One of the fun things working with a school that has such a wide range of ages all mixed together is that as the kids grow (mentally and emotionally) they change. Our oldest kids could start to experience puberty before their final year at our school in two years. Every year I have a group that want to spend all their time with me and that group changes over the course of the year but especially in between school years. While it is fun to learn the personality quirks of a new group, it is sad when someone who has been quick to run to you for comfort or encouragement over several years all of the sudden is hesitant to seek you out. For example, Grace in Standard III this year has become a lot more shy around me and Haji has established himself with the other boys running wildly and playing soccer every chance he can so I rarely see him.
But then I get Gertruda who has all of the sudden in Standard III taken to spending all her free time in my company. The younger kids like Princess, Glory, Purity, Precious all spend a lot of time hanging around me mainly hoping I will entertain them with some silly game but sometimes just to sit on my leg or beside my chair. By the way don’t you love the names. I also got an Abendego last year and a second one this year. So now I have the entire book of Daniel: Daniel, Meshack (3 of those), Shadrack (2 of those) and now 2 Abendegos.
Many of you know we have two sets of twins at the school. Both Fraternal and Identical. In the picture below is Nan (short for Nance a version of Nancy) and Abigail (pronounced Ab-e-gail-e) who are not related, not even the same village or town. They change their hairdo regularly and without the dress I cannot tell them apart until I see a little attitude then I know it is Abigail who can run through a selector switch of moods in just a few minutes as opposed to Nan who is very even and mild mannered. They are both very sweet (most of the time) but as I said I have trouble telling them apart which they have learned to play with by suggesting I got them wrong again.
Any time I start to take pictures the kids come running so here are some more and I will let you know any secrets about their personalities as appropriate.
