Lots of learning and playing

Isaac's math problems Sande teaching English via Hangman The days pass slowly and quickly here. The bigger kids are off school until the end of January so it’s wonderful having them around to help. Isaac who just turned 11 and Sande who is 10 teach school each day for the other kids. The babies stay at the 2nd /3rd home and the rest come up to the 1st home where I am staying as are the chickens and the community center/class room. No, not all on the same room silly. They start with a quick game with Miss Donna like running around playing tag, or jumping up an down…anything as my friend Erika would say …to get the wiggles out! …Then they can settle down to learn. They start with filling in letters that are missing from words that are written on the chalk board. Or perhaps they are scrambled and they have to make them into words. Then there is math exercises. The kids simply write down what is n the board in a very small notebook and the fill in the answers. Then they bring their notebook to the “teacher” who does the grading. I jump in to help a do a small lesson in between but it’s important not to disturb the natural order of things here and that includes having 10 and 11 year old work on their leadership skills. I am also impressed with their ability to play hangman and come up with some pretty tough phrases. Today they figured out phrases like “I am a Christian” and “Jesus is my Savior”. I think back just 4 years ago when these kids could not even comprehend the idea of another language and now they can unscramble words. Yesterday we had great fun playing Alphabet Bingo. Thanks to whoever donated it! I called a letter and then they put a marker on that letter until the card was completely filled. They love the word BINGO and take pride in shouting it out. I turned it into an English lesson as they each had to come up with a word that began with that letter before I moved on. Later that evening I played with the Mommies and Aunties who can only speak a few words in English. I asked the bigger kids to watch the little kids so the Adults could have some fun. The Mommies and Aunties weren’t quite sure what I was up to when I made them all come and sit and play. But it didn’t take long until they were laughing up a storm. Some of the middle aged kids came to help and translate and took great joy in seeing the Aunties try to figure out how to say the various letters. The first round we played with one card…then they added a card for each round until the final round when they were each managing 5 cards. It was such great fun. They also played Go FISH. Thanks again to the donor. Your gifts bring new skills and laughter to our homes. The older children in Rwanda grow up quickly and often are responsible for watching their younger brothers and sister. Some of our kids ,when they were living on the street might have been just 6 taking care to get food and shelter each night for their younger brother and sister. With that in their DNA they are quick to run and help one of their brothers or sisters who might fall down and cry. It’s a beautiful nurturing spirit that is fostered here. Today was a big day for Kayitesi as Tina responded to her answers from the blog yesterday. I have posted them here so you can enjoy too. Kayetasi was fascinated that she could write something yesterday to some in America on my computer and this woman named Tina would reply. All day long she kept coming up to me to ask me… Does Tina like that? Would Tina like to swim? May I see more pictures of Tina? Will Tina come to see me? It was so precious. Fabiola saw that Lisa has written back to and liked seeing her name in the type on facebook. She read it out load and felt very proud. Speakiong of facebook. If you are reading the blog and want to friend me ,my name is Donna Wiederkehr and we also have a fan page called New Hope Homes, Rwanda. Both are great ways to stay in touch with what we are up to and when we have needs for new shoes etc. I wish I could split myself into a 40 pieces so I could be to truly be present to each child to understand what they need. I try my best to find a connection point but it’s hard when everyone wants to be reading or playing or showing me something. For your kids. Here are a few more things they might enjoy hearing about. Hi Kids, Thanks for following along with our story. If you have questions, have an adult send me an email at rwandadonna@mac.com. I told you about the how we get milk and water here. Did you think of ways that you can save electricity or water in your home? One of the great things about Rwanda is that it is good to the environment. Imagine how much energy we could save in the US if we did some of the same things like don’t use electricity unless you really need it. Same goes for water. Most people in Rwanda walk everywhere as few people have a car. Many of the taxi’s are actually bikes with a padded seat on the rear fender…people pay to get a lift to work or the market if they have the money. It’s a fun sight to see. Here’s a really surprising thing about how good Rwanda is to the environment. Would you believe that all 3 homes don’t produce any garbage except for scrape from fruit or vegetables that go into a compost bag. Think about it! Nearly 40 people living together and no real garbage. I am embarrassed by the fact that I actually make garbage from wrappers on granola bars or boxes of raisins etc. I try to squish it down to make is small, but it’s still too much. When I first came to our home 4 years ago they didn’t even have garbage cans as the idea is so odd to them. I told you Rwanda is the smallest country in the continent. It’s also the most densely populated so that means that there are more people here per mile any most any of the other countries. Did you know that Africa is 4x the size of the USA? That’s really big isn’t it. We put big nets over our beds each night. They keep the mosquitoes away. You know how sometimes in the summer a mosquito will circle around your head and ears and make you crazy when it comes so close but you can’t get it. The nets keep them from getting us. It’s also important in Rwanda and in most part of Africa as mosquitoes can carry a bad disease called malaria that can make you very very sick. Sleeping under the nets is great way to prevent them from biting us a night. I also take a pill each day to help protect me. When we raise extra money we go out into the villages where their houses are made from mud and straw and gather the people at a church to give them nets. Most people can’t afford the $10 it takes to buy a net. We give them nets that fit over a bed. Many people can’t afford a bed or they have one bed that 4 people share so the net can fit over all 4 people. Would you like sleeping in your own bed or would you like to sleep with your whole family? Did you realize that $10 could really save a life? I think that’s great. Speaking of money. The average person in Rwanda makes $210 a year. That means they work all day and only bring home $1. Next time you get an allowance think about these people and be thankful. We did something fun with the big kids today. We went swimming. While there isn’t much water in Rwanda, Chantal wants to give the kids as many life experiences as she can to help broader then view of life and swimming is one of them. Tomorrow Sarah comes back for 3 more days. Then Liles arrives with the computers. When Sarah gets here we want to try to get photos of the little kids holding the notes you sent. It’s hard to balance the need to be with the kids, share their stories with you and take photos to help with fund raising etc. I am thankful that we’ll have more hands here to help soon. Thanks for sharing in our journey.