Dodge Ball and The Great Debaters

Lauren with her class at Chikumbuso

Today we went back to Chikumbuso and it was even better than the first day. I was not as nervous about getting more interactive with the kids. While I was there, I had so much fun teaching the kids how to play dodge ball. It was so funny to see their faces as I was explaining it to them because they were so used to playing football (soccer). When I told them they had to pick the ball up, they thought I was crazy. Once they understood the whole objective of the game from my few instructions, it was so exciting to run around throwing the ball with all of the kids. I almost forgot whom I was playing with because they got me and Liza out so many times. I started thinking that we were the ones still learning instead of them.

Don’t kick, dodge!

I was so amazed by how intelligent the kids were. You couldn’t imagine how easy it was to explain the instructions for the game to a group of first graders. The kids were also extremely honest. Once they began to play, I was trying to figure out how I would see who got out in the large group of kids. At that instant about three kids started lining up along the side of the playing field. No matter how bad the kids wanted to play, they would have no problem standing on the side and waiting until the next game. Their honesty and their intelligence weren’t the only things that amazed me. Since I love sports a lot, their athleticism really caught my attention. To see kids who are not used to playing with an actual ball, have more skill then most of the kids at my school was incredible.

Socializing with the David Kaunda students

After leaving Chikumbuso, we went to the American Center in Lusaka to meet with the David Kaunda students for the last time to eat pizza and watch The Great Debaters. During the movie the David Kaunda students and the LearnServe kids all got to know each other even more and made jokes just like any other group of kids. It was so hard to say goodbye after we bonded so much in our little time together. I plan to stay in contact with them via email and phone because they are really good people, and you can’t just forget about them. They are so friendly and have wonderful senses of humor. I never thought that I would become such good friends with kids that probably live a totally different life than mine and live so far away. Today was a really great day for me and I loved how it challenged me socially. I normally have a hard time talking to people with whom I’m not that comfortable with, but the people in Zambia are so welcoming that I had no problem feeling like I could just be myself.

Tyrhee, a student at SEED Charter School