Catch Up

Friday 19th October

We're back! Apologies, been a quiet few days but let's catch up on what's been goin on

Tuesday and Wednesday at Dada's felt like longgg days! I spent most of my time sat in the staffroom, marking workbooks or mock exams - for the exams they have to give to the kids to practice, they don't actually have a mark scheme so the teachers have to go through the paper themselves and work out the answers so they can mark them.... so that's what I was doing all afternoon yesterday! Class 8 (age 14 ish I think) English and maths exams! I haven't done maths like that in maybe 3 years - parallel lines and angles and algebra and areas of shapes, gave my brain a work out! Quite proud of my memory for rules and equations tho, I was doing alright.

Managed to get out of the office for 2 lessons across the 2 days, did PE with class 6 which was really fun - taught them a new game then played football, their favorite! - and also went through the English paper with class 8 after they'd got their scores back.

Found it all a bit draining to be honest - I want to be with the kids! I just feel like I could be doing more and am not being utilised to the full, I only have 5 more days there and I want to feel like I've achieved a small something rather than wishing I'd done things differently. Finding it quite a challenging placement in a few different ways. I think there's a difference between being put to good use and just finding things for me to do to keep me occupied, and i just feel like it's been more of the latter this week.
I do understand the difficulties they face with volunteers tho, especially in such a short time and with a system and structure that has it's own challenges too - it goes so much bigger than Dada's but like I've said before, I just need to focus on my small piece that I can make a positive impact on. That might just be 1 or 2 kids, but I'm happy with that.

The best part for me is forging those relationships with the kids - I got maybe a 10 minute slot with my 3 class 6 kids I've been helping with maths, helping then with greater than/less than (">" "<") and giving them a new way to remember it... that I was taught by Mrs Smith in Y4! I still remember it!! I told them to think of it like a mouth that wants to open towards the biggest amount of food, so the biggest number. I drew little teeth in it on my whiteboard and they found it quite funny, I hope it helps them remember if it comes up in their test! It really lifted me up, especially when at the end, coz it was so short too, Faith just says to me with a big smile on her face "We will do more maths with you, yes Teacher Hannah?". Made my day, I told her of course we would, as long as I'm here! She was happy with that. Worth it.

Marking class 6's maths books too was alright because they'd come up one at a time as they worked through the different exercises. That meant that on any they'd got wrong or struggled with, I could break it down with them and go through some things and hopefully help them that tiny bit more, one-on-one. Looking for the positives!!

Lunchtime/break is fun too, that's when I get to see the kids that I've sorta made friends with, or have a connection with at least. They'll see me and smile and wave, give me a hug or shout my name - it's the best :)

As we were leaving yesterday, Sebastian (I've got a bit of a soft spot for him, he was putting flowers in my hair last week and is just the sweetest kid), was hanging out of the door behind us and shouted "Tcha Hannah!" So I'd turn around and just gave me the biggest grin and a wave with a shout of bye too, reminded me why I'm there.

Gonna make sure I get my lil tutor groups for my last week and push to not be in the office all day! I'm gonna go in on Saturday too to see what goes on, some of the girls were asking me if I'd be there on Saturday and I have no reason not to! 

Thursday = outreach, my favourite day of the week! This time we were giving the small hospital in Kawangware slum a new coat of paint on the outside walls, keep it looking smart. So much dust around, it does just make it seem a little dingy. The volunteer fam did a great job tho, from brown to white walls and an electric blue trim instead of a mouldy-looking shade! I quite enjoyed it, was also quite nice to do something that made an tangible and immediate difference!

To get to the tops of the walls, we only had one, slightly untrustworthy ladder that Corrie was using, and me and Tora used old water tanks as equally untrustworthy stools to stand on!

Doctor George was so pleased, it was really nice, and we had a laugh - only minor paint fights!

'Twas a good day.

Me and Jennifer went out for tea as well which was AMAZING. She leaves on Saturday ( :( ) and wanted to go to Crave Kitchen before she left, a lil restaurant up in Kikuyu town that all the volunteers rave about - it's where everyone always goes on Sundays when Sophie has her day off!

It did not disappoint, apart from running out of burgers just as we'd ordered them! But the portions were huge and it was delicious, and the prices were crazy! Me and Jen both got juice, pasta salad each and a huge side salad to share (we were craving vegetables!), 2 coffees and a coconut bun, 2 scones and 4 mandazis to take home....all for $13! 1,370 Kenyan shillings, easily would've £15 each in the UK! The baked stuff was soooo good too - our server was a really sweet guy called John, he gave us a free scone to try! As an apology for the burgers I think :)

Mountains of food! Jen took her leftovers back with us, I placed them very carefully in my bag but it still leaked sauce everywhere! Had a fun 10 minutes Detol-wiping my bag when we got in

It was really lovely, just sat chatting and reminiscing - we've gotten quite close over the 2 weeks she's been here, I'm gonna miss her next week! Was nice to have pal at Dada's who felt the same way as I did, we've had some good discussions about it and ways we can push to do what we want to be able to do to make a positive, if small, impact. It'll be weird there without her for sure!

Had a great time last night too when we got in - me, Jen, Tora, Stephanie and Yvonne were all sat on a blanket on the floor in our room playing cards! It was so funny, I was teaching them Irish Snap and Spoons, it was hilarious and good fun.

And that's about everything for now methinks, all caught up! I'll probably post again on Saturday night, I'll be mourning Jen's departure and will let you know what goes down at Dada's on a Saturday!
(Oh! I also bought myself some nutella so life is good again!)

Until then, love to everyone back home - only one week left and I'll be back!! Crazy xxx