First full day at Banjika
Wassup diggity dawgs, it’s Adrian(Adriano) and Cole(McVeiny),
Wow. It has now been our first official day at Banjika school.
Menlo students were to wake up early -- wake up times were variable but around 6:00 am -- and head on to the school. Some students lived close (<10 minutes) and some lived farther(~30 minutes) walking.
The walk, to say the least-were beautiful, as we felt the cool wind and witness the luscious landscape. It’s safe to say this was one of the colder mornings in Africa. Despite the group being a little tired we lined up along the classrooms while the students at Banjika School demonstrated a military-like formation as they sung the Tanzanian national anthem and raised the national flag. The the Banjika students sang a song, and then we were then asked to sing a song. We had prepared prior to coming to the school Riptide by Vance Joy (editors’ note: not our best selection). Breakfast consisted of a typical Tanzanian breakfast with tea/coffee, sausages, eggs, and some bread, of course. After breakfast, we were given a good amount of free-time with our hosts in between breakfast and lunch where our group would branch out to do a variety of activities: soccer match, football, rock-paper-scissors, Uno, spot-it, braiding string & hair, along with brushing hair. Lunch consisted of beef and rice with a side of mash potatoes and bananas. After lunch we all went outside to catch some UV and continued to play games that would strengthen our bonds with our homestays along with others. At around 2:00 PM, our group along with homestays and other Form-4 students(seniors) went to the classroom and learned Swahili greetings. The teacher presented a variety of greetings for different occasions and ages on the chalk board. After the lesson, we ended with a clap from the Banjika students to thank us for coming. After the classroom, we continued to bond as we talked and danced to some traditional music with the students. Our group also had some tasty snacks to carry us to dinner where we will branch off, hangout, have dinner, and sleep with our homestays.
