Greetings from Kalumbu Malawi
Well here I sit after living in the quaint little village of Kalumbu for 3 months. I have officially finished teaching my first term and surprisingly some of my students did very well on their end of term exams. Don’t know if that is a reflection on my teaching or the simplicity of the exam but it was nice to think they just might know something more than they did 3 months. The end of term was rather stressful even though I was not actually taking the exams. I spent so many hours reviewing material all the while being rather ill with what I now think was strep throat! Who’d have though my first illness in Malawi would be something I could easily catch in America? However there was also a lot of stress due to the inefficiency of the school and Malawi in general.
First of all, since our school lacks electricity and a computer, our exams are hand written and then sent with the headmaster to town. This might seem inconvenient but since he is always going to Lilongwe anyways, spending at most 3 days a week at school and the other days supposedly in Lilongwe, it wasn’t that difficult. Some teachers however took the exam deadlines as mere suggestions so that most exams were submitted very late to the printer. Those exams that did manage to get typed and printed before the end of term were full of typos so that the first ten minutes of every exam was spent dictating corrections to the students. Then there was the sporadic arrival of these exams so that some days students sat at school all day with no exam because the printer managed to finish four for the form 4, but none for the form 1s! It was very frustrating and even now half of the exams have not and will not be written by the students! Thankfully mine were submitted, typed, and printed in reasonable time and I was able to give and correct all my exams before the end of term.
The inefficiencies at the school are becoming more and more frustrating as I see that many of the problems are a result of laziness by the teachers, administration, and students. At a staff meeting we talked about how useful a computer would be for the school with exams as well as registering students for their national exams. As it happened this year, I had spent 3 Fridays in a row going into the district education office to type, correct, print, and submit the nearly 300 names to write national exams this year. Being the only staff member who can work a computer certainly has it’s downsides. Anyways, everyone has agreed that a computer would be beneficial for the school and my very, very generous family has sent the school a small laptop. Well, rather than simply giving the school the computer which is sitting in my living room, I have told them they need to send a letter to donors in America stating why the school would benefit from a computer. Seems simple enough right? Well, the terrible deputy head suggested I write the letter and he will “proofread it.” Furious, I refused to write it but offered to send the letter when it was finished. Well three weeks later and still no letter. When I asked about it this week, the headmaster had the nerve to ask if they could also ask for a new administration office in the letter! Nearly yelling I told him that no, a computer is one thing but a new school block for his personal office was too large of a request. Strangely he didn’t mention a new building to replace the one that collapsed last week. Luckily it collapsed at night so no one was hurt, and it was a rarely used room that isn’t essential to the day to day workings of the school.
I have unfortunately been becoming less and less naïve about the happenings at the school. During the two week school holiday the teachers decided to teach summer less and charge MK500 (about $3.50) for the two week session. I didn’t think much of it and promised to teach my lessons when I returned from our in service training in Dedza. Later I found out that the government has declared it illegal to charge for summer sessions. Unfortunately I discovered this too late to confront the administrators about their illegal activity but it seems that those students who were able to come up with the money during “hungry season” were taught a fair amount during the sessions. I wish the teachers were as dedicated during the normal sessions but I guess cash in the pocket speaks louder to them than the hope of a paycheck. I was somewhat glad to not be present for their “pay day” of the illegal fees because I would have had a hard time not yelling. I have also heard rumors of some ill-practices of the male staff members with the female students, as well as the actions of some of the female students with local business men and truck drivers! Then I was heard rumors that some of the male students have a certain affinity for drugs and alcohol! Although I am not as surprised about that one as I can often smell the distinct scent of marijuana lofting from one of my neighbors houses (where 3 of my students live) in the evenings so I knew it was readily available in the village but I would have liked to continue thinking my students areimmune to the temptation. Sometimes I think ignorance is bliss here.
