first day of school

today was my first trip into kibera. i strongly suggest you check out the wikipedia link although it does nothing to tell you what kibera is really like. tin shacks, garbage everywhere, animals running lose, burning trash, mud roads.. i'll try to post some pics sometime. it was quite a shock walking through there.. we got to the school - i use the term 'school' lightly.. its a tin shack prolly the size of my living room back home. we fit 100-150 or so kids in there ages 3-7 (about 50 of them are orphans). there are no partitions and there are 4 classes going on at once. it is loud - especially when its raining - and its dark. i helped with the babies (3 and 4 year olds) today. they are learning numbers and letters. i write a row of letters in their book, they copy it and then crowd around me to write another row. over and over. while others are at the front pointing and repeating the numbers on the board. 'numbers are 1, 1, 2, 2...' in their cute little accents. at break time the kids all went outside. to play in the dirt and trash, right next to the railroad. there are no bathrooms so kids just squat right outside. the girls did singing and dancing, which was great, and the boys kinda ran around and hung onto all the volunteers. we had to leave class early today because it started to rain. and apparently getting out of kibera once it pours is impossible because the 'roads' turn to pure mud.
i wish i was a better writer and could really illustrate what its like here. but i'm not. so i'll really try to post some pictures soon. please pray as i start this teaching business because it scares me. and for the kids. there is so much corruption in this place it is ridiculous... they have police stops often and try to catch drivers making some sort of 'mistake' so that they can demand money instead of being taken to the police station. back home we think of the police as being a safe place to go.. not here. and there is corruption even in the schools and orphanages. the directors asking volunteers for money for rent, and then stealing that money.. gifts for the children being taken by the teachers.. teachers charging children money to go to school with the promise of buying supplies or food, but never following through. it is truly heartbreaking.
i feel like i could go on forever about this place and i've only been here 4 days...