Back to school...

               I forgot how great after-school snacks are.  The other day, I was chatting with a teacher from the high school, and he asked me what my favorite snack was.  I couldn’t answer… I couldn’t remember the last time I had snacked.  I usually don’t have time to snack here in Lesotho, or if I do, I’m gorging on American candy from my most recent package—and I don’t really consider that a snack, more like a guilty pleasure.  At home, I’d eat chips and salsa, trail mix, leftovers in the fridge… but here, nothing.

                It wasn’t until I got home today and found myself rummaging in my food cabinet that I realized what I was doing.  I was snacking!  An after-school snack!  I came up with a piece of toast with peanut butter and a cup of tea.  It’s not what I would have usually snacked on in my days of elementary school, but now that I’m back in elementary school, I find myself craving that extra boost of energy at 3:00pm.

                My first week of school is winding down, finally.  If you didn’t already know, I am volunteering with three different schools surrounding my community.  This week, I was at Mahloenyeng Primary, which is about a 5 minute walk from my house.   Next week, I’ll be at Theressa James, and the following week, at Makeneng Primary.

                I began the week bright-eyed and bushy tailed, ready to get involved in everything and anything I could.  For the first month, I am just observing the current teachers to assess where they are succeeding and where they need help.  I showed up on Monday at 7:35 (morning assembly starts at 7:45).  I got a ride with a high school teacher, so for a few minutes I hung out in the high school’s staff room, introducing myself and chatting with teachers, building up my confidence for the day, when one of them suggested that I see if the primary school teachers had arrived. 

                At the primary school, we do not have a staff room.  We have the principal’s office, and if we have “off periods”, or during lunch, we drag in a bench from one of the classrooms.  So I meandered over to our “room” to see if we were ready to begin assembly.  I found two of eight teachers waiting outside the room.  The principal, who had the keys, had not yet arrived.  Alright, I thought, it’s the first day, transport is unreliable… give them a chance…

                We began classes at 8:30 instead of 8.  Students filed into their rooms and sat in their desks alone.  All of the teachers came outside to sit under a tree and welcome me.  We sat and chatted, then we walked into the teachers’ room and chatted, then, oops! break time, and the students ran outside to play for 20 minutes.  One more 40-minute class before lunch.  Most of the teachers went, some did not.  All of the teachers came to lunch afterwards.

                Somehow it was mutually agreed upon that classes would not continue into the afternoon.  I’m not sure if the message was communicated to the students, because they didn’t go home early.  Instead, they had an extended recess from 11-2:40pm.  And the teachers spend the afternoon allocating classes (who teaches what and when).  4:00 rolled around, and we finally went home.

                The rest of the week went much the same.  Tuesday there were only three of eight teachers.  The principal did not come, either.  I was asked to teach a Health class, a Math class (I politely declined), and an English class.  Wednesday, seven of the eight came.  Today, seven of the eight again.  When a teacher doesn’t come, there are no substitutes.  I was asked to teach a 6^th grade English class today, because the regular teacher needed to fill in for a science class given at the same time.  

                For the second time since I’ve gotten to Lesotho, I cried yesterday.  I don’t know where to begin helping these schools.  I feel completely overwhelmed and helpless.

                However.  95% of the students are at school every day, lining up for assembly (around) 7:45.  98% of them have uniforms.  100% of them have school supplies.  They are coming to school, and all of them want to learn.  They are happy to be at school.  I can tell because when I enter a classroom without a teacher and start making up lessons to teach them, they are having fun.  (On Tuesday, I had to fill in for a 5^th grade Health class.  The syllabus said to do “chest and waist stretches”.  I had the entire class in the courtyard doing pelvic thrusts with their hands on their hips, yelling “WAIST! WAIST! WAIST!”  Needless to say, I think we distracted the entire school for about 10 minutes…)  When they answer a question correctly, you can just tell from the beaming smile on their faces that they are happy to be smart and to be learning. 

Also, to be honest, it's not all hopeless.  I’ve seen those breakthrough moments in a few classes that I’ve observed this week, where the teacher has taken the time to make a lesson plan the night before, or comes up with a creative way to teach a boring lesson, or compliments a student for answering correctly.  I've seen students with learning disabilities approach me after school, whipping out all of the English that they can remember.  I talked to a boy last week who said he was going to cry when I left, and that he was sad that he didn't have a gift to give me now, but that he promised he would have a parting gift to give in the next two years.