Today was the first day of teaching in Malawi. The children were fine. I know I will grow to like them. One boy screamed down the place when his mother left. He was wailing so hard that the classroom assistant held him tight so he wouldn’t run. She asked him, “What are you going to do? You’re mother is already gone.” He replied, “I’m going to run!” I was impressed that he at least had a plan. This boy is not yet 5 years old.

The children are very energetic. When answering questions they yell out and stand up, tap me and push over each other to get to a space closer to me. They will learn that this is not ok but they are excited or they are testing.

The classroom is a good size but is not well stocked in anything useful. There about 30 copies of one “big book” and about 30 copies of a few readers. There are a lot of “doctor’s office” kinds of toys. So far I’ve seen no paper for drawing and no real art supplies. I was given my supplies for the term today. They include: 3 glue sticks, 3 pens, some sticky tack, some stickers, 3 boxes of 8 crayons and a can of powdered milk. Yes, powdered milk. Apparently this is to be taken to the staff room for my tea breaks.

The teachers are nice. I didn’t bring any food with me and they felt bad so one gave me a sandwich with a real chicken breast and the other gave me a doughnut. I was very grateful because I was starving!

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