Life at Nkuhungu
A common complaint among Peace Corps/VSO folks is that they get to their placement eager to kick some serious development ass, only to discover that there's nothing for them to do. Their placements either haven't been developed beyond the drawing board or, worse, the volunteer is expected to serve as a figurehead, a token mzungu who's primary responsibilities are to walk around and look white. Luckily, that is NOT the situation I'm in at Nkuhungu Secondary School; the day after I arrived in Dodoma I started teaching. Currently, (until the term ends in early December) I am teaching all of the Form I (freshman) students Biology and all of the Form III students Maths. What this works out to is 7 hours of straight teaching on Monday and Tuesday (exempting a 20 minutes recess- there is no lunch period) and then 3 90 min. classes on both Wednesday and Thursday (the teachers among you will appriciate the workload here- Derek, how quickly would Elliot file a union grievance on this schedule at J. A.?) The upshot is that I don't have classes on Friday; Friday's are a half-day to allow our Muslim students time to go to Mosque. On Friday mornings, the first 90 minutes are for various student lead worship sessions; being the team-player that I am I went ahead and went to the Catholic service. After much frantic searching to find me a chair and a English copy of the Bible, the students started a surprisingly uplifting and reverent session replete with songs, stories, and short speeches from the students about their interpretation of different key passages. I was rather enjoying it until they requested that I lead them in an "English Religion Song." You know that scene in "A Christmas Story" where Ralphy blanks out telling Santa what he wants for Christmas ("football? what's a football?") Yeah, well that was me..."Religious song? What's a religious song?" Those of you with musical taste (Mark, Dad, etc...) will despair at what I finally came up with...Yes, all those years of Catholic schooling, all those centuries of amazing religious hymns to choose from, and I ended up teaching 80+ Tanzania students the dulcet refrains of "Jesus Loves Me." Uncle Al, feel free to disown me...the irony gods are rolling as I type.
Moving on, back to the job description, I was lucky that I brought resources from home as the teachers here have so so little to work with when preparing their lesson plans- all I recieved was an outdated syllabus with such helpful pointers like "Teach Relations using Inequalities (6 Periods.)" Good thing I'm a Math major and can just come up with this stuff off the top of my head. It's all good though, I mean after the Bronx I've gotten used to dealing with a lack of resources, and who cares if there's a dirt floor & 60 kids in class as long as they're respectful and attentive? (There are limits to this- last Wed. they switched the Form III A students to a new classroom- one that was missing a wall where the blackboard should have been. Yep, just a wide open window into the surrounding desert. I won't lie; I walked in and just cracked up- the students were all looking at each other, giggling nervously, with little bubbles over their heads reading "why is the white teacher laughing?" Hiccoping between laughs, I took advantage of the fact that I'm the acting Science Dept. Head (I'll let you ponder the multitude of ways in which I am unqualified for that title) and marched them into the lab/science office with it's four walls/blackboard. I'm sure a better teacher (Evan, Deborah, Bryan...) could have taught graphing functions without a board, but I can't think that fast on my feet.)
That said, challenges noted, Nkuhungu's been a great place so far. The kids are so patient and respectful, and the teachers have gone out of their way to welcome me into their community. My boss is particularly amazing; he started this school 5 years ago and talks about the struggles with pride and a half grimace- the way farmers who made it through the great depression wince years later at still too-painful memories. He loves recounting how people said it couldn't be done, that there's no way he could build a secondary school in Nkuhungu- "and then you come here and see that this is our land, our buildings, and in a few years the trees will be tall and the students will have shade." His plans are ambitious (a form 5 next year, a teacher's college in '08) but he speaks with such conviction, such energy, that you find yourself wanting to give whole years of yourself to this collection of mud sheds and dust. At the very least you want to write mountains of grant proposals- my new idea of a fun Saturday night.
In other news...I'm recovering! I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with amoebic dysentary (a suitably impressive sounding ailment- how prosaic if it had only been the flu right?) and will be right as rain in a few days. I have my house all set up (will describe soon) and have visitors coming this weekend! Will post more in a few days, take care until then, kt
Moving on, back to the job description, I was lucky that I brought resources from home as the teachers here have so so little to work with when preparing their lesson plans- all I recieved was an outdated syllabus with such helpful pointers like "Teach Relations using Inequalities (6 Periods.)" Good thing I'm a Math major and can just come up with this stuff off the top of my head. It's all good though, I mean after the Bronx I've gotten used to dealing with a lack of resources, and who cares if there's a dirt floor & 60 kids in class as long as they're respectful and attentive? (There are limits to this- last Wed. they switched the Form III A students to a new classroom- one that was missing a wall where the blackboard should have been. Yep, just a wide open window into the surrounding desert. I won't lie; I walked in and just cracked up- the students were all looking at each other, giggling nervously, with little bubbles over their heads reading "why is the white teacher laughing?" Hiccoping between laughs, I took advantage of the fact that I'm the acting Science Dept. Head (I'll let you ponder the multitude of ways in which I am unqualified for that title) and marched them into the lab/science office with it's four walls/blackboard. I'm sure a better teacher (Evan, Deborah, Bryan...) could have taught graphing functions without a board, but I can't think that fast on my feet.)
That said, challenges noted, Nkuhungu's been a great place so far. The kids are so patient and respectful, and the teachers have gone out of their way to welcome me into their community. My boss is particularly amazing; he started this school 5 years ago and talks about the struggles with pride and a half grimace- the way farmers who made it through the great depression wince years later at still too-painful memories. He loves recounting how people said it couldn't be done, that there's no way he could build a secondary school in Nkuhungu- "and then you come here and see that this is our land, our buildings, and in a few years the trees will be tall and the students will have shade." His plans are ambitious (a form 5 next year, a teacher's college in '08) but he speaks with such conviction, such energy, that you find yourself wanting to give whole years of yourself to this collection of mud sheds and dust. At the very least you want to write mountains of grant proposals- my new idea of a fun Saturday night.
In other news...I'm recovering! I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with amoebic dysentary (a suitably impressive sounding ailment- how prosaic if it had only been the flu right?) and will be right as rain in a few days. I have my house all set up (will describe soon) and have visitors coming this weekend! Will post more in a few days, take care until then, kt
posted by Katie at 11:19 AM
3 Comments:
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Katie,
I can think of no song more perfect for a "first english christian song." I am having a wonderful time picturing you leading the group.
I love you Kate, take care of yourself and keep posting.
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