So it’s been almost two weeks since I last posted a blog. Sneakily, blogspot allows me to set the date and time of my post, so the date and time don’t necessarily reflect when my blogs are posted. I try to set the date and time to reflect the order in which I write the blogs. In any case, my friend Jim Cosgrove from UD wrote to me in reference to my encyclopedia-length entries saying that I should “get my ass outside and play instead.” So maybe it’s a good thing that I haven’t written a blog in a while. After the short novel I wrote about the unexpected break at Chaminade, I’m hoping to keep my blogs under a few hundred words. (We’ll see if that actually happens.) At the same time, however, I really enjoy writing. And now that it’s getting pretty dang hot in the afternoons, the idea of sitting still and typing a blog with a fan 10 inches from my face is a much more attractive plan than getting fried outside.
And, on that note, you’ll be glad to hear that I’ve adopted the practice of siestas. (For your information, I haven’t necessarily seen that it is a part of the culture here. I’m simply bringing it here in my life from whatever parts of the world that practice siestas.) I now include plans in my daily schedule to take at least a brief nap after lunch during the hottest part of the day. Though it’s already getting up 95 degrees Fahrenheit outside, it’s not yet getting too hot in our bedroom to take a nap in front of a fan. It’s actually quite lovely. I’ll update you about my ability to take an afternoon nap when it starts getting up to 110 and 115 in the next month or two.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
An Unexpected and Unfortunate Break; Some Rough Waters at Chaminade
Despite the fact that the third term of the year just began three weeks ago, Chaminade Secondary School is now on break until September 13th. This is the result of some atypical events, which, unfortunately, is only going to make things more difficult for our students, particularly the Form 2’s and Form 4’s, who are scheduled to begin their testing on September 15th.
The Form 2’s (the equivalent of H.S. Sophomores) will be taking their Junior Certificate Examinations (the JCE’s), which they must pass in order to continue their secondary education. The Form 4’s (the equivalent of H.S. Seniors) will be taking their Malawi Secondary Certificate Examinations (the MSCE’s), which they must pass in order to officially graduate from Secondary school. Furthermore, their score on the MSCE determines whether or not they will get into University and whether or not the government will pay for their University, which, for many, will decide whether or not they are able to go. Essentially, these tests determine whether the students are able to pursue further education or whether they must return to their villages and resume whatever work they can find there, which, for many of them, will be a life of subsistent farming.
So why is Chaminade on break during the two weeks leading up to the tests upon which the entire Malawian secondary school curriculum is focused? Well, to begin, let me just say this past week has been a very interesting week.
Monday morning, I was awoken by the sounds of periodic clapping and cheering. It was around 7:15AM. Classes begin at 7AM for the students, and while I was not aware of any type of scheduled assembly, I had only been in Africa for two weeks, so I didn’t know what was going on. No one came to get me, so I wasn’t too alarmed. I could see out my bedroom window that some students were gathered near the administration wing of the school, so I casually put on some teacher clothes, and made my way over to see what was going on. When I arrived, I found nearly all 350 boys in their full uniform standing in a crowd facing the faculty and staff who had gathered outside the staff room. The Headboy (somewhat like a Student Government President, only with many more responsibilities here) was standing out in front of the crowd, reading from a list to our Headmaster, who was standing taking notes. The list was a list of grievances the students had for the administration. The students had organized a strike in order to bring their issues to the administration.
The night before, Molly, Emily, and I had gone out into the “bush” behind our house to look at the stars. While we were standing there gazing up at the sky, we heard the Malawian national anthem being sung from the direction of the hostiles, the dormitory type building where the boys live. After their singing, we heard cheers, clapping, and whistling. As Molly said, it sounded like the start of a sporting event. The power had gone out earlier that evening, which always riles up the boys because they don’t have to study since there is no light, so we figured their singing was a spontaneous overflow of their blackout energy. Apparently, they had organized an assembly amongst themselves, which, without administrative approval, is actually against regulations of the Malawian Ministry of Education, a serious violation. Every school sings the Malawian national anthem after general assemblies, and so the singing actually commenced upon the conclusion of their assembly. It was during that assembly that they addressed their issues with the administration, organized them, and decided how they wanted to present their issues.
