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Published: September 5th 2007
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Baby elephant
this wee one was running had to catch up with the herd! Hello all,
I am now back in Monduli, and finally in my wee house! I have electricity most of the time and water some of the time. I can’t really complain about the water though when most people here have to walk half the day to fill their buckets, and I still manage my hot shower every morning! Even most of the people who live in the same complex as me don’t have tanks so only get water between 6pm and 6am (that’s the theory, in practice it’s pretty much 6-6.15pm!) I also have 2 resident geckos who I have named George and Mildred! I’m not too worried about them because they will eat the bugs, but if I just see them moving out of the corner of my eye it tends to freak me out a little!
I have even finally begun teaching! (Well, I taught 2 80min periods yesterday and then the whole school began their mock exams today, but I am still counting it!). I have been given 3 form 3 streams for the rest of the year (class size ranges from 40 - 55!) I began yesterday by getting them to complete a writing exercise telling me
elephant
this is the one! a bit about themselves - many of the responses would break your heart! They range in age from 15 - 23yrs, but the majority are 17-18. Many of them have lost at least one parent already, some are orphans. Most of them said they like education as it is a way out of poverty. I also asked them to complete the sentence 'If I won 100,000 shillings I would . . . '(just to put it in perspective, that's about $100NZ, but it is still more than most of them will ever have at once in their lifetime). Almost all of them said they would use the money to pay school fees, buy school uniform and/or shoes and buy text books to help them with their education. Many also added that they would do the same for siblings or use the money to support their parents! Talk about bringing a lump to your throat! I have tried a similar exercise with kiwi kids (using a slightly larger amount of money) and the responses I got from them in no way prepared me for the simple needs and desires of these children!
Now, let me build you a picture of my
dikdik
these are tiny and soooo cute! school: the classrooms have no electricity and many of the windows are broken. There are not enough desks for all the students so many of them have to share (we are in exam time now and some of the children are leaning on stools or on their knees to write their exams!) A number of the classrooms have holes in the ceilings and most of the doors don’t shut properly. The smallest class I have seen is 36, but the numbers go up to 55. (Consider also that the students can’t afford deodorant, and none have the water to wash themselves or their uniforms daily - it can get pretty ripe!) Also, if there is any sort of breeze you get the lovely aroma of the latrines wafting in - and it’s not even summer yet! Teaching here is also pretty slack for the most part. The teachers show up when they are ready and leave when they have finished the work they had prepared - not when the period finishes. They also take their cellphones with them - even into exams! Exam supervision is not what SRO would call ‘active’ (infact, he would have a blue fit if he
young zebra
could just about have touched this one saw it!) The teachers are quite happy to go outside for some fresh air, to talk to other teachers who are supervising other exams or to talk on the phone - and none of them bother to lower their voices either! I am working on modeling active supervision to see if it will catch on!
I am constantly being surprised (and sometimes shocked) by what I see here. Last Friday I witnessed a form 1 child being beaten with a cane by a teacher. The teacher chased the boy around the office and eventually held his head between his legs to hit him more effectively. It was one of the most appalling displays I have ever seen, yet when I confronted the teachers about it they thought I was mad - how else are they going to discipline the students? “if you don’t beat them they will beat you.” Something for me to work on that's for sure! Apparently the boy’s teacher (a Muslim woman) had touched him and he said 'don't touch me you'll make me dirty' - I can see how that is offensive and needs to be dealt with, however, the beating was definitely unjustified according to my way of thinking!
Enough of the sad stuff!
On Saturday Jane and I took her car to Tarangire National Park - apparently one of the few still with water. It was an incredible experience and we saw so many amazing animals - close enough to feel like you could reach out and touch them (actually, we almost ended up cleaning up a giraffe as it ran out of the bushes right in front of us!). We also came close to a run in with an elephant (you can see the photo - I'm pretty proud of it!) I was sitting on the windowsill of the car (you're not allowed to get out) and I think he took exception to how long we were staying there and began to move towards us with his ears out (apparently makes them seem bigger so they do it as they charge). It looked a bit scary so Jane just floored it, luckily I managed to hang on! Great stuff!!
Well my dears, I believe I have rabbited on enough so will leave now. Keep the emails coming (some of you are a bit slack!)
j
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