Well it has certainly been awhile since my last update, which is just a testament to how hectic life has been lately.
So I have successfully completed a full year of teaching now. The school terms progressed with some good days and some bad days with the students and many infuriating days with the rest of the staff. Although I enjoyed feeling more connected with the other teachers, our conversations usually turned to our common frustration with the lack of progress from the school administration. Largely our concerns were centered on financial misdealings that were evident in the poor maintenance of school blocks, lack of new textbooks, absence of all teaching resources (pens, paper, chalk, etc). There were days when the tension ran so high I anticipated a coup d’état! The boiling point happened in mid-June when I went to the electricity supply company to investigate the status of our school being connected to the grid (a project fund raised by the previous volunteer at my site). It turned out we had no electricity because the money left with the school for the connection fee mysteriously didn't make it into the correct hands. Hmm. After some very heated discussions the money "reappeared" and the electricity was paid off. Hopefully we will eventually be connected to the grid and utilize the computers my family generously donated to help my school! Awww that'll be the day.... Luckily the Traditional Authority (similar to a mayor or county representative) is wonderful and is really excited about working with me on all future endeavors. Always good to have friends in high places!
Despite the frustrations, I really enjoyed the company of the other staff members and truly think they are doing the best they can with a very difficult situation. We had a moment of hope, as a staff, in late March when two additional teachers were assigned to our school in response to months of pleading with the Ministry of Education to supplement our tiny staff of 6. Well, as it turned out, those two teachers, a married couple, had been assigned to our school as punishment for "misconduct" at their previous school. Hmm. Luckily (maybe?), they refused to come because they are used to living in urban areas and the charms of a rural village devoid of electricity could not entice them. So the year closed with the same 6 teachers that we started with. Some (great) news came at the end of term 3 (July/Aug) when the headmaster was granted retirement. This was wonderful news to the staff, students and especially me. My dislike for the lazy and mostly absent headmaster grew worse with every passing day he either didn't show up or showed up but taught nothing. The students basically had no instruction in Biology, Bible Knowledge, or Social Studies all year because of his apathy towards the job and his incompetence as a project manager. Now we are hoping that the Ministry will assign us a new headmaster before the new school year starts on September 6. Even if they don't, I think the dynamics of the school are going to shift dramatically with either a new administrator or more leadership given to the semi-competent (yet often drunk) deputy headteacher. In other staffing news, one of the other wonderfully kind but rather lazy teachers is leaving us to go live with wife number 3. It seems like such an American family dynamic to have all these ex-wives and the children spending weekends with one parent and weeks with another. Hmm. Not sure if we should be proud of that American export.
Currently the Education 2009 volunteers and I are running Camp Sky, a 10-day summer-camp/school for students from various schools all over Malawi. Each volunteer chooses two of their best and brightest students (1 boy, 1 girl) and brought them to Kasungu Teacher Training College for 10 days of Math, Science, and English classes, as well as classes like Orienteering, Sewing, Solar Engineering, Business, Cooking, Agriculture, etc. Then of course there is the fun aspect which involved trivia nights, salsa dancing, movie night, and a carnival as well as two field trips (hiking and a day in Lilongwe). It has been wonderful teaching very very bright students who are very interested in staying in school and succeeding. My responsibilities include teaching one “stream” (class) of Math, teaching sewing, teaching solar engineering, and being a dorm “amayi” (meaning mother or Resident Advisor) to ten of the female campers. Being a dorm amayi has been great but I never thought I would have to give so many instructions on how to use a sit-down toilet (most of them have never used one since they have pit-latrines at their homes and schools). Yesterday we went on the field trip to Lilongwe and the students were taken to Parliament, World Bank (although the speaker didn't work out so they only saw the outside of the building... it's still Malawi!) and the airport. We started off from Kasungu early in the morning with bus-fulls of happy singing kids. They were able to see the chambers in Parliament and ask lots of great questions (including one girl who asked where the toilets were but was told there were toilets all over the place for the ministers. We never did find out if she really needed to know...). After the World Bank speaker rescheduled for an inconvenient time we took the students to the airport where almost all of them saw an airplane on the ground for the first time! Our timing worked out perfectly and within twenty minutes we were able to see two commercial planes take off and a military plane land. It was so wonderful to see the excitement in their faces when they saw the huge hunk of metal lift off the runway and I had to resist the nerdy temptation to explain in too much detail how an airplane worked. Overall it was a wonderful (yet exhausting) day that I am sure the students will remember forever!