The presentation of grievances lasted around two hours. The students were serious, and they had prepared a well written list of complaints with sufficient reason and argument for their issues. Many of the issues revolved around changes that had occurred in the past year as a result of budget cuts. One of the main issues was the removal of outings. The students had previously been allowed two outings per month. Since this is a boarding school, the students are actually restricted to remain on campus at all times except during scheduled outings. I believe when the current Form 4’s first arrived at Chaminade, the students were allowed outings every Saturday. Because of various abuses of the outings, including students going to town and getting drunk, the number of outings was reduced to two a month. Last term, eight students were found drunk after one of their outings, and as a result, the students were expelled, and the staff and administration made the decision to reduce the students’ outings even further, allowing only one per month. This may seem a bit extreme, but there are two important things to consider.
First of all, drinking is seen as a much more serious offense here in Malawi than it is in the US. The legal drinking age is 18. However, even for those who are of legal drinking age, drinking to excess is viewed as an extremely serious social offense. Drunkenness is viewed as a serious issue, and for boys, who are under the legal drinking age, it is quite unacceptable, especially for a private boarding school which claims to be one of the best schools in the country. The second important thing to consider is the fact that one outing per month is the national norm for Malawi. The students at Chaminade were actually granted special privileges in having more than one outing per month. So in reality, the staff was merely making the decision to reduce the number of outings to what all of Chaminade’s peer schools allowed.
Nonetheless, the Chaminade students were extremely discontent with this change. Now, I could begin to describe some of the issues of entitlement of the Chaminade students that have been discussed this week, but I’m going to try to finish explaining the events that led to our two week break.
After the students finished presenting their grievances, Mr. Nthala, our headmaster, suggested that all of the staff meet and work on coming up with some solutions for their grievances. At this point, I was somewhat impressed with the students. Granted, it would have been much better for them to have brought up these issues at a time when they weren’t supposed to be in class, but the manner in which they presented their issues, the language they used, the respect they showed, and their degree of organization.
The staff met for almost three full hours, examining and discussing each of the twenty one issues the students presented. Some of the issues were quite trivial or all together made-up, such as the complaint that teachers sit in the Headmaster’s office and watch television when the students aren’t allowed to. (In actuality, the television in the Headmaster’s office hasn’t had a connection for five months.) However, some of their concerns were definitely legitimate. For example, one of their major complaints was about their diet. Right now, their diet consists mainly of nsima (maize flour and water) and some beans with a bit of lettuce. Nsima is the staple food of Malawi and many other parts of Africa. It has practically no flavor, the consistency of dry, chewy mashed potatoes, and as far as I know, little to no nutritional value. The boys get a small serving of meat once per week, and rice once every two weeks. I’ve always thought of rice as a primary food for those who cannot afford otherwise, but here, because of recent price increases, rice is actually a luxury. With this issue, I am in strong support of the students complaints. I would be extremely interested in examining the nutritional content of their diet; however, I am also scared to see the results. It is very likely that most, if not all, of their nutritional needs go unmet. This is particularly challenging for us as volunteers, who, because of our fundraising and support from our volunteer program, are able to eat a rather luxurious diet. Several of us are already experiencing a great deal of conflict regarding our resource consumption. While I desire a flavorful diet, and while I believe in the need to have a strong nutritional foundation to that diet, it is very difficult to sit at our dining room table with a relative feast before us as we watch the students walk to their dining hall where we know they are probably being served a meager meal of nsima and beans. With all this being said, the students did have some serious issues.
The staff worked out some solutions for the students’ concerns. However, with an extremely limited budget, and costs constantly rising, the solutions the staff developed were meager and temporary at best. It was clear to all of us that more work needed to be done to meet some of the students’ legitimate needs. For the time being, though, we wanted to offer the students some responses, which would hopefully enable them to resume their normal class schedule; this is where problems really began.