Despite the innumerable challenges and frustrations here, I really am incredibly happy. I enjoy teaching most days, although I spend a lot of time on discipline. I have realized I will never be able to teach in America after my experience here. There is no way some of the things we say and do to the students here would be tolerated or even legal in America. For example, there are days when the deputy takes a big stick and chases late students hitting their rear ends whenever he gets close enough, students are publicly humiliated during assembly, or they are told they are going to fail because they are lazy. Since I am the form mistress for form 3, I was given the duty of disciplining 4 late students. Not knowing what was appropriate punishment I consulted the other teachers and we decided they would scrub the toilets (pit-latrines). Unfortunately, knowing these particular students I couldn’t trust them to do the work properly or even at all and was left the unpleasant task of checking their work, which meant venturing into the disgusting student latrines. Ah, Malawi. Anyways I love my neighbors, although I feel as though I never have enough time to chat. Yesterday I managed to finish my laundry early and went over to sit with the ladies. They were busy sewing tobacco leaves together and hanging them to dry, so I helped. I can safely say I never thought I would learn to dry tobacco to sell at auction but hey! When in Rome! It was fun and it was nice to joke with them for a while. Unfortunately they chose that time to inform me that I am fat. I try to remind myself that it’s a compliment here, but that now twice in 24 hours and I am beginning to worry! They also think I should marry one of the few other white people they have met because he is also fat. Obviously a match made in heaven, right? They promised me that if we marry we will have fat babies together! It was fun joking with them about it but I quickly found my Chichewa vocabulary doesn’t extend to explaining why I do not want to marry this guy and have a big family with him by next year! Oh lord. I also really enjoy spending time with the teachers-in-training who are staying at the primary school for a year. I met them the first day they arrived and I think they were very surprised to find a white person in this little village so far from anything else! Regardless they have become some of my closest friends, since they are female, teachers, unmarried, and just as much visitors in the village as me (albeit Malawian...). I spent a great afternoon with them one day watching the primary school kids playing soccer while weaving a woman’s hair! Another useful skill I have learned in Malawi! Ha!
In respect to my house, I have been having lots of trouble with my roof. It leaks worse than I thought was possible even in Malawi. Luckily rain on a metal roof with no ceiling is very very loud so when it rains in the night I wake up and set up the 7 buckets that are necessary to catch the worst of the leaks. Not knowing what to buy to fix the problem or how to fix it without a ladder I spoke with the headmaster. He has promised to fix it for me since I am his “guest” but as a student told me “that one likes to build castles in the sky.” I am quite sure that the roof will still be leaking the day I move out. Oh well part of the charm I suppose. In terms of bugs and creatures so far there hasn’t been anything too exciting. I did find a very large spider (about palm sized and very hairy) hiding under my shoe but he quickly was reintroduced to the sole of my shoe and didn’t cause any trouble. I spent a rather memorable few minutes chasing a small grey mouse around my kitchen (about 5ft by 5ft), and many afternoons chasing chickens out of my yard. The chickens really love my tomato and watermelon garden and don’t move very quickly when I run at them swearing. Maybe they don’t know English swears? I have also been trying to keep the frogs out of my house since they seem to always hop their way in when I leave the door open. Luckily they’re fairly easy to remove since they’re so lazy but I’d rather they stay outside. The worst of my problems now is cockroaches who have taken over my house. They tend to pop out of my bag at school or my clothes when I am taking laundry out or run across my papers when I am working. Although I feel like I kill dozens a day the population seems to be holding steady! Maybe one day my house will be cockroach free! Oh a girl can dream can’t she! Ha!
I did have a strange and possibly animal related incident a few weeks ago when Amy and Vanessa, two other education volunteers who arrived in Malawi with me, were visiting. We were baking cinnamon bread one night to eat the next morning for breakfast. Since it was getting late, the cake was almost done, and the coals were dying, we left the pan on the fire and went to bed. The next morning we found the cover of the pot had been moved and there were large tongue or spoon marks in the top of half the cake. The gate was still tied when we woke up but the lip was balance on a very small ledge in my outdoor kitchen! We never did determine if it was an animal or person who came into my yard that night, ate a few bites of the cake and then left without taking the pot or cake with it! Very strange! Maybe Malawians don’t like our cake?
In another rather scary incident, I was leaving school one day and walking through the trading center when a truck full of Malawians soldiers were unloading and dispersing into the village. Although they were very friendly greeting me as they passed, they had very very very large guns! Terrified I started asking people what was happening but no one seemed to know. As they were heading into the maize fields with their large guns I found one of my neighbors and asked him what they were doing. Strangely he told he “they’re here for the goats!” Well a few days later I found out that they were in fact not here for the goats but rather doing a training exercise where another group had hidden something and the training group needed to retrieve it. Of course this being Malawi (ie. very inefficient), the soldiers were looking for something that had been hidden in Kalumba village, yet my village is Kalumbu! Supposedly they had to walk the 30km to the correct village to retrieve the item. Wonder if they lose points for being the in the wrong village?
