Today was much better!
The moonlight here is absolutely incredible. I've never experienced anything like it. It's just a half-moon, but I can see my way at night with no problem. I'm not used to that at all. It's very cool!
I wanted to briefly talk about children. Children are everywhere in this village (and in all villages of Mozambique) and if you are going to know anyone, you have to know the children.
Here in Mozambique, children grow up very quickly. As soon as they can walk, they do so without their parents. Older brothers or sisters take care of them, or just other children in the village. Once they get older, they can stray further from the house. But keep in mind that there are less dangers for small children in Africa, and as long as they're in a close-knit community, it doesn't matter where they go. So these kids know each other very well.
They are almost always dirty. They have approximately 2 outfits, the second one for when the first one is being washed. Their clothes almost always have holes and more often than not are American throwaways.
Children usually have a litter of brothers and sisters - my family with three sons is relatively small. The expected lifespan is 37 years, so there are many childhood deaths from malaria and other diseases.
Regardless, when school lets out, there's immediately a flock of 6-12 year olds in the school area where have training. Last week, I played with them all the time, but this week our schedules have not meshed as well, so we play less.
Today, however, they were very rambunctious with my Frisbee. I don't know why, but every time it was thrown, six or seven children would pile on each other, hitting each other and shoving everyone around. It was totally out of character, because before they had always shared and were always laughing. I figured it must have been because of the Frisbee. But since I don't have one for every other child, I can't start giving them out.
In many ways, they are like kids everywhere - they run around and get into everything, they're clumsy, mean to each other, etc. When Nora and I were walking here today, surrounded by about 40 kids, one was running and took a bad fall, spilling his books. We went over to see if he was OK, and suddenly the other kids started making fun of him and pushing him. Typical kid behavior. I told them to stop, and they mockingly thanked me (but did stop...temporarily.) After seeing how ill-tempered (and normal, I suppose) they could be, I realized that this job is going to be harder than I first thought!
On the whole, the children are a blast to be around and are very patient and eager to learn, but they imitate their parents as much as other cultures' children do - and we all know what happens when parents hit their kids. I've heard that teachers hit their students, too, which I can't stand. One of my stated goals is to help the children, so I'm going to need to work on this part.
Peace
John