During the staff meeting, one of the teachers had passed a few students and overheard one of them say, “night is coming.” There was some debate amongst the teachers as what that could mean, but it definitely raised some concerns. After the staff meeting, the Headmaster sent out the message to gather all of the students in the assembly hall. A few minutes later, the staff made our way to meet the students there. However, they were not there. We could see the whole crowd of students standing outside of the hostiles. They had long since changed out of their uniforms, and had used the past three hours as free time. We received the message that they wanted us to come to them. This, for several reasons, was a big issue. The staff made it clear that the students had to come to them, while several members began getting worried about the students’ noncompliance. The students then marched around to the administration offices, sending a message to the staff that they would be willing to hear the staff’s response there. By this point, things seemed very strange. The other volunteers and teachers informed us new volunteers that this type of behavior was extremely unusual. Murmurings of police assistance began among the staff, and Sarah Wdowiak informed me that that would probably be the next step.
One of the student representatives informed the Headmaster that the students did not want to meet inside the assembly hall, so the Headmaster told them that he would be willing to meet them out in the open air, outside the assembly hall, but that they had to come to him. It was clear to me that there was a battle for authority and power going on. The students finally came around, and met us outside the assembly hall. All of this was extremely strange considering the fact that it was the students who put out the request for solutions to the issues, and the staff had so far shown a willingness to work with the students. This meeting, after all, was for the students to hear the staff’s suggested solutions. I found it strange that they were showing such reluctance to come hear those solutions.
What happened next brought this issue to a whole different level. When the students came to meet the staff, the Headmaster asked all of the students to sit down before he began sharing the solutions the staff had developed. The students were working as a mob by this point, and I could see them looking to one another, to a few “ring leaders” here and there to see how they should act. A few students refused and began to walk away. This sent a ripple effect, and the mob of students started yelling and marching away. At this point, the staff made the decision to call in for police. We didn’t know where things were going to go, but with these blatant acts of defiance and the mob mentality that was setting in, we wanted the police to get there before anything happened.
As the mob began walking back to the hostile, we could see the Headboy and his council were genuinely concerned. The Headboy and the council of Prefects were the top students in their classes. They are extremely intelligent and respectable young men. The tone of things had definitely changed from that morning, when the Headboy and the Prefects presented their concerns in a very formal and official manner. Now, there seemed to be an under current of defiant students who were working to rile things up. After some discussion, the Headboy rang the assembly bell, and called the students back. Slowly but surely, they all came back. The student leaders informed the students to sit down and hear the staff’s suggestions. It comforted me to see that the Headboy and Prefects were not satisfied with the behavior of the student body, but it concerned me that there was a clear mob mentality developing.
Finally, the students settled down, and they began listening to the Headmaster as he described the solutions, though temporary, that the staff had created. Things began to look like they were going well. However, the police who had been called when things weren’t looking so good finally arrived. This got the students riled up again, and I could tell that many of them became frightened by the police presence. I could also see in some of their faces looks of resentment that the police had been called. In some ways, I feel that the police presence took away the voice of the students. They no longer could feel free to speak their mind. Nonetheless, there was some comfort in the fact that the police were there.
The Headmaster finished sharing the solutions, while making it clear that some of the students’ issues were unable to be resolved that day. He articulated that, for those issues, the staff would continue to work on finding solutions with the students. He even announced that he would be meeting with the student representatives again that day for further clarification and discussion of some of the more pertinent issues. Things seemed to finish well. It was a bit past 1PM, and the boys hadn’t had lunch, so the Headmaster encouraged them to go eat. He and the student representatives continued to meet throughout the afternoon. As a safety precaution, several police remained on campus that evening.
The next day, Tuesday, classes resumed as normal. However, when Emily, one of the volunteers, said to one of her Form 1 classes, “It is good to see every thing back to normal,” one of her students replied, “No, Madame Richardson. Things are not normal. They appear normal, but they are not normal.” Some of the other volunteers had heard that some of the students were going to vandalize parts of the school and the Headmaster’s house the night before. Apparently, the police had arrived moments prior to the planned attack. As we, as a volunteer house, discussed this, we reflected on our own concerns. The volunteers who have been here for a year felt confident that the students had no desire to harm any of us or our house. And in the three weeks I have been here, I can see that the students genuinely appreciate and enjoy the presence of the volunteers. I too felt very safe here. Also, all of the negative thoughts had been directed primarily at the administration and the Headmaster.
