Day 14
Shikamoo! (Hello, formal)
While Eileenʼs allowed us to relax and regroup, I think we were all excited to see the familiar faces of our friends at Banjika again :) Almost immediately, we got back into the grove of school life. Our first activity, an Mchaka Mchaka race, consisted of five stations which we visited in turn: bricks, planting trees, making chapati, removing sunflower seeds, and dancing. Some highlights included carrying buckets of water on our heads to water the newly-planted trees, as well as getting to devour our chapati with some delicious (albeit slightly tongue- burning) chai tea. Part of the challenge was that we were unable to speak in English which prompted us to quickly learn key Swahili terms. For the tree planting station, we needed words like “water” (maji) and “tree” (mti) to execute the task. While there was some disagreement regarding the true winners of the competition, we all agreed that the learning was more profound than the outcome of the race.
The afternoon activities consisted of a lot of down time, as the morning was more active. We were assigned articles to read over the night and had a mini discussion about them. Topics included during our conversation were the impacts of volunteering and charity work (when it is/isnʼt necessary) and the “White Savior Industrial Complex”. After school, many of us headed to the “grounds” (the school soccer field) with our siblings to dance and watch the soccer game. Well, thatʼs a wrap to an amazing day! ;)
Kwaheri!
Charlotte and Martina
Shikamoo! (Hello, formal)
While Eileenʼs allowed us to relax and regroup, I think we were all excited to see the familiar faces of our friends at Banjika again :) Almost immediately, we got back into the grove of school life. Our first activity, an Mchaka Mchaka race, consisted of five stations which we visited in turn: bricks, planting trees, making chapati, removing sunflower seeds, and dancing. Some highlights included carrying buckets of water on our heads to water the newly-planted trees, as well as getting to devour our chapati with some delicious (albeit slightly tongue- burning) chai tea. Part of the challenge was that we were unable to speak in English which prompted us to quickly learn key Swahili terms. For the tree planting station, we needed words like “water” (maji) and “tree” (mti) to execute the task. While there was some disagreement regarding the true winners of the competition, we all agreed that the learning was more profound than the outcome of the race.
The afternoon activities consisted of a lot of down time, as the morning was more active. We were assigned articles to read over the night and had a mini discussion about them. Topics included during our conversation were the impacts of volunteering and charity work (when it is/isnʼt necessary) and the “White Savior Industrial Complex”. After school, many of us headed to the “grounds” (the school soccer field) with our siblings to dance and watch the soccer game. Well, thatʼs a wrap to an amazing day! ;)
Kwaheri!
Charlotte and Martina
