Bethany's Blog 2

Bethany 2/04/10
Today was a great day! Aaron, Tyler, Hannah and I were able to help at a private primary school called Shammah, which is very close to where we live. When we first arrived we met Philemon, who is one of the teachers there. He invited us to join him and some of the other teachers for a meeting. We were very welcome there and the meeting was actually very interesting.

When the meeting finished, it was time for PE. The kids were all very excited to see us “wazungu” and immediately ran to grab our hands. We started out with running three times around the church, which is placed right in the middle of the school grounds. Boy, was I tired after that! I think I’m too accustomed to the altitude here now to use that as an excuse any more. I’m just plain out of shape. :)

After that we did some stretches and played tug of war and a couple other games. The teams were divided by their classes, and I was on the class three team. As our team sat out to wait our turn, I got to talk to some of my teammates. They asked me where I was from, and I told them I was from America. After a bunch of “oohs” and “aahs”, one of the girls asked me if I knew a girl named Diane. I told her no. She said, “You don’t? She’s from Canada.” She was surprised that we were from the same continent and we didn’t even know each other. Then she started to list off all of the wazungus she had ever met, asking me if I knew any of them. I told her I didn’t, and she said, “Well you don’t know very many people then!” I told her that I do know a lot of people, but there’s a lot of people in America and I can’t know them all. “No, you don’t know very many people,” she said. Call me a sheltered homeschooler I guess. ;)

When the games were finished, we took a quick chai break. Then we all stood in rows and sang a few songs. At the end of the last song, all the kids said at once, “Our school motto is ‘rise and shine for the Lord!’” Then they all ran out the gate and went home. I would be antsy to go home too if I had to be at school until four o’clock!

After the kids had left, the teachers invited us to have Fanta and chai with them in their staff room. Julius, one of the teachers, was fascinated with my camera and was taking a bunch of pictures with it. He asked me if I could print some of the pictures off for them so that they could keep them in the office and always remember us. Philemon wants us to paint pictures and our names on the wall in one of the classrooms so the kids can remember us too. All the teachers were so grateful that we were there, and all we did was play with the kids for a few hours! I’m glad that such a little thing we could do was such a blessing to them. I’m really excited to go back again!