One strong cup_31st March, 2007

one strong cup

the internet here is almost non-existant, but i will give this train-of-thought a whirl and hope i can finish it. life is slow and heavy, but i feel light. my students are all brilliant street boys (and one amazingly talented girl, with her 2 year-old son) aged 18-27. they send me into awe and frustration every single day.

such a wonderful group, full of generousity, and they have nothing. yesterday we drew perspective in the streets and a vendor came by to sell some strong coffee and peanut sweets. "teacher come join" i told them i had no money on me. "do you trust your students?" one asked me."yes, of course," i replied. "then let us buy you a coffee today." this is coming from these men who rarely eat dinner. they only have breakfast and lunch because their head teacher feeds them tea and lunch everyday.

for the first time yesterday, i also shared lunch with them. i usually go back to the volunteer house, but they asked me so nicely if i would just stay to eat ugali with them. how could i say no? ugali is the official food of eastern africa. it is a tasteless lump of cornflour mixed with water. it is cooked into a dumpling-form heap and thrown on a plate for all to take from. we sat in a circle and picked at the pile with our right hands and dipped into cooked beans. it was the most lovely flavorless meal of my life.

i have begun my first sculpture and i am on my way to work on it today (saturday) because they all go in on the weekends to work and have offered to help me. if they do not work on the weekends they sell nothing and do not eat. still they offer their time to me. i should go now to give my time to them.