Routine?

I am a creature of habit and routine. I crave predictability. That desire will go unquenched in this journey. Every day brings new surprises and challenges. A few days ago I was told that I would not be needed at the primary school, because the children are taking exams. The volunteer coordinator said she would figure something out for me. I told her that I would be willing to help out in the nursery that I had heard about. She told me that I could do that for a day to check it out.

“Check it out” meant teach it, which I did not understand. I showed up on Tuesday morning and they said “OK, teach something!” Luckily I had learned from previous experiences here and I brought some supplies (magnetic letters, dry erase board etc.)

The nursery is much like the other classrooms in the village. It is an empty room with a chalk board on one wall. The difference in the nursery is that a volunteer has painted letters and numbers on the wall. It actually looks quite nice.

The children in the nursery are approximately 2-5 years old. The teacher is a mother from the village that does not get paid to teach. Her name is Rosy. She is very sweet and gentle. She speaks some english and is helpful at times with translating.

Luckily, my partner in crime, Augustine, is always with me. He has been my translator, comedy relief and guide to safety since I’ve been here! He has truly been a life saver, quite literally! He also leads the morning calendar routine in the nursery.

The first day I taught Old McDonald and we learned the letter “s”. I also taught them how to say “Good morning, how are you?”  We also took some time using the parachute. It was fun, but it quickly turned into mayhem, which I allowed since they do so much sitting. 

On day 2 we took some tooth brushes with us. We had taken them the day before, but the water pump had been broken so we couldn't use them. This day we took a large container of water with us. 

We continued working on Old McDonald. They are only able to sing the "EIEIO" part, and sometimes they try to make the animal noises with me. One of the nursery kids is the child of the program director, so he lives in the volunteer house. Every day he sees me now he comes up and quietly sings "EIEIO!" Its adorable:)

I taught them the letter M and we did teeth brushing. I really thought that this was going to be a challenge for me, since the thought of looking in anyone's mouth makes me nauseous. But it was actually quite enjoyable. I spent time with each child and I learned the word "Lavula" which means "spit". I left that day knowing that I wanted to come back. The children are noisy and crazy, but they are enjoyable!

On Wednesday night I had to boil all of the toothbrushes because we had not labeled them with each child's name and we had to use them on Thursday. So, I spent my evening heating water and boiling toothbrushes. You might call THAT a first!

On Thursday we returned to the nursery and all of the kids were standing out on the dirt road. The door was locked and no one was there. We unlocked the door and let all of the children in.

Keep in mind that these little babies walk to school by themselves and go home by themselves. Some of them even wander out during the day. I explained the process for dismissing children in the US to Augustine and his response was "WOW!"

We got the children settled and realized that Rosy was not coming today. I sat them in a circle and taught them Duck, Duck, Goose. They picked up on it quite quickly, but like a lot of things it didn't take long for it to spin out of control. So we switched gears and I taught them "If You're Happy and You Know It". They LOVED that! Then I taught them the letter R.

Then I pulled out my iPad. I showed it to the students and told them that I was going to read them a story, but if they stood up I would have to put it away. I read them Little Red Riding Hood. In the book the pictures move and its very bright. Augustine commented that he had never seen all of the children sitting at once! He is always chasing one of them down. But they were transfixed on the story the whole time.

Finally I took the children one at a time to brush their teeth. Since there was only two of us I was on my own with the tooth brushing.

I am quite amazed at how clean their teeth are, mostly. Augustine tells me that a lot of them chew on sugar cane, which is good for their teeth. Their parents clean their teeth every morning, but with soap. Most of the kids really enjoy the tooth brush. 

And some do not!

To be clear, this little girl let me brush her teeth, but she cried the entire time.

At my weekly briefing today I told the volunteer coordinator that I wouldn't mind staying in the nursery for the rest of my time here. There is a lot of good that can be done there. I told her that there is potential if there is some consistency in the classroom. She mentioned that she has been thinking about creating a volunteer position that just works in the nursery and I told her I thought that was a good idea.

It is very hard to explain how I feel about being here. I love the work that I am doing. A lot of the setting makes me very uncomfortable and I certainly miss the comforts of home. I miss eating meat! 

But I know that what we are doing here makes a difference. Since my arrival I have witnessed substantial differences in how misbehavior is dealt with in our library times. I have been able to show a level of expectations that just hasn't existed. 

The students respond well to it and we having record numbers of kids at our library times. The past week we have seen between 80 and 100 kids at each session. When I first arrived there were between 20 and 30. I don't take full credit for that, but I feel like I am a part of something that is using me and my skills, which is nice.

On Monday, all but one of my teammates are going home. This makes me a bit nervous for my remaining two weeks. There is a lot of work for 6 of us to do. I can't imagine doing it with 2! But I hear that its been done with one person before.

It sounds like the volunteer coordinator is going to keep me at the nursery for now, which pleases me. I really enjoy that work in the morning. 

The pas 2 weeks have flown by. I am trying to live in each moment, because I know that this experience only happens once in a lifetime if you're lucky!