I wish I had a picture of the walk up the hill between the school's sign and the first set of buildings. It was a hike. And we were carrying loads of "teacher stuff", a great many loads of supplies we had brought to share with our African counterparts...things like chart paper and unifix cubes. After we had stored them behind a locked door (as they were very precious materials just as they are to American teachers who also often have to go to great lengths scavenging to obtain them - except if you're lucky enough to teach at Jennie Moore Elementary where our principal, Karen Felder, and our PTA really do a slam up job taking care of us - shout out to JME), we were told that the entire population of the school had prepared an assembly to celebrate our arrival. Each grade was going to perform an African song and dance for us as a welcome to Mbita and Christ's Gift Academy.
After the performances had ended...over a good 2 hours worth...each of us American teachers was asked to stand up and introduce ourselves and tell which grade we would be working with. I introduced myself as Katie English who would be working with the preschoolers and immediately wondered as I sat back down if they used the term "preschool" in Kenya and if the children had any idea what it meant? The rest of the group finished introducing themselves, the children and staff gave us a wonderful standing ovation that we had not really earned, and then we started to disband to go check out our accommodations across the road. As I straightened myself up from bending down to pick up my water bottle from the floor, a round young face appeared in front of me. "Excuse me," she said in her choppy little precious accent. "I am very pleased to meet you. I am Valary Akinyi. Are you the Katie English who sponsors me?" It took me a second to figure out what she was even talking about. Her face was 100% filled with anticipation which just confused me further. Sponsor? "No, honey. I mean, I am Katie English...that's my name, but I don't sponsor you sweetheart. It must be another Katie English. I sure do wish that it was me because you are a cutey!" I felt her disappointment like a thunder cloud hanging over my head. Teachers are especially good at reading expressions and unwarranted disappointment on a child's face is right up there with watching your dog get into a dog fight and not being able to stop it...seriously, it's the worst. In over ten years of teaching experience, my brain has trained itself to automatically go into overdrive when it senses child disappointment in order to somehow soften the blow. I was racing through a replay of what had just occurred so I could come up with something when I realized how ridiculous it was that I had suggested 'it must be another Katie English'. I mean, what could the odds of that be? And then it clicked. That offhanded remark I'd heard back over a year earlier from that ex about a child he'd sponsored but never received any response or confirmation from...the same ex who in many ways I had traveled aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll those many miles on this very day to try to get on with my life and away from the pain....could this be THAT child?
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