That evening, we had invited Madame Malwanda, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Chaminade over for dinner. She had heard about the issues of the students, and was concerned about some of the threats that had been made on the school and on the Headmaster. While we were eating supper, we began to hear a roar of shouting erupt. We were all disappointed because we knew that some of the students were probably up to something that wasn’t going to be good for them or for the school. We weren’t too concerned, though, since many of the students have very good relationships with the volunteers. We had also heard that the police were on their way. The shouting subsided, and we resumed our meal. Perhaps ten minutes later, the shouting began again, this time louder and more intense. We couldn’t ignore this anymore, and Madame Malwanda was the first to rise from her seat. We went out to the porch to look out to campus. We could see a crowd of students rushing about the center of campus, which is probably two or three hundred meters from our house. Again, we had no doubt that the students would leave us alone, but we were concerned for the school, the Headmaster’s home, and the students themselves. We could hear some rocks being thrown at buildings, but nothing seemed too out of control. We could tell that it was not all the students who were yelling and running about. Then, we could see a small fire spark. We had heard that the police had arrived to campus, but the sight of a fire was definitely concerning. The fire began to grow, and we became concerned that it would spread. We soon saw a number of police officers run up and quickly suffocate the fire. Things calmed down, and we could tell the police had corralled all of the students back into the hostile. Sarah then drove Madame Malwanda home, who was actually grateful that we happened to invite her over that night. She was able to be present for this event, and so she had a first hand understanding of what transpired.
The next morning, we found that some of the teachers were scared to teach. After all, it would be one teacher in a room with up to 50 students. The Headmaster made the decision to postpone classes while they worked on gathering names of who was involved with the vandalism and fires of the night before. The police were once again brought it, and an action plan was developed to gather the students for an assembly, send them to their classrooms, and then arrest the students who were suspected of being involved. All of this took several hours. It was just before noon when the thirteen students who were named were gathered and taken in. The Secretary and Counselor of the Ministry of Education were already on their way to decide what else should be done. After several meetings with the administration, staff, and students, the decision was made on Thursday to give the school a two week break. This two week break would give the students some time to calm down, while also allowing the administration some time to come up with some lasting and effective solutions to some of the issues that sparked these events.
The students who were arrested were released on bail yesterday and are to report for their court case on September 10th. There are also fifteen other students whose names were identified on Thursday as additional suspects for the riotous behavior that happened on Tuesday night. As of right now, I am unsure how those students will be dealt with.
So, as you can see, this was an extremely interesting week. All of the students have left campus and have returned to their homes. The students come from all parts of Malawi, especially the northern region. In order for them to return to Chaminade in two weeks, the administration has implemented a requirement for one of the parents to accompany the students upon their return. Before they are allowed to re-enter the school, the student and parent must read and sign a contract to abide by the rules and regulations of the school. If they refuse to sign the contract, they will not be allowed to return to school.
What does all this mean for the volunteers? Well, we have a two week break. There is plenty for us to do around the house, but there have been a few ideas floating around of going down to Mzuzu or visiting some other place. We also know a number of other volunteer workers in the area, including the Australian family at Losobila Orphan Center and numerous Peace Corps Volunteers throughout the northern region; all of them are potential opportunities for us to assist in some of the other work that is being done in our area. Most likely, we will probably take this time to relax a little bit, work on a few things around the house, and try to get a little more settled in this place. I wouldn’t say it is exactly an ideal situation, but we will definitely be able to make use of this time. We will also probably have at least a few meeting at school this week to discuss what has happened, and how we are going to go on from here.
