Wild Life

This past month the club has hosted a soccer tournament between the villages. Last weekend we had the final game, it was the only game we attended...oh well. It was really interesting to watch, no only are the teams vying for the championship title and the pride and glory associated with such. The winners of the tournament are given a shiny trophy (what would a win be like without a giant trophy to bring home), new soccer balls and a pump, and cleats. Because our lesson was running a little behind, aka right on time because everything in Africa is anywhere from 10 minutes to two hours behind schedule, anyways as we make our way to the field the game is already underway. The field looks like a battlefield as bodies race back and forth, the motion churning the dirt into an aggravated state. As the muddle of weeds and dirt subsides the players begin to appear. One team is dressed head to toe in a proper soccer garb but the other team is wearing make shift jerseys (red shirts) and barefoot. Yes let that sink in, the team is barefoot, sprinting back and forth across a field of thistles. But they do not mind, they are there for the love of the game, and the blood and sweat are but a mere condiment in their battle for the title. We are not supposed to pick a side, but clearly everyone is cheering for the shoeless wonders...and after an hour and a half they emerge victories. The fans and team rush the field to congratulate the victors it is a glorious sight. Picture when you were young and you won your very first award, that undulated excitement pulsating from every inch of your body, as you are crowned champion! After the awards ceremony we headed home after a long days work, for another day of teaching lay ahead.

I wouldn't say teaching the high school students was a breeze but definitely better than I anticipated. Next we had primary school, oh boy. The day started a bit rocky as we forgot to bring Fern Gully, the children's entertainment. Luckily we found a replacement, The Chronicles of Narnia, this was my first time watching it, it was SO GOOD! JJ and I sat enthralled, the children were a bit confused considering it was in English with no subtitles, but that didn't matter, we liked it. However the children were entertained by the images, who doesn't like talking animals. Amazingly they all sat through the entire movie...it was great. Another successful day, awesome. The next day would be a bit trickier as we had grades 6-8 and it was our first time teaching the HIV/AIDS course to younger children.

As the children shuffled into the Library we broke them up by classes and selected a tutor for each of us. I was assigned grade 7, I am not going to lie, this was my first solo mission and I was nervous luckily awkward doesn't translate to seventh graders. To them I appeared calm and collected. We started with a game entitled "Cross the Line" it is an ice breaker to gauge how much the children know about HIV/AIDS and to get them comfortable with the program. We draw a line on the floor and the students stand to one side, if they answer yes to the question they step across if the answer is no, they stay...super simple.  But able to answer difficult questions in front of judgmental classmates is always difficult but they were doing SO WELL! Everyone was answering honestly, this gave me more courage and assurance for the rest of the class. After we did a fact and question period and then gathered all the classes and jumped into the animation. After the animation we broke up into grades again. This time we had a quiz to test their knowledge, this was difficult because the quiz was in English and they didn't speak English. A pang of panic began to strike, then I remembered the bag of chocolate in my bag. I quickly scooped up the tests and told the kids we were going to do something else.

"Who likes chocolate?"
Grins filled the room.
"Awesome, I am going to read the questions one at a time, raise your hand if you know the answer, if its right you get chocolate."

Chocolate reads well in any culture, they were hooked. After we finished the questions I still had extra chocolate so I passed some to the shy kids. After the candy was gone I told them they were free but anyone that had questions could ask me after. One boy stayed seated, he meekly raised his had to ask me a couple of questions. After we had finished talking he asked if he could read my Stanford booklet. I gladly gave it to him and told him to return it to the library after he was done. As cheesy as it sounds, it was such an amazing feeling knowing that I had sparked an interest for him and that I could supply him with the material and knowledge to better educate himself.
Another.Great.Day.