On tuesday of this week I did what I had initially planned to be a short workshop/lesson about HIV for my teachers at Bhambatha primary. I honestly had no idea how it would go, but I had a couple of main vague goals in mind: 1) teachers need to be educated just like everybody else; 2) people in the community respect teachers, so whatever the teachers are saying had better be accurate; and 3) free captive audience.
I initially planned to take about an hour, and stole what seemed like a good amount of basic activities from resources peace corps had given us (I could have made up my own, I suppose, but why reinvent the wheel?). I had no idea how much my teachers already knew, how receptive they would be, or if they would even want to be there at all. We ended school at 11 to start -- normally I would have protested, but its the end of the year and they're not really doing much -- and I prepared myself for blank stares and high amounts of resistance. Which is about what I got for the first 10 minutes, until things took a turn for the amazing.
What started out as a planned 1 hour workshop turned into a 3 hour conversation and lesson about HIV. Basic facts, how to stay safe, prevalent myths, social causes, the science behind it, what teachers as community members can do, and...most crucial of all...testing. At the end all of my teachers seemed so positive that I asked them how willing they were to test. If I called the local home based care organization and asked them to come to the school, would teachers test? I got some startled looks, some nervous headshakes. After all, agreeing on the importance of testing in theory is one thing, and not too hard. Actually getting tested yourself, in a county where 1/4 are infected and the stigma and shame are so deep-rooted no one will even call AIDS by its name...well, thats a different deal. But then, the principal said "Yes! We are educators, we are community leaders, we must test!" and the deputy principal agreed, and then another teacher, and another. They told me that if they made the call, they would go.
I was astounded. And I made the call.
Today three people from Thembalethu Home Based Care came to my school to test any teachers or staff that were willing. I was prepared with candy and certificates of bravery for anybody who was willing. I was expecting maybe the 3 or 4 that had committed to step up, maybe 1 or 2 more. Instead virtually every adult in the school got tested.
Almost every adult!! 20 out of 25!! In a place where most people believe that its just better not to know because the stress will kill you. A friend of mine couldn't talk hers into it even with the potential of a R5000 raffle payoff. I just can't convey how truly astounding it was that this many people got tested. Even the testers were shocked.
I am so proud of my teachers. The certificates I made them say "...for demonstrating outstanding BRAVERY and LEADERSHIP in learning their status" and thats exactly what they did.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Briefly
From a Swazi Volunteer:
"You will not see tangible, measurable results in 2 years anywhere close to what you hope or expect. The saying that "what takes a day in USA takes a week in Africa, what takes a week in USA takes a month in Africa, what takes a month in USA takes 1 year in Africa" is close to true for reasons that you have no control over. So after your first month on the job, when you are still in USA mode, write down what you would like to achieve in 2 months time. This now becomes your 2 year work goal. NOTE: You can achieve more than this if you move into "take charge mode" but not through a capacity building approach. Also, in 2 years, you will probably not move out of USA mode."
When I read this, I first started to laugh very hard. Then for a brief second I thought I might cry. Then I just laughed some more. Its a pretty good summation.
"You will not see tangible, measurable results in 2 years anywhere close to what you hope or expect. The saying that "what takes a day in USA takes a week in Africa, what takes a week in USA takes a month in Africa, what takes a month in USA takes 1 year in Africa" is close to true for reasons that you have no control over. So after your first month on the job, when you are still in USA mode, write down what you would like to achieve in 2 months time. This now becomes your 2 year work goal. NOTE: You can achieve more than this if you move into "take charge mode" but not through a capacity building approach. Also, in 2 years, you will probably not move out of USA mode."
When I read this, I first started to laugh very hard. Then for a brief second I thought I might cry. Then I just laughed some more. Its a pretty good summation.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Its Not Just Me
An unexpected consequence seems to be coming out of my family's attempts at renovating. In the storage room -- now the porch -- there was a bookshelf, you can actually see it in one of the photos below I think. Obviously as soon as I got home last month and saw my surprise I brought all of my books inside (where they now happily live in more cardboard boxes than I would have expected), however my host family never bothered. Consequently, there is now a bookshelf full of all sorts of random things (disentegrating siswati bibles, old text books, ANC policy documents...) just gazing out onto the street. Nothing good, or I would have saved it, but still lots of books just sitting there.
