Week 2 in Zimbabwe 2012

Abby's sweet Grade 0 kiddos and teacher

Week 2 in Zim started with diving head first into all the schools. We went to Lukudsi and Matopo primary on Monday. We both spent the day observing again, but were easily persuaded to read books and sing songs with the kids.

Tuesday we went to Sigiti Primary. I saw a wonderful lesson where the teacher had the kids pretend to be robots who did whatever she said, a great way to teach them English. Abby quickly fell in love with her Grade 0 teacher, who was doing some wonderful things with her kids. Then we went to Silobi Secondary School and pulled some non-readers out of their Language Arts class to work on reading in small groups.

Abby doing the Hokey Pokey, a favorite! 

Wednesday while at Dobi Primary, Abby helped the Grade 0 teacher create stations where the kids worked on fine motor skills while cutting and tearing paper. Abby enjoyed seeing the kids move around the classroom and work on hands on activities!  I took a small group of kids out of the grade 1 classroom and read one of the books my students from Trinity created and "Are You my Mother" by Dr. Seuss. It was a wonderful experience. It took a little while for the kids to warm up to me, but after they did I had them act out the different animals in the book. It was a fun experience. Isotcha Primary was a similar experience! We left Wednesday very encouraged and refreshed. We also passed out supplies that we found were not being used into the classrooms. We put them in cleaned out cans so the kids could have supplies right at their fingertips everyday!

Melissa reading to Grade 1 students

Melissa and Chris with pencils and crayons

Abby and Melissa passing out pencil and crayons in cans

Thursday we went to Bulawayo to pick up a book shipment (which just happened to arrive while Abby and I were in Zim, it had been sitting in customs for 4 months!), drop Abby off at the bus station to go to Harare, and pick Elliot (an Australian guy we affectionately nicknamed Chappy) from the airport. Once we got to the house where the container filled with medical supplies and books was being held, we began to unpack the container. There were so many boxes that we knew the truck we rented was not going to hold our boxes, which was a really good thing! We worked hard moving and sorting boxes full of American textbooks, library books, and math manipulatives. Once we got home we were so tired, but our hearts were glad, thinking of all the great things the supplies would bring to the teachers. 

Friday we began sorting! It felt so overwhelming, we had no idea where to start. But we started with the textbooks, put them in piles of 10 so we could count them and give them out evenly among all the schools. 

A stack of text books

Mid sort on the veranda

Sweet Chi Chi sorting

 Saturday and Sunday Chappy, Prince, Chi Chi, and I continued to sort the books. They were such a big help. We started sorting the library books several ways. Our goal was to help each school create a library, so we were looking for books with pockets and cards in the cover. We also wanted the appropriate age level books to end up in the right schools. So we had a bunch of piles, one for each primary school, the secondary school, and books too old for either that would be given to the prison in Bulawayo. It took a while to go through the books because we all would get sucked into looking through them. Nothing warmed my heart more than to look up and see Prince and Chi Chi flipping through the pages of some of the books, engrossed in the vivid pictures jumping off the pages.

The sorting crew, Melissa, Chappy, Prince, and Chi Chi 

A slow process to sort all the books

Week 1 in Zimbabwe 2012

Abby and I arrived at the farm on Monday night, June 11, and it immediately felt like home. We walked into the same dorm we stayed in last year and couldn't help remember our time in Zimbabwe last summer. It felt so good to be back! On Tuesday we spent the day getting ourselves settled, helping around the farm and we even got to cook a little. We knew we would hit the schools on Wednesday, so we took our time resting and getting ourselves together. Plus we used this time to get to know Chi Chi again,  as you can see, it didn't take her too long to warm up!

Wednesday morning we woke up early, climbed out of our warm sleeping bags into the chilly morning air. Abby and I were very excited to get into the schools, see what had changed and decide what we were going to do with our time in the Matopos. As we got into the bright red fire truck, our excitement only grew. While traveling over those bumpy dirt roads we were full of anticipation. After making plans to travel back for almost a year, traveling thousands on miles on an airplane and a truck, we were about to embark on our adventure!




Chris, Abby, and I decided that Abby and I would split up, she would go into the grade 0 classrooms (US Kindergarten) and I would go into grade 1 classrooms and help however we could. These first visits would be just for observations, so we could pinpoint what we could do with our time. Dobi Primary, our first school, were taking graduation pictures of their sweet Grade 0 class. As we left the schools Abby and I made notes of our time, supplies we saw they needed, or areas where the students were struggling.



Thursday was a cold and windy day. Abby and I cut fabric for Norma's sewing group. It was not easy, as the chilly wind wanted to blow the fabric away while we were cutting. For lunch we had SADZA! (a traditional Zim food, its cornstarch and water, stirred till it gets the consistency of mashed potatoes) We also enjoyed some wonderful walks this week, getting to know our wonderful surroundings for the next 4 weeks.

