Hey all! This is just a quick post to let you know I updated my photos and think you may find they tell better stories than I do. . .
http://picasaweb.google.com/chermurph3
Enjoy:-)
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
pula pula pula!
So what has happened with me in the past month? I spotted 2 green mambas and ran. I witnessed my first South African rain on 10/18. I celebrated my golden birthday (10/25) on a mountaintop. Obama was elected! The rat accompanied me many times to the toilet. I danced and sang at a farewell function. I met the queen of Seletang. I went to a wedding for 2 Americans! . . . and more.
At Mannyetha School I finished “phase 1” of my library project last week. This means essentially I sorted through a room stuffed with hundreds of books, sports equipment, dead insects, broken computers, shelving, ancient encyclopedias, and magazines. After weeks of being covered in dust from head to toe I am proud to now walk through aisles of shelves with organized rows of books.
The Department of Education has changed their curriculum an obnoxious amount of times in recent years. For each curriculum they create new text books to meet the learning outcomes and assessment standards. This school has been fortunate to have the funds to purchase books for nearly each change of curriculum. Let’s see there are books for: Outcomes Based Education (OBE), Curriculum 2005, National Curriculum Standards (NCS) & Revised National Curriculum Standards (RNCS). Do we really need 4 texts books for the same subject and same grade? I tried to minimize the mass of books and now the entire back wall of the library is stacked from floor to ceiling with books organized by grade and subject (Arts & Culture, Life Orientation, Technology, English, Sepedi, Economic Management Science, Natural Science & Maths (not a typing error)).
I’m not sure if I wrote about the ridiculous amount of horror and explicit romance novels that are in the library. . . let me tell you it’s shocking! Of over 300 adult fiction books at least 60% will need to be packed away from these young ones. We have an impressive 7 sets of encyclopedias (Britannica, World Book, Funk & Wagnall’s, etc) dated from 1965 to 1990. Finally we have maybe 80 early chapter books and maybe 200 children’s books. The children’s books are in decent condition but I’m going to start looking for book donations. Some of the best leveled readers in this library came from the Department of Education’s “Stars of Africa,” Cambridge, and other book series’. The sets contain different reading levels and all books have bright pictures, relatable topics, and children of all colors. Kids need to see themselves represented in the books they read. Stories I particularly like are: Be Quiet! Sit Still! Don’t Wriggle! (a book about going to church), The Lost Headband (a bride loses her wedding headband and in Zulu tradition can’t get married without it), and Lizzie and the Water Spirit (spirits have great powers in this culture).
I’ve been thinking about starting a Junior Authors program at this school. I’m not sure yet what it will look like but I’m thinking each of the 720 learners will write a book and we will go through the entire publishing process. Since learners here have and know how to use computers we can really turn this into something beautiful! Plus I have seen amazing doodles on the notebooks and arms of learners . . . (Some children already have tattoos from drawing so deep and hard into their arms, it’s sad-)
What else am I thinking about starting at Mannyetha? At the end of October teachers submitted their Eco School report and are looking to earn their 2nd certificate of recognition as an International Eco School. But the teacher’s do all the work. . . so maybe we can have a Eco School Student Council? To promote the library maybe we can have a Great Books program where learners read and then discuss books. I would like to possibly make use of the unused science lab and teach some classes. Then I have some teacher workshop ideas: critical thinking, financial literacy, maybe Natural Science, English, and Maths.
Next week the learners will be out of school until January for their summer vacation. However the educators remain at school until December 9th grading and preparing for next year. During this time I am going to hold computer workshops on excel and power point. Although in the US I consider myself minimally computer literate here my skills are plentifulJ
For six days it has been raining! Yesterday it poured from 4pm until I woke up this morning. There are massive drums at each gutter spout to collect water and I don’t think we’re going to commute to the river for some time. In less than 5 minutes I filled my 20L jug. Last night the sheep circled a small tree and appeared to be on an island. Drenched, they shoved their faces into each other as usual. The goats took a different approach and leaned against the neighbor’s home. They were still getting wet, all expect for the half of their bodies touching the wall. The chalky ground is sprouting grass all over, giant centipedes and chachas roam the village.
