So Ive managed to make it to an internet cafe two days in a row! We began our placement today which was much different from expected. This morning at 7:30, after a freezing cold shower (i have yet to get hot water) and a breakfast of pourage, eggs, and mango, two other volunteers and I were driven to the prison compound where the school is located. I was really curious to see where the school was located and what inside of the gates would look like. When we got into the gates, it was almost as if it was a small village. Prisoners were along side the road on both sides in orange jumpsuits and were doing labor in the fields. However they were not locked up and only had one guard with a gun to watch them. Also while we were driving inside the gates children were walking along side us to school, which seems a little weird/ unsafe. Within the area we passed homes of the guards and then finally reached the school where 50 plus kids began running along side our van and screaming "teacher" teacher". They all seemed so excited. Once we got out we immediately were latched onto by a number of kids and dragged in various directions to play. We spent about 45 minutes on the playground with them and it was amazing. I do wish i could communicate with them more but they were happy just the same.

After playtime we went into the classroom and were immediately given control of the classroom, which was filled with 3 and 4 year olds. We attempted to go through numbers, colors, and body parts with them but it was definitely a challenge. There were at least 40 of them in one classroom so to keep their attention was not easy. However some were really bright and could count to 40 in both swahili and english which really impressed me. I think tomorrow we are going to bring some sort of candy like m&ms so they can count them and use them for colors. I think it will be a lot easier when we have a lesson plan. After classtime the children were served porridge in a small cup. It was hard to grasp that these were the lucky children but the children were all of good spirits and seemed healthy so that was good. It was however interesting to see every one of these kids gulp down their food without complaining when I am used to being a camp counselor for children who throw a fit when they get graham crackers instead of goldfish . Very different worlds. After snack we went to the older kids classroom for a little and helped them with math but pretty much i was limited to "nzuri" which means good evrytime they did something right. Im sure the kids got tired of hearing that :)

Around lunch time we were picked back up and the kids once again ran along side the van screaming "bye teacher." It was a really great day and I am looking forward to tomorrow now that I know what to expect and can prepare.

After lunch we spoke with a woman about HIV and AIDS and then visited the hospital in which she works. We were given a tour of the hospital which was nothing like I had ever seen before. We were able to go into almost all of the rooms where patients were staying which i felt bad about because I know I would not want people walking through my room if i was sick. We would definitely not be able to do that in America due to confedentiality. Walking through we saw people about to go into labor, people seekign HIV/AIDS treatment, malaria treatment, and also people were injured. By the end of our tour, I was definitely ready to leave because i did not think we should have been able to invade peoples privacy like that. The trip however did make me want to maybe volunteer with HIV/AIDS awareness.

Ok thats all for now but ill write again soon!