Wednesday

Today started out fast with a VBS class led by Heidi at the school down the road from Neema.

The school is a preschool so we took the Montana Kids to meet some new kids and get out of the village. Tanzania has recently decided to not allow any private schools above preschool in order to push all kids to the public government schools. From what we have heard though the government schools are not very good and not very well funded. Neema wanted/wants to do a K-12 school for the area, but the government is making that impossible. They are hopeful that this will change in the future.

Heidi told the creation story and Julius, a worker at Neema Village, translated for her. It was very fun to see the children from the area and see how they live and go to school. There were about 60 kids that came to be with us right outside their school building. Their classrooms are only about 9ftx9ft and they pay about 50¢ a month to attend. Even at that price they sometimes can’t afford to come. With a school, Neema could provide education for many children who might otherwise not receive one.

While some of us were at the VBS, babies were fed, children were played with, and a chicken coup was built. Neema is planning to get chickens soon and so they have begun construction of the coups to place close to their cow pasture.

In the afternoon Debbie and Krista continued their classes. It was a successful day with many women walking away with new sewing and English skills. The classes will continue next week on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The days are filled with kids. We get to learn new names and play and build relationships with the kids that spend their day-to-day lives here. The kids will always come and hug you or asked to be hugged or held or read to, and it’s hard to say no.

Tomorrow a group of us are going to a Masai village to pick up a couple of little girls for school. So far the weather has been warm, but cool. I think the clouds and thunder is unexpected but we are grateful to not be engulfed with heat and humidity right away.

 

Looking forward to more kids tomorrow!