LearnServe Zambia 2017: Teaching At Daughters' Vision (6/30)

I am very appreciative of this experience in Zambia. Everyday there seems to be a new activity to look forward to. After walking to Daughter’s Vision School, we were greeted by the awaiting children. It was both refreshing and heartbreaking to see the kids. While teaching the reading class, I desperately wanted to teach them all I could before I left. Despite the small timeframe, we did our best to instill within the students the importance of knowledge

Seeing how excited the kids were about learning motivated me to teach them the best that I could. One lesson that will hopefully stick with the students is when they learned how to write their names in English. The pure joy that they expressed made me reciprocate their energy and apply it into the lesson. For instance, the kids today were reviewing phonics while going along with a musical beat they enjoyed.

Shortly afterwards, we organized a dance circle and personal health and relationship discussion with the other students. Each event granted an opportunity for young people to express themselves within a safe environment. One memorable moment from today is when I saw people, who would otherwise stay quiet, express themselves. In the healthy relationship discussion, us volunteers answered questions some Zambian youths had. These topics were focused around relationships, consent, intercourse, and safe habits. I thought it was beneficial for the young people to realize that they can incorporate these safe habits into their own lives since the rates of teen pregnancy, unsafe intercourse and STD’s is so high among Zambian youth.

After the day’s events, some of us stayed behind at the school to paint and to spend time with the kids. It was beautiful to see the kids and the volunteers spending time together. I decided to read to a group of kids from both Daughters Vision and the neighborhood. I can say that all of them had an interest of learning.

Walking back from the school during the evening was a different experience from what I am used to. I have never seen Zambia at night. The most memorable part to me is when we saw a choir singing and dancing. Immediately, I stopped being paranoid, and experienced the beautiful scene.

I love teaching kids, especially here in Zambia. I look forward to when I can return here, and give them some of the time and education that they deserve.

Anisa T., Wheaton High School