LitWorld Friend Jen Estrada working with Young Women in Kibera
Today started out with a morning of sorting books for the library, working on the furniture order, and choosing paint colors for the new spaces (outer doors will be orange!). So the painting can start tomorrow, and I should be able to see at least some of the rooms in their new colors and take pictures before we leave. The kids and Children of Kibera Foundation staff are all very excited about the new space, and about making it a place centered all around the children and having fun together.
I then met up with the Power Women, who are honored to be one of the first Moms LitClubs. They cheered when I said I would be giving them certificates tomorrow! I recorded them singing songs they would like to share with other Moms and they had a long discussion to nominate 3 leaders.
We talked about things they would like to do in the clubs, which included playing football (yes!) and hearing from other moms around the world about what to say to your children and do for them when you can't give them everything you want to give them. Several of them would like to be trained on how to use the computer, and we talked about how their children and families would be involved as well.
I did some more sorting of books and miscellaneous supplies that had gotten themselves mingled with the books, and then Jen and I hung out with the first graders who were having library time, and we did some read-alouds, and I showed them my camera, which they thought was pretty cool, and snuggled a bit. (Todd Parr's "It's Okay to be Different" is really just a fabulous read-aloud, every page is a great, unique conversation prompt, and it works for such a range of audience members.)
And then we went back over to the middle school and I chatted with some of the kids about themselves and school and what they love to eat, and whether or not the 7th grade girls are smarter than the 7th grade boys (they are), and then some of the LitClub girls gathered and made up a few fairytale style stories together, moving from girl to girl around the room, so I filmed that while Jen helped the story move along.
A rewarding, long day. - Dorothy
