gave me an entire new mindset. I didn’t know there could be that much excitement built up in 10 kids. Customs was busy and bags felt heavier by the second, but the excitement and motivation stayed the same. All bags made it just fine and our execution was as smooth as it could have been. When packed into a crowded car you don’t realize how tired you really are until you are asleep on your neighbor’s shoulder. To this minute I am absolutely amazed on how beautiful it is here and how they drive on the other side of the road, I don’t think I am going to get used to that! Our first night was pretty calm, meeting the house staff Jodi, Dada Datto (our kitchen lady), and Loy who is our night guard. I didn’t know what a cold shower was until I was standing there with a goal to just finish washing my hair and not let the water touch my body. The first full day was awesome, Rosta Jon was our tour guide. He was so cool, funny, down to earth, and full of energy. He gave us a tour of most of Arusha and a couple of museums that contained artwork and pictures that will forever remain in my memory. Sunday was a great day, sleeping in and really sinking in here. We had a great yoga session, which I lasted about 45 minutes, we went through and organized all our donations bags.

Cradle of Love is a place for true love. It is a real orphanage for babies here in Tanzania. We got to love, snuggle, and smother them with kisses, but there is always that moment you have to set the one who has been on your hip for the past 2 hours down and walk away. The worst part was… I didn’t even know his name.

Monday was our first day at the school. Short lil blue pants, long lil blue skirts, and a million dark lil eyes glued on you every second. In the mornings the school lines up singing and dancing to the beat of the drums during assembly and finishes with a touching prayer. Working in Class 2 (second grade) jogged my memory and taught me how to carry and borrow numbers again. My fingers are soar from sharpening so many pencils with a knife. Grading books and paper work had never been so fun, teacher mal is definitely a new name for me. The days here at the school are long with hours that pass by very quickly, especially when getting into deep conversation with my Class 2 teacher Ms. Flora. For Tuesday I was assigned to teach a math lesson, if you know me well you can imagine my facial expression, thank God it was only to teach them about the fraction ¼. Monday night I brainstormed what to say, ideas and most importantly, fun games and activities to help them learn. So when math time came around LMH and I taught a mean ¼ lesson with play dough and colored chalk. The kids went nuts! Playing teacher especially with LMH, wasn’t just a blast but it taught me a lot about myself and what I am capable of doing in the class room when I am not focused on my own work.

I get to sit in Ms. Flora’s desk, answer questions, and just learn the way the school works. During tea break and lunch break time really flies because you just don’t get the chance to look at your watch, you constantly have kids holding your hand and climbing you like you are a tree. Each moment I am in the classroom a feel more comfortable with the kids, interacting with adults and other staff, and most importantly myself. I have fallen into their daily routine and eager to learn new names everyday and become closer with my teacher.