Monday 2 Feb – My Birthday

It was the first day of the intership today. I got there only a few minutes before Mary Beth and stood awkwardly in the office before she arrived. She gave me and Barbara a proper orientation and showed us all around the compound. There are tons of things that can be done. And I am definitely the type of person who thrives off there being stuff to do especially when it is physical, productive labor in warm climates. So I cant wait to get to work. She also gave us a tour of the local neighborhood. Then she took us to a school where she used her magic to get a boy who had been out of school for a year back in. She also payed for it. It was pretty amazing to see. We then went to pick up Denzel and Dapne both of whom are disabled so we give them some morning education. Daphne is eighteen, deaf and has been abused. She is afraid of men so I have to be careful but she was in a good mood that day and laughed and smiled and got along with me really well. Denzel is awesome and I have a lot of fun with him. He is in a wheelchair and has braces on his legs. That morning they taught me some really interesting games like lucky 6 and some card game which was kind of like "rat screw" but for kids. It was awesome. It was first experience learning with disabled kids and is hard to get used to but you pick it up quickly. You need to slow everything down and realize you’re trying to get them to learn.
After working with them for a few hours I had my lunch and then the kids started to come in. Before you knew it there was a swarm of them. 200-300 everywhere. I read to some at first and then Cathy asked if I wanted to try out the kitchen to see what it was like. There were miles of bowls of soup. They kids come to a door with a ticket for soup and get a little bowl with a little piece of bread in it. After everyone has been served they can come back for seconds or as they call it “second chance”. Its absolute pandemonium at that point. It’s a little bit sad because you can tell they are very hungry. They are all screaming and yelling for more soup and bread. Some fight over the chance to finish off they pots of soup with the bread. I can see why the organization wants to work on manners and respect so much. They are good kids they just lack a lot important socialization at home because of the poverty. I believe they cant be blamed for it but at the same time they need to learn proper manners. I don’t know if I have the right to say that? For the rest of the afternoon basically I worked with a girl on her factors. It was difficult for me to remember the easier maths because adults get so far removed from it, that it is difficult to keep up with it. But I tried and I hope it helped. Who knows? I think Mary Beth was happy with the work I did. Hopefully I can keep it up and make some lasting/sustainable improvements there. I am pumped about the stuff I have to do.