Today marks the beginning of our three day project at the Chikumbuso Womens and Orphans Project. We were greeted by over 200 children, who were in single filed lines by grade level. Their ages ranged from three to eleven. At the direction of their teacher, the students began to sing in unison, “We welcome you. We welcome you. Welcome to Chikumbuso. Welcome to Chikumbuso.” We all watched with gratitude and felt honored and privileged to be received into their community, but slightly disappointed that it would only be for a short time.
After introductions and a short tour of the school, we headed to a shaded gazebo to begin session of face painting and crafts. The students were eager to learn how to make bracelets and did quite well despite the language barrier. Face painting was a real hit! We painted the students faces with rainbows, the sun and stars. I was surprised when a young boy about six or seven years old came over to me, rolled up his sleeve and said, “I want tattoo.” Stunned, I asked what kind of tattoo he wanted. His reply was, “a scorpion.” So, I dipped my brush into the brown paint and drew the best scorpion that I could on his arm. After I finished, he looked down, gave a nod of approval, puffed his chest out, flexed his arm and ran to show all of his friends his “new tattoo.” I let out a sigh of relief and thought this is going to be the beginning of an amazing journey.
Kim Riley
Teacher, The S.E.E.D. Public Charter School