I heard today that a container has arrived with Operation Christmas Child boxes for the children of our town. The container has been brought from the capital to Gitega. My organization was hoping to store the container at school, but the driver of the truck says the road is too rough. I'm excited for the children in the town...the container is full and has a ton of boxes!
Thank you to my church and friends for filling boxes with me in November.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Memories 2/28/13
The 36 kids that are at the Children's home are delightful. After teaching, I'll often come back home and play with the kids. The kids will come to the house and hang out on the porch. They still play with the hula hoops, but not as much. Lately, they will come inside and point at cards that we have and ask to play with them. They will take the cards and start laying out pairs on the porch. Then, they gather up the pairs, and push the unpaired cards to the side. Then, they play the game memory. I taught one of the boys War with the playing cards, but it didn't seem to catch on.
Mom and Dad, payback is sweet. You will be happy to here that that I played memory, and the youngest boy playing, Bret, slaughtered the rest of us.
Dennis: One of the youngest kids at the home. He understands English but is content to ignore you. If he doesn't like something, look out! One day he got mad and smacked Hanna on the head! The other kids have been very helpful watching Dennis, and keeping him in line. He's pretty cute and always curious.
Mom and Dad, payback is sweet. You will be happy to here that that I played memory, and the youngest boy playing, Bret, slaughtered the rest of us.
Bret, wearing blue:
Dennis: One of the youngest kids at the home. He understands English but is content to ignore you. If he doesn't like something, look out! One day he got mad and smacked Hanna on the head! The other kids have been very helpful watching Dennis, and keeping him in line. He's pretty cute and always curious.
Dance Party 2/28/13
On Friday nights, I often stay at school and show a movie. But, instead of a movie, one night we did a dance party. All the staff staying at the children's home made it, as well as Michelle from Bujumbura. JR, used to be a DJ. He cranked up the volume and played music while the kids danced. We ran out of energy stored up by the solar panels, and then we ran the generator. One of the highlights of the night was Jeremy dancing to the song "Gungan Style" with the boys. Jen and I managed to squeeze in swing dance. Several boys were good at break dancing on the floor.
In Burundi, touching between boys and girls is discouraged, but often there is more touching between boys, and between girls then back home. So, the girls danced with girls, and the boys danced with boys. I will often see boys holding each other or holding hands. When I see it, it still surprises me.
JR and Ryan gave us a ride back to the Children's home after the party. We sung a couple songs and had a blast.
Michelle, Hanna, Jeremy and Nadia dancing:
Gungan Style:
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Marble Works 2/26/13
In Hanna and Gloria's house, I came across a box with a construction kit for marbles. Something called Marble Works was my favorite toy as a child. I would put together the tubes and ramps, and spend hours watching the marbles roll to the bottom. For a long time, I ignored the box, and it just sat on the shelf. Recently, I put it to work.
I took it out at the Children's home. I set it up in my open living room area, and used a mosquito net to capture stray marbles. First, the older boys played with it. The oldest boy put it together. Next year, he may go to the school I teach at. Then, I played with the youngest kids that don't go to school yet. I would stack up the blocks, and inevitably the youngest would accidently knock it down and I would have to start all over again. After about four times, I called it a day. The next day I was sick, and I recruited Jen and Allen to help. Allen is from Bujumbura, and helps us on Sunday morning lead worship at school. The kids at the Children's home really like Allen, and his English is really good.
I took the box to school and made a lab for the students. It was difficult for them to put it together, but they enjoyed it. They would also play with it during break, after lunch, and even put it together when parents came to visit on a Saturday. I'll take it back to the Children's home this week.
We played a game with the staff where all the staff tape a piece of paper to their back, and everyone goes around writing compliments on each other's papers. The computer teacher wrote, "Lost all her marbles in Physics class." I have all the wooden pieces to take back to the Children's home, but I only have about five marbles left! I was quoted the mazungu (white persons) price of 20,000 Burundi Francs ($12.50) in the market for a new bag of marbles. I talked them down to 5000 BF, but haven't gotten them yet. Kids in many parts of the world love to play with marbles. Often, the kids at the Children's home will play with bottle caps on the porches.
I took it out at the Children's home. I set it up in my open living room area, and used a mosquito net to capture stray marbles. First, the older boys played with it. The oldest boy put it together. Next year, he may go to the school I teach at. Then, I played with the youngest kids that don't go to school yet. I would stack up the blocks, and inevitably the youngest would accidently knock it down and I would have to start all over again. After about four times, I called it a day. The next day I was sick, and I recruited Jen and Allen to help. Allen is from Bujumbura, and helps us on Sunday morning lead worship at school. The kids at the Children's home really like Allen, and his English is really good.
I took the box to school and made a lab for the students. It was difficult for them to put it together, but they enjoyed it. They would also play with it during break, after lunch, and even put it together when parents came to visit on a Saturday. I'll take it back to the Children's home this week.
