The term official ends this coming Friday, June 20, but as I
am gone from site and at a training this week, for me, the term actually ended
last Friday, June 13th. This means the school year is half over!
This is both crazy and scary because I feel like I have just gotten started,
and that I have a lot more to do. In the mean time, it is good to remind myself
that a few good (and not-so-good) things happened this past term and progress
is being made…slowly but surely.
School Highlights:
1.) The School Store: In an effort to raise money to buy
more library books, I started a little school store to sell pens and pencils.
The profit margin is small (just a rand an item), but since the kids seem to
lose their writing utensils on a daily basis, I sell almost 50 writing utensils
a week. By the end of the third term, we will hopefully reach our goal of
R2000.
2.) Managing the Computer Lab: Most weekday mornings, I
arrive at school by 7:15am and open the computer lab for students to come in
until assembly begins at 7:45am. But there are mornings when the electricity
isn’t working, or I have work to do, or there is a staff meeting…meaning, there
are mornings when the computer lab just can’t be open. But the learners did not
seem to understand that when the door was closed the lab was closed. They would
stand and wait and block the path, thinking that eventually I would open the
door, and many of them wanted to be first in line. Apparently this was very
annoying to many of the teachers and the principal. So, I finally put up a sign
on the door that either says “closed” or “open” so there is no confusion.
Although this seems like a basic thing, it has made a big difference in keeping
everyone informed and organized…and happy.
3.) Studying = Winning: About a month before the end of the
term, I received a pack of multiplication flashcards from my family in America.
After giving it a little thought, I decided to have races between the rows each
Friday morning at the start of class, using the cards. This isn’t exactly an
original idea, but these learners have never seen it. I choose two rows to race
against each other, than the other two rows have their turn, and then the whole
class makes two lines for the last round. The winner of each round receives a
certificate that says “Mathematics Achievement Award” and I write in their name
and the date, as well as my signature and the principal’s signature. It was
clear from the first week of this competition that the learners were keen to
win.
On Thursday of last week, I reminded everyone that it was
their last chance to get a certificate for term two and that they should study
the times table for the races the next day. Everyone dutifully nodded. I just
smiled. The next morning, a boy named Kwanele came to me before school and told
me that he studied a lot the night before. I was pleasantly surprised that any
student would take the time to come and say this, and whether it was true or
not was almost irrelevant. I told him I was very proud of him and I’m sure that
he would do well that day, but really, I didn’t think that would be the case.
Well, he WON! That’s right, he won the race between his row
and another row. I was ecstatic. I went on and on for a few minutes telling the
class how important it is to study because in the end it will help you win. I
could not have wished for a better way to end the term. I am hoping that we can
pick back up where we left off when we return for term three.
Community Highlights:
1.) Gardening: I had a great time this term learning some
new gardening techniques and implementing them at my house. Outside of school,
this is definitely my main project. In the past three months I successfully
started a seedbed of cabbage seedlings, I double-dug a door-sized trench bed,
and then planted the cabbage seedlings in said bed. My goal for term three is
to start another seedbed and then companion plant something with the cabbage.
Long-term, I hope to spread the permagardening technique to members more
members of the community through weekend promote nutrition and healthy eating
through this process. I’ll keep everyone posted.
2.) Birthday: I was “lucky” enough to turn 36 at the end of
April and celebrate in style with both PCVs and my host family. On Friday
afterschool, I met up with the other volunteers who live in the area and we
taxied back to my site for a birthday sleepover. This has sort of become the
norm for everyone’s birthday, but it was fun to be the hostess. I didn’t do
much on Saturday during the day, but that evening, my family invited me to have
dinner with them and then surprised me with a cake! I would say that over the
years I have had some spectacular birthdays, and this ranks right up there with
the best of them.
3.) Extended Family Reunion: One of my favorite things about
being here is experiencing the Zulu culture first hand, especially at village
events. It was a true treat that just a few weekends ago my host family had a
type of “reunion” function where they honored the ancestors. It was a huge gathering
of people who lived both near and far and the food and drink did not
disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the men parade through the yard in
their traditional attire, addressing the ancestors and telling stories of the
mighty battles that they won (or at least fought in.) Ceremonies such as this
one will continue to be a true highlight of my service.
