This morning when we got to tutoring, our boys were already there with everything set up for us. How sweet is that? I tutored Given, Stone, and Obey. I told the boys we were leaving on May 17th, and Given said to me, “But you’re coming back, right?” I started crying when I had to tell him that no, this time when we left, we weren’t coming back. The fact that Given said this in perfect English when he couldn’t even write his own name three months ago made me cry even more. I can’t say enough good things about these kids – they are so motivated, happy, and kind to each other.
After class was over, the boys didn’t want to leave. They goofed around our room, begging to take pictures and play with the whiteboard. After about twenty minutes and a hundred pictures later, we got them to leave and waited for our ladies to show up for English. Regina was the only one! All the other ladies were either working or at a funeral. Regina is so eager to learn and very interesting to talk to, so we dug up some other worksheets to do with her for a while and then just talked. We learned some things:
- In Malawi, women don’t talk about their pregnancies. A pregnant woman will discuss it if it’s just her and one other person together, but if there are people around, it’s taboo. Again, this shows how much of an influence witchcraft has on the culture here.
- Girls are more highly favored in Zambia because when they get married, their husbands have to pay a dowry. Therefore, the more daughters you have, the richer you will be. This isn’t true in Malawi (and I’m sure my dad would say it’s definitely not true in America either… J).
Then Regina gave us some wonderful news - she’s pregnant! It’s very early, so she’s not telling people yet, but she knew how excited we would be for her so she wanted to let us know.
During English class when Rachel was working on a worksheet with Regina, I saw Paul, Obey, and Stone playing in a tree. Paul and Obey’s super cute little sister Mirriam was on the ground, and Stone’s hilariously chubby little baby brother was too. I took some pictures of the older boys playing in the tree and then noticed that Jefter was shoveling dirt in his mouth like it was candy. Instead of stopping him, I took some pictures. Mirriam started gnawing on a guava, and that made Jefter angry. He’s only eight months old but dwarfs delicate, little 18 month Mirriam. They made for some excellent entertainment.
Our afternoon tutoring groups showed up late, so while we were waiting, the same boys with their little siblings came over to learn more. We looked at flash cards for a while. I did some different things with Shain and Mirriam and it made for a more interesting class. They’re both very shy, quiet kids, so finding activities that suit their personalities and levels have been a little challenging, but today went well.
Afterwards, Rachel and I continued being super-productive and got a lot of things crossed off our to-do list before heading over to play kickball. Pastor Sargent suggested we take the balloons used at Lisa’s party yesterday and give them to the kids. This created mass chaos. We took over the garbage bags full of balloons and passed them out to the little kids while the bigger kids were playing kickball. Well, Rachel passed them out. I played kickball. During kickball, every few minutes I would hear a balloon pop and then the inevitable screaming and crying would follow. Rachel went and hid the rest of the balloons in the guest house because the kids were begging her for more. After kickball, the older kids knew they were getting balloons too, so when I was coming back from the guesthouse with the balloons, they started chanting, “Ba-ba-balloons! Ba-ba-balloons!” I looked up and saw probably forty kids sprinting at me. In America, how many thirteen year old boys would be begging for a pink balloon? My guess is zero. Here, they are so excited to get anything. The chaos surrounding me was hilarious and terrifying. I had all the little kids who already got balloons yanking on my shorts, begging me for more (“Teacha! Teacha! Balloon! Please Teacha!”) while the older kids tried not to step on them as they pushed each other around, doing whatever they could to see into the bag. It was insanity. I strongly suggest next year’s group not to do this.
After that, we went to the Birner’s house for tacos. It was, of course, delicious. We love not having to cook dinner!
Today was such a perfect day. Teaching went well, the kids were awesome (except for maybe during the balloon fiasco) and everything went so smoothly.
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