Tuesday we hand out new pencils from a recycled Bottle bottom which I have labled with stick on letters “Pencils”. This might be the nicest thing in the room. I tell them the rules, if you put the pencil in your mouth I will take it and you will get a chewed up pencil. Hawa translates and the seem to understand. Suddenly, I find I am the pencil police and within 5 mins. I have confiscated about 6 pencils. That seems to do the trick no need to take anymore for the rest of the day.
In Tanzania, atleast where we are, the people burn their trash. They burn it wherever and whenever. There is smoke and a stench in the hot steamy air. The air quality is awful. For some reason, today at school, someone started one of these trash fires directly in front of the school beneath the window. Within minutes the room was full of smoke. My black T-shirt had soot and ash all over it. The children were starting to cough and Ali was beginning to freak out. She took charge and went outside and with one of the TZ teachers threw dirt and water from our water bottle to put the fire out. It was one of those surreal moments. This is Africa. This is harsh. This is third world.
Remember the Hole?
Early on I told you about the cavernous hole in the play yard, there is a picture of it on the blog. Well today one of our students fell in the hole. She cut her head severly and was pulled out covered in blood. Hawa rinsed her off with water. I kept saying someone get her Mama, this is a neighborhood school, she can't be too far. There is alot of running around but not alot of assistance to the child. So I ask for some ice and bandages. The small shop next door sells ice pops so they give me one and I take the childs bloody shirt and do my VERY best to avoid touching anything ( and I do avoid touching anything) and hold the ice in the shirt to this poor baby's head. It is so hard to stay calm, but I know that I must. The girl is quiet which concerns me more than if she was crying, I keep asking Hawa to ask her if she is okay,,,, does the ice help? Do they have bandages? Antiseptic? Shortly we have a crowd of neighborhood women, lots of talking but no action. Where is her Mama? A new tattered dress appears for her and we take off her bloody uniform and put on her dress, I zip her up. Meanwhile the children press in closer all watching. Where is her Mama? After holding the ice for about 10 mins, the bleeding has stoped. It is a nasty gash. I ask for a rag, a scarf, something to tie around her forhead. Hawa appears with a dish cloth ( they use as hankies) and I roll it bandana style to make it as long as possible. It is not long enough to tie, so one of the women tucks it behind her ears. I tell Hawa the child needs to go home, and again I ask where is her Mama? She tells me that she was one of the women that was here earlier. I am confused by this... nobody but me and Hawa was taking care of this child. Her mother never came over to us. I insist that she must go home and get some treatment.
Hawa takes her litterly next door, which is home... but then decides to take her down the road to the Clinic. Ali and Hawa take her down the road where she receives an antiseptic and a bandage. Ali later tells me how crude this "clinic" is, we are just grateful she received some type of treatment.
During all of the mayhem we did learn that another child had fallen in the hole the day before. Her Mama showed us her injury which was a huge scrape and bump on the back of her 3 year old head. When we were picked up we had one of the local volunteers come and see the hole and we found out who was responsible for the land. We also discussed the incident with our mgt. at homebase, and we are all doing what we can to get the hole fixed.
While Ali and Hawa were at the clinic I calmed the children down with La La and a story. We then learned about plants and planted some beans in pots we made from recycled water bottles.
Today was the toughest day so far.
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