This week I've had at least two sets of visitors that I know of -- primary grade kids come to sort through this apparent treasure trove. I assume that many more have stopped by when I haven't noticed or haven't been around. They're not looking for anything in particular, they're just awed and a little excited at the prospect of so many books waiting out for them -- free to touch or read or page through without any adult discouragement or intervention. Its like watching birds come to a birdfeeder. Unfortunately at the moment the birdfeeder is full of nutrasweet rather than anything actually nutritious, and I don't want to leave any of my very very small stock of picture books out for fear of damage. But it makes me happy to see, and it gives me hope for the library we're building at Ekwenzeni and the one I think will be forthcoming too at Bhambatha if the renovations ever happen. Kids want to read. They want those books. If we build it, they will come.
Thats kind of reassuring, isn't it?
This week I've had at least two sets of visitors that I know of -- primary grade kids come to sort through this apparent treasure trove. I assume that many more have stopped by when I haven't noticed or haven't been around. They're not looking for anything in particular, they're just awed and a little excited at the prospect of so many books waiting out for them -- free to touch or read or page through without any adult discouragement or intervention. Its like watching birds come to a birdfeeder. Unfortunately at the moment the birdfeeder is full of nutrasweet rather than anything actually nutritious, and I don't want to leave any of my very very small stock of picture books out for fear of damage. But it makes me happy to see, and it gives me hope for the library we're building at Ekwenzeni and the one I think will be forthcoming too at Bhambatha if the renovations ever happen. Kids want to read. They want those books. If we build it, they will come.
Thats kind of reassuring, isn't it?
Saturday, November 03, 2007
More pictures...
because I do not win at blogger.
All our pumpkins, lined up in a row.
My butternut-o-lantern guards the house at night.
Bonga strikes poses with her gorgeous face paint and lovelier pumpkin. (Its me...can you tell?)
All our pumpkins, lined up in a row.
My butternut-o-lantern guards the house at night.
Bonga strikes poses with her gorgeous face paint and lovelier pumpkin. (Its me...can you tell?)
More Pictures!
Bubble blowing on the front lawn. Best dollar store purchase ever.
Everybody strikes a pose with their pumpkins and friends. Latoya and Azora look on a little confused.
Sarah demonstrates the art of perfect pumpkin carving.
Masks in grade 3! Seriously, how cute are they?
"Trickatricka!!" Siswati for trick or treat. Here we're trick or treating for stickers, because hopping 65 9 year olds up on sugar is not a good way to start the day.
A grade 3 boy acts out his grandfather costume. His teachers and friends and I were all cracking up.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Ups and Downs
About a week and a half ago, as an exercise at our mid-service training, we were asked to graph our relative morale from month to month since we had gotten here. Mine seemed to be generally fairly high, though just like everybody else's its gone into a bit of a decline the last few months (like I told Omar, who has just finished his two years and is now off travelling: "Its not exciting and frustrating any more, its just frustrating!" "Yeah, thats pretty normal for right about now."). But like I said, on the whole I rate the last 15 months pretty highly. I attribute this to two things: 1) I really am having fun, and am generally fairly optimistic; and 2) I opted to focus on the best parts of each month rather than the worst. Had we been asked to graph things bi-weekly, or even weekly, there would have been a whole lot more down and things would have been a whole lot more bipolar. This week is an excellent example.
First, the ugly:
Monday and tuesday I once again braved the corporal punishment workshop. I've discussed my thoughts on corporal punishment already, but here I've taken the stance that if its not obvious its probably not that bad, so I don't want to get into it. However, the principal asked me to, so I did.