We played a game with the staff where all the staff tape a piece of paper to their back, and everyone goes around writing compliments on each other's papers. The computer teacher wrote, "Lost all her marbles in Physics class." I have all the wooden pieces to take back to the Children's home, but I only have about five marbles left! I was quoted the mazungu (white persons) price of 20,000 Burundi Francs ($12.50) in the market for a new bag of marbles. I talked them down to 5000 BF, but haven't gotten them yet. Kids in many parts of the world love to play with marbles. Often, the kids at the Children's home will play with bottle caps on the porches.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Baby Celebration 2/24/13
One day after school the school staff and I visited the Religion teacher's house. He lives with his family in an apartment. We went to celebrate the birth of his first baby-- a boy named Enoch.
They don't have baby showers here. Instead, they have parties after the baby has arrived, sometime between when the baby is born, and before the baby is 4 months old. Babies are a big deal here. I'm one of the only children I know. The students at school find it strange I don't have brothers or sisters. According to the CIA's World Factbook, the average amount of children women have here is 6! The kids at school have lots of brothers and sisters.
Enoch is 2 1/2 months old now. He's a big baby. When he was born, his mother had to have a C-section. She's still recovering, and could use your prayer.
To get to the apartment, we took the Children home's bus. I was surprised it went down the bumpy roads into the neighborhood. It was clear not many cars use the road! When we got off the bus, Hanna and two other ladies put baskets filled with potatoes on their heads and walked into the court yard by the apartment. As Hanna says that if there is a meeting with people in Burundi, there will be Fanta, and there will be speeches. That was true for our celebration. So, we had our choice of tonic water, citrus Fanta, orange Fanta, or Coke. Some meatballs were served, and there were a couple speeches. It was a good time, and may Enoch's future be blessed.
Looking at the baby:
The secretary, a coordinator for my organization, and the Headmaster of the Primary school:
The Resident Director, Jen, and one of the English teachers:
Our librarian, head cook, French teacher, and school guard:
Gathering in the courtyard:
Bell 2/24/13
Classes are about 45 minutes long. About every 45 minutes, the bell rings to tell students to go to the next class. We don't have a computer or an electronic bell since there isn't electricity most of the time. The secretary keeps a timer, and she rings the bell herself. Actually...we don't really have a bell. We have a tire rim and a rock to hit against it. It works!
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Gifts 2/16/13
This is a picture of many of the gifts you have given me. Some I've had for years, many you gave me before my trip, and some I have received after I arrived. Thank you very much! When you only get to check in 50 lbs of luggage for a flight, what you have becomes essential. I feel like I've been much more prepared for this trip than I was for Thailand.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Hair 2/14/13
Hair sounds like the word "teach" in Kirundi. Many women in Burundi either keep their hair short, covered up, or in braids. Some have longer hair, and go to salons to get it done. Gloria braids her hair. After about two months, she takes it out. In the braids she puts black yarn. The ends of the braids are burned. Here's a picture of Hanna burning Gloria's hair.
It's hard to find conditioner here because only the mazungu's (white people) need it. Sometimes the kids at the Children's home and at school will touch my hair because it's so different from their hair. I try to get oil out of my hair. The people here add oil to their hair. There are some salons to treat hair, and straighten it.
It's hard to find conditioner here because only the mazungu's (white people) need it. Sometimes the kids at the Children's home and at school will touch my hair because it's so different from their hair. I try to get oil out of my hair. The people here add oil to their hair. There are some salons to treat hair, and straighten it.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
School Food
My high school cafeteria food was pretty good. They had excellent breakfast burritos. I don't remember much about school lunches, but I do remember the sign, "You have two choices: take it or leave it."
Often, I will eat lunch at school. Once a week, the staff is asked to eat with the kids. Normally, I join them on Friday. One lunch, I asked one of the boys what their favorite food was. They pointed at the potatoes. The kids like the food. Some kids say their favorite foods are pizza and hamburgers, but I don't think many of them have had the opportunities to have them.
Like Thailand, cheese is pretty rare. I've found two places in town that have cheese. JR has a fridge, but when electrical outages are common, you take your chances on the fridge keeping food cold. There isn't a fridge at school.
For lunch at schools, there is always rice and beans, and one or two other dishes. There is either boiled potatoes, yellow potatoes where some are mashed, or a red sauce with onions and either egg plant or cooked green bananas. As staff, we often get French fries or dry cooked green bananas. The green bananas taste kind of like potatoes.
The kids eat a lot. I should never underestimate teenage boys' appetites.
Often, I will eat lunch at school. Once a week, the staff is asked to eat with the kids. Normally, I join them on Friday. One lunch, I asked one of the boys what their favorite food was. They pointed at the potatoes. The kids like the food. Some kids say their favorite foods are pizza and hamburgers, but I don't think many of them have had the opportunities to have them.
