The Work is Well Worth It!

Today started with quite a spectacular show from the natural world. A pair of Verreaux’s Eagle Owls called to each other for nearly half an hour right outside the mission house. I was able to enjoy a cup of coffee while watching and listening to their show.

After my coffee I began an early day of teaching health and biology with breaks to help organize old exam files in the library. One of the highlights of teaching today wasn’t what happened in class, it was an interaction with a student later in the day. In the afternoon, one of the students who had been in my morning class came up to me on campus and asked me other questions about biology. He was genuinely curious and very interested in finding out more about several different topics – even thought it was not related to the material that we covered today.

While I was answering his questions, a number of other global volunteers finished the mammoth job of organizing exams and files in the reference library. The job involved upwards of 12 volunteers over 2 days, but the organization was well worth it.

After work, a few of us took a walk through town. In some places, we still get celebrity treatment from the children. At various points, kids would run up to greet us with shouts of “Ciao!” or sometimes “PiPi!” Shannon had two new girls run up to her to hold her hands and walk with us for a little ways. They had enormous smiles on their faces the whole time they were with us.

After dinner, a couple of the teachers from the school joined our group for games of cards and Scrabble. While the games happened inside, the search for bushbabies went on outside. Unfortunately for the searchers, the bushbabies seem to start their day LONG after we end ours!