Just a little note to let you know how my life is shaping up here. It seems I am now the kindergarten teacher! I knew that one of our cruiser friends, Linda on Irish Melody, had started a kindergarten while she was here. She had taught kindergarten for years, and her goal was to get it established and pass it on to the locals. Well, since I'm looking for any excuse to be around little kids, I offered to help with it. In two days it is obvious to me that there remains very little structure to the class, and even less learning. The children all speak Fijian, but when they attend primary school it will be in English. So I'm teaching them the alphabet, numbers, and colors. Lepsy, the young teacher, is acting as my interpreter. She seems more than happy for me to take charge, so I've written an emergency email to Linda for some advice. We also need supplies, as the cyclone destroyed many of their materials. So in the next couple weeks Ted and I will make the trip to Labasa and I'll look for appropriate supplies. We will be having the kindergarten on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings. The locals are SO grateful for anything we do, so it is very rewarding. I've taken to leaving the dinghy by the primary and secondary schools and walking for 30 minutes through the bush and over a couple rivers to the village. It is a nice walk and I get some exercise. Today I was talking to one of the secondary teachers and she will send her young one with me, as well as another little one. So I will have some charges to keep me company. We have about 15 students in the class, ranging from 3-5 years. It's great fun!
Love, Karen
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