jem_gret

Its hard to believe that our volunteer time in Bagamoyo is actually up…

Last weekend we ventured into Dar es Salaam for some shopping and to stock up with junk food….We went to the famous Kariakoo market, which turned out to be one of those African overcrowded markets you see on TV!!

Crazy Dar Market

Anyways, luckily there was a huge group of us, as we soon realised we were being followed and ‘accidentally’ bumped into by a few men, so we soon got out of there! Wasn’t the best idea going there, but an experience in itself… : )

So since our last update, the other volunteers in our school have left, so its just the two of us with 75 out of control kids!
We soon found our favourites within the group… They all seem to have such strong personalities for being so young…Its made the whole program so much easier to stick out just by working with these kids everyday as they have been so much fun… As soon as we walk up the road to school 70 odd kids coming running out and don’t stop until they are under our feet! After the sweaty walk to the school you would think that would be the last thing you would feel like, but we both can’t help but smile!! (we don’t remember liking our teachers this much!!)

However, in class its a different storey. They go crazy (we have got videos don’t worry..!) Occasionally the local women will come by the school and scream at them to be quiet (which we silently thank them for) as sometime we just have no control at all! We actually have to use a stick (just as a threat!) as no amount of yelling or stern looks will make them listen unless there is a threat of seriously being hit…the odd tap on the bum does help though!Jimmy the owner of the school was actually doing some chanting one day while we watched on…The kids just scream back whatever he says, and that’s how they learn the alphabet/numbers etc…The chants this one day went something like this…
“sit down”
“sit down”
“be quiet”
“be quiet”
“shut up”
“shut up”
“I will slap you”
“I will slap you” and that part comes with the slapping action as part of the chant!!
They had obviously done this chant before and it sound very wrong but it was actually hilarious to watch. The kids just love it regardless of what they are actually saying!

Gret’s fav student is tiny Sofia who is just 2.5 years old….

Grets fav Sophia

Her parents let her come along to school just to keep her busy and she’s so gorgeous walking the kms to and from school every day…she really is just a baby & seems to have fallen in love with Gret (because she picks her up all day long!) but is just terrified of Jem..

Hates Jem

Jem’s favourite is Hassani…

Jem & his fav!

He is the smartest kid in the class but is also the class bully. If we are struggling to control the class we just hand the stick to him, he says something in Swahili and they all just sit down and face the front. He can also translate what the little kids are crying about every two seconds.. plus he adores jem

Mayhem

Walk to school

Every Friday is beach day….no teaching at all, just a full morning at the beach… It was a bit scary to think what Health & Safety would have thought of the whole situation back home! Just the two of us would walk the 75 kids down a highway to the beach, screaming at them to get out of the way of the trucks!! It’s a long hot 3 km walk and by the time we reach the beach they are all stripping down, clothes EVERYWHERE and straight into the water…they don’t go very deep, but we can’t watch them all! They are all very resilient but it’s a relief when they all come out alive!!

CHAOS at beach day

Jem keeps all the boys entertained with sprints down the beach and odd game of soccer…

Beach Race

Gret just plays with the babies who are too scared to get wet! Then its chaos trying to put clothes back on wet sandy bodies and there are ALWAYS tears!

Competitive spirt comes out

The hot walk home kills everyone, but thankfully we have started organising water to be bought for the kids to drink…they savour every last drop!

Maje (water) time

But if they don’t get their water all we can hear is a monotone cry of “Sir Sir” or “Madam Me”!!!

Sir & Madame

For our last day yesterday we bought them all ‘cassava’ from the local women…Its like deep fried parsnip with salt…actually kinda yum and you get three big pieces in some newspaper for the equivalent of 5 cents! So we got 75 of them and although it literally caused a kid stampede, they loved it and it was good way to finish the month…

Gret staying on shore

Living in Bagamoyo has been really easy…we have made friends with a big group of Rasta men, who have made ‘friends’ with some of the single muzungu volunteers and most weekends there is a “beachie” party with them all singing and drumming under the moonlight…its pretty surreal!

Show off

Our favourite Rasta’s name is KITEBO and he has recorded a few songs so we bought his CD for about 1 aussie dollar. All the rest of them have dreds down to there bums and can’t really communicate so its just hand slaps and fist rubs all round.

We live on the 20 cent massive mangos that are everywhere here and so good…and only 20 CENTS!!...puts our prices at home to shame!

Our local mango shop

The walk to school involves Gret running from the bulls that roam the roads and Jem being amazed at the size of roosters here! Its just so relaxed and just nice slow pace of life… By the time we walk home for lunch it would be about 45C and humid as anything..

Dirty Dirty

Gret can’t talk for that half hour and is straight in the cold shower. Sometimes we get home and there is no electricity and no water so we have to just sit there in a lather of sweat while we watch the Africans walk past in jeans, jumpers and alot of the time beanies!! Crazy