“I like swimming pool,” say all of my students, on a rather regular basis. And although I correct them frequently, I’ve started to become aware that there is only one swimming pool that exists in their world: a few times a month the kids pile in the van and head to Livingstone Hotel, just south of Bagamoyo, to go to THE swimming pool. Although nothing fancy, (and somewhat scuzzy, let’s be honest), the pool is something of a luxury item for our students. Not to mention it’s in an incredibly fancy hotel (although not the nicest…). I felt quite amused when Lauren arrived with a bus full of kids, and we managed to line them up in an orderly fashion as we walked through the lobby, their faces aglow with excitement.
We soon discovered that several of our not so academically strong students were actually amazing swimmers: the local kids who don’t live anywhere near the beach. We watched amazed as Maimuna and Asha swam around us, excited to be in the water again. Then there were the other kids….the ones we tried to get to sit in the water, on the second step in. It was comical, watching them squirm and laugh nervously as the got closer and closer to the water. No matter how many bubbles we tried to get them to blow, or how tightly we held onto their hand, there was no getting around this huge fear, as even one 11 year old boy clung to me like a koala. Ok…..looks like we need my sister’s expertise here. She used to teach the really little kids how to stick their face in the water….The irony of living in a beach town where very few people actually know how to swim.
