Teaching in rural Arusha!

Hey all!

Sorry I haven't posted... had a few problems with the account.  Anyway, this is Caitlin, posting under my pen-name....Elaine H.   We have been teaching in rural schools just outside Arusha as well as some in Arusha town.  The kids are all in form I to form IV, so their English is quite good...and they laugh at our Kiswhili.  Today we taught at Maji ya Chai Sekondari School for 4 hours and it  went really well.  We managed to teach all 4 forms and we will be back there on tuesday and wednesday to teach some more.  Today we taught Piga Mswaki (brush your teeth) and gave out toothbrushes.  Then we moved on the HIV/AIDS lessons and talked about STDs.  What is really amazing is that the kids know all the proper answers to questions about HIV, but  on further questioning, don't know what some of the words mean.  For example, they know to use the word "condom" but do not actually know what a condom is or how to use it.  We were helpful in this respect and also were able to dispell some myths about HIV/AIDS and its transmission.  The kids talked a lot about shunning those infected with HIV from society; hopefully our lessons and our discussion will help to change some of their opinions and prevent such harsh treatment of those friends and family members infected with the virus.

Overall, teaching is going really well and the kids' kindness and enthusiam makes our job super easy.  Thanks for reading and sorry I couldn't post sooner!

xo  Caitlin