_I wake up late, and have half an hour to get ready, and although I skip breakfast I still stretch my time to one hour. I walk with Mom and Dad, sometimes Barbra, through the lush greenery and calm dirt road... This takes about twenty minutes extra than the main walk on the main road, but it's much more enjoyable than getting a mouthful of dirt every ten seconds as a car, or worse, a matatou, which makes you swallow the dust... Uh! Anyways, the walk through the hills and past all the villagers mud huts is much better, because only the occasional motorcycle (nick-named bodda-bodda) passes by.
The school has three buildings. The main building, the small kitchen, and the girls dorm. Two temporary buildings are . . .
The school has three buildings. The main building, the small kitchen, and the girls dorm. Two temporary buildings are . . .
_used for wood working and other construction.
The nursery teachers were waiting drawing birds and mice on paper, while Mom had a quick chat with Somali, their teacher.
I walk in just as Mom starts teaching, and sit at the back of the class. Somali likes to watch too - it's new for her as well as the students. Mom tells them about her iceberg theory, but changes the iceberg metaphor to an ant hill - only a tiny bit of 'behaviour' shows at the top, but the bottom is way bigger. I can see that they hardly get it. Heck, they didn't even know what a metaphor is! As Mom saw that they were totally confused, she stepped down to teaching them about Maslow and his discoveries.
I'm not sure how much they got out of it, but Somali is really interested and wants Mom to teach again after break, so Mom agrees. At break we have mandazees, plain and greasy fried dough balls with sugar for dipping. Hot water is served and we share the tea leaves.
The nursery teachers were waiting drawing birds and mice on paper, while Mom had a quick chat with Somali, their teacher.
I walk in just as Mom starts teaching, and sit at the back of the class. Somali likes to watch too - it's new for her as well as the students. Mom tells them about her iceberg theory, but changes the iceberg metaphor to an ant hill - only a tiny bit of 'behaviour' shows at the top, but the bottom is way bigger. I can see that they hardly get it. Heck, they didn't even know what a metaphor is! As Mom saw that they were totally confused, she stepped down to teaching them about Maslow and his discoveries.
I'm not sure how much they got out of it, but Somali is really interested and wants Mom to teach again after break, so Mom agrees. At break we have mandazees, plain and greasy fried dough balls with sugar for dipping. Hot water is served and we share the tea leaves.
This is me with Teacher Somali, she teaches the Early Childhood Education Class
 Teacher Somali with her students |  Teachers serving themselves lunch |
_Afterward Mom teaches the teachers-in-training about the ant hill, for th third time this week. She has them get up and make their own ant hill, an example for a student they might have. One women, Annette, wrote her ant hill totally centered around food;
Behaviour - crying
Feeling - hungry
Thoughts - food
Expectations - going home and eating
Yearnings - food
Soul - (in this nobody wrote anything. Maybe it was just too hard, or they didn't get what they were supposed to write - they're used to call-and-repeat)
Although Mom had explained multiple times that yearnings always come down to love, and everyone wants to be loved, they still didn't get it. More people went up, but nobody really got the meaning. Hopefully they got SOMETHING out of it, and their students benefit.
Afterward is lunch, which consists cooked beans, some kind of green stuff and rice... What we had been expcting to eat all the time. Actually, the guest-house meals were absolutly fine, sometimes pasta and sauce or stew. As a treat, we would have chips (french fries).
During Mom's teaching I had watched Birch and Dad dig a trench, and now saw them leave. They were doing a lot on the oven, and I was excited to eat some baked bread and goods!
Behaviour - crying
Feeling - hungry
Thoughts - food
Expectations - going home and eating
Yearnings - food
Soul - (in this nobody wrote anything. Maybe it was just too hard, or they didn't get what they were supposed to write - they're used to call-and-repeat)
Although Mom had explained multiple times that yearnings always come down to love, and everyone wants to be loved, they still didn't get it. More people went up, but nobody really got the meaning. Hopefully they got SOMETHING out of it, and their students benefit.
Afterward is lunch, which consists cooked beans, some kind of green stuff and rice... What we had been expcting to eat all the time. Actually, the guest-house meals were absolutly fine, sometimes pasta and sauce or stew. As a treat, we would have chips (french fries).
During Mom's teaching I had watched Birch and Dad dig a trench, and now saw them leave. They were doing a lot on the oven, and I was excited to eat some baked bread and goods!
 Dad with Fred, the school labourer |  Birch standing on the bridge he built to cross the trench |
_Mom goes off to search for the new paints and paint brushes, while I quickly get changed into some spare clothes that can get splattered with oil paints and yet there'll be no regret. Mom's changed too, and so we can start painting.
A few days ago we'd figured out all too soon that the paint was translucent, and the dark pencil lines showed through. So we'd had to buy some white paint, and do the the entire map and graph white. Now the country's lines only show through a little bit, just enough to fill them in.
Our plan was to make each country a different colour, even though our basic paints were just, yellow, red, green, blue, black and white. And there being 56 countries in Africa, we had to use an early birthday present to Mom (from Birch), which were a little tin of pigments. Once we had started painting Anna and Sabia came in and began helping. We had to call Tom in to paint the high parts a few times. We kept painting until school was finished.
It was fun naming off countries when they had no names. We joked about having to change the map every year, painting and re-painting country borders because they were always changing. The most recent one was South Sudan, cut off from Sudan.
At the end of the day Mom and I took a bodda-bodda home. We spent the rest of the day reading and washing our feet - even though I wore socks and running shoes, my feet were grimy all the time
A few days ago we'd figured out all too soon that the paint was translucent, and the dark pencil lines showed through. So we'd had to buy some white paint, and do the the entire map and graph white. Now the country's lines only show through a little bit, just enough to fill them in.
Our plan was to make each country a different colour, even though our basic paints were just, yellow, red, green, blue, black and white. And there being 56 countries in Africa, we had to use an early birthday present to Mom (from Birch), which were a little tin of pigments. Once we had started painting Anna and Sabia came in and began helping. We had to call Tom in to paint the high parts a few times. We kept painting until school was finished.
It was fun naming off countries when they had no names. We joked about having to change the map every year, painting and re-painting country borders because they were always changing. The most recent one was South Sudan, cut off from Sudan.
At the end of the day Mom and I took a bodda-bodda home. We spent the rest of the day reading and washing our feet - even though I wore socks and running shoes, my feet were grimy all the time
 Mom and I just starting the map of Africa |  Mom, Anna and I almost done with the painting |
Mom and I proudly standing beside the finished map
_We eat dinner by candle light, when it's late. Sometimes we watch a movie after, with solar power charging Mom's or Barbra's computer. I like to go out and look at the stars. Since there's no polution and we're up in the mountains, the night sky is beautifully clear. I like the way the stars sparkle. The night sky has never been so big.
I like to think of Bududa as brown and green, brown and green. Everywhere you look, it's brown and green. The roads, the houses, the dirt are all brown. And then the millions and millions of specis of trees are all green. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed.
Bye,
Allie
I like to think of Bududa as brown and green, brown and green. Everywhere you look, it's brown and green. The roads, the houses, the dirt are all brown. And then the millions and millions of specis of trees are all green. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed.
Bye,
Allie
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