Tuesday, March 24, 2015

March 24, 2015
            Again the day started at an early 7:00 am. The birds’ songs acted as a natural alarm clock along with Ms. Clark’s reminder as she made her morning rounds. Today’s Agenda: Sand pit, Kitchen garden, Kitchen painting, and teaching the students. We started with the sand pit. The first step was to dig out the pit and prepare it for a mud floor that will prevent the bugs and pest from making their way up from the dirt into the children’s new play area. Sweat was dripping from all of our brows and we could feel the heat encroach even as early as 8 o’clock. Yet, we worked through the heat and finished the mud-laying before 11:00. The mud is now hardening so that tomorrow we may fill it with sand and the students will be able to use it.  It is wonderful to do projects that will benefit students for a long time.  As the sand pit was being worked on, Tyler and Ms. Clark were finishing the kitchen painting.  A growth chart was painted on the wall and a health check-list was painted on the opposite wall.  This will be a daily reminder to the students to take a shower, brush their teeth, wash their hands, comb their hair, and clean their dishes.  Since everyone worked so hard during the morning and we got everything finished we were able to take a break during the heat of the day.  Some of us showered, others took naps.  The rest was greatly appreciated by all.  Then we started the kitchen garden at 3:oo.  We made a raised 4 foot by 4 foot bed.  We mixed dirt, manure, and coconut peat together in equal parts and planted many different vegetables: beans, chilis, amaranth, eggplant, lettuce, okra, and several spinaches. We also planted marigolds around the perimeter.  This is a test bed to see how the students take to it and how it works in the climate here.  If it works well, another WLS trip with a school from California will make more beds and put in a grey water system in June.  After the kitchen garden was completed, we got to go teach the students a song and a game.  We taught them “head, shoulders, knees, and toes.”  It was fun to do.  The students had looks of joy and excitement on their faces and their emotions were reflected in ours as well.  We then took them outside for a rousing game of “duck, duck, goose.”  We had them walk instead of run as we didn’t want them to get to riled up. Their teacher had a blast playing it too.  The children of Timbaktu showed us pure joy and innocence.  What a fabulous way to end an incredible day. It is hard to comprehend that tomorrow is our last day in Timbaktu and we will be leaving soon to go home.  There are plenty of things that we miss such as cold drinks and salads but we will miss here as well.  The people have been so friendly and open to us.  We will leave you with a quote that was read to us today and is very appropriate to how we are feeling about our work here.  “When love and skill work together expect a masterpiece.” – John Ruskin

~ Ms. Dahlquist and Tyler













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