I woke up this morning with a deep sharp pain in my stomach. Anne thinks that it was from the fresh tomatoes we ate last night at Hotel Silver and I am inclined to agree with her. I felt better after a little while, but I was tempted not to leave at all today from her house. I really did not feel like going anywhere! It was cloudy and kind of chilly with the wind today, which was also discouraging me. But I remembered something from the movie ‘300’ that really did motivate me. The narrator is talking about raising Spartan warriors from boyhood when he said, “Only the strong survive… only the hard… only the strong.” Apparently it was enough to motivate me because I ended up going to the school. And I am so glad that I did! I spent my time today working closely one on one with a student named Haruna. I helped him with the alphabet and with a little math. It took a long time, but I could tell that he was learning! He got really excited and I could tell that he loved receiving my fullest attention. He is 7 years old and I know that his life is sorrowful. He lives in a family where he does not get very much attention or positive encouragement. When he goes to school he isn’t encouraged very much, if at all, either. In fact, he is commonly forced to go up in front of everyone to ‘pray’ or ‘sing’ and when he can’t do it because of his nerves both teachers and students mock him. When he fails the teachers will tell the other students to “shame him” and they will all flock around him, chanting something terrible about how he is “a very bad boy.” This happened even when he was too nervous to pray one day! I was very glad that I got to show him a little bit of encouragement, a little bit of one on one time today. It was rewarding for us both, I think.
The school, Amka Afrika, was started a couple of years ago by my new friend Simon, a Tanzanian man, safari guide and raiser of chickens. It is working hard to stay on its feet, but it is doing a find job. The American dollar goes very far here at Amka, for example the 4 toileted bathroom building was built for roughly $1,000, plumbing and all. I am very glad that I chose to volunteer here this week.
Dad called tonight! It was a surprise call and I am glad that I heard it! He told me that Cody made the baseball team and Gustavus! I am so proud of him! He worked very hard to accomplish that, I know.
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