I made the decision to not ask to recombine the classes. I thought about it all weekend and decided that by me going to the headmistress and asking her if I could take over not one, but two classes would seem to them as if I was going in to take over the school. As much as it breaks my heart, I know it will be the best to keep peace at school. I will still continue having them illustrate their books so they will at least have that to take home!
On Friday at P.E. I ended up playing a bunch of games with the girls. They have taught me all of their games and songs in Ewe and I can now sing right along with them! They are so much fun to play with and their energy is endless! I have decided that if nothing else comes from my presence at Happy Kids, I will be completely content with the fact that we have exchanged games and songs. The kids can sing all of the songs that I taught them and probably one of my favorite moments last week was when one of the oldest boys, Wisdom led the group in singing Tarzan!
I have finally figured out lunchtime at school. I never saw half of the nursery class eating at lunch and I couldn’t figure out why. Some of the students actually bring their rice from home, so before the chaos of lunch break starts; the teacher feeds those who brought their lunch so it cuts down on the number of kids running to the food bucket when it’s their turn to eat. However, I have found that those kids who do eat first are the ones that are then stealing the other children’s food. Today after the little ones were done eating and it was the older kids turn, I started singing songs and all the little ones flocked towards me and joined it. It kept them entertained and out of trouble while the older ones were finishing up.
Kids never cease to amaze me. They are always taking care of each other and playing well together (for the most part.) As I was just watching the kids play today I noticed that some of the girls were in the half finished new classroom area of bricks and I walked over and discovered they were playing house. They even use one of the babies, Joshua as the baby of the family! Then, I saw some of the older girls and the boys running around and chasing each other, and they were playing cops and robbers. I love watching the kids play together and it reminds me so much of watching the kids at home play on playground. While I was watching them I couldn’t help but think how no matter where in the world you are, whether in a rural village in Africa or a rural village in Upstate New York, kids will always be kids, using their imaginations to create and take them anywhere, and be anybody they want to be!
I love going to school full time, the kids wear me out and I love being so much a part of their day!
Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend! We have decided to keep traveling close to home. We went back to the turtle beach this weekend – no turtle though this time, but it was so refreshing and wonderful to see my first African sunset over the ocean! I still think of you all often and hope you are enjoying fall!
Lots of love from Africa,
Steph
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