Before the rain began maabane (Sepedi word for the day before yesterday!) afternoon I was playing “bread” in the street with maybe 20 kids. To play you draw a large rectangle in the dirt and put an end zone on each side. Then team 1 tries to go from end to end 30 times while the team 2 tries to hit them from just outside the rectangle with a small ball made of bread & orange bags. Those who are hit are out of the game. If when team 2 throws the ball it hits the ground it is fair gamed to be kicked far away from the Bread court by Team 1s players who have been knocked out. I hope this makes some sense. . .but I am not writing about Bread because it’s an exceptionally creative or stimulating game. I am writing because my sister Karabo tried to kick the ball away from the Bread Court yesterday when her barefoot landed in the barbed wire fence. By barbed wire I don’t mean the usual knots of wire with sharp tips- instead I am speaking of the razor blade-sized barbed wire that surrounds prisons (and my home). Anyhow my brain kicked into turbo-panic mode and I ran over, swept her sobbing body into my arms and quickly walked (she’s 10 and tall) to my porch. I broke out the PC medical kit and applied pressure for ten minutes. The cut was at least a ¼ of an inch deep, and gushed thick blood. It certainly required stitches but knowing that wouldn’t happen I mended her with gauze, tape, Tylenol, and a coloring book (thanks Morg!). Two days later its still oozing. . .
My greatest difficulties thus far are: the heat, sexism, and insects. The heat I guess I just have to deal with. . I’ve invested in a fan. The insects. . I keep my windows closed most of the timeL, I have a draft dodger for the giants that creep under my door at night (best investment!), and I use my headlamp with vigor.
The sexism. . grrr. This issue began with one of my principals before I even moved to my site. We were having tea at the supervisors workshop, he finished first and said “Do you know the role of a woman? You should take this tea cup.” To which I hastily responded “Ahh. . in my culture we each take care of ourselves. In fact if you take my empty cup I would call you a gentleman.” He said “Ahh. . if I took your cup I wouldn’t be a man.” This led to a 40 minute discussion between 4 male principals, Meg and I. We tried to speak calmly as the steam from our ears condensed on their spectacles.
The following week I made a visit to the school and sat in the board room for lunch. Him: “Do you notice something cultural here?” Me: “Yes, there are only men here- I will not be sitting here when I return permanently.” Him: “Yes, it’s fine you’re here; we just eat separate. No problem.” But upon further thought – there was a problem. You see the four male teachers eat in a board room with plush chairs and the cooks bring platters of food to the table. Meanwhile the 18 female teachers serve the learners and then eat alone in their classrooms while supervising the students.
One more brief convo: Him: “You must never walk alone to the tar road, a man could attack you.” Me: “I’m strong, I know self-defense.” Him: “You have strength, but not like a man, you could never be stronger than a man.”
As you may imagine each day holds at least a small spice of sexism. The trouble is the intersection/separation of cultural roles and equality.
Some more cultural notes:
My host father is amazing; each time we speak I come away with a better understanding of his faith-based mentality. I asked him some time ago about the rondaval in our yard. It has maybe a 10 foot diameter and is well built with cement blocks and has a thatched roof but I’ve never seen anyone enter it. He told me the ancestors came to him in a dream and told him to build this rondaval. He is the only one who enters and does so every 3 months or so. What’s inside? He couldn’t tell me.
Yesterday my father told me about a dilemma. Today there is a funeral for a relative- a baby passed away. Tomorrow there is a church event with the congregation in Jo’burg. He wants to attend both events but as a priest he cannot. If a priest attends a funeral he is not supposed to travel for 7 days otherwise “the God will be mad.” But if he doesn’t give sympathy to the family he will be disrespectful. Then he has the congregation in Jo’burg also counting on him.