Like Thailand, cheese is pretty rare. I've found two places in town that have cheese. JR has a fridge, but when electrical outages are common, you take your chances on the fridge keeping food cold. There isn't a fridge at school.
For lunch at schools, there is always rice and beans, and one or two other dishes. There is either boiled potatoes, yellow potatoes where some are mashed, or a red sauce with onions and either egg plant or cooked green bananas. As staff, we often get French fries or dry cooked green bananas. The green bananas taste kind of like potatoes.
The kids eat a lot. I should never underestimate teenage boys' appetites.
Monday, February 4, 2013
On the Other Side 2/3/13
For years, my family and I have helped with Project Cure. Project Cure gets donated medical supplies, sorts them, and then ships them all over the world. A couple weeks ago, a group from South Carolina came out to run the clinic that was near the Children's home. Instead of sending medical supplies, I found myself on the other side of the world using the donated medical supplies.
In three days, they saw 470 people. The first morning, it was difficult to get through on the road. The first day, the clinic only saw about 120 people. I helped out the afternoon of the second day. I was determined to see if I could improve efficiency to see if we could get more people through, but I couldn't. The people from South Carolina knew what they were doing. I think there were about three nurses, two doctors, at least four interpreters, and a number of other people helping out.
To everyone that came in, we gave deworming medicine that allows people to be free of worms for at least six months. We also gave them vitamin A because there's a deficiency of vitamin A here. Part of the afternoon, I put deworming medicine and vitamins in little plastic bags. The deworming medicine smelled awful.
I tried to fix a couple scales, but wasn't successful. To find the weight of a baby, we would take the weight of both the mother and baby, then subtracting the weight of the baby.
First, people waited in the waiting room. We had the Jesus Film showing. Second, people met with a nurse and an interpreter to determine their symptoms. Many people, especially women, had back pain and neck pain. About all we could do for them was give them Tylenol, so they went to the pharmacy section. We gave a lot of Tylenol away. For more serious symptoms, the people saw the doctors. After the doctors, they went to the pharmacy. After the pharmacy, they went to check out. Some people we gave sunglasses, a piece of candy, a toothbrush and toothpaste. There were some people that prayed with people, and evangelized to them as well before they left the clinic.
The first day there wasn't much ring worm, but the second day we saw a lot of ring worm. Scabies and other skin diseases were common. There was even one case of Leprosy. There was one boy with seizures, and a couple of girls that were orphans. There is hope that the girls will go to the Children's Home. One thirteen year old was found to be pregnant.
One boy, had a worm in his eye, below his eye, and his lower eye lid. One of the nurses, took it out with forceps. It was an inch long. My Mom worked for the health department. The entomologist would come across different bugs and illnesses, and preserve the bugs in jars. Growing up, it was fun for me to come in the office and see the latest finds. So, I asked the nurse, "What kind of worm was it? What kind of worm can be in people's eyes?" She looked at me and said, "IT WAS A WORM!" :)
In the afternoon, I was going around and checking rooms. Part of me wanted to see what rooms the clinic had, part of me wanted to make sure all the lights were off. I opened a closet, or what will be a single bathroom. There was a girl inside, about the age of 13. She was in the dark, and I had no idea what she was doing there. I left her there, and quickly grabbed an interpreter to come talk to her. She told the interpreter that she asked a man for sunglasses, and the man was mean and told her to go to the closet for punishment. Honestly, I thought she was hiding and waiting for the clinic to close. Nope...I cornered the interpreter, and he had told her to wait, and then he forgot about her. He was really sorry and felt bad about it. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways though. The good part of the story is the girl was diagnosed again, and we were able to give her some medicine for her skin problem. She did get some sunglasses.
Looking out the pharmacy window:
In three days, they saw 470 people. The first morning, it was difficult to get through on the road. The first day, the clinic only saw about 120 people. I helped out the afternoon of the second day. I was determined to see if I could improve efficiency to see if we could get more people through, but I couldn't. The people from South Carolina knew what they were doing. I think there were about three nurses, two doctors, at least four interpreters, and a number of other people helping out.
To everyone that came in, we gave deworming medicine that allows people to be free of worms for at least six months. We also gave them vitamin A because there's a deficiency of vitamin A here. Part of the afternoon, I put deworming medicine and vitamins in little plastic bags. The deworming medicine smelled awful.
I tried to fix a couple scales, but wasn't successful. To find the weight of a baby, we would take the weight of both the mother and baby, then subtracting the weight of the baby.
