School Supplies for Africa

---

It's been a while. Sorry. So last Friday, i worked in Grade 4. I taught and such. Not very eventful. Although Mr. Jallow is the best teacher i've seen here. he loves what he does, and he makes things really interesting for the kids. it's really great to work with him. in the afternoon i was in drama club. The Norwegian woman Cece wasn't there, so i taught it myself. first i taught them "zingamama" which they loved. then i taught them lion face lemon face to exercise their face muscles. then i taught them about improv and we spent the rest of the club time playing "bus stop." They had a blast. After school Jarry and i went to Marina to see Aunty Bin. She's the head of marina, which is an international school with about 500 students. the three of us went to Timbuktoo so i could buy my Gambian books. i bought a book called "i of ebony," a poetry book called "Exile at Home," and a french conversation book. it cost a lot, but whatever. books are expensive here. then we went to the fruit market and grocery shopping.

Saturday i woke up and cleaned. around 3 Njareh picked me up and we went to the beach. I LOVE THE BEACH. i lay in the sand and then we went swimming for about an hour and a half. good sand, good waves, good sun. love it. we got out of the water and changed and then cherno showed up. the three of us took a walk together and chatted. cherno was being quiet. then we came back and che and i sat on the beach and talked and got to know each other more. then we went on a walk and on the way back we watched the sunset. it was nice. when we got back adama had shown up, so the four of us went out to dinner. we got good spicy pizza (except it wasn't spicy). about 10 minutes after we ordered the power went out so we sat in the dark for a while wondering if they would still be able to make our pizza. but it came on and we ate happily.

Sunday i woke up and went to the internet for a while. i took all my orientation tests for college and got a lot done. (sorry for sending you oodles of e-mails, mom). then i took a taxi to Njareh's house for lunch. her cousins and their friend Stephanie from Sweden arrived. we sat around awkwardly and ate lunch. they were speaking swedish for most of the time so i just sat and ate quietly. we also watched dennis the menace. after lunch they left and Njareh braided my hair (i'm Gambian now. we just have to color in my skin with coal). Her friend Grace from Nigeria came over and she was a lot of fun. around 9 we walked grace home and then i went home and went to sleep.

Monday i was in grade 1. they were LOUD. oh man, it was tough. my patience was definitely tested. partway through class i realized that one of the kids, Papa Tala who is a transfer student, can't read. so i took him to another room and we got through part of "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish." We'll keep going on monday. during the break i went upstairs and translated harry potter some more (in my spare time i'm translating harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban from spanish to english). then Mr. Mussi came in and i joined the eighth graders for french.

Tuesday i went to abc 2 with grade 5. i taught them about simple machines and multiplying mixed numbers. they also learned about Vision 2020 for the Gambia (mr jawo wanted me to teach it, but i had no idea what it was). i challenged them to throw their trash in trash cans only for a week to reduce the litter here (there's trash EVERYWHERE). then they had french, and i sat down with the kids and learned. we each had to read a passage and got graded on it. i read and got an 18/20 and the kids applauded. yay for fifth grade french! during the break i went with the female teachers to the second hand store next door and we schlepped around. in the afternoon i was with fifth grade and mr jobe (the sixth grade teacher). lots of correcting and such. then i went home and went to bed. next tuesday i'm going to sixth grade in the afternoon. that gives me grades 1-8 every week.

Wednesday i was at abc 1 with grade 2. i didn't do much except correcting. then after lunch they came and read to me and i commented "excellent, good, fair, poor" on a piece of paper. during the break i went to the internet cafe that is apparently near the school and made a facebook group for my new project.

What is this project, you ask? well keep reading, because i'll tell you about it at the end.

in the afternoon i taught 7th grade math again. they learned about angles. fun fun fun! my favorite! it was easy enough. they're fun kids. then i went to supervise grade 8 while they did their classwork. about 5 minutes after i got there the teacher came back and sat down and said "teach me spanish." so i did. that makes 2 teachers learning spanish. i love teaching it, though.

Thursday i was with grade 3. i spent the whole day teaching spanish to the teacher. then during P.E. we did jumprope while the boys played football. then i taught them "Quack-diddly-oso." they already knew the hand motions for it, but they have a different song. then we played musical chairs. At 2 i left and went to the market with Jarry. we bought a lot of fish and lettuce and watched a guy fillet the fish and then grind up the meat. tasty. i came to the internet, but it was super slow, so i didn't have time to update this.

Today i was with grade 4 again. ABC has exams next week, so this week was mostly revisions (review). i reviewed english with them. then i went to drama club and cece was back. we learned a norwegian song and played mirror and sculpture. and now i'm here!

So this project. One of my assignments for this semester is to be the change i wish to see in the world. i somehow improve the community i'm living or working in. in the past students have directed plays, cleaned up trash, painted murals, etc.
i'm sort of taking this to the extreme. These kids have to pay school fees in order to go to school and then extra money for the after school program. they're not rich kids. after the school fees, they don't have money for supplies. they each have one pencil, and most are about an inch long at this point. there are about 2 erasers per classroom, and they sharpen their pencils with razorblades. the textbooks are outdated, shabby, and there aren't enough. the librarys are pretty much empty.
so i've decided to collect school supplies to donate. I'm looking for:
books
textbooks
pencils
pens
erasers
pencil sharpeners
chalk
toilet paper
hand soap
notebooks
blue books
teaching aids
crayons
markers
paper
ink cartridges
money (for shipping)
soccer balls (deflated)
volley balls (deflated)
basket balls (deflated)
jump ropes
air pumps

i want as much as i can get to give to these kids. so if you're interested in donating, let me know what you would like to donate and i'll send you my address. and please tell your friends! this is a great cause, and i want to be able to send them a lot.

Much love,
Kate

---

Comments

[Aunt Sue]

Wonderful
Hi Aunty Kate: I just now finally got caught up on your adventure in The Gambia, having read through all of your postings in one fell swoop. I am so impressed with you! Not only are you resourceful, but you are so incredibly mature. I think being the oldest in your family and all of your camp experience, among many others, I'm sure, is standing you in good stead. Your reports really bring your experiences to life. It sounds as though you have been given a terrific placement and are making the most of it. Most important, you are making friends and making a contribution to the lives of these people. Hope you'll have a chance to post some photos so we can see you and them. Winter is taking its sweet time disappearing from our lives, as you have been hearing. The sun is telling us that it's spring. The bulbs planted last Fall are telling us it's spring. But we are still shivering in 30 degree temperatures and the pile of snow in my driveway is taking forever to disappear. However, it will be only a matter of time before we are complaining about the heat. I'll gladly donate some supplies to your school, though I think it might make more sense for you to take up a collection when you get home and send it all at once. I wonder how long it will take for our packages to get there, too. Is French your daily language? Je t'embrasse! Milles abrazos! Aunty Sue

[katiemac604]

Address
woops. didn't make that clear. send it to my home address in the states. when i get home i'll send it all at once to africa.

[Claudia Kesler]

Miscellaneous
Kate, I was a Title 1 teacher for many years and I have a lot of stuff. I would like to donate it somewhere so waht is the process of getting it to you etc. Regards, Claudia P. S. can you use partially used pevcils?

[sharisse]

have school supplies to donate
I have aton of school supplies to donate I would like to know where to drop them off at! call if you can 6463635464