Day 8: 1/3/12

Tutoring Memunatu

Ishmael 

Kelvin

Finished playground

I had trouble falling asleep because I was thinking so much about Alieu, and when I saw him come through the CRC gate I was so happy. He is adopted by the retired President of the CRC, Alfred, but I think he must live very independently because he came to VBS with his shirt and pants all unbuttoned, meaning he probably dresses himself. I fixed him up and the two of us spent the morning at crafts together. After lunch, we finished painting the playground by adding the blue and Anna and I painted "CRC" on the backs of the swings. We all signed our names on the back of the slide, which meant a lot to me. It really turned out great. I spent a lot of time with Kelvin, who is 16. We played 2 on 2 volleyball for a long time and actually got pretty good at it. He has become a great friend and we had some good conversations. Around 4:00 I went to find Ishmael for our race. The past two days, he would sprint by me and we'd been teasing each other about who would win. I actually got nervous since I'd talked myself up so much and asked Ibrahim if Ishmael was really fast. Ibrahim laughed and said I had nothing to worry about. Feeling confident, I said "so you ready for this or what?" Ishmael said, "I don't want to race you anymore." I thought maybe he was upset with me so I said "Wait, why?" He looked away and said "Ibrahim. He went to your races in the States. He told me about you." I teased him for being scared to lose to a girl when I realized, wait a second, he really is scared to lose to a girl. I dropped it, but I guess I didn't realize that they were not used to girls challenging them. I don't like that. That night, we got to join the kids for their study hall hours. Kelly worked with Aminata and showed me the 3 digit multiplication she was doing by hand. We kept telling her how smart she is. I think the girls especially are not told that enough. I recently read "The Help" and kept telling her and Memunatu- "You are smart. You are kind. You are important." By the end of the week I'd ask Aminata or Memunatu, "What are you?" and they'd roll their eyes at me and sigh "Smart, kind, and important. We know Kathryn!" I worked on basic multiplication tables with Memunatu. It is clear that she does not understand the concept of multiplication, or even addition- she just has her 1's, 2's and 5's memorized. If you ask her "what is 2x3?" She quickly answers "6". But if you ask her "what is 3x2?", she pauses and says "4... no 5, no 6", completely guessing. I worked with her on the dot method and kept trying to point out the addition patterns. She really clicked with the dot method but then became so dependent on counting them individually. I never realized how frustrating it is to explain. My sister is a third grade math teacher and I really empathized with her that night. These kids are so blessed to have an education, but I forgot that the education they are getting isn't the best quality. Little Faidu came over to us and I picked him up. He fell asleep on me so I didn't wake him up and carried him to the gate when we were all leaving. Memunatu was holding my other hand and began singing "I see the moon, the moon sees me, God bless the moon, and God bless me!" They make me so happy. That night, instead of a devotion, we had Affirmations. I was not looking forward to it, as it sounded really uncomfortable to have people compliment you while you just sat there. But I'm glad Tim made us do it. We went around and affirmed each other for the contributions each person made to the team. Going around the room, I had nothing but good things to say about each person. This trip would have been incredible regardless, but the team really made the experience. We had all become such great friends and I truly loved everyone there. Each member was so important and added something special. I am so thankful I got to be part of such an amazing team.