11/01/2010
I will never forget my first day at the center… I arrived on the assembly time, 48 boys standing there, age 5-17 years old, 3-4 classrooms made of stone, at the back was a yard with mango trees, cashew trees, nothing alike the European schools, but the smells from nature was so strong, the loud laugh of the children was so alive, the colors so vibrant, made me think that although they were having their lessons under poor circumstances , yet it was the perfect environment for a school to be, nature, no cars, no buildings covering the sun, no pollution!
At once, the little ones start running towards us, jumping on us, laughing out loud, full of joy! Then and there, I felt that Kenya would always be a special experience kept in my heart and proud to have the opportunity to be there. It was my first day and I was already wishing the time to freeze and get as much as I can out of this blessed journey of life.
I hadn’t had a previous teaching experience, and I really wanted the children that I was teaching to grasp at least something out of the time that I would spend with them. As I took over class 1, the very young ones, which at times was difficult to drive their attention and make them concentrate, I had to be quite innovative and find ways to keep them quiet and yet get them to learn. The class was not helping as well as it was outside, the sun was very hot, which sometimes made the children sleepy, and these were exactly the reasons why I had to keep them active in many ways. We were using puzzles to learn the colours and numbers, as they liked matching them, did a lot of drawing with animals, we did the senses, by giving examples from their daily life, hear the bell, the taste of the mangoes (which they were actually jumping on top of the trees, catching them and eating them!)the smell of the food. Every day was so exciting, so special and every day I was thinking that I went to Kenya to teach these kids something but they managed to teach me more..
Maria