Lessons Learned:
1.) No Scissors Allowed: I was really trying to give grade 5
an authentic learning experience when we studied 3-D objects the second week of
May. I decided I would have cut out nets of prisms and pyramids and then fold
them into the appropriate 3-D figure. All I needed were a few pairs of scissors
and some tape for the kids to get crafty.
I could have sworn that at some point I saw a box of
kid-sized scissors in the storage room, but either my mind was deceiving me or
they just got moved, because I searched for about 30 minutes the week before
and I could not find these scissors anywhere. All that I was able to come up
with was a bag of 10 adult scissors from the Arts & Culture teacher. Kids
that are in grade 5 really do have hands that are smaller than adults, and
using these bigger scissors to cut a bunch of fairly small shapes turned out to
be a bit of a challenge for many of them. But they were managing to get things
done. As they were finishing up and I was putting them back in the bag, I
essentially noticed that there was blood all over one of the pairs. Of course,
I was furious. I asked the class “Why is there blood on these scissors?” and
within seconds they were tattling on each other, telling me that Phelelani cut
Cebani’s finger with the scissors. Great. The cut was not insignificant so it
needed to be washed and bandaged. The rest of the day was spent “investigating”
the incident to see who should be punished and how. So yeah, we don’t cut
things anymore in grade 5. We fold and tear very carefully along the fold.
Lesson learned the hard way.
2.) Don’t Get Off the Taxi: When you have to travel a long
distance and ride on a minibus taxi, it is a bit of a guessing game as to when
it is going to leave. Because it doesn’t leave until it is full. In early June
I needed to take a trip to Pretoria, which meant I had to first take the taxi
to Johannesburg. No big deal, done it before. I got there earlier than needed
and was the third person to sign-in and take my seat. After waiting for a while
and the taxi still being only half full, I asked the woman next to me to watch
my things while I ran over to Shoprite to buy some rolls and water. Again, no
big deal, everyone does this. When I got back, just 15 minutes later, the taxi
door was closed and the taxi was pulling away…without me in it. Now, as is
usually the case, when the taxi is full it first just pulls away to a parking
spot a couple meters away so that everyone can pay and the driver can give part
of the proceeds to the taxi rank manager and whatever other business needs to
happen. So I wasn’t too worried. When I walked up to the taxi, I opened the
door, got in, took my bag off of the seat and sat down. To my surprise, the
rank manager jumped in after me and started shouting (in Zulu) that I needed to
get off the taxi because it was full. I was like, yeah, I know it is full,
because I am one of the people making it full, so I just sat there. Partly
because I didn’t think I needed to get off, and partly because there was no way
I was getting off and waiting to take the next one. Then he started to shout a
few things that I didn’t understand and started to wave the sign-in book at me.
Well, as luck would have it, I was the third person to have signed-in AND I
used my real name as opposed to my Zulu name. As a side note, sometimes I use
my Zulu name because it is simply less obvious that it is me and if some
weird-o starts to talk to me I can just ignore him or her a little more easily
because they can’t just look at the book and see who I am. In any case, it was
crystal clear that I was perfectly entitled to be on the taxi…to everyone but
the taxi rank manager. At this point, the woman I was sitting next to as well
as several other strangers all started to shout in Zulu. I was pretty much lost
in the conversation at that point, but after about sixty seconds of nonsense
that guy shouted at me to sit down (which I was already doing) and then got off
the taxi in a huff. We drove away a few minutes later. I was a bit rattled
because I don’t enjoy being part of a scene; I already stand out enough, thank
you. But I also had no idea what the problem was, so I couldn’t really think
about it too much. Bottom line: from now on, I’ll just stay seated.
3.) Always Wear Layers and Bring an Umbrella: This sums it
all up as far as how I need to dress and prepare for each day. It seems like
every morning I wake up pretty chilly but by the afternoon I’m toasty warm. It
is impossible to predict whether or not it is going to rain, because it
shouldn’t be raining at this point in the year, but that doesn’t mean it won’t!
I now own four umbrellas. Two are at home, one is at school, and one is always
in my backpack. Also, all of them are garbage and are partially broken or could
easily break at any moment. But no matter, I have learned to wear several
layers in the morning for easy adjustment as the temperature changes throughout
the day and to be ready for the rain at any moment.
Looking forward to the highlights and lessons that Term 3
has to offer.
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