Many of the teachers have shown great care, concern, and compassion towards us, especially those of us who have just recently arrived. All week, I was asked by almost every staff member, “Taube, how are you doing?” “Are you dealing okay?” “Is everything alright?” The Headmaster has specifically made a point to check up on us. And just the other night, Chris and Anne, the couple that works for Paladin, the Uranium Mining Company, came over to our house to check in on us. The Marianist Brothers have also been supportive of us. We’ve received a great deal of support even though all of us felt very much that the students’ issues were not with us. Nonetheless, this has been a somewhat stressful and confusing situation. For us new volunteers, we’ve been quite clueless with everything. We hardly know any students, we don’t know what life is typically like for the students here, and we aren’t familiar with the way the school normally deals with issues. But for the volunteers who have been here for a year, I think it has been even more difficult. It has been upsetting for them to see the school as they have come to know it almost flip itself over. Some of the students who were involved, even some of the ones who were arrested, had close relationships with them. And perhaps most troubling of all, Emily and Ryan both teach classes for students preparing to take the JCE’s or MSCE’s, and now, those classes will not meet for the two weeks prior to the tests. This has been particularly difficult for Emily, who was planning on using these next two weeks to work intensively with the students who needed the most help.
This is, by far, the longest post I have written, and hopefully, it will be the longest post I write during my time here. For those of you who made it through the entire thing, thanks for reading and showing your concern and interest. I want to ensure to you that I am, and the other volunteers are, doing okay. Though we were prepared to leave campus and find a calmer place to stay when things got tense, at no time did we feel threatened or in danger. And though this issue wasn’t directed at us, I do ask for your prayers for the school and the students. We are all quite confident that it was only a minority of students who took things too far, but this has definitely affected all of the students and all of the staff. I ask that you pray for the administration as they work out ways to handle the situation, and I ask that you pray for the students as they prepare to return to campus, especially those who are left to prepare for their tests on their own.
While this whole situation was quite unexpected and quite unfortunate, it’s where we are at, and all we can do is go from here. I am still hopeful and optimistic about this volunteer experience. And in some ways, this situation shows some of the ways that we volunteers are needed here. There are definitely ways this situation could have been avoided, and I think the positive relationships the volunteers have with the students shows some of the insight we can share.
If you have any thoughts, concerns, or questions, please feel free to shoot them my way.
Thanks again for reading, and hopefully, the next post will be a bit lighter for you.
Peace and Love.
The Form 2’s (the equivalent of H.S. Sophomores) will be taking their Junior Certificate Examinations (the JCE’s), which they must pass in order to continue their secondary education. The Form 4’s (the equivalent of H.S. Seniors) will be taking their Malawi Secondary Certificate Examinations (the MSCE’s), which they must pass in order to officially graduate from Secondary school. Furthermore, their score on the MSCE determines whether or not they will get into University and whether or not the government will pay for their University, which, for many, will decide whether or not they are able to go. Essentially, these tests determine whether the students are able to pursue further education or whether they must return to their villages and resume whatever work they can find there, which, for many of them, will be a life of subsistent farming.
So why is Chaminade on break during the two weeks leading up to the tests upon which the entire Malawian secondary school curriculum is focused? Well, to begin, let me just say this past week has been a very interesting week.
Monday morning, I was awoken by the sounds of periodic clapping and cheering. It was around 7:15AM. Classes begin at 7AM for the students, and while I was not aware of any type of scheduled assembly, I had only been in Africa for two weeks, so I didn’t know what was going on. No one came to get me, so I wasn’t too alarmed. I could see out my bedroom window that some students were gathered near the administration wing of the school, so I casually put on some teacher clothes, and made my way over to see what was going on. When I arrived, I found nearly all 350 boys in their full uniform standing in a crowd facing the faculty and staff who had gathered outside the staff room. The Headboy (somewhat like a Student Government President, only with many more responsibilities here) was standing out in front of the crowd, reading from a list to our Headmaster, who was standing taking notes. The list was a list of grievances the students had for the administration. The students had organized a strike in order to bring their issues to the administration.