Well I think I have sufficiently bored everyone with my day-to-day life in Malawi! I hope everyone is well at home and please keep sending me letters! I love knowing what’s happening with you all! Peace and Love xxx
Well here I sit after living in the quaint little village of Kalumbu for 3 months. I have officially finished teaching my first term and surprisingly some of my students did very well on their end of term exams. Don’t know if that is a reflection on my teaching or the simplicity of the exam but it was nice to think they just might know something more than they did 3 months. The end of term was rather stressful even though I was not actually taking the exams. I spent so many hours reviewing material all the while being rather ill with what I now think was strep throat! Who’d have though my first illness in Malawi would be something I could easily catch in America? However there was also a lot of stress due to the inefficiency of the school and Malawi in general.
First of all, since our school lacks electricity and a computer, our exams are hand written and then sent with the headmaster to town. This might seem inconvenient but since he is always going to Lilongwe anyways, spending at most 3 days a week at school and the other days supposedly in Lilongwe, it wasn’t that difficult. Some teachers however took the exam deadlines as mere suggestions so that most exams were submitted very late to the printer. Those exams that did manage to get typed and printed before the end of term were full of typos so that the first ten minutes of every exam was spent dictating corrections to the students. Then there was the sporadic arrival of these exams so that some days students sat at school all day with no exam because the printer managed to finish four for the form 4, but none for the form 1s! It was very frustrating and even now half of the exams have not and will not be written by the students! Thankfully mine were submitted, typed, and printed in reasonable time and I was able to give and correct all my exams before the end of term.
The inefficiencies at the school are becoming more and more frustrating as I see that many of the problems are a result of laziness by the teachers, administration, and students. At a staff meeting we talked about how useful a computer would be for the school with exams as well as registering students for their national exams. As it happened this year, I had spent 3 Fridays in a row going into the district education office to type, correct, print, and submit the nearly 300 names to write national exams this year. Being the only staff member who can work a computer certainly has it’s downsides. Anyways, everyone has agreed that a computer would be beneficial for the school and my very, very generous family has sent the school a small laptop. Well, rather than simply giving the school the computer which is sitting in my living room, I have told them they need to send a letter to donors in America stating why the school would benefit from a computer. Seems simple enough right? Well, the terrible deputy head suggested I write the letter and he will “proofread it.” Furious, I refused to write it but offered to send the letter when it was finished. Well three weeks later and still no letter. When I asked about it this week, the headmaster had the nerve to ask if they could also ask for a new administration office in the letter! Nearly yelling I told him that no, a computer is one thing but a new school block for his personal office was too large of a request. Strangely he didn’t mention a new building to replace the one that collapsed last week. Luckily it collapsed at night so no one was hurt, and it was a rarely used room that isn’t essential to the day to day workings of the school.
I have unfortunately been becoming less and less naïve about the happenings at the school. During the two week school holiday the teachers decided to teach summer less and charge MK500 (about $3.50) for the two week session. I didn’t think much of it and promised to teach my lessons when I returned from our in service training in Dedza. Later I found out that the government has declared it illegal to charge for summer sessions. Unfortunately I discovered this too late to confront the administrators about their illegal activity but it seems that those students who were able to come up with the money during “hungry season” were taught a fair amount during the sessions. I wish the teachers were as dedicated during the normal sessions but I guess cash in the pocket speaks louder to them than the hope of a paycheck. I was somewhat glad to not be present for their “pay day” of the illegal fees because I would have had a hard time not yelling. I have also heard rumors of some ill-practices of the male staff members with the female students, as well as the actions of some of the female students with local business men and truck drivers! Then I was heard rumors that some of the male students have a certain affinity for drugs and alcohol! Although I am not as surprised about that one as I can often smell the distinct scent of marijuana lofting from one of my neighbors houses (where 3 of my students live) in the evenings so I knew it was readily available in the village but I would have liked to continue thinking my students areimmune to the temptation. Sometimes I think ignorance is bliss here.
