The First Day

                      Well I have officially had my first day at work and it was an experience to say the least. The morning started off as usual, Lucy our host mom blaring here Elephant Man Rasta music at six thirty. But waking up that early always has some benefits, Fresh Chai tea and locally picked bananas. After breakfast me and another volunteer named Dave Bruce took the thirty minute walk to work where we were greeted by the headteacher Jackson. He invited us in to sit down in the staff room and insisted that we take Mandazi's(form of a doughnut) and pineapple Fanta whilst conversing with the other three teachers employed at the school. After thirty minutes of sharing stories and theologies on teaching I decided to take a walk around the school and meet some of the kids. As I walked out the door of the office my eyes were immediately drawn to the soccer game happening on the huge soccer pitch behind the school. It was a game between the grade seven class and the grade eight class. I was informed that this was a huge rivalry and that I should appreciate the opportunity to play in this match. As the game went on I was distracted and asked a grade seven boy what his name was, before he could reply I heard a mess of kids yelling in Swahili. I ran over the group of boys to find a young man laying on the ground laughing and seemed to be in a bit of discomfort. So I reached to the young mans arm to help him up and found that right in the middle of his forearm there was a massive break. He had tripped and as he was falling he attempted to brace himself with his arm and completely shattered the bone in his forearm. This boy was laughing and telling jokes the entire time as I walked him to the principals office, I thought it was for sure shock until the day went on and I found that this was not shock but just the toughest boy I had ever seen. So I walked him down to the clinic where Kristinn was working and I paid for his clinic fee to see a physician. The doctor saw us very quickly and told us that we needed to go to another hospital to get an x-ray before they could cast the arm. So Christopher and I started the journey to the other hospital which is on the other side of the city. Along the way we ran into his mother. She seemed a little upset but the same as Chris, was happy and smiling the entire time. It ended up that Chris had broken his Radius and his Ulnar and needed to have his arm reset and plastered. So we started the massive trek back to the clinic where we originally came from and when we arrived the doctor said that she "could not plaster because they need to pay for the plaster and x-ray". I told the doctor that I would pay for the hospital bill and she began to start the plastering procedure.
                  Like I had said before this boy is the toughest person I had ever met. The doctor grabbed the boys arm which he had not been given painkillers or a sedative to numb the pain and began to pull his hand away from his elbow to realign the bones. The boy did not cry or yell but just humbly sat in the chair as he knew this would help him in the long run. After all the plastering was done and the bills were paid I walked the boy back to his home which was just a ten minute walk from the clinic. Right before we had walked into the home he began to cry, I had asked what was wrong(thinking that the pain was finally setting in) and he replied "I had to miss an entire day of school". Hearing a thirteen year old boy cry because he had to miss a day of school was very moving and touching so after the very tough battle to fight the tears back I reassured him that I would catch him up with his studies and not to worry. So I walked home and reflected on my first day at school.
                 So this was my first day at school and if this is a sign of what is to come I am excited and anxious to help kids who truly need it. I will be teaching them classes that will help them go on and advance in a very competitive school system. As I laid in mosquito ridden bed that night I had one final thought before I went to sleep. If only kids back home would appreciate the power of an education.