Third term- 2010

Well, I am well underway into the third and final term of the school year. My assignment is to co-teach and that I was with the grade 8 and 9 math teacher at Rfunsa Basic, Mr. Mulenga, until he got shipped off to another school. So, I have had the privilege of teaching my own grade 8 and 9 math class for the last few weeks and have 2 or 3 more weeks to go until they take their exams. Co-teaching was fun, but having the class to myself is a blast and I am enjoying it while I can. The grade 9's take an exam to see if they qualify for high school, so I have backed out of lesson mode and am in review mode to prepare them. Review mode I am finding is actually re-teach mode. Who knows if I will be able to improve their scores, although I must admit I could knock out their test with flying colors. I forgot how good at math I was. It's a bit of a curse because multiplying by the inverse seems logical to me, but to have it make sense to them is another story. Regardless, it is easy to see that the math is not why I am in the classroom but rather to show them that you don't have to hit to punish a child for talking and you can praise an effort, even it is incorrect. Speaking of praise, the kids like to do claps for each other when they answer questions correctly (the younger grades actually), so I took the liberty of introducing my grade 8 and 9's to the Arsenio Hall Show clap, which if you don't know is woofing like a dog while pumping your fist in the air. They of course adapted it quickly, but the best part was hearing it in a class I wasn't teaching and also having the head teacher ask me the other day, "what is this dog barking the kids are doing in class?"

The roof to my hut needed replacing, and aside from the month it took to get bamboo and grass, it took another surprisingly 11 days to do the labor. My fellow volunteer neighbor (40 miles away) said she had it done in a day. Not sure what's up with my village, but I still couldn't help but relive the Shawshank Redemption movie moment where the prisoners are drinkin suds as they tar the prison roof. Now maybe we are prisoners of a system, prisoners of poverty, or prisoners of nothing, but the picture above shows us drinkin suds when the roof was finally done. "We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men. Hell, we could have been tarring the roof of one of our own houses. We were the lords of all creation. As for Andy - he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer." Note- we were drinking actual suds. Real beer is like champagne here, as they drink Chibuku which is made from maize, has no carbonation, and costs a quarter.

The other pictures are of the teacher's at Chimusanya Basic on World Teacher's Day BBQ'n some chicken, and the kids are some neighbors JB or Jebby (not sure which) and his sister Kausine.