 Friday we rested and I made banana bread out of old bananas. It was delicious! The farm was a different than last because of the lack of rain during their summer. They installed latrines for toilets and when we showered we caught the water in a basin, which we used to flush our toilets at night (so we wouldn't have to walk to the latrines in the dark). Chris and Diamond would have to haul water, so on Saturday we tried to get water out of an old borehole. Dennis, a guy from a neighboring farm, came to help put the piping down the hole. We all came to help hold the piping and prayed hard we would get water! 

And we did! Not very much, but we knew there was water underground, we just needed longer piping.

Hooray! Clean water! 

 Sunday was a day of rest, lots of reading time,  and enjoying the lovely scenery, before we began our 2nd week in Zim. 

School is in Session!

Melissa and I have been visiting the schools now for two weeks, and with two more weeks ahead of us, we are feeling very encouraged and energized by our work. We are visiting schools three days per week and working on school-related preparations the other two school days in a week.  On Mondays we go to Lukadzi and Matopo Primary schools.  On Tuesday we go to Silobi High School to read with the non-readers in an English class.  We are reading phonics readers with them and have already been able to help sort out the leveled abilities of the students with whom we read.  Also on Tuesday we visit Sigiti Primary and Silobi Primary.  And on Wednesdays we go to Isotsha and Dobi Primary schools.  At each of the Primary schools, Melissa and I split and work with our classes, reading with them, pulling small groups for literacy practice, singing songs and playing games.  Based on our host Chris' advice, we've decided to spent the majority of our time with Grade 0 and Grade 1, which are equivalent to Kindergarten and First Grade.  This has truly been the highlight of our African adventures so far! 

In other news, we are also enjoying time on MorningStar farm.  We have already made great friends with Prince and Chi Chi, whose parents Diamond and Caroline work on the farm.  Chi Chi waits for us to get back from the schools and then greets us with hugs, smiles, and jumping for joy! After hugs, Chi Chi always approaches us and says "I want to read," which makes our hearts so happy! This has become part of our routine, and to be entirely honest, Melissa and I can't get enough of it! We love reading with Chi Chi, and her brother, Prince, often joins us when he returns from school.  Even when we're not in the schools, we really feel we're making a difference in the lives of the two little ones we spend time with on the farm. 

So, now with two weeks left on MorningStar and working in the schools, we are soaking up every second.  Thanks to everyone for your support and prayers! Shout out to our students following us on this blog! We miss you all! 

Lions, Rhinos, and School Supplies, Oh MY!

Extra Credit points to whomever can find Miss Walker HIDDEN in one of these photos! 

We Are BOTH in AFRICA!!

We are both in chilly South Africa. I (Melissa) arrived last night (Tuesday) and Abby and Pieter were there to greet me. Actually, Abby about knocked me over and scared the other people waiting with her squeals. It was a very happy reunion. I was shocked by the cold when we left the airport, it was freezing compared to the balmy Atlanta weather I had just come from. We stayed at Pieter's cousin's house last night and we were cozy warm in their cute little house.
After some glorious hot showers this morning, Abby and I are going shopping for school supplies in Joburg with the money people generously gave to support the work we are doing in the schools in Matobo Hills, Zimbabwe. We plan to get things we need for our workshop and some supplies for the schools. Hopefully we will run into some good deals and get to buy some wonderful materials.
We will update as much as we can later. Love you all!
                                                                                                  -Abby and Melissa
Shout out to Miss Walker's 5th grade classes and Miss Smith's 3rd and 4th grade classes! We miss you and love you all!

Books to Africa

Well my friends, Abby is in Africa, hanging out with some rhinos and elephants, and eating giraffe, while I am here, in the US, running around getting myself ready to leave on Monday. I am so excited to meet Abby in South Africa (and hopefully meet some of her new exotic animal friends) and then head to Zimbabwe a couple of days later.
But, before I go, I just have to brag on my students. Before school was over, I asked them to help me create some books to bring with me to Africa. You see, where we are going in Zimbabwe, the schools do not have many books, especially ones that have recognizable animals or even characters with the same color skin as the students there. So, my fifth graders wrote some books and their Pre-K buddies helped them illustrate their books. I was blown away by their stories and illustrations and I can not wait to share them with the schools we will be visiting. I took some pictures for you to enjoy...beware of your heart melting.

 Love working together to help others! 

 Precious right? 

Well, this is the last you will hear from us in the US, the next update will be from Africa! Woohoo!

Abby and Melissa

Update!

It has been a while, so I think it might be time for a little update. The school year has been quite busy but Abby and I (Melissa) are heading back to Africa this summer, for about 5 weeks! We will be in Zimbabwe, working in the schools again, focusing on literacy for young students. 

Of course we just had to include our sweet students in our travel! So we...well, we will leave that for the next post, which will be updated soon. 

So, join us in our adventure and follow Abby and I this summer by checking the blog. We will try to update as much as we can, but we can not make many promises because internet is spotty over there. 

Africa, here we come! 

Abby and Melissa