Story Hour with the Students (Post #14)

After hiking, I was sore, but kept working.  In the morning, I spent some time seeing what the Sunday computer class for teachers is like on that side of the Zoom. Usually I meet them from my home for an English discussion, but it was so much fun to see them working in person and to see how far they have come in their computer skills.  

Then it was Olive's turn to give me a gift.  The team had this dress made out of traditional African material and gave it to me as a gift. I was beyond thrilled!

 One of the things I wish were different about my trip is that the students were on holiday when I was there, so I did not see very much classroom time.  However, I did take that afternoon to give a story hour at the school.  Even during vacation, tons of students came to see me and participate. As I planned some stories to read, they lined up and filed into the room. I was stunned at how many children came to read with me that day.

  

 

I read two stories out loud to them, and more and more children kept filing in to see what was going on. By the time the two stories were done, there must have been over 200 children in the room with me. Then came my favorite part.  I taught them how to sing the song "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley. It is a song I remember my daughter singing when she was so small, so it is very special. Also, I desperately want to take each of these little people into my arms and tell them, this world is full of worries, but it will all be ok. It was a miracle I got all the way through without sobbing.

The children then sang a song in Kinyarwanda for me and did a little more dancing, but after an hour in that stuffy room, it was time to run!  We filed back outside and their little bodies, as all little bodies do, let loose in the sunshine.  The teachers wanted to organize a game, so they picked two teams of 10 students each and set up a relay game they play.  Basically they keep running in circles until one child tags the other, so it can go on for quite a while!  The rest of the children sat on the sidelines with me, so obviously I taught them some cheers.  We were laughing so hard, and it made my heart almost burst out of my chest to be surrounded but these little vessels of joy.  I felt so overcome with love in that group. This is how our cheer ended up.

By this point, I was fading, so we said our goodbyes and walked back to the office where I fell asleep fairly early that night. But over the next two days, as I passed them on the street, I was thrilled to hear the children call out to me with our new cheer, "Da da da da, da da da da, da da dee!" And now instead of "Muzungo!" they called me by name!  It was a good day.