Self Portrait Project: Week 1

[I wrote this on Thursday the 12^th, but the Tanzanian Internet decided not to cooperate until now! So here is a little recap of my experience in the school last week.]

Just finished up another day of school and I am exhausted. And very dirty. Cleaning up little pieces of tissue paper from dirt classroom floors means that what I thought was a strange tan line is actually a fine layer of red dirt! Good thing bucket showers really get you clean… oh wait. Despite the dirt and grime, I have loved the first few days of school! The 20 person medical team that arrived last Friday brought a young teacher along, so it has been incredibly helpful to work with her and learn from her in the classroom! While the medical team goes out into the community in the mornings and has class in the afternoons, we have been jumping into the classrooms whenever we can. Today was the 3^rd full day of class, and the schedule is still being worked out.

I was walking through the schoolyard yesterday afternoon and heard, “Laceeee, Laceeee” coming from a doorway. 7 year old Jesicah waved me over to class 2, and dragged me to the front of the room and said, “TEACH!”  40 little faces looked up at me and echoed Jesicah. I had no books, no curriculum or syllabus, and no clue what subject the kids were supposed to be learning. We finally decided on a little math lesson, since all I had was a chalkboard and chalk. One of the girls opened up her notebook and showed me multiplication problems they had done earlier, so I judged the difficulty level from there and improvised! Today I had a 40-minute period to teach creative arts to class 4, and then another period in the afternoon for classes 5 and 6. I locked myself in the art room this morning and gathered supplies for the day- lots of cut up tissue paper, newspaper, crayons.  About half of the kids in classes 4, 5, and 6 understood or spoke a little English, so Richard, one of the teachers, translated for me at the beginning. The kids came up with some really interesting portraits- several of them drew flowers or houses, and had a hard time understanding that they were supposed to draw themselves. Several commented that they didn’t know what they looked like. I have noticed that individuality isn’t really valued here. The kids do not like to stand out, be different, or think that they are deserving or worthy of extra praise or attention. They often become very shy when you praise them, and it has taken some of them weeks to warm up to us.

Having my camera in the classroom would've only added to the chaos, but here are some before and after pictures!

Hope you had a happy weekend!