Day one of going to the school:

These kids are the cutest! Teaching today was absolute dream. I remember being nervous walking in and hoping things would go well. I was hoping the kids would like me or praying that they would understand the material, but each of them surprised me in such amazing ways. The students picked up in class really quickly and were super respectful.

Some things that happened to day that surprised me:

  1. they ran so much
  2. students “my food comes from the market”
  3. they were openly talking about religion in school (and singing about it)
  4. teacher “We have been focusing on respect this week”
  5. they dont start grading work until the 4th year of secondary school
  6. lunch had so much food
  7. the students were very health conscious

Day 2 of being in the school:

Lots of rain, greenhouses, power tools, and tea. We got to work on a project for the school today and built a greenhouse, well a frame for  greenhouse, well a gram for a door of a greenhouse… I had the opportunity to chat with three girls about how they feel about school. They talked about how they look forward to coming each day. In America, I feel like most of the time when we ask kids about school we hear negative responses. Here they feel like they have a voice and even though I didn’t get to teach today, I loved getting to sit back watch and listen to what makes these kids love being here.

I got to see connection today. They genuinely connect to each other and to their teachers. They all care for each other. I think today gave me one of my big takeaways from this trip and something that I need to implement into my classrooms one day. Today I learned how big of a difference caring and connection can make in a child’s life.