Marnye Walla, Walla

Today was my last day with most of the girls from the Ramgar slum. I will see a few of the girls on Monday for Tare Fun Day at Sangam. 

We have spent most of this week talking about hygiene and the importance of keeping ourselves and our clothes and our living spaces clean.  The girls did an amazing drawing of an Indian girl and labeling all of her body parts earlier this week. After they finished their masterpiece, as a group we added the methods used for cleaning each body part.

For our final activity in the unit, I wanted to reinforce the importance of hand washing. When I was in Kenya I learned about Tippy Taps. I had noticed in my visits to the slum that there did not seem to be any easy access to water and soap for hand washing. With a few clicks on Google, I found simple instructions on how to make a personal hand washing station using a plastic bottle and some rope.

After we demonstrated how germs are easily passed from one person to another by touching hands rubbed in chalk, the girls did a great job following directions to make their Tippy Taps. I wanted to make the project as sustainable as possible. So that when the initial water runs out the girls and their families could easily be able to refill the bottle and keep it near their cooking space. I decided to create a soap sling to attach to the bottle for easy use. 

The soap was the unexpected part of the day. When I started opening the boxes of soap to give to each girl, I was unprepared for the excitement and the gratitude.

I choked up a bit and then I started to cry. Of course, then the girls were a bit upset that I was upset. I then told them that today was my last day. I don’t think I have ever received as many bear hugs and kisses from so many people in one minute. It was all a bit overwhelming.

I hope the girls understand how grateful I am to them for letting me into their lives and into their community and for letting them into my heart. Of course, I am also grateful to them for teaching me “Walla, Walla” and the “Alligator” game, a game that I still don’t quite understand but I sure did enjoy screaming and giggling with them at the end of every round.