If you sweep and the dust/debris lands on a man’s feet he will not get married. If you eat food from the pot it will rain on your wedding day. I only know about these 2 beliefs because I have done both. . .
At Mannyetha School I finished “phase 1” of my library project last week. This means essentially I sorted through a room stuffed with hundreds of books, sports equipment, dead insects, broken computers, shelving, ancient encyclopedias, and magazines. After weeks of being covered in dust from head to toe I am proud to now walk through aisles of shelves with organized rows of books.
The Department of Education has changed their curriculum an obnoxious amount of times in recent years. For each curriculum they create new text books to meet the learning outcomes and assessment standards. This school has been fortunate to have the funds to purchase books for nearly each change of curriculum. Let’s see there are books for: Outcomes Based Education (OBE), Curriculum 2005, National Curriculum Standards (NCS) & Revised National Curriculum Standards (RNCS). Do we really need 4 texts books for the same subject and same grade? I tried to minimize the mass of books and now the entire back wall of the library is stacked from floor to ceiling with books organized by grade and subject (Arts & Culture, Life Orientation, Technology, English, Sepedi, Economic Management Science, Natural Science & Maths (not a typing error)).
I’m not sure if I wrote about the ridiculous amount of horror and explicit romance novels that are in the library. . . let me tell you it’s shocking! Of over 300 adult fiction books at least 60% will need to be packed away from these young ones. We have an impressive 7 sets of encyclopedias (Britannica, World Book, Funk & Wagnall’s, etc) dated from 1965 to 1990. Finally we have maybe 80 early chapter books and maybe 200 children’s books. The children’s books are in decent condition but I’m going to start looking for book donations. Some of the best leveled readers in this library came from the Department of Education’s “Stars of Africa,” Cambridge, and other book series’. The sets contain different reading levels and all books have bright pictures, relatable topics, and children of all colors. Kids need to see themselves represented in the books they read. Stories I particularly like are: Be Quiet! Sit Still! Don’t Wriggle! (a book about going to church), The Lost Headband (a bride loses her wedding headband and in Zulu tradition can’t get married without it), and Lizzie and the Water Spirit (spirits have great powers in this culture).
I’ve been thinking about starting a Junior Authors program at this school. I’m not sure yet what it will look like but I’m thinking each of the 720 learners will write a book and we will go through the entire publishing process. Since learners here have and know how to use computers we can really turn this into something beautiful! Plus I have seen amazing doodles on the notebooks and arms of learners . . . (Some children already have tattoos from drawing so deep and hard into their arms, it’s sad-)
What else am I thinking about starting at Mannyetha? At the end of October teachers submitted their Eco School report and are looking to earn their 2nd certificate of recognition as an International Eco School. But the teacher’s do all the work. . . so maybe we can have a Eco School Student Council? To promote the library maybe we can have a Great Books program where learners read and then discuss books. I would like to possibly make use of the unused science lab and teach some classes. Then I have some teacher workshop ideas: critical thinking, financial literacy, maybe Natural Science, English, and Maths.
Next week the learners will be out of school until January for their summer vacation. However the educators remain at school until December 9th grading and preparing for next year. During this time I am going to hold computer workshops on excel and power point. Although in the US I consider myself minimally computer literate here my skills are plentifulJ
For six days it has been raining! Yesterday it poured from 4pm until I woke up this morning. There are massive drums at each gutter spout to collect water and I don’t think we’re going to commute to the river for some time. In less than 5 minutes I filled my 20L jug. Last night the sheep circled a small tree and appeared to be on an island. Drenched, they shoved their faces into each other as usual. The goats took a different approach and leaned against the neighbor’s home. They were still getting wet, all expect for the half of their bodies touching the wall. The chalky ground is sprouting grass all over, giant centipedes and chachas roam the village.
