Rahim was quiet (I suppose because it was early). He is hilarious, in the wittiest way possible. They remind me why I always wanted brothers. Yesterday, during lunch, Rahim, Kanani, and I were sitting at one corner of the "sufro" (long plastic sheet laid down on the ground which serves a similar function as a "tablecloth" and upon which food is served and consumed). They picked up a whole green chili each. Kanani tossed one in my direction. "On the count of three, we are going to put the entirety of our respective chilies into our mouths." I was hesitant (not quite a eat-chilies-whole kind of girl) but picked it up and got ready to chomp anyway. When Kanani said, "Three," I bit down, encompassing a 1.65 inch long green chili with my mouth. The three of us chewed away. My mouth was on fire and my senses / nerves were numb and malfunctioning within a minute a half. The other two seemed totally unaffected. Minutes later, once I had tossed some carbohydrates into my mouth to slow down the burn, I looked over at their plates. Both of them were laughing, their green chilies still in tact in their plates. I should have known!
Then, Rahim told us this ridiculous story (one of those typical woman-blonde jokes). There were three women standing on one side of the river. They needed to get across. A genie appeared and said he would grant them each one wish. The first asked for the ability to swim. She swam and swam until she reached the other side of the river. The second one asked for a boat and used it to sail across to the opposite bank. The third said, "I wish I could think like a man." As her wish came true, she turned to her left and walked across the bridge connecting the two banks of the river. As much as "blonde" jokes are old and repetitive (as are ones that discriminate between genders), we all laughed.
Yesterday, during our nightly walk, Nana Bashir was describing a fruit (I cannot remember the name right now for some reason). In describing its physical appearance, he used the simile "kaa mende" (like a cockroach). He does not cease to make me laugh. My favorite part of our walks is always at the end. We go to the water tank behind the girls' secondary school. It is about 10 m in diameter and between 6 and 10 m deep. Nana Bashir and I always check the water level together as well as which of the three pumps is channeling water into the tank. How does one go about doing this? There are three pumps, each connected to the tank by a metal pipe. During the daytime, the pipe connected to the pump that is working is colder than the other two (which are hollow as water is not running through them). At night, the one which is working is warmer than the other two which have been switched off. Nana Bashir will always be my favorite science teacher.
Ummi and I have been working with the primary students on maintaining a spinach "farm" behind the school. We took grades 4, 5, and 6 girls to plant two days ago. They made up a song / rap that went "tuna panda, tuna chimba, tuna pika, tuna kula, hey!" (we are planting, we are digging, we are cooking, we are eating, hey!). It was way too much fun - lots of clapping, yelling, and running. Yesterday, I went to brief the grade 6 boys on the planting that they will be doing today. The students are divided into groups of three and the plots are divided into one plot for every six students. The conversations I had with them while they were painting the signs with their names on them (to stick into the dirt, labeling their plot) were great. I have videos of them dancing Michael Jackson style and mock fighting. They all told me to take them to America and that they either wanted to marry "wazungu" or "wahindi" - whites or Indians. It took me forever to explain to them why neither option is necessarily a better one than marrying locally.
I love how much attention these kids pay to what I am saying. On my second day in boys' secondary, we had a discussion about futbol. They asked me how I felt about the sport and I responded with, "One day, I am going to marry Casillas." Yesterday, Abdul (one of my Form II students) handed me a farewell letter that he had written as well as a few drawings he wanted me to keep as memories of my time here. In it, he wrote "Say inshallah and you will marry Casillas and I will come to your wedding with majani mdomoni." That was a conversation we had four weeks ago! A few of the students write me letters. It warmed my heart. I can't read these letters in private. I get way too "emo" for my own good.
The sandpit is dug! Now, we need to tarp the bottom, sand the brick that we want to use to line the walls, and toss in a layer of soil followed by a layer of sand. I'll leave these tasks for Kanani, but I'll set it all up with Deo (the construction manager) before I leave, insha'Allah. There is so much to do this afternoon between my last class, finishing up the farm, finalizing the sandpit construction, finalizing the different pamphlets and letters that I have been working on, saying goodbye to everyone, taking pictures, and exchanging contact information with them, writing any letters that I'd like to leave with people here before I leave, cleaning up / packing, making sure to milk my last nightly ritual opportunity, and God knows what else ..
I'm going to post a few pictures here now (primarily of Kibaha) so I can (maybe) shed some light on why I will miss this place so much.
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| With a few of the Form IV and V girls at dinner one night. They are way too much fun. The menu was "ndizi" (aka banana) with coconut curry and meat. This is one of the students' favorite meals so the dining hall was in party-mode. I really enjoy spending time with these folks. |
Ah, I had a whole list of pictures lined up to upload but the internet keeps coming in and out and I'd rather post this up than risk not being able to post it while the photographs load. More soon, I suppose. I think tonight, once everyone is asleep, I'll come back out to the office and finish up my last blog post in Kibaha, pictures and all (provided we have internet)! Hope you are all splendid ..
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