The children of Sakina

All of the children.

Let me introduce you to the children from the day care/kindergarten that I volunteered in one month in Tanzania in the part of Arusha that is called Sakina. There were two Nasaras, the smallest one took to me instantly, and every time I walked somewhere she would follow. Azra has two sisters: the bigger Nasara and Najma. They always stayed late because their mother had left them, so their father had to take care of them by himself, but as he worked at a garage it was better to stay in the kindergarten than to go there. Doreen was quiet, but she always had a smile for you, especially when you needed one. Noreen was the beauty queen of the kindergarten. Every time I saw her she had a new hairstyle and that is saying much for kids with practically no hair. Tamali taught me to count to twenty in Kiswahili. Johnson was always wearing the same clothes. Most of the children wear a school uniform or half of it, but mostly they change it up a little. During three days he also wore the same holey socks. He hardly ever got in fights, he was one of the good boys. Jackson, like the rest of the boys, thought he was too old to play with girls. Angela was a quiet girl and she didn’t say very much. The others sometimes just called her angel. Julieth liked to sit by me, she always seemed like a princess. Joyline was one of the oldest children. Whenever we tried a new game, she was always the one who tried first. Daniel was always very serious and usually sat quietly playing. Bryan was one of the boys, but he was a bit smaller than most of the other boys his age so sometimes he had to fight a little harder. Ibrahim was one of the smaller kids, but I could never figure out his age, because he was so small, but so bright. Ibrahim had the biggest smile you could ever imagine, and he liked to smile all the time. Dereck was quite a bully, and would get that look in his eyes of resistance if you tried to interfere. Pruspa used to cry a lot, but when he smiled it would melt your heart. Cathbet always had an innocent smile ready and he was surprisingly good at drawing. David was one of the older boys, but he never used his age to bully anyone, he was always very sweet. Salma was best friends with Joyline. Joyline tried everything first, but Salma went right after her. Elizabeth was the oldest in the kindergarten. We called her Eliza and she was shy, but always ready to explore. She was supposed to start school in the fall, but they rejected her, even though they had said she would get in. Khadija, we once tried a game about trust, but there wasn’t a whole lot of trust and Khadija ended up walking into a wall. Gosperi was a quiet little girl who didn’t say anything. Simon was the youngest boy, he always wore a hat. He was quiet like Gosperi, but when he warmed up to you he was yours. Esther was a little bully. Gillian was clumsy and shy. Eunice had a lot of energy she didn’t know where to put, she always called me teacher and had an adorable smile. Andrew was usually called Biggie, he was a big bully with eyes that pretended innocence, but they never fooled me. His dad owned a big white car and he probably lived in a big house.  Betty always came to the kindergarten with Tamali, she was always really sweet. Najma and Nasara looked a lot alike and might have been twins, they are Azra’s sisters as well and they both loved to play. Oscar was the oldest boy and he usually stood on the sidelines. Joving smiled by pressing his lips into his mouth. William didn’t know any of the songs the children would sing, he cried easily and all the time until he got his way. Janeth was like Angela, but in a more smiling way and she always wore a scarf. Vanessa liked to repeat what you said to learn new words, she is HIV positive.