First of all, I want to mention the traffic. I know everyone gets it by now. The troubles of travel here in the city. Yesterday was by far the most horrible traffic we have encountered. It was so miserable. It was the hottest day that we have been in Africa by far. We have not had many sunny days here. But yesterday the sun was out in full force. So, it was like sitting in an oven while traveling in the vans. We were suppose to get back to the school at 1. That ended up being close to 3. I thought we were going to have a few people pass out on our way. We surely did have a few people with farmers tan. Not O Aaron thou. I am from the sunshine state. So, bring on the sun!
The school put on another performance for us. It was mostly for the people who were not with us the first day. It was still a great time. They did a few new songs this time. So it was a nice treat once again. Jane taught some of the kids how to use the recorders. They had a few days to practice a song and were put to the test. I was surprised. These kids had it down and performed it well. I was blow away by the time frame that they had to learn the song. But these kids are amazing. They continue to surprise me day by day.
Today was the olympic day for the school. Mostly all the events were running events. I got to perform in the 100 meter dash. I say dash, but I was nearly crawling along. I did not realize how far 100 meters really was. I only had to compete against the teachers and parents. But they all burned me. Well, except for one. I got him! I even got to slow down at the end and pull a Usain Bolt. There was a kid who ran the 5000 meter race. He was like a gazelle out there. He ran every lap like it was his first lap. There was no slowing up for this kid. He ran the first lap with over sized flip flops on. Than he kicked those off and ran in just his bare feet. A member from my team placed third. This gazelle lapped him twice. Half the field dropped out half way through. I do not blame them. I don't think I could of made it one lap. One lap is 400 meters. There surely is some true talent in this school. Both academically and physically.
One sad note to the day was watching the kids drop out of a race and fall to the ground. It was from a lack of water. Nearly all these kids drink one glass of water a day. So most of these kids are dehydrated most of the time. So you take that combination of dehydration. Than you throw a 5000 meter or 1500 meter race in there. What do you get? Mass chaos! The next sad note was that there was no water to drink at the field. I purchased a big bottle of water before I left for the field. So I started hooking up the runners from the red team with my water. They surely needed it more than me. I felt bad for the other teams, but I was being a team player first. Sorry guys! All the teams did a great job today. The yellow team, the lions, won the overall competition. The red team came in second. But one positive note was that the red team won the team who stood out the most. I like to contribute that to Caroline's and my leadership. I will give the teachers some credit too. They were the ones getting the team to stay off the track. We had a secondary student named Sam who was outstanding with the younger kids. He was by far the leader of the team. He was keeping all the kids in line, as well as, screaming out a chant. That chant was followed by another chant from the entire team. It really sounded awesome. I just wish I knew what they were saying.
Most of us got to walk back with the kids through the valley. It was most of our first experience with walking through the slums. It was a real eye opening experience. I walked alongside another guy name John. This kid is really sharp. He told me a little bit about his story, as well as, a little bit about the people of the valley. It costs a family around $6 U.S. dollars a month to rent a place in the valley. That seems like so little to us, but to these people it is alot of money. Especially when 80% of the population here is unemployed. Now John has to wake up at 4:30. He is at the bus stop by 5:30 to catch the bus into town. He has no parents, but lives with his aunt. He works odd jobs to raise money for his bus fair. I love this kid, because he is good looking, has great charisma, and works hard just to make it to school. Now, how many kids back in the states would do that to get to school. This kid is awesome. I have a new friend.
Oh, our driver his here. I got to run. I will catch up with you later. We leave at 6 in the morning to head to tanzania. Bye!
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