reading, chicken, children

This week we put together and started a reading program with children at the center and also the standard one kids at Kisongo. What we did was get together a bunch of books and seperate them into different reading levels. We have been getting different kids at the center to read with us books and then tracking which levels they are at. Once we get through seeing someone and know which level they fit into and where they should be we can spend more time with the ones that are struggling. I also made flashcards with one set bein simple words to start the reading process before books for some kids along with a set of sounds that appear a lot in words. It is so interesting because you may have two kids in the same class and one is a good reader and always one to pick up a book and then you have the other who has no reading ability at all. Its sad because the teachers never spend one-on-one time with them and children easily fall through the cracks here. For the pre-school aged kids at the center I made different sets of flascards for numbers, letters, shapes, etc. and two days a week during their morning class we are going to work with them one-on-one in about 8 different categories, hopefully finding the areas each needs more help.

The rest of the week consisted of teaching a few standard level 5 and 6 classes working on reading comprehension and descriptions as well as teaching the PE classes. Of course there was plenty of playtime (by the way I'm not so bad at soccer while in a skirt and thick flip-flops haha) and coloring. We also had a lot of good conversations this week with one of the ladies that works for LW who is from Canada. She has been here for over a year now and its nice to talk to Westerner who is also dealing with a lot of the difficulties we find when working with people in a non-Western mind set. This is a society that is 50 years behind the Western world so you can never assume people know things or that things are done a certain way.

Of course interesting things always happen here in Tanz so I do have a few stories to share with you this week...

-I have given up trying to have a good intake of meat here. This week for dinner we were served chicken which I got excited about until I found how hard it was to eat. The skin was very hard to get off and then the meat itself was so tough and while trying to bite the chicken leg it flung out of my mouth/hands across the table. I gave up. Then this weekend we went out for our once a week meal outside the house and I ordered a chicken burger at this cafe. Well the piece of meat that came on the bun was dark brown which was my first indicator that something was wrong. I bit into it and found it was not chicken but not sure what it was. The waitress told me it was a mix of chicken and burger. Pretty sure there were some veggies in there too so it was a flashback to my meal a few weeks ago. Oh yea, also at this cafe I ordered the blended fruit juice and the most distinctive taste I got was carrot- yea not a fruit!

- We were riding on a dalla into town from Kisongo Friday afternoon and there were a lot of young (5 or 6 years old maybe) school children on it. A lot of schools dont have proper school buses so children just take the public transportation even at that age by themselves. The conductor was very kind to walk each of the kids across the street when it came to their stop. It was soon found that one child was in the back of the bus and missed calling out her stop and got confused. The driver and conductor moved her upfront said they'd stop and get her some food in town and then drop her off on their way back to Kisongo later. Can you imagine? Back home parents would flip out if their child didnt come home on time but here there is no worries and they know they will make it home eventually. I know Africa must be where people got the saying 'it takes a village to raise a child' because everyone looks out for the kids and there is no harm brought to them.

- One day when we were walking home a group of little kids said hi to us which they normally do only this time it became more. The run up and two of them grabbed our hands. They walked with us and when we went to make the turn onto our short road we tried to let go and say good-bye. Well they were not having it! They continued to walk with us and follows us to our house. We went next door to the house where the older sons of the family we live with live since they were outside. Once we got inside the gate the children stayed outside and again wouldnt leave. One of the guys had to go out and chase them away! haha. I have a feeling they will follow us home every time they see us now.

- Every culture has their own wedding traditions. I have come to love one of the Tanzanian ones. When people get married they put ribbon from the hood of the car up to the roof and then bows around it as well. This car then drives down the road with the newlywed couple. In front of this car though is the best part. There is a pick-up truck with a band all dressed in matching outfits playing music. Normally drums, trumpets, trombones, etc. are the intrustments in use. I always love hearing them come down the road!