Juma's class

I went to Juma's 1st grade class yesterday afternoon to talk about Zanzibar, e.g. "Where Juma's daddy is." The whole class has been involved in Juma dealing with Justin leaving, so I thought it would be good to introduce the class to that far-away place.

After showing them a map--at least they all knew where Africa is--I had them try on some local clothing.

The girls were just delighted to try on kanga:



The boy I chose to try on a kanzu was a good sport in trying on what the class thought looked like a dress. I explained it was NOT a dress, and that all the men and boys wear these to go to the mosque, Quran school, and on special occasions like weddings:




Juma's teacher, on the other hand, was rather embarrassed, and took the kanzu off as soon as he could. (But since he had dressed up as the Cat in the Hat on Dr. Suess's birthday, I figured he could handle a kanzu.)




After the presentation, the class wrote letters to students in Zanzibar. I'll send them to Justin, and he'll bring them to a school. Hopefully we can start a penpal thing.