The night before, Molly, Emily, and I had gone out into the “bush” behind our house to look at the stars. While we were standing there gazing up at the sky, we heard the Malawian national anthem being sung from the direction of the hostiles, the dormitory type building where the boys live. After their singing, we heard cheers, clapping, and whistling. As Molly said, it sounded like the start of a sporting event. The power had gone out earlier that evening, which always riles up the boys because they don’t have to study since there is no light, so we figured their singing was a spontaneous overflow of their blackout energy. Apparently, they had organized an assembly amongst themselves, which, without administrative approval, is actually against regulations of the Malawian Ministry of Education, a serious violation. Every school sings the Malawian national anthem after general assemblies, and so the singing actually commenced upon the conclusion of their assembly. It was during that assembly that they addressed their issues with the administration, organized them, and decided how they wanted to present their issues.
The presentation of grievances lasted around two hours. The students were serious, and they had prepared a well written list of complaints with sufficient reason and argument for their issues. Many of the issues revolved around changes that had occurred in the past year as a result of budget cuts. One of the main issues was the removal of outings. The students had previously been allowed two outings per month. Since this is a boarding school, the students are actually restricted to remain on campus at all times except during scheduled outings. I believe when the current Form 4’s first arrived at Chaminade, the students were allowed outings every Saturday. Because of various abuses of the outings, including students going to town and getting drunk, the number of outings was reduced to two a month. Last term, eight students were found drunk after one of their outings, and as a result, the students were expelled, and the staff and administration made the decision to reduce the students’ outings even further, allowing only one per month. This may seem a bit extreme, but there are two important things to consider.
First of all, drinking is seen as a much more serious offense here in Malawi than it is in the US. The legal drinking age is 18. However, even for those who are of legal drinking age, drinking to excess is viewed as an extremely serious social offense. Drunkenness is viewed as a serious issue, and for boys, who are under the legal drinking age, it is quite unacceptable, especially for a private boarding school which claims to be one of the best schools in the country. The second important thing to consider is the fact that one outing per month is the national norm for Malawi. The students at Chaminade were actually granted special privileges in having more than one outing per month. So in reality, the staff was merely making the decision to reduce the number of outings to what all of Chaminade’s peer schools allowed.
Nonetheless, the Chaminade students were extremely discontent with this change. Now, I could begin to describe some of the issues of entitlement of the Chaminade students that have been discussed this week, but I’m going to try to finish explaining the events that led to our two week break.
After the students finished presenting their grievances, Mr. Nthala, our headmaster, suggested that all of the staff meet and work on coming up with some solutions for their grievances. At this point, I was somewhat impressed with the students. Granted, it would have been much better for them to have brought up these issues at a time when they weren’t supposed to be in class, but the manner in which they presented their issues, the language they used, the respect they showed, and their degree of organization.
The staff met for almost three full hours, examining and discussing each of the twenty one issues the students presented. Some of the issues were quite trivial or all together made-up, such as the complaint that teachers sit in the Headmaster’s office and watch television when the students aren’t allowed to. (In actuality, the television in the Headmaster’s office hasn’t had a connection for five months.) However, some of their concerns were definitely legitimate. For example, one of their major complaints was about their diet. Right now, their diet consists mainly of nsima (maize flour and water) and some beans with a bit of lettuce. Nsima is the staple food of Malawi and many other parts of Africa. It has practically no flavor, the consistency of dry, chewy mashed potatoes, and as far as I know, little to no nutritional value. The boys get a small serving of meat once per week, and rice once every two weeks. I’ve always thought of rice as a primary food for those who cannot afford otherwise, but here, because of recent price increases, rice is actually a luxury. With this issue, I am in strong support of the students complaints. I would be extremely interested in examining the nutritional content of their diet; however, I am also scared to see the results. It is very likely that most, if not all, of their nutritional needs go unmet. This is particularly challenging for us as volunteers, who, because of our fundraising and support from our volunteer program, are able to eat a rather luxurious diet. Several of us are already experiencing a great deal of conflict regarding our resource consumption. While I desire a flavorful diet, and while I believe in the need to have a strong nutritional foundation to that diet, it is very difficult to sit at our dining room table with a relative feast before us as we watch the students walk to their dining hall where we know they are probably being served a meager meal of nsima and beans. With all this being said, the students did have some serious issues.
