Help Please!

Mama Ana and all her children including the new little girl!

Three of Mama Werema's kids (Eliza, Werema, and Rhobi) and one of Mama Anna's

The classrooms we want to paint!

Me and little Jeanette

Anna and her little sister!

Hi!!! I know it has been quite some time since I have written, but the headmaster finally consulted someone about the work Jacob and I want to complete on the school and developed a budget for the materials to finish the floor in the room we want to make the library, wood to build shelves for the books we will have to buy, a window for the library, transportation to bring all the materials to the village, and labor for the floor and book shelves. With everything included, the total came to 541,000 Tanzanian shillings, which is around 340 US dollars. There is much more Jacob and I want to do such as paint a mural, fix the chairs, and replace the chalkboards, but this is a good start we think. I was going to post pictures of the room we want to make the library and the wall we want to paint the welcome greeting on, but I of course forgot to take them, and my computer is currently unusable as my battery died and my wall charger...so sad :( I am sharing this information to update you, but also to ask for your help of course. I would love to pay for everything myself, but as we all know, my money supply is sadly limited to nonexistent. Please do not feel any pressure to help, but if this is something you would like to contribute to, I, as well as Jacob, the students, the teachers, and both villages of Kongoto and Buswahili would really appreciate your generosity. Please email me at hyman.katie@gmail.com, and we can definitely work out a plan. I am so excited to be able to help my school and community!
I love teaching and my students, although the recent addition of teaching math in basically a foreign language has been rough. However, I am still struggling with: the small amount of girls that get the opportunity to attend school as the boys in the family are more important, the students who are enrolled in school, but never come because they are helping their family cultivate corn or sell vegetables at the market, the students who have to dig and build toilets in the hot sun with no water during class hours, and the students who constantly get sent home because they cannot pay the added school fees. It continually breaks my heart. I know there are more important things than education, but I hate that the kids don't even get to make the decision whether they get one or not. There is no difference in the value of a farmer and a doctor, but there is a difference in having the opportunity to choose between the two. Okay, okay...I will now quit letting out my frustrations. A few things that I have loved these past weeks is seeing and hearing the farmers and their cows and plows every morning walking on the way to school (farming without tractors looks like a lot of hard work I will say), and showering the kids every night in our shower. The kids absolutely love it as they are so used to buckets in the yard. They love the body wash and they scream so loud because the water is freezing when I spray them down. You would die if you saw how much dirt came off these kids on a daily basis! Anyway, please know as usual, maybe more than usual, that I miss and love you all very much. Also, please don't forget to email me if you want to or can help in any way with the school!
love you more, katie :)