Day 12

Yesterday we didn't go to the school, CCS took us on a day trip to the Marengu Waterfalls and Chaanga Village. The area was absolutely spectacular and we learned a lot about the Chaanga tribe and their rivalry with the Maasai tribe.

Today was very rainy, so a lot of the students didn't come to school...there were only 25 students in my classroom. The students that were there were very energetic, but didn't have much of an outlet because we couldn't go outside and half the classroom was wet. The students had to sit 2 to a desk for most of the day because we could only use 3 rows, the other two were in the area where the roof leaks really bad. The school doesn't even have a bucket or anything to try and keep water off of the desks, so they just have to wait for the rain to stop so they can dry it up with old sweaters. The roof doesn't leak in a ton of places, but where it does leak there are big holes that allow a lot of water into the classroom.

When it rains like this the teachers don't let the students use the restrooms because they aren't attached to the main building and the students would have to go through the rain to get there. Emily's teacher let the little kids just go to bathroom on the ground next to the school building, but my teacher refuses to let the kids go to the bathroom. Twice this week a student has needed to go to the bathroom so bad that they have wet themselves in the middle of class. For one it's really embarrassing for the kids to have an accident, but they also don't have any other clothes and the school certainly doesn't, so they have to sit in it for the rest of the day. They also have to listen to their peers and teacher make fun of them for wetting their pants, when they really had no other option. The teacher gets really mad when a kid wets themselves, but she doesn't think about how she's more the problem than the kid was because she won't let them go to the restroom!

I ended up teaching all day today instead of the teacher doing a subject. I brought a book with me from CCS, Juble's Wish, and the kids really enjoyed it. I would read a page and then let them look closer at the picture and tell me what colors they saw and if they could tell what was going on on that page. They giggled at the majority of the pictures because the bullfrog looked funny, but they didn't really understand much about the story. A lot of the kids tend to just zone out in class, so I just call on the students who are paying attention and let them draw or tell me the colors. Most of the kids were paying attention, but they definitely lose focus really easily so I would use different voices to get them back.

Once I was done with the book I thought I was done teaching because the teacher told me she was going to give them homework. But then she just handed me the chalk and said teach them shapes. So I went through all the shapes that they have on their wall and then showed them how to count the points and lines on that shape. This was probably really advanced for them, but I was not at all prepared for that. Then after I had gobe through all the shapes the teacher started writing their homework, subtracting! I still can't figure out why she would want to teach them about shapes and then have them do homework like 19-4! For a change the kids didn't actually do their homework in class, the teacher made them write it in their books and then put them in their backpacks.

After getting picked up from the school and having lunch we had our final feedback session. All of the volunteers that are leaving this weekend sat down with the staff and talked about our experience here and what could have been better. Then we went into town for dinner with everyone before we leave. The girls that aren't leaving CCS this weekend are leaving for Zanzibar in the morning, so we won't see them again. I can't believe our time in Tanzania is almost over...then we head to London!