Despite the innumerable challenges and frustrations here, I really am incredibly happy. I enjoy teaching most days, although I spend a lot of time on discipline. I have realized I will never be able to teach in America after my experience here. There is no way some of the things we say and do to the students here would be tolerated or even legal in America. For example, there are days when the deputy takes a big stick and chases late students hitting their rear ends whenever he gets close enough, students are publicly humiliated during assembly, or they are told they are going to fail because they are lazy. Since I am the form mistress for form 3, I was given the duty of disciplining 4 late students. Not knowing what was appropriate punishment I consulted the other teachers and we decided they would scrub the toilets (pit-latrines). Unfortunately, knowing these particular students I couldn’t trust them to do the work properly or even at all and was left the unpleasant task of checking their work, which meant venturing into the disgusting student latrines. Ah, Malawi. Anyways I love my neighbors, although I feel as though I never have enough time to chat. Yesterday I managed to finish my laundry early and went over to sit with the ladies. They were busy sewing tobacco leaves together and hanging them to dry, so I helped. I can safely say I never thought I would learn to dry tobacco to sell at auction but hey! When in Rome! It was fun and it was nice to joke with them for a while. Unfortunately they chose that time to inform me that I am fat. I try to remind myself that it’s a compliment here, but that now twice in 24 hours and I am beginning to worry! They also think I should marry one of the few other white people they have met because he is also fat. Obviously a match made in heaven, right? They promised me that if we marry we will have fat babies together! It was fun joking with them about it but I quickly found my Chichewa vocabulary doesn’t extend to explaining why I do not want to marry this guy and have a big family with him by next year! Oh lord. I also really enjoy spending time with the teachers-in-training who are staying at the primary school for a year. I met them the first day they arrived and I think they were very surprised to find a white person in this little village so far from anything else! Regardless they have become some of my closest friends, since they are female, teachers, unmarried, and just as much visitors in the village as me (albeit Malawian...). I spent a great afternoon with them one day watching the primary school kids playing soccer while weaving a woman’s hair! Another useful skill I have learned in Malawi! Ha!
In respect to my house, I have been having lots of trouble with my roof. It leaks worse than I thought was possible even in Malawi. Luckily rain on a metal roof with no ceiling is very very loud so when it rains in the night I wake up and set up the 7 buckets that are necessary to catch the worst of the leaks. Not knowing what to buy to fix the problem or how to fix it without a ladder I spoke with the headmaster. He has promised to fix it for me since I am his “guest” but as a student told me “that one likes to build castles in the sky.” I am quite sure that the roof will still be leaking the day I move out. Oh well part of the charm I suppose. In terms of bugs and creatures so far there hasn’t been anything too exciting. I did find a very large spider (about palm sized and very hairy) hiding under my shoe but he quickly was reintroduced to the sole of my shoe and didn’t cause any trouble. I spent a rather memorable few minutes chasing a small grey mouse around my kitchen (about 5ft by 5ft), and many afternoons chasing chickens out of my yard. The chickens really love my tomato and watermelon garden and don’t move very quickly when I run at them swearing. Maybe they don’t know English swears? I have also been trying to keep the frogs out of my house since they seem to always hop their way in when I leave the door open. Luckily they’re fairly easy to remove since they’re so lazy but I’d rather they stay outside. The worst of my problems now is cockroaches who have taken over my house. They tend to pop out of my bag at school or my clothes when I am taking laundry out or run across my papers when I am working. Although I feel like I kill dozens a day the population seems to be holding steady! Maybe one day my house will be cockroach free! Oh a girl can dream can’t she! Ha!
I did have a strange and possibly animal related incident a few weeks ago when Amy and Vanessa, two other education volunteers who arrived in Malawi with me, were visiting. We were baking cinnamon bread one night to eat the next morning for breakfast. Since it was getting late, the cake was almost done, and the coals were dying, we left the pan on the fire and went to bed. The next morning we found the cover of the pot had been moved and there were large tongue or spoon marks in the top of half the cake. The gate was still tied when we woke up but the lip was balance on a very small ledge in my outdoor kitchen! We never did determine if it was an animal or person who came into my yard that night, ate a few bites of the cake and then left without taking the pot or cake with it! Very strange! Maybe Malawians don’t like our cake?
In another rather scary incident, I was leaving school one day and walking through the trading center when a truck full of Malawians soldiers were unloading and dispersing into the village. Although they were very friendly greeting me as they passed, they had very very very large guns! Terrified I started asking people what was happening but no one seemed to know. As they were heading into the maize fields with their large guns I found one of my neighbors and asked him what they were doing. Strangely he told he “they’re here for the goats!” Well a few days later I found out that they were in fact not here for the goats but rather doing a training exercise where another group had hidden something and the training group needed to retrieve it. Of course this being Malawi (ie. very inefficient), the soldiers were looking for something that had been hidden in Kalumba village, yet my village is Kalumbu! Supposedly they had to walk the 30km to the correct village to retrieve the item. Wonder if they lose points for being the in the wrong village?
Well I think I have sufficiently bored everyone with my day-to-day life in Malawi! I hope everyone is well at home and please keep sending me letters! I love knowing what’s happening with you all! Peace and Love xxx
