Watoto Rau Update

Hey all! Here’s an update on Watoto Rau!

Truthfully, it has been challenging.  There are highs and lows everyday. 

In the morning we get dropped off  just down the dirt road from our placement.  Our kids run to us yelling “Mwalimu!” (which means teacher in Swahili). We here that title about 100 times a day.  Maybe it only seems so excessive because it’s one of the few Swahili words I have a grasp on.  They grab our hands and we walk to the school house. 

I’m working on learning the kids names. It’s tough because each day there is a new and different mix of kids.  There are those that come everyday and then there are some I am still meeting who have just started to come. Out of the 32 kids that are enrolled we have only had 17 on our largest day.

When I’m at Watoto Rau I feel like a giant tissue.  I have been licked, I have had snot rubbed on me, I’ve been handed freshly sucked on crayons and pencils.  The other day Kileo was leaving so he brought the kids suckers.  After failing at trying to open the suckers using their mouths they cry “Malimu, Malimu (teacher, teacher), and I got the joy of unwrapping 12 wet, sticky candy treats for all the kids.  Not my favorite part of the job, but I guess I’m making memories!   

There is a lot of saliva at Watoto Rau.  The kids put everything in their mouths.  Crayons, paper, pencils, stickers, pieces of plastic they find outside in the dirt.  The other day Rosie (a 3 year old trouble maker with a crying record of 8 times in one day) lost her gum in the dirt.  As sweet of a gesture as it was, I was still pretty grossed out as I watched another kid string a piece of his gum way out of his mouth, rip it off, roll it up into a ball, and pass it to Rosie.  Ew.   

There are two young brothers at the nursery school named Julius and Danny.  Danny is 5 and Julius is 3.  Living told me their mom left them when Julius was 8 months old and they’ve never found her.  Because they only have a dad and he has to work to support them, they are alone most of the day. Sometimes they go to neighbors houses, but mostly they have to fend for themselves.  Julius has taken a liking to me.  He spends his time making kissy faces at me instead of learning the alphabet.  It’s hard to redirect such flattery!

Normally I keep my hair up or back in a hair tie when I’m at placement, but the other day I showered in the morning before Watoto Rau and even blow dried my hair and left it down.  The kids LOVED it.  I would bend over and my hair would encase their faces.  They would pretend it was their own hair, placing it beside their heads.  Every now and then I would see one of my long blond hairs tangled in along side the hair of one of my students.  It glistened in the sunlight making the already immense contrast between the two varieties of hair even greater. It was strange to see this imposter, so completely out of place in comparison to the 17 shaved heads running around.  None of my students have much hair.  Parents keep it shaved for hygiene reasons; mainly ring worm and lice.

A few days ago at placement I had a really fulfilling teaching experience!  We had just arrived and it wasn’t time for class yet so we were out in the school yard.  I started drawing (just doodling) in the dirt.  I made a sun using a circle and triangles.  It wasn’t intended to be a teaching moment, but nonetheless, it grabbed the attention of a few of the 3 and 4 year olds and soon they were pointing at the shapes and repeating their names in English!  I drew an oval, a rectangle, and a square along side the triangle and circle.  I would point to a shape and have them say the name, or say the name of a shape and have them point to it!  It was an interesting experience, just using dirt and a stick to host an impromptu English lessons for 3 and 4 year olds!

Well, more soon! Thanks for reading!