community clean up

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The start of the educational piece of the malaria initiative took place on Saturday morning - I did a speech/presentation to roughly 75 kids at Lukendane, discussing what malaria is, how it's contracted, the importance of preventative methods, and the seriousness of the disease... I had a translator and talked for about 30 minutes, than we did a "community clean up" for an hour after the talk. My logic behind this was that if we can reduce the number of resevoirs that are host to many bugs, including mosquitoes, than we can overall reduce the density of mosquitoes present which in turn will lower the prevalence of malaria. There is SO much trash here and by teaching the young generation of the importance of not littering and keeping the community clean, it may help to change attitudes from the start. A major problem with the trash here is that I have not seen ONE trash can since being here. I have a plastic bag that I keep in my room to act as a trash, but once its filled... they've instructed me to put the bag in the pile in front of the house. They burn all of their waste - great idea if its tissue and paper and things like that, but when there is no water and I drink a 1.5L bottle of water per day, thats a LOT of plastic and see it just get burned kills me! They would benefit so much from a recycle and compost program. Anyways, we brought a big wheel barrel type of thing that we filled with all the trash that was on the side of the streets and than burned the trash - again, I'm not too keen on the whole burning of all the trash, but here there aren't many choices so I'll take it! The kids were so into it, it was like a fun field trip for them!
The rest of the week has been nice, I seem to like it more and more each day. So I've decided to teach everyday at the orphanage - I teach everything that a kindergarden class in the states would learn pretty much. I usually start the day with an english lesson- the kids speak swahili and the other kids can understand SOME english, but not my class! We've got the alphabet down, but I'm trying to teach them sound of the letters to teach them how to sound out a word in order to read it, and a few of the kids get it! But most of the others don't... its tough though, the swahili language pronounces every letter and its standard - a=ah, e=eh, i=ee, o=oh, u-oo (as in boo). So these kids are between 4-6 so its tough for them to differ between the two languages when theyre still trying to learn the basics of their first language... plus they don't understand me so thats even better! ha. They just repeat everyrthing I say, I'll say.. who's ready to learn some math! And they all yell. "math!" and they know how to respond to "how are you" with "im fine thankyou madam, how are you madam?" Its the cutest thing but thats their response to everything I ask! "what is your age" "Im fine thankyou madam" ahhaha. Math comes next, and I'm trying to get them to do plus and minus with double digits. There are 2 or 3 kids that are MUCH above everyone else in the class- Sharon and kevin are way ahead and know the answers but spend their time giving everyone else the answers! Its the most frustrating thing, beacuse I want the kids to learn but I catch them cheating all the time! I'm trying to get the Sharon and kevin moved up to the higher class so that they can use all of tat brain power and cleverness and put it to good work.
After the cleanup, I went into Arusha and ate at a cafe that served PASTA!! mm mm mm... what a treat! It's amazing that they don't eat pasta here, its cheap and easy and doesn't go old and all you need is boiling water, which they all have gas stoves - boy will I be sick of rice and beans by the end of this trip! It's amazing having absolutely no variety in meals.. every once in a while they'll throw an avacado slice in there and ITS HEAVEN. I bought a few avacados yesterday to add to the meal-- 2 for 200 shillings (about 7 cents each!!!) amazing.
I've gotten some great photos of the kids and the place but theres never electricity so I rarely get to use the internet, and when I do.. its so slow that I can't upload photos! I'll do my best but those of you who live near me at home-- we'll do a big slideshow when I arrive :]
I miss you all, but I don't feel lonely. I spend a lot of time alone but have somehow adjusted to the lifestyle here, and feeling fine without anything going on around me. If I could choose one thing that I miss from my real world, and I would have NEVER guessed this, but its silence. There is SO much noise here, 24 hours a day! I don't think that the people here know what silence is, its shocking. At home, I rarely want to be in silence, even if I'm studying I'll put the tv on in the background or something.. but here, I crave silence. Just for a few minutes, no cows or radios or chatting or roosters or singing or anything! I feel so disconnected from reality, not in a bad way, just in a way that doesn't make me feel like I'm missing out on things at home- i feel like I'm in an entirely new world and its not part of the world that I usually live in... so its hard to think about things at home, because they just don't seem to make sense to my life here. I don't think about home that much, only when I'm telling stories about you guys at home-- im SO lucky to have you all; no matter where I am in the world, I know that I have the greatest support system. Thanks heaps, I love you all and miss you dearly.

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