First, people waited in the waiting room. We had the Jesus Film showing. Second, people met with a nurse and an interpreter to determine their symptoms. Many people, especially women, had back pain and neck pain. About all we could do for them was give them Tylenol, so they went to the pharmacy section. We gave a lot of Tylenol away. For more serious symptoms, the people saw the doctors. After the doctors, they went to the pharmacy. After the pharmacy, they went to check out. Some people we gave sunglasses, a piece of candy, a toothbrush and toothpaste. There were some people that prayed with people, and evangelized to them as well before they left the clinic.
The first day there wasn't much ring worm, but the second day we saw a lot of ring worm. Scabies and other skin diseases were common. There was even one case of Leprosy. There was one boy with seizures, and a couple of girls that were orphans. There is hope that the girls will go to the Children's Home. One thirteen year old was found to be pregnant.
One boy, had a worm in his eye, below his eye, and his lower eye lid. One of the nurses, took it out with forceps. It was an inch long. My Mom worked for the health department. The entomologist would come across different bugs and illnesses, and preserve the bugs in jars. Growing up, it was fun for me to come in the office and see the latest finds. So, I asked the nurse, "What kind of worm was it? What kind of worm can be in people's eyes?" She looked at me and said, "IT WAS A WORM!" :)
In the afternoon, I was going around and checking rooms. Part of me wanted to see what rooms the clinic had, part of me wanted to make sure all the lights were off. I opened a closet, or what will be a single bathroom. There was a girl inside, about the age of 13. She was in the dark, and I had no idea what she was doing there. I left her there, and quickly grabbed an interpreter to come talk to her. She told the interpreter that she asked a man for sunglasses, and the man was mean and told her to go to the closet for punishment. Honestly, I thought she was hiding and waiting for the clinic to close. Nope...I cornered the interpreter, and he had told her to wait, and then he forgot about her. He was really sorry and felt bad about it. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways though. The good part of the story is the girl was diagnosed again, and we were able to give her some medicine for her skin problem. She did get some sunglasses.
Looking out the pharmacy window:
On the other side of the window. Giving out medicines, water, vitamins and deworming pills:
Some of the South Carolina people and an interpreter:
A couple interpreters and a nurse:
Home Sweet Home 2/4/13
There are a number of houses within the compound where I live. The 36 kids (mostly orphans) live in four houses with four mothers, and the father lives with his family in a house. There are three guest houses. Jen and I moved out of them house with Gloria and Hanna, and moved into a different house just down the hill. There are really step steps out front that remind me of some ancient temple steps. Jen and I now have our own rooms. She has been a wonderful roommate. The house's living room and kitchen are teal, one of my favorite colors, and my bedroom is almost the exact shade of yellow as my bedroom back in America. Then, on top of that, I lost my washcloth in Europe. I had an extra one in an emergency kit Mom put in my luggage. The washcloth had Tweety bird on it, with multicolored hearts. There aren't many stickers here, but there are stickers of Tweety bird and multicolored hearts on the front door to the house. I wanted to take a picture of the wash cloth, but when it was out to dry, it was either stolen or blew away. Perhaps these were signs from God telling me I'm where I'm supposed to be.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Scientific Method 2/3/13
I'm a little late teaching this lesson, but this week I taught the kids how to write labs. For their homework, they had to make up a lab. I told them if they made me laugh, they might get extra credit. Normally, when there is homework, I collect the papers the day they are due, and I don't take any homework that is finished before it is due. For this assignment, two brothers gave me the following two labs early.
Purpose: my purpose is to see if miss Kim like kiss
Material: lips
Procedure: come in front of her
kiss her
Results like sometimes kiss
Conclusion do not give her everyday kiss
purpose: To see if J.R. like basketball
Material: a basketball ball
Procedure: invite time of Gitega and Vs [our school] like E. I. G
Results: so many joint for [our school] because you know He loves [our school]
Conclusion: J.R. take the ball and shout and Cool. and he say I like very much Basketball.
After the first boy stated the purpose of his lab in class (I think completely joking) I told them, "Miss Kim doesn't like kisses, or a boyfriend, or a husband, or a girlfriend. Miss Kim is closer to a Catholic Nun." Walking around, Hanna tried to teach me the saying in Kirundi that means, "I don't want a husband."
Purpose: my purpose is to see if miss Kim like kiss
Material: lips
Procedure: come in front of her
kiss her
Results like sometimes kiss
Conclusion do not give her everyday kiss
purpose: To see if J.R. like basketball
Material: a basketball ball
Procedure: invite time of Gitega and Vs [our school] like E. I. G
Results: so many joint for [our school] because you know He loves [our school]
Conclusion: J.R. take the ball and shout and Cool. and he say I like very much Basketball.
After the first boy stated the purpose of his lab in class (I think completely joking) I told them, "Miss Kim doesn't like kisses, or a boyfriend, or a husband, or a girlfriend. Miss Kim is closer to a Catholic Nun." Walking around, Hanna tried to teach me the saying in Kirundi that means, "I don't want a husband."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)