Before the rain began maabane (Sepedi word for the day before yesterday!) afternoon I was playing “bread” in the street with maybe 20 kids. To play you draw a large rectangle in the dirt and put an end zone on each side. Then team 1 tries to go from end to end 30 times while the team 2 tries to hit them from just outside the rectangle with a small ball made of bread & orange bags. Those who are hit are out of the game. If when team 2 throws the ball it hits the ground it is fair gamed to be kicked far away from the Bread court by Team 1s players who have been knocked out. I hope this makes some sense. . .but I am not writing about Bread because it’s an exceptionally creative or stimulating game. I am writing because my sister Karabo tried to kick the ball away from the Bread Court yesterday when her barefoot landed in the barbed wire fence. By barbed wire I don’t mean the usual knots of wire with sharp tips- instead I am speaking of the razor blade-sized barbed wire that surrounds prisons (and my home). Anyhow my brain kicked into turbo-panic mode and I ran over, swept her sobbing body into my arms and quickly walked (she’s 10 and tall) to my porch. I broke out the PC medical kit and applied pressure for ten minutes. The cut was at least a ¼ of an inch deep, and gushed thick blood. It certainly required stitches but knowing that wouldn’t happen I mended her with gauze, tape, Tylenol, and a coloring book (thanks Morg!). Two days later its still oozing. . .
My greatest difficulties thus far are: the heat, sexism, and insects. The heat I guess I just have to deal with. . I’ve invested in a fan. The insects. . I keep my windows closed most of the timeL, I have a draft dodger for the giants that creep under my door at night (best investment!), and I use my headlamp with vigor.
The sexism. . grrr. This issue began with one of my principals before I even moved to my site. We were having tea at the supervisors workshop, he finished first and said “Do you know the role of a woman? You should take this tea cup.” To which I hastily responded “Ahh. . in my culture we each take care of ourselves. In fact if you take my empty cup I would call you a gentleman.” He said “Ahh. . if I took your cup I wouldn’t be a man.” This led to a 40 minute discussion between 4 male principals, Meg and I. We tried to speak calmly as the steam from our ears condensed on their spectacles.
The following week I made a visit to the school and sat in the board room for lunch. Him: “Do you notice something cultural here?” Me: “Yes, there are only men here- I will not be sitting here when I return permanently.” Him: “Yes, it’s fine you’re here; we just eat separate. No problem.” But upon further thought – there was a problem. You see the four male teachers eat in a board room with plush chairs and the cooks bring platters of food to the table. Meanwhile the 18 female teachers serve the learners and then eat alone in their classrooms while supervising the students.
One more brief convo: Him: “You must never walk alone to the tar road, a man could attack you.” Me: “I’m strong, I know self-defense.” Him: “You have strength, but not like a man, you could never be stronger than a man.”
As you may imagine each day holds at least a small spice of sexism. The trouble is the intersection/separation of cultural roles and equality.
Some more cultural notes:
My host father is amazing; each time we speak I come away with a better understanding of his faith-based mentality. I asked him some time ago about the rondaval in our yard. It has maybe a 10 foot diameter and is well built with cement blocks and has a thatched roof but I’ve never seen anyone enter it. He told me the ancestors came to him in a dream and told him to build this rondaval. He is the only one who enters and does so every 3 months or so. What’s inside? He couldn’t tell me.
Yesterday my father told me about a dilemma. Today there is a funeral for a relative- a baby passed away. Tomorrow there is a church event with the congregation in Jo’burg. He wants to attend both events but as a priest he cannot. If a priest attends a funeral he is not supposed to travel for 7 days otherwise “the God will be mad.” But if he doesn’t give sympathy to the family he will be disrespectful. Then he has the congregation in Jo’burg also counting on him.
If you sweep and the dust/debris lands on a man’s feet he will not get married. If you eat food from the pot it will rain on your wedding day. I only know about these 2 beliefs because I have done both. . .
Monday, November 3, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
