ISP Initiation

10 April 2012:

Today I was transported to my ISP site, although I arrived too late to start at the Bangibizo School. I met Gogo and got to relax for a little while while Mama and the kids were at school. Everyone eventually came home and I got to meet all of them. There are so many that live here, I’m still not sure of the exact number. There are even more that are working elsewhere or going to school. Everyone is very nice and they speak very good English, which is helpful. I also found out that it was Mama’s first day at a new school… The Bangibizo school! That means that I will be walking to and from school with her every day!

It is very nice here. I'm sharing a bedroom with Mama and one of my sisters. Dinner was delicious as always (I swear they do something to their squash that makes it addictive). There were also these peeled baked potato type things. I have never had a potato prepared in such a way, but they were incredible! Thank god Mama told me I didn't have to eat all of the food if I was full, though. Such a relief!

I do miss all my SIT friends and being in Durban. Its nice to have your own space and be able to come and go as you please... not to mention being able to go to the beach every day. I'm beginning to understand why they put us in pairs for rural home stays. Not that this one is bad or anything, it just gets a bit lonely despite all of the kids around! 

11 April 2012:

Today was my first day of school. In the morning the kids assemble in front of the school, line up by grade, and have prayer time. They then go to their first classes of the day. I started out with Mrs. Zama in her grade 4 class. She had to go to a meeting with some parents, so I taught them some math and we went over a few pages in their workbook. They have break at 10:00 until 10:45 where food is served and they get to play outside. After break I was with Mama in her 6^th grade class! We had some tea and sandwiches during the break, and after I sat in on her economics and management class. They were learning about management and leadership! I am still confused by the schedule. There doesn’t seem to be a completely set time for things to happen. At some point the A class will leave and the B class will come in and the lecture will repeat, but I have no concept of the time table yet.

I got to talk to Mrs. Zama about my project, so it looks like she will help me out a lot. She said she will organize for me to talk to the OVC committee too! She also liked the sound of the photovoice project, so that’s another plus!

It was quite a long day, not to mention slightly overwhelming. While I did enjoy being at the school, not being able to speak fluent Zulu with the kids is a slight challenge and there are SO many kids in each class. My day was also unorganized, so it was a lot of sitting around, which made me very tired. I'm hoping things will start to pick up as I get to know the kids more and settle into more of a routine. 

12 April 2012:

Today was a lot more exciting than yesterday, but at times a lot more frustrating. The morning started out with prayer again and then I was back in Mama’s 6^th grade class teaching math in the morning. Actually I was just observing again, but I did correct their homework. Random side note: one of the boys in her class had stuck a bunch of pens in his hair. I found it amusing anyways.

During the middle of the period Mrs. Zama called me to the office where she showed me the OVC seeds that were sent for the garden by the department of education. The send seeds and some tools since the school has been chosen for a DOE funded OVC program. Later in the period she pulled me out to show me the kitchen where the Aunties make food for the children. There are huge pots cooked over gas stoves and the food is then dished out in buckets for each class. Today was samp and beans! I got to sample some, and it was quite delicious.

After break Mama had to go to a workshop so I went to Mrs. Zama’s class. She didn’t have anything for the kids to do so I taught them math! Her class is pretty well behaved. They get loud very easily and don’t like to stay seated, but I guess they are in 4^th grade. After we finished the correcting their assignment we still had a lot of time left, so I gave them some extra practice problems to do. The classes switched and the other 4^th grade class came in. They are less well behaved and gave me a very hard time. It was frustrating and I was just getting to the point where I was annoyed when Mrs. Zama came in and told me that the OVC committee was meeting, so I was to go sit with them. It was quite a relief. I went to the classroom they were in and they told me all about the program, their meetings, what they get from the government, what they do themselves, how they budget the money, and some of the things they do for the orphans/vulnerable children.

After I went back to Mrs. Zama’s class where she had me occupy the students until the end of the day. I asked them what they wanted to do and they came to the conclusion that they wanted to teach me Zulu! So they would write words in Zulu on the board, ask if I knew them, and then teach me the English word. We then somehow got back to doing extra math problems, which surprisingly most of them are really enthusiastic about. Mrs. Zama then let us go outside, where we played a few games together. Many of them involved dancing, which the kids got a kick out of my attempts, which only made them want to choose me to go into the center of the circle.

 Since Mama had left early for the workshop, I walked home with Zima. I met gogo in the kitchen. She helped me make some tea (meaning she showed me where everything was) and we talked for a little while. Now I'm here!

Unfortunately, I'm not sure that my Photovoice project is going to work. I might have to make some modifications.. we'll see. But I should be able to get a lot of other primary data, which is good news. I was much more happy with my day today, despite the frustrations of trying to get the 4th graders to sit down and be quiet. I guess I'm just getting a first hand account of what its like to be a teacher here. I'm beginning to learn why its so hard to be productive in class and why so many of the learners are struggling to pass. There are so many kids in a classroom that its easy for some kids to fall through the cracks so to speak, and its so hard to give kids individualized attention when they need it. You also spend most of your time disciplining them and trying to get them to be quiet (or at least I did). I liked that I was doing something all day though, whether talking to the OVC committee or teaching the kids. It helped me to stay more awake, thats for sure. At the end of the day some of the fourth graders came up to me and shook my hand or hugged me and asked if I would be teaching them tomorrow. Hopefully that means they like having me there! 

Other than that, I have watched way too much Phineas and Ferb, but on the plus side I get to watch all of my South African soaps again! Wahoo! I think I'm all caught up now, and from 6:30 to 8:30 we watch one after another. Then its bed time. Perfection. 

Oh, and a note on the toilet situation. I've made sure to bring toilet paper to school with me, since there is none there. They have very nice long drop toilets though so I don't mind that at all! At home I have yet to use the long drop. I heard from Seth and the outhouse is the worst he has used in SA. They have a bucket in the "bathroom" in the house, but thats only for numero uno. So (sorry if this is TMI) I save my numero dos for school so I can avoid the outhouse here. So far so good!

Ok, this will be the end of my rambling. I still miss everyone (both here in South Africa and back in the US of A). Everyone constantly talks in Zulu, which I can understand bits and pieces of, but I generally feel outnumbered and have been a lot quieter than I usually am.