I need more hours!!

Man am I tired...

I don't know if it's a lull after all of yesterday's excitement, but I am struggling to keep my eyes open today. Bill and I are constantly sighing about not having enough hours in the day to keep up with everything. We were at a point last week where keeping our heads just above the water was possible: I would help Bill develop English Confidence class lesson plans; he would help me keep control in Play Group so as to ensure against my wearing myself out before ten; and together we would develop and revise Science Club ideas. Now, with our added responsibilities, we are feeling the pressure.

I must state now that this is not a complaint against our new educational endeavours. We love what is happening here and are excited to be exhausted from doing something we are passionate about every day. I, personally, have been so cheesed about Darasa la Afya (Health Class -- I must refrain from calling it Sex Ed) that I've had a near constant grin on my face for the past 48 hours. As Bill and I go through the Roots & Shoots idea packets and try to brainstorm ideas, we get really into the process of figuring out what we anticipate will be successful with the students (it burns me that I can't actually be there for Roots & Shoots when it starts, as it falls on the same day and time slot as Girls Club [and I'm not leaving my girls]). I just caught Penn outside and asked if Bill and I could be excused from the Supervised Free Play part of the mornings (from 10 to lunch) so that we could each have more free time overlapping with internet service. Much of our planning so far has been done in our room at night before bed or in the time between bath time and dinner. I don't get a break during the day because nap time and my shift for Cheke Chea are at the same time. Penn said it was fine. I think it will be, too. We have plenty of volunteers here during the late morning and the worst our absence from the scene will do is force a couple of others to do more. Not to point any fingers, but it's difficult to feel sorry for people you're possibly putting more of a burden on when so often you see them in a supine position on a bunch of pillows during work hours. Pole sana (si kweli).

So, from now on, I'm free after Play Group on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays (at least for now) for the purposes of having more research time online. It's really important to me to get acquainted with the statistical successes and failures of Sexual Health and Relationships Education before I implement certain techniques into my curriculum, which Teller has entrusted me with developing (for her and the board's approval, of course). I also volunteered to collect and organize any and all data I come across regarding Sex Ed. and child safety or chastity concerns so that the more conservative members of the community and faculty who fear that this topic will somehow sexually corrupt or encourage the students to behave inappropriately can hopefully have some piece of mind from the very persuasive data that research has yielded worldwide.

On top of all of this planning (including the 1 1/2 inch stack of literature Teller handed me to review for the class) I have to prepare my Cheke Chea kids for an exam for which I know they are not prepared. The exam, I just learned, is this week, and they must learn the shapes and English words for moon, star, and sun, as well as apparently know how to not only write their names, but read and understand the words "What is your name?" on the test. Ouch. So... that's going to be a challenge, to say the least. I recently learned that the students in my class don't all even speak Swahili, so what I've learned to say to them in Swahili only gets to some of the students. Most of the remainder speak their tribal language, Iraq. I know, literally, two words in Iraq. So, that's a shida kubwa.

I'm running out of juice now (my computer is running low on battery, and I desperately need a nap... and, come to think of it, I don't have any OJ left) so I must go. I haven't seen my Serengeti kids since this morning, so I must at least make the effort before dinner.

Til later.