Dienstag 28.02.2012 14:44

A little party before the rain

Hello from help2kids! The past week, as always, was very busy. We had two main highlights: a party for the children at the Friendly Gecko, and the onset of the rains, signifying the beginning of the rainy season.

On Saturday, February 25th, the entire help2kids family went to our guest house, the Friendly Gecko, for a picnic and game day coordinated and paid for by our lovely volunteer Nicole. There was delicious food, including watermelon, French fries, hot dogs (which were a new food for many of the kids) and ice cream!

Nicole had also purchased several new footballs and a huge beach ball that the children had a fantastic time throwing and chasing around. The volunteers set up a face-painting station, where the children got to choose what they wanted on their faces, and a game where the children were blindfolded and got to pick a prize. Everyone had a great day, and went home happy and tired.

On Sunday night the first rain of the season came. It was even accompanied by thunder and led to the temperature decreasing significantly. The rain is a welcome change but makes it difficult for the children to get to and from school without getting very muddy and wet. We are now in the process of looking for ponchos or rain jackets (a hard thing to find in Tanzania!).

The student lessons are still running smoothly. This week the Nursery and Standard 1 children are learning all about plurals, and also lots of new vocabulary – “one cup, two cups, one dish, two dishes,” etc. We are proud of the hard work the children and the volunteers who teach the lessons are doing.

The Standard 2 children are becoming masters on the computer and really enjoy having a set time each week when they know they will work one-on-one with a volunteer. Several staff members have also asked to have private computer lessons, so we are figuring out a way to incorporate that into the schedule.

Below pictures: Our kids are creative! Our boys handmade a car from recycled materials, our girls created a drum circle, Constantine and Riziki in homemade sunglasses, and a pretend bus ride for singing “the Wheels on the Bus.”