Tuesday July 10, 2007

In Swahili, 'mwalimu' means teacher, and it is a word that I became immediately familiar with the first time I entered my classroom at Kaole in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. One of the most inspiring things I have noticed about these children is that they come to school despite having enough reason to succumb to the pressures of life's hardships. Each day a bus takes us to the school because it is about 5 km. away. In the last leg of the journey, I see some of my 5 and 6 year old students walking to class, most having walked for quite a long time and usually without breakfast. We are only required to teach until 11am because the children do not receive any food and often get too tired and hungry to stay in school. Nevertheless, I have already made progress that I can feel hopeful about. I can see the spark in each child's eye when he finally understands the math problems I am trying to teach him or her. It is education that this generation will use to secure a brighter future. It is not about simply arriving and expecting immediate and sudden change. This fact becomes omnipresent after the first day on the job. Instead, success is found in bringing forth that first spark that the child will use to create a fire within themselves to reach levels previously thought impossible. While this is certainly a long and difficult process, the strength and pride of these people reaffirm in my mind that I am investing something in these children that will pay off exponentially in the future.