St. Andrews

"You are welcome to our summer school, and we think you will find it cool!"


During the month of July i worked at St. Andrews downtown. St. Andrews is a Sudenese refugee ministry at the St. Andrews Church compound. Every morning i woke up, took the tram to the metro, took the metro downtown, and spent the morning helping out with St. Andrew's summer program for kids. I usually arrived late since the metro schedule is unpredictable and sometimes i need a minute to catch my breath after being smushed up against a wall in the crowded women's car and having to sqweeze through a two inch pathway to the doors.



At St. Andrews i was working with the youngest class there (6-10 year olds). Which means i also had the craziest, loudest, most energetic group with the shortest attention span! While i wasn't trying to sit the kids down and have them learn english i encouraged them to be kids and have fun! During breaks we played "Khulawees...Lissa", jumped ropes, and sometimes they would teach me a new hand clapping game or dance.



I not only got to know the littlest kids but also the teenagers my age! I played basketball and soccer with the older class and sometimes during the breaks, when i was tired of running around with the littler ones, i would sing bob marley songs with the older girls or just chat to them. I've become pretty good friends with some of the girls and already i've been invited to hang out with them when i get back from Jordon and Israel/Palestine. I'm glad they feel that i'm a friend and not just another teacher or volunteer.



I'd really like to do this again next year, because even though i've done a lot of volunteer projects around Egypt over the years i really did enjoy this one the most. I also loved using my arabic to talk to the refugees and getting to know the Inter Varsity group that was here for the summer by taking them to islamic and coptic Cairo. These past weeks at St. Andrews only encouraged my dream of going sub-saharin some day and also made me re-think having any kind of teaching career!