July 21st and 22nd

Me teaching James...this is where we do school everyday

Yesterday I went to the village, Matapuli. The village is very, very poor, as there are no main roads that go through it, and Kisampa is the only tourism that they get (so they can’t sell the things they make to anyone else.) First we went to the secondary school (the high school.) The high school would not be there if it were not for Kisampa. Many of the guests that come and stay here also sponsor a child through secondary school. Primary school is free, but if the students want to continue on, they have to pay for it. The classrooms are pretty small, lots of students crammed into the rooms. We saw the seconday school, primary school, and nursery. As we were walking, a huge group of toddlers (about ages 2-5) started following us. Two of them were so precious, they held my hands everywhere we went. The children were beautiful. We were the only muzungus (white people) in the whole village, so of course we drew a lot of attention to ourselves. Plus, everyone knows Jean Anne because of all of the hard work she has done to help their quality of life. In the village there is a Market with beans/rice, etc. There are a few shops, and a clinic. The clinic wasn’t open when we went.

 

In addition, many people have been donating books and money for books for the Matapuli Library. I have volunteered to organize the library- the old fashioned way, with index cards and a filing system and sections. I’m pretty excited. There is money to pay someone as well- so I am going to train an employee who will eventually run the library from 3-6 Monday thru Friday. It’s going to be a great project, and I’m happy I will have a project to be doing in the village!

 

We got home last night around 5:30, had a shower, then the campfire, then dinner. At the campfire every night I have a double (basically a single) Konyagi (gin) and tonic, which is my routine now and a great way to end the day. Dinner was baked fish, mashed potatoes, and green beans with mango sorbet for dessert. I say this because people have been wondering what I have been eating over here- the food is pretty good, but also repetitive!

 

This morning I was up and at breakfast at 7:30 per usual, breakfast is cereal, toast, fresh fruit, coffee, etc.

 

There is an American girl here for 4 days so that has been fun! She’s sixteen and from DC- goes to the same school that Obama’s kids go to, so that’s neat.

 

That’s about all for now- we played Scrabble after lunch and then it started RAINING!!! that was nice because the rain here smells really good.... then we went to the river and i found some pretty shells

 

So pretty typical day today- nothing too exciting, but good to have a routine as well. James is learning a lot in school, slowly but surely.