The first day bordered on disastrous. My teachers argued that the governemnt and department of education were in fact in the wrong, since both Jesus and the Bible advocate beating children (the first time I heard this argument I tried countering: "but didn't Jesus say suffer the little children? and turning the other cheek? Jesus never hit anybody, did he?" I've since learned that this is an entirely worthless strategy, so now I just go with a simple "I don't know. But it is still the law.") By the end of the day I'm pretty sure that I had just convinced them even more of the importance of beating their children. "But Nomvula, of course you are shocked by the extreme levels of violence in South Africa, its because you're from a different culture." Right about there I quit. Not a lot of counterarguments to that one, are there?
The second day was better. We talked about all the different ways teachers could keep discipline without sticks or paddles or any of that. Positive reinforcement, stickers, being in your class (...), all the strategies that we never have to think twice about because we grew up with them, but that are completely foreign to my teachers. It was good! It was great! They were engaged, they asked questions, they agreed that they could and would use all the strategies. They even came up with a few of their own and discussed them. Afterwards quite a few -- including the principal and deputy principal -- came up and thanked me for such a helpful workshop, and promised to do their best.
Success!!
Until today. When I walked into the staff room and saw one of the HODs (department heads) beating the crap out of a learner with a cane until the learner was crouched on the ground, crying and yelling and holding his hands up to protect himself. The childs crime? Hitting another learner. Yup, that beating will definitely teach him that beating people is wrong. (I did pull the HOD aside to speak with him, after initially storming out of the room. We discussed why he did at and what else he could have done...ironically, one discipline technique I highlighted in my workshop.)
Fortunately, this same week I've been spending the large majority of my time with two of my favorite teachers in the village. They are hands down the best of the 60 I work with. They care about the kids, teach the whole time, use a variety of activities and methods, actually plan their lessons, integrate reading and writing...I could go on and on. I love these women. Monday I brought in Swimmy to share with the kids. I figured that I would entertain myself by doing a readaloud, and maybe model it to the teachers as well. I showed Maria -- one of the teachers -- the book, and she immediately grabbed it out of my hands in excitement. Two hours later, there stands Maria, stealing my lesson and doing a phenomenal reading of Swimmy to 65 3rd graders. She stopped to ask questions, translated, had them act out swimming, talked about adjectives...it was wonderful. The kids were enthralled. I wanted to hug her. The next day, as a follow up activity, she had them summarize it in siswati (I suggested that she also ask them to extend the story "...what do you think swimmy and his friends do next?" but apparently that was a little much for kids who aren't even used to repeating in their own words, let alone making up their own things to talk about. Baby steps.)
On Wednesday I also taught what they deemed a "lesson", and I deemed "goofing around because its a holiday" about Halloween. I explained the concept of jack-o-lanterns...the looks on their faces were priceless. Think about the concept of pumpkin carving for a second, its pretty weird. So we drew our own jack-o-lanterns, and then I had them put on masks that they had made for homework and go trick-or-treating for stickers. Apparently the siswati for "trick or treat" is "Trickatricka!!" and I consider that a perfectly valid cultural adaptation. Then we talked a bit about their masks, and I had all of them write poems in English and Siswati about who they were. It was great. I don't claim educational value, but I did get some excellent photos.
After school, Tom, Sarah, myself, and any respective siblings we could find (or steal in Sarah's case) decided to get together for some pumpkin carving. Because you can't have a real halloween without jack-o-lanterns, can you? Unfortunately, what with being in the wrong hemisphere and all, South Africa is a little low on pumpkins at the moment. So we opted for carving butternut-o-lanterns, which worked equally well. Soon a small pack of grade 5 boys wandered over to see what ridiculous thing the crowd of white people was doing. Fortunately Sarah had brought face paint, and I just happened to have some bubbles with me (stickers, bubbles, shiny beads -- the peace corps volunteers essential kit). Soon we had a full on halloween carnival happening!! Here's Tom carving and arranging the lanterns, there's a couple of toddlers running around chasing bubbles, here's a boy with clown face paint. It was awesome. Tomorrow, I'll post pictures.
First, the ugly:
Monday and tuesday I once again braved the corporal punishment workshop. I've discussed my thoughts on corporal punishment already, but here I've taken the stance that if its not obvious its probably not that bad, so I don't want to get into it. However, the principal asked me to, so I did.