So I have successfully completed a full year of teaching now. The school terms progressed with some good days and some bad days with the students and many infuriating days with the rest of the staff. Although I enjoyed feeling more connected with the other teachers, our conversations usually turned to our common frustration with the lack of progress from the school administration. Largely our concerns were centered on financial misdealings that were evident in the poor maintenance of school blocks, lack of new textbooks, absence of all teaching resources (pens, paper, chalk, etc). There were days when the tension ran so high I anticipated a coup d’état! The boiling point happened in mid-June when I went to the electricity supply company to investigate the status of our school being connected to the grid (a project fund raised by the previous volunteer at my site). It turned out we had no electricity because the money left with the school for the connection fee mysteriously didn't make it into the correct hands. Hmm. After some very heated discussions the money "reappeared" and the electricity was paid off. Hopefully we will eventually be connected to the grid and utilize the computers my family generously donated to help my school! Awww that'll be the day.... Luckily the Traditional Authority (similar to a mayor or county representative) is wonderful and is really excited about working with me on all future endeavors. Always good to have friends in high places!
Despite the frustrations, I really enjoyed the company of the other staff members and truly think they are doing the best they can with a very difficult situation. We had a moment of hope, as a staff, in late March when two additional teachers were assigned to our school in response to months of pleading with the Ministry of Education to supplement our tiny staff of 6. Well, as it turned out, those two teachers, a married couple, had been assigned to our school as punishment for "misconduct" at their previous school. Hmm. Luckily (maybe?), they refused to come because they are used to living in urban areas and the charms of a rural village devoid of electricity could not entice them. So the year closed with the same 6 teachers that we started with. Some (great) news came at the end of term 3 (July/Aug) when the headmaster was granted retirement. This was wonderful news to the staff, students and especially me. My dislike for the lazy and mostly absent headmaster grew worse with every passing day he either didn't show up or showed up but taught nothing. The students basically had no instruction in Biology, Bible Knowledge, or Social Studies all year because of his apathy towards the job and his incompetence as a project manager. Now we are hoping that the Ministry will assign us a new headmaster before the new school year starts on September 6. Even if they don't, I think the dynamics of the school are going to shift dramatically with either a new administrator or more leadership given to the semi-competent (yet often drunk) deputy headteacher. In other staffing news, one of the other wonderfully kind but rather lazy teachers is leaving us to go live with wife number 3. It seems like such an American family dynamic to have all these ex-wives and the children spending weekends with one parent and weeks with another. Hmm. Not sure if we should be proud of that American export.
Currently the Education 2009 volunteers and I are running Camp Sky, a 10-day summer-camp/school for students from various schools all over Malawi. Each volunteer chooses two of their best and brightest students (1 boy, 1 girl) and brought them to Kasungu Teacher Training College for 10 days of Math, Science, and English classes, as well as classes like Orienteering, Sewing, Solar Engineering, Business, Cooking, Agriculture, etc. Then of course there is the fun aspect which involved trivia nights, salsa dancing, movie night, and a carnival as well as two field trips (hiking and a day in Lilongwe). It has been wonderful teaching very very bright students who are very interested in staying in school and succeeding. My responsibilities include teaching one “stream” (class) of Math, teaching sewing, teaching solar engineering, and being a dorm “amayi” (meaning mother or Resident Advisor) to ten of the female campers. Being a dorm amayi has been great but I never thought I would have to give so many instructions on how to use a sit-down toilet (most of them have never used one since they have pit-latrines at their homes and schools). Yesterday we went on the field trip to Lilongwe and the students were taken to Parliament, World Bank (although the speaker didn't work out so they only saw the outside of the building... it's still Malawi!) and the airport. We started off from Kasungu early in the morning with bus-fulls of happy singing kids. They were able to see the chambers in Parliament and ask lots of great questions (including one girl who asked where the toilets were but was told there were toilets all over the place for the ministers. We never did find out if she really needed to know...). After the World Bank speaker rescheduled for an inconvenient time we took the students to the airport where almost all of them saw an airplane on the ground for the first time! Our timing worked out perfectly and within twenty minutes we were able to see two commercial planes take off and a military plane land. It was so wonderful to see the excitement in their faces when they saw the huge hunk of metal lift off the runway and I had to resist the nerdy temptation to explain in too much detail how an airplane worked. Overall it was a wonderful (yet exhausting) day that I am sure the students will remember forever!
