Today was the first of two days that my art class will spend working on their collaborative project. I had transferred their drawings to the large white cloth the school had given me, creating a scene with animals, mountains, and trees. I cut the cloth into ten equal pieces and gave each portion to a group of three students to color. I searched everywhere for paint for them to use, but finally gave up and settled for colored pencils which worked surprisingly well. This meant that I spent the majority of the class going from group to group sharpening pencils.
One girl called me over and I waited for her to hand me a pencil, instead she pointed to her drawing, smiled and said "This is for you".
"Oh no, this is for you to hang in your class."
She nodded. A couple of minutes later she called me over again and told me something in Kiswahili. The only word I caught was 'rafiki', meaning 'friend'. She realized I didn't understand and repeated in English, "You're my friend."
One girl called me over and I waited for her to hand me a pencil, instead she pointed to her drawing, smiled and said "This is for you".
"Oh no, this is for you to hang in your class."
She nodded. A couple of minutes later she called me over again and told me something in Kiswahili. The only word I caught was 'rafiki', meaning 'friend'. She realized I didn't understand and repeated in English, "You're my friend."