Claire's Blog

this week, another visitor from the states, Ginny, came to stay for a  week.  As she was pulling out of the driveway, it hit me that at some point soon, i too will be going home, something that hadn't registered up to this point.  i'm really learning a lot of swahili, and its starting to get fun! i can actually communicate (granted the 18 month old still has a bigger vocabulary than me).  These girls amaze me more and more each day.  They break my heart, but inspire me over and over again.  Some of them are so fragile, but they are all strong for eachother.  Before Congo, I was shy and nervous about people with special mental needs, but our girls here with special needs are the ones i may be closest with.  All three are so desperate for attention and love.  They love hugs, and don't mind that i dont speak swahili very well. 

Today we took our new baby to the hospital.  We think its meningitis.  The doctors want to keep him there till monday, and i took a taxibus ALL BY MYSELF back home to bring some food and clothes for the baby.  It's only a 20 minute ride, but i've never been more proud of myself!  It's a rush to actually feel capable of doing things on my own.   This is a short post, but its gettting close to sunset here! 

it has been a hectic last week, and the past two times i've tried to go to the internet, we needed to go to the hospital instead!  Last time i wrote, there were 37 girls and a baby boy here.  Last week, three girls came back from their boarding school for students with special needs, and a new baby (1-3 weeks old) arrived.  Also,l the full time house mother went to Zambia for a conference for the week.  I've been to the hospital 5-ish times at to the pharmacy about 10 times (not as a patient, don't worry).  It's been an eventful week

A group of visitors came from the states last thursday, and i found it strange to be speaking so much english, and i forgot some simple words.  It was a different perspective, and one that i found strangely unfamiliar.  One of the group members is a rising junior like me and she'll be coming on the 9th to spend a week.  I think the girls will have a lot of fun practicing english with her and having a new face around.  On Sunday, I'm going with the group to a conference in Kipushi, where I will attempt to translate a little for them, so don't expect an update.  Sorry!

Saturday marked the 47th anniversary of Congo's independence from the Belgians.  We celebrated with chickens, cokes, and cookies.  We watched parades on TV and they also played a movie about Patrice Lumumba.  It's called Lumumba, and its in French, I bet you could find it on Netflix.  He is revered as a hero here, and I think mom sent out an article about him to her email list.  You should check it out. Saturday was also special for me because I recieved a package from home!  Thanks to everyone who sent an email w/ my mom.  I feel encouraged!  The girls had a fun time looking at all the pictures and learning about life in the states.  We also discussed how races have more variation than black and white, and the pictures illustrated that.

 English classes are going well.  The girls are divided into three classes based on their year in school.  Each group meets twice a week.  The older girls have learned written English some in school, so we focus more on conversation and sometimes culture.  The middle age group is the smallest class, and we work on conversation and vocuabulary.  The youngest group is sometimes a little hectic, and the girls in the class range from 2-8 years old.  Some of the girls just want to play and not work, but some of them are very eager to learn and hunt me down for extra practice outside of class.  Each of the girls can now tell you where her head, shoulders, knees, and toes are, and all can sing the alphabet song.  About half of them have grasped how the letters and the song actually match up, and we work on that each time. 

Yesterday they annouced grades at school.  Its different than the states.  They call out the first 20 or 30 in the class of 50 with your class rank and percentage earned, starting even in pre-school!  If you fail, they just hand you the report card.  Everyone knows everyone elses grades.  We had four girls in primary and 2 girls in secondary fail, but we also had a 1st, 2nd, 3 5ths, 3 8ths, and several others who did quite well.  All of the girls finishing primary school did pass and will start at secondary in the fall. 

I can tell you that I'm hungry, thirsty, tired, angry, sick, and laughing in Swahili.  I learned that the girls study Swahili at school some in addition to French and English.  The Swahili spoken here isn't "proper" Swahili, so they learn the proper words and practice conjugation at school.  I think its a great way to give the girls some pride in their language and culture.

Church services almost always in Swahili or other Bantu languages, but Bibles in Swahili are very expensive ($11, but thats about 1/10th of some peoples monthly income), and most people, including the girls here, read the bible in french.  Part of the beauty, complexity, and difficulty of this part of the world comes from all the different languages spoken.  Many of the girls here count English as a 4th or 5th language, and they can easily name 20 languages that are spoken here in Lubumbashi.  Each tribe or village has a different culture, with dieversity ranging fomr how to eat bukhari, to language, to names.  The girls hwere have anywehere from 2 to 6 names, and even if you have the same mother and father, you can have completely different names.  Sometimes names have meanings that are much more significant to the girls than names are in the states. 

Thats about in for today! Thanks for reading!