Before I came here, I sometimes thought that "what do I think that I can teach people there?", "what information do I have about anything that would benefit them?", "who do I think I am that I think that I can just go to another country and teach adults there how to make their lives better?". I understand now that my worries were unnecessary.
Teacheing here is much more rewarding and at the same time, much more frustrating than I had thought possible. The best moments are when everything is going smoothly, students understand you and are showing proof of learning from you. The worst moments are when the students just don't get anything and you spent twenty minutes trying to make yourself clear with the simplest thing. Or even worse, you spent twenty minutes trying to figure out the meaning of a sentence written by a student, which doesn't really make sense. Up until now I have been able to be patient and managed not to show my frustration in those moments. My frustration is my problem, not my students'.
It is amazing how grateful people here are even for the slightest bit of help they get. It doesn't make a difference whether they are adults or children; you always see the same grateful and respectful look in their eyes after a lesson. No one rushes away, but instead they stay around for as long you (their teacher) do. And they always remember to say thank you for teaching them. Sometimes I even get the feeling that it is not so much about you teaching them, than it is about you making an effort to help them, which makes the people here so happy about having you here.
Once one of the students' kids came to after a lesson, held my hand, kissed it and said, "Thank tou, teacher" with such grateful look in her eyes. I have never seen a look like that before. One of my students, who is a beginner, stood up after one lesson, smiled, looked me in the eyes and said: "Asante sana, mwalimu", which means "thank you so much teacher".
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