Yesterday’s teaching was awesome! By the time we left the school for the day many of the students were calling out our teachers names and helping me to find them all so we could all walk back to the village. The classes today were quiet and students were really getting the hang of how our teachers run the classrooms. I have spoken to a few of the teachers here at Kauma and they have told me they are really enjoying having us here and are learning so much.
After we all walked back to the village we sat for lunch together. Most of the group decided they wanted to have a tour of the permaculture project on the property so that was arranged for 2pm with Sai. I couldn’t go because I had to head to the lodge to meet with Guy about some Adziwa issues. It is always busy for me since I only get to Malawi once a year. Only having a few weeks to meet face to face with people keeps me busy during the groups down time. After my meeting I caught a ride back down to the village on the back of Guys dirt bike. He always promises to drive slowly when he takes me. I tell him I have to many people depending on me so there can be no injuries!
My plan was that my friend Isaac was coming to see me at 5 while the group had a presentation from the ministry of education. The head master from Kauma Aaron also was coming to eat with the group and participate in the presentation.
Before things got started I had a chance to sit and talk with Aaron. We are planning a party for the teachers Friday after school where we can all have a formal closing to the trip and talk about what was learned on both sides. I also asked if Aaron would be willing to pick his top 24 students so that Thursday we could hand out some achievement awards. Aaron agreed to choose 2 students from each standard to get awards. My idea was to invite those students parents to attend the ceremony on Thursday. We will award each child a 50kg bag of maize to take home with them. This bag of food will feed their family for a month. I think it will be a great way for the students to see how beneficial it is to get good marks in school. It also will help show the parents how important it is to keep encouraging their children.
Now I need to figure out how to organize 24 50kg bags of maize….not quite sure how ill do that, but I will figure it out 😉
The group found the presentation to be very informative and many questions were answered. It think one of the biggest “issues” our teachers see is that the class size is just overwhelming. It’s one thing to do it for a week or 2 but having this situation be your full time position comes with many challenges. The ministry of education spoke about some possible solutions that the government is coming up with. Kat told me that one solution they talked about was splitting the classes in 2 groups and having the teachers teach one group in the morning and one in the afternoon. As it stands now school is out at noon. This would obviously increase the school day for the teachers, but would also help with comprehension and better assessments of how children are doing. In a class of 200 plus it’s easy to lose track of some students.
So I wouldn’t disturb the group I decided to take Isaac up to the lodge for dinner. I had spoken with him earlier in the week and he had told me his foot was broken. It was difficult to understand how it happened over the phone so I was looking forward to getting the full story from him in person. I now understand how it happened and he told me what medical attention he had received. I was surprised when he arrived that he didn’t have a cast on his foot. He told me he can’t feel his big toe and showed me where the break was. After talking to Guy’s wife Maureen she advised that he go to another hospital here in Lilongwe tomorrow. Isaac promised me that he would go and then would give me a call. I am now waiting to hear from him.
Around 8:30 Isaac drove me back down and we talked with the group a while. It was getting late so we all told Isaac goodbye and went to bed ! 5:45am comes early so we have all been good about getting bed before it gets to late. Last night was chilly again and this morning we all shivered through breakfast. Today will be another full day at school and then we are talking the group for a town tour and some shopping. The group also decided to have lunch in town instead of packed lunches. It’s always an adventure heading to the wood carvers market downtown. I have prepared them as best I can and now we will just see how it all goes 😉
Thanks so much to those of you who read and comment on the blogs. It really does make us all feel as if you are thinking of us.