Thursday June 16, 2011 - Morning after the Stanley Cup Playoff

Caught up on my journals today and then went to the Green Door Home! Today was a good day because all the kids from the green door came out to play games with us. Normally it’s the same one’s all the time that come play and hang out with us and a couple of the older boys tend to stay inside and do their own thing because they are at that age. Also the girls sometimes don’t play games with us and just watch, but today everyone was playing, so it was really good! Also, all the kids helped us come up with a Swahili word that goes with each letter of the alphabet. We decided to make a little alphabet book for them because the one they have is so Westernized that “A” is for “apple” and “B” is for “balloon” for example. A couple of the younger kids have trouble reading still and we figured it would be easier for them to remember letters and their pronunciation if the letter corresponded to a word they knew rather than having to learn both a letter and an English word they don’t use on a regular basis. So now were just going to put a book together with the Swahili words, letter, and picture of the word. We are kinda wishful thinkers but it would be super cool if we could later actually publish a nicer version of this book and sell it with the proceeds going back to the boona baana kids.

"We worry about what a child will be tomorrow, yet we forget that the child is already someone today" -- Stacia Tauscher

The above quote speaks loudly because throughout history and continuing today, children are often forgotten, or if not forgotten, exploited and used rather than accepted as one and as a human being. Children need rights and they deserve rights just as much as anyone else. Education is so important and can give these kids the opportunities they need and a better chance for their future. The only downfall is that the education system in Africa is taught in English and therefore without the proper foundation of the English language, regardless of intelligence, type of school, or even a wealthy family, the child will not succeed in this type of system. The kids at boona baana are so intelligent but they need a better grasp of the English language in order to succeed in school. One of the older boys was telling me that in many schools they teach in Swahili in the primary grades and don’t teach any English and then when they go into the middle schools and high schools they are thrown into English dominated classes and expected to know what they are doing…clearly this is an inefficient and unsuccessful way to operate. I can’t say it is like this at all the schools, but I know its common enough. Children need to be given the tools they need to succeed and when they are given these, they will not only succeed, but prosper and I think this is true of many children.

As everyone knows the Canucks lost last night L We all stayed up to watch it and I barely slept at all! It was shameful to hear what happened after the game with the riots, ruins the whole experience and excitement of the Stanley Cup L It’s a shame that a few had to ruin it for everyone. Best analysis from last night I've read yet: "In a way, we could thank the testosterone-laden morons for reminding a hockey crazed city that the real heroes in society don't play a game for money; the real heroes fight fires, drive ambulances, treat the sick, and clean-up garbage.” On the bright side there was a lunar eclipse last night so it was neat that we were already awake so we could see it because it looked pretty cool and the sky was crystal clear!!