July 4, 2007 Ntenjeru Parents High School

An original poem by Nantongo:

See the Muzungu trudge through the mud,

See the Muzungu slip and slide.

See the Muzungu fall down,

Let’s all laugh at the silly Muzungu covered in mud!

Ha ha ha ha ha!

This poem, if you have not already guessed, was inspired by a very true story, based on my morning walk to school. The roads are all mud, and it had rained basically all last night. So I was trying my best to make it without falling flat on my face. I was doing pretty well until this really unstable and really gushy part of the road and I ended up falling forward but I caught myself (mostly) with my hands. Right as this was all happening, a taxi crammed full of people drove by and broke into an uproar of laughter as they drove by (not even stopping to ask if I wanted a ride, no one wanted to sit next to a mud-covered Muzungu).

I am almost 2/3 done with my teaching day. I am in my S2 class and they are writing informal letter to me right now (it was today’s lesson).

I still have to teach S4, but it is the same lesson as S3 so hopefully it won’t be to bad. I think I learned from my mistakes so it should be easier. S3 was basically a disaster. I tried to teach them brainstorming for creative writing using the “spider-web” method. It was too unstructured for them, and needless to say it did not go over well.

Side note: I have to pee really really bad, but I have no idea where the school’s latrine is, and even if I did I don’t think I want to (I have heard horror stories about school latrines from the other volunteers in Mokono, 1 latrine + 300 kids cannot have a good outcome).

I have a 1 ½ hour break after this class, so my plan is to go to the VOLSET office, and use the latrine there. I still have ½ hour of class then a 15 minute walk after that. We’ll see if I make it.

6:17 pm

I am back at home. Finally. I never thought it would stop raining today, but it finally let up. When I say raining, I mean absolutely pouring. Like God might of forgotten his promise to never flood the Earth again, and opened the flood gates of heaven-kind of pouring down.

I got to walk to school in it, to fall down in it, then from the school to the office for lunch and back in it. But mercifully it was decided that we should take a taxi home so I didn’t have to make a complete fool of myself and get covered in mud in front of the village-again. I’ve been soaked through and through today, every time I almost got dried off I had to go back into the rain. And I don’t think there is an inch of me that has not seen mud today.

I actually don’t mind too bad, because it covers up the fungus/parasite/ring worm marks that now cover my body. It honestly looks like I had a mild case of chicken pox. Thankfully, Joe asked the doctor about it (he volunteers at the hospital about twice a week) and he gave him some anti-fungal cream. I used it, but I’m not sure it will actually do anything. No one is completely sure there is a cure for Chisenti or not. It might go away on its own, but right now it just seems to be multiplying so I’ll try whatever I can get.

Today in S2 I had them write letters to me, but then I had to reply yo 30 letters during my lunch, my other classes, and after school. It took forever. I didn’t mind, except a lot of them had really sad stories (they’re orphans, their parents are sick, bad home conditions, can’t pay their school fees, ect). I felt really bad, but I just had to write that although I’d like to help, that I can’t. I hope they understand.

S4 was fun, they understood what I was trying to teach them a lot better than S3 (although that might be because I nixed the spider web and replaced it with a much more uniformed approach). But I got to help them with their stories, and ask them lots of questions about their stories in order for them to develop the details more and to get creative. We all had a lot of fun.

I’m on my period right now so I am plumb exhausted and have super bad cramps (I apologize to all the male readers, but it is kind of a fact of life). So today was really hard, but still fulfilling in an odd way. I feel like I taught something useful, and that I actually helped. It is a good feeling. But at the same time, I think this experience has cemented the fact that I don’t want to be a teacher. I think I am a much more project oriented person, I like to have things completed and finished, and students will never be finished learning.