Spring
It’s been so long since I’ve written. The past few months have seemed more hectic and I have a feeling it’ll just continue that way until Scott and I leave in December. Early on in the year, Scott and I had more down time, nights when we’d have nothing to do for school, but now I go to bed with a list of things that need to be done for school and wake up with those same things on the forefront of my mind. Am I complaining? Perhaps I am. Perhaps I know for sure that, in the future, I want a job I can leave at the end of the workday. Or perhaps I should relish this time, knowing that what I’m doing right now is way more than just a job, and how often will I have that in my life.
The seasons have started to change. It’s rained a couple of times signaling the beginning of the small rainy season. Last weekend, Scott and I got caught in a small squall. We took shelter under some trees before realizing it would only get worse before it got better so we just headed home in the rain. The big drops of rain turned the dust and dirt into clumps that stuck to our sandals and it reminded us of our early walks through the hills of Monduli when we’d come home on stilts of mud inches high. We had to employ the use of sticks and tree trunks to get the clay mud off our shoes. Another method is to wait until they dry off and then bang them together.
And the temperatures have gone up. With Monduli at over 4,000 feet elevation, we had months in the fall and winter of brisk coldness when I’d need heavy blankets at night and layers at the school. I called it cold; Scott called it nice. But that has passed, I think. We’re now returning back to the hotness that welcomed us back in January, a heavy warmth that our minds had forgotten.
There’s also another change. Scott’s mom has generously decided to sponsor an Orkeeswa student. We originally had in mind a member of the new class, a pre-form one student. But with Peter and Rapha on a fundraising/sponsorship tour in the states for most of October, almost all of the pre-forms had already been chosen for sponsorship, so Scott inquired if any of the form one or form two students – the students we’ve been teaching for the past ten months – still needed sponsors. Seuri Denis, one of the brightest and promising form two students at the school, needed a sponsor as his new one had decided to sponsor a pre-form instead. So Scott and I chose Seuri for his mother to sponsor, and our hope is to pick up the sponsorship ourselves in a year or two when we are more financially stable. Just like that, we’ve linked our lives to Seuri’s life for the next four years and hopefully beyond, which when I think about, always somehow manages to bring tears to my eyes.
After we made the decision for Scott’s mom, Scott and I wanted to tell Seuri, so we sat next to him at lunch the next day hoping we’d find the right time. He was with a few other students so we didn’t say anything right away. But then I got pulled away by another matter and Scott did find the right time on his own to tell Seuri the news. I was a bit sad to not be there but the way that Scott recounted Seuri’s reaction was good enough. He said, “If a black person can blush, Seuri did.”
The seasons have started to change. It’s rained a couple of times signaling the beginning of the small rainy season. Last weekend, Scott and I got caught in a small squall. We took shelter under some trees before realizing it would only get worse before it got better so we just headed home in the rain. The big drops of rain turned the dust and dirt into clumps that stuck to our sandals and it reminded us of our early walks through the hills of Monduli when we’d come home on stilts of mud inches high. We had to employ the use of sticks and tree trunks to get the clay mud off our shoes. Another method is to wait until they dry off and then bang them together.
And the temperatures have gone up. With Monduli at over 4,000 feet elevation, we had months in the fall and winter of brisk coldness when I’d need heavy blankets at night and layers at the school. I called it cold; Scott called it nice. But that has passed, I think. We’re now returning back to the hotness that welcomed us back in January, a heavy warmth that our minds had forgotten.
There’s also another change. Scott’s mom has generously decided to sponsor an Orkeeswa student. We originally had in mind a member of the new class, a pre-form one student. But with Peter and Rapha on a fundraising/sponsorship tour in the states for most of October, almost all of the pre-forms had already been chosen for sponsorship, so Scott inquired if any of the form one or form two students – the students we’ve been teaching for the past ten months – still needed sponsors. Seuri Denis, one of the brightest and promising form two students at the school, needed a sponsor as his new one had decided to sponsor a pre-form instead. So Scott and I chose Seuri for his mother to sponsor, and our hope is to pick up the sponsorship ourselves in a year or two when we are more financially stable. Just like that, we’ve linked our lives to Seuri’s life for the next four years and hopefully beyond, which when I think about, always somehow manages to bring tears to my eyes.
After we made the decision for Scott’s mom, Scott and I wanted to tell Seuri, so we sat next to him at lunch the next day hoping we’d find the right time. He was with a few other students so we didn’t say anything right away. But then I got pulled away by another matter and Scott did find the right time on his own to tell Seuri the news. I was a bit sad to not be there but the way that Scott recounted Seuri’s reaction was good enough. He said, “If a black person can blush, Seuri did.”
posted by Siapiau | 8:08 PM
1 Comments:
Awesome!!
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