Then and Now

One thing that has occurred to me upon my homecoming to Msaranga is just HOW LONG I have been in this country, and indeed this village in particular.  July of this year marks six years since I first set foot on African soil, and what was intended to be a brief interlude from my hectic life as a New York City publicist became....well....this!

It simply amazes me how my first group of nursery school kidlets has grown up (and how I have somehow managed not to age a day, hahaha) and flourished both physically and, it would seem, academically.

Check out the photos below of Msaranga totos past and present....

Lilian, smart as a whip back in the day, looks more like a mama now than I do.

 

Samson, always lived up to his biblical moniker, think he's in 5th grade, but his voice is deeper than my Dad's.

Tina, resembles my cat Beanie above, grown into those ears somewhat below.

Furaha, quiet, reflective, and sensitive as a child, seems to have remained that way as a young man.

Nicknamed "Brenda Mfupi" because she's a shorty-pants, she's still pretty tiny for her age.

As a nursery school kid, Flora couldn't write much except for mayai (eggs) which were meant to be either the letter "o."  Think she's gotten the hang of the other letters by now!

Ema M, my FAVORITE from day one!!  Love this child to bits, though not in a creepy Mary Kay Letourneau way.

Ema J went to a different nursery school but I taught him too and now the two Emas are best buds.  They often hang around outside the Standard One classroom waiting for me.  Per their request, and in my *spare* time (WHAT SPARE TIME, AM I INSANE??!!), we're starting an after-school English lesson next month for these two and twenty of the homies they roll with....Should be interesting!!