The first day bordered on disastrous. My teachers argued that the governemnt and department of education were in fact in the wrong, since both Jesus and the Bible advocate beating children (the first time I heard this argument I tried countering: "but didn't Jesus say suffer the little children? and turning the other cheek? Jesus never hit anybody, did he?" I've since learned that this is an entirely worthless strategy, so now I just go with a simple "I don't know. But it is still the law.") By the end of the day I'm pretty sure that I had just convinced them even more of the importance of beating their children. "But Nomvula, of course you are shocked by the extreme levels of violence in South Africa, its because you're from a different culture." Right about there I quit. Not a lot of counterarguments to that one, are there?
The second day was better. We talked about all the different ways teachers could keep discipline without sticks or paddles or any of that. Positive reinforcement, stickers, being in your class (...), all the strategies that we never have to think twice about because we grew up with them, but that are completely foreign to my teachers. It was good! It was great! They were engaged, they asked questions, they agreed that they could and would use all the strategies. They even came up with a few of their own and discussed them. Afterwards quite a few -- including the principal and deputy principal -- came up and thanked me for such a helpful workshop, and promised to do their best.
Success!!
Until today. When I walked into the staff room and saw one of the HODs (department heads) beating the crap out of a learner with a cane until the learner was crouched on the ground, crying and yelling and holding his hands up to protect himself. The childs crime? Hitting another learner. Yup, that beating will definitely teach him that beating people is wrong. (I did pull the HOD aside to speak with him, after initially storming out of the room. We discussed why he did at and what else he could have done...ironically, one discipline technique I highlighted in my workshop.)
Fortunately, this same week I've been spending the large majority of my time with two of my favorite teachers in the village. They are hands down the best of the 60 I work with. They care about the kids, teach the whole time, use a variety of activities and methods, actually plan their lessons, integrate reading and writing...I could go on and on. I love these women. Monday I brought in Swimmy to share with the kids. I figured that I would entertain myself by doing a readaloud, and maybe model it to the teachers as well. I showed Maria -- one of the teachers -- the book, and she immediately grabbed it out of my hands in excitement. Two hours later, there stands Maria, stealing my lesson and doing a phenomenal reading of Swimmy to 65 3rd graders. She stopped to ask questions, translated, had them act out swimming, talked about adjectives...it was wonderful. The kids were enthralled. I wanted to hug her. The next day, as a follow up activity, she had them summarize it in siswati (I suggested that she also ask them to extend the story "...what do you think swimmy and his friends do next?" but apparently that was a little much for kids who aren't even used to repeating in their own words, let alone making up their own things to talk about. Baby steps.)
On Wednesday I also taught what they deemed a "lesson", and I deemed "goofing around because its a holiday" about Halloween. I explained the concept of jack-o-lanterns...the looks on their faces were priceless. Think about the concept of pumpkin carving for a second, its pretty weird. So we drew our own jack-o-lanterns, and then I had them put on masks that they had made for homework and go trick-or-treating for stickers. Apparently the siswati for "trick or treat" is "Trickatricka!!" and I consider that a perfectly valid cultural adaptation. Then we talked a bit about their masks, and I had all of them write poems in English and Siswati about who they were. It was great. I don't claim educational value, but I did get some excellent photos.
After school, Tom, Sarah, myself, and any respective siblings we could find (or steal in Sarah's case) decided to get together for some pumpkin carving. Because you can't have a real halloween without jack-o-lanterns, can you? Unfortunately, what with being in the wrong hemisphere and all, South Africa is a little low on pumpkins at the moment. So we opted for carving butternut-o-lanterns, which worked equally well. Soon a small pack of grade 5 boys wandered over to see what ridiculous thing the crowd of white people was doing. Fortunately Sarah had brought face paint, and I just happened to have some bubbles with me (stickers, bubbles, shiny beads -- the peace corps volunteers essential kit). Soon we had a full on halloween carnival happening!! Here's Tom carving and arranging the lanterns, there's a couple of toddlers running around chasing bubbles, here's a boy with clown face paint. It was awesome. Tomorrow, I'll post pictures.
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