That’s right… I’m going to school again. This time, as a teacher!!! For the past week I have been a kindergarten teacher’s assistant. I have 18 new kiddos to look after every weekday now, and I love it! They are well behaved during class time (because their teacher has authority and they know to respect her) but they are crazy when it’s play time (because they have this new American, me, to jump on and have fun with)!! I am at the school with them from 9:00 am to 1:30 pm, and honestly the day flies by! All of the kids are age 3-7 and they are the sweetest little things!!
So far, It’s been hard to learn their names because they are Xhosa or Afrikaans. But, I am trying very hard to remember them so that I can call them by name. I think I will gain some respect this way. But more importantly, they will feel more seen and known if I can call them by name. My goal for the next 6 weeks in South Africa is to make my students feel so so so incredibly loved and seen and known. And actually, the kids themselves are very very affectionate. Every day I get hugs from them and they surround my legs with tight squeezes. They’re true kids— they love piggy back rides, playing hide n seek, singing, tickles, running around, and playing with my hair. Today I gave probably 100 piggy back rides— and that’s not an exaggeration (my back paid the price for it, but that’s okay haha). Every day at recess it’s a wild time where I hear “teacher, teacher” a thousand times and “me, me, me” because all they want is attention. Sometimes I wish I had more than 2 arms and hands just so I could hold more kids, do more handshakes, and give more high fives at one time because there’s so many kids at our school that need love. Something I was told the other day is that we are all longing to be touched. We feel connected and loved by people when they hug us because we were made to be touched. We were formed by God’s hands and since we know the feeling of the Father’s touch, we long for touch here on Earth. These kids long to be loved, hugged, and given attention. So if for the next 6 weeks that’s all I get to do— it’ll be enough.
It’s funny though, how I’m the teacher but the kids are teaching me at the same time. They tell me simple things like how to count from 1 to 5 in Afrikaans or how to say “hello! how are you?” in Xhosa (Molo! Unjani?). But they also teach me by the way they act with one another– they’ve given me a whole new understanding of the saying “Sharing is Caring” because every day during snack time, there’s always a few kids in the classroom who don’t have any food packed from home. But, no worries, because their classmates are always willing to give them some of their own food from home. I’m not sure what their home lives are like, but I do know that every kid is sponsored to be at the school or their parents pay 100 Rand a month for the kids to be there because they are given an education and a hot meal cooked by the staff right before they leave. But anyways, the kids are great at sharing with one another and it’s refreshing to see such selfless children.
I’m looking forward to spending to rest of the school year with them! If you would like to pray for my team and I, we have a few prayer requests:
– that the language barrier wouldn’t hinder us from loving our kids, getting to know them, and teaching them
– energy!! that we would have enough energy every day at school
– that the teachers would also open up to us and that we would be able to form better relationships with them
– for the school, that they would get enough resources and have enough money to allow more kids into the school
– healing for the students!! Some of them have tuberculosis right now
Thank you!!! Lots of love from South Africa <3
