End of Term Tirade.

Having recently entered into the third toothbrush phase of my time at Nanthomba School I finally feel adequately prepared to evaluate my experience. After five months of cabbage, and crowd control, I have the following things to report: I’d kill for an ice cream sundae, the kids are great, and there are mosquitoes breeding in the toilet.

Reflecting on Term 2: The good news is that, by and large, the kids are willing, capable, and interested in learning. The bad news is that most of them are failing. Still. The way I see it, the reasons are structural. It is no surprise that these kids are falling through the cracks by the handful when they’re up against an educational system that seems intent on seeing them fail. The curriculum is designed like a CSI episode – each lesson self-contained with no basis of what came before or what will come after; no chance to build understanding. [Can I venture to surmise this might be cultural?] Instead of climbing the Ladder of Knowledge, students are left leaping from stone to stone across a river of poverty and teenage pregnancy trying to reach the promise land of secondary school.

But who am I to say? There are some who would (and have) swoop down onto Nanthomba School in traditional Malawian attire - pretending that means they're culturally accepting - and mix one part Classroom Police with two parts Angel of Education to lead wayward youth unto the light.

And Manna and free ballpoint pens rained down from Heaven. Amen.

Instead, lets talk about success. (Baby.) Focused, as we are in the western world, on achievement, it is easy to imagine that not making it across the river can only mean certain death. A subscription to My Value Judgments Weekly is only one click away and inadvertently we end up teaching kids that anything other than secondary school equals failure. Certainly we should encourage academic performance. Certainly we should reward high achievement. But to discount and demonize alternate paths and lifestyles is a failure on our part.

*I just got out of a staff meeting - Can you tell?

The Kids.

Expressive Arts Lesson
Unit 8: Making Artistic Objects out of Clay (notice how many of them made cell phones)


Thursday afternoon running club.

The enemy.

Nanthomba School.

For those of you familiar with schools you should know that even rural primary schools in Malawi cannot escape the chronic drama that plagues all institutions of learning.

White Frank, the kindergarten teacher, is having difficulty showing up to work on time/at all because his first and second wife are suing him because he has started payments for a third wife.

Louis Nkhoma, Standard 6 teacher, has been having to leave work in the middle of the day in order to eat breakfast because his wife is unable to prepare the food in time. Why is she having difficulty? Because she is 14 years old and should be in Standard 6.

The Standard 2 teacher has been accused of practicing witchcraft aimed at the headteacher. His dog is now pregnant which is proof alone.

Stranded

at Mangochi turnoff.

The Best Answers.

From my most recent Life Skills Assessment.

Q: List 3 misconceptions about drug and alcohol abuse? (Who knew I'd be working for the D.A.R.E. program, right?)

A.1: tables, table stain, get your happy table [contributed by Loveness Robeni)

A.2: You. Me. Everybody HIV AIDS we be jumping. [contributed by Peter Sunday]

Choose your favorite. Personally? I'm going A.2. Its a misconception about something.

Daily Chores.