Shikamu! Marahaba!

Last week I started volunteering at Dogodogo. (http://www.dogodogocentre.org/) After meeting with the director last Tuesday, he took me to the center in Kigogo, a poorer suburb of Dar es Salaam. The center has 60 street kids (all boys) from the ages of 7-18 years old. These boys have had hard lives, living on the street for many years before being able to come live in the orphanage. Many have had parent(s) pass away or suffered from extreme poverty, forcing them to fend for themselves. The orphanage is not only a home, but also provides support for schooling, extracurricular activities, and vocational training. I thought I would maybe tutor kids one on one but then the coordinator and I couldn't communicate very well in his broken english and my horrible swahili. I asked him to show me the books I would use to teach and next thing I know, he's sitting me down at a table in the dining area and gathering about 20 boys for me to meet that I would be teaching.

The boys are very sweet, and some are very inquisitive. On Day 1, one boy asked a million questions from how fast is Jupiter's orbit is to when did the U.S. gain independence to where is Jamaica to when did Tupac Shakur die. I've never taught a class before so this is all new to me. I was pretty intimidated to teach a group of boys, all who are taller and much tougher than me. But they are so hungry to learn. I've never seen such enthusiam in classes when I was growing up. It's incredible, these boys have so little in terms of material goods, experienced such difficulties that children should never experience so young, and they are very happy children.

I am now teaching them math and english daily and I love it :)


p.s. "Shikamu" is a greeting said to elders and means "I kiss your feet". "Marahaba" is what the elders say back to the younger person, and it literally means "It tickles my feet." :)