First day of school

So today was our first day teaching at the schools. Oh my! I loved it! When we walked into the room, the kids immediately stood up and said, "Wecome Madame" and stayed standing. We then said, "Hi, how are you?" and they all replied in unison with, "We are fine, and how are you?" We said, "We are good, you may sit" This is the routine that we must go through each day we are teaching in the class. They are so disciplined and well behaved. It was so amazing. We are teaching in partners, and Anne Marie and I did get the fourth grade class. However, not all the kids are the same age. I think they do it by their level of intellect. We had some 12 year olds in class, and it also looked like we had a little guy, maybe only 7. They were all so cute, and very eager to learn.

Our Class, or most of it

Some of the darling children

Today we were just planning on doing an introduction and getting to know how the teacher runs the class. Well, we introduced our selves and then had the kids introduce themselves and we then went over the teacher. She really wanted us to teach today, so she handed us her math book, told us what unit they were on and said, "go, teach" So that is just what we did. It was very cute. The kids are so respectful of eachother, and us. They all raise their hands, and wait politely to be called upon. Although they are pretty far behind where the 4th graders in America are, they are trying, and they do love to learn. We taught for about 2 hours, and then had a break. We went out into the compound and played games. They have such fun games! They all know them. They are mostly singing games. It was a blast. I love teaching. Our class alone had about 45 kids in it, but you would never know it because they are so disciplined.

Then, we headed out to teach/research our AIDS program We were teaching a boys youth group today. Let me tell you one thing, they LOVE white girls!!! Oh my! We arrived to everyone sitting in chairs waiting, and they started playing their drums when we got off the bus. We did a little pretest to see how much they understand and know about AIDS. Many people have such crazy ideas about how to get it. All of my interviewees though that you could get it from going to the barber, sharing toothbrushes, and if you have only had sex one time. They also all thought that it was ok for men to have more than one girlfriend and that if a boyfriend wants sex and a girlfriend doesn't, the man has a "right" to it. They also thought that what a woman has to say is NOT as important as what a man has to say. It is very sad, and it was very hard to not stop the test right then and say, "hey listen...." I know what you are thinking mom, no, i didn't stop and stand up for women's rights. (haha) Couldn't bias the research....

Look at how creepily he is looking at me...EEK!!!

Just a couple of the pictures that we took with the group
Playing the drums for us

Cute little guys at the group meeting, just observing the white girls

Then we did some lessons, and we are going back on Thursday. They need it. I am surprised that by the amount of people out here that have AIDS that they don't know much about it. We actually were able to get somebody to come with us on Thursday to test all who want to be tested. It will be very good for them. It is very sad though. After we were done, ALL the boys, and I mean ALL the boys wanted to get their picture taken with us. It was a little bit overwhelming, and a little bit scary. But people here just love having their picture taken. It is something they don't get to experience much, so they just love it.

I came to a sad realization today. People here don't really have a chance. They don't have a chance to succeed, and they don't have a chance to amount to much of anything in this country. Even the saddest situation, and the hardest life in America has more of a chance at success than the kids here do. There is just nothing to do. They can sell their stuff on the side of the street like everybody else, but that is pretty much it. People here don't have dreams and hopes of what they want to become. They can't, because it is not possible. We asked our taxi driver one day what his dream job would be if he could choose anything, and he didn't have any idea as to what we were talking about. All he could reply was that he wanted to be able to make enough money to feed his family. It is heartwrenching. I guess all we can really do is provide them with the information to live safer, healthier lives. After that, it is just in the hands of God.