The staff worked out some solutions for the students’ concerns. However, with an extremely limited budget, and costs constantly rising, the solutions the staff developed were meager and temporary at best. It was clear to all of us that more work needed to be done to meet some of the students’ legitimate needs. For the time being, though, we wanted to offer the students some responses, which would hopefully enable them to resume their normal class schedule; this is where problems really began.
During the staff meeting, one of the teachers had passed a few students and overheard one of them say, “night is coming.” There was some debate amongst the teachers as what that could mean, but it definitely raised some concerns. After the staff meeting, the Headmaster sent out the message to gather all of the students in the assembly hall. A few minutes later, the staff made our way to meet the students there. However, they were not there. We could see the whole crowd of students standing outside of the hostiles. They had long since changed out of their uniforms, and had used the past three hours as free time. We received the message that they wanted us to come to them. This, for several reasons, was a big issue. The staff made it clear that the students had to come to them, while several members began getting worried about the students’ noncompliance. The students then marched around to the administration offices, sending a message to the staff that they would be willing to hear the staff’s response there. By this point, things seemed very strange. The other volunteers and teachers informed us new volunteers that this type of behavior was extremely unusual. Murmurings of police assistance began among the staff, and Sarah Wdowiak informed me that that would probably be the next step.
One of the student representatives informed the Headmaster that the students did not want to meet inside the assembly hall, so the Headmaster told them that he would be willing to meet them out in the open air, outside the assembly hall, but that they had to come to him. It was clear to me that there was a battle for authority and power going on. The students finally came around, and met us outside the assembly hall. All of this was extremely strange considering the fact that it was the students who put out the request for solutions to the issues, and the staff had so far shown a willingness to work with the students. This meeting, after all, was for the students to hear the staff’s suggested solutions. I found it strange that they were showing such reluctance to come hear those solutions.
What happened next brought this issue to a whole different level. When the students came to meet the staff, the Headmaster asked all of the students to sit down before he began sharing the solutions the staff had developed. The students were working as a mob by this point, and I could see them looking to one another, to a few “ring leaders” here and there to see how they should act. A few students refused and began to walk away. This sent a ripple effect, and the mob of students started yelling and marching away. At this point, the staff made the decision to call in for police. We didn’t know where things were going to go, but with these blatant acts of defiance and the mob mentality that was setting in, we wanted the police to get there before anything happened.
As the mob began walking back to the hostile, we could see the Headboy and his council were genuinely concerned. The Headboy and the council of Prefects were the top students in their classes. They are extremely intelligent and respectable young men. The tone of things had definitely changed from that morning, when the Headboy and the Prefects presented their concerns in a very formal and official manner. Now, there seemed to be an under current of defiant students who were working to rile things up. After some discussion, the Headboy rang the assembly bell, and called the students back. Slowly but surely, they all came back. The student leaders informed the students to sit down and hear the staff’s suggestions. It comforted me to see that the Headboy and Prefects were not satisfied with the behavior of the student body, but it concerned me that there was a clear mob mentality developing.
Finally, the students settled down, and they began listening to the Headmaster as he described the solutions, though temporary, that the staff had created. Things began to look like they were going well. However, the police who had been called when things weren’t looking so good finally arrived. This got the students riled up again, and I could tell that many of them became frightened by the police presence. I could also see in some of their faces looks of resentment that the police had been called. In some ways, I feel that the police presence took away the voice of the students. They no longer could feel free to speak their mind. Nonetheless, there was some comfort in the fact that the police were there.
The Headmaster finished sharing the solutions, while making it clear that some of the students’ issues were unable to be resolved that day. He articulated that, for those issues, the staff would continue to work on finding solutions with the students. He even announced that he would be meeting with the student representatives again that day for further clarification and discussion of some of the more pertinent issues. Things seemed to finish well. It was a bit past 1PM, and the boys hadn’t had lunch, so the Headmaster encouraged them to go eat. He and the student representatives continued to meet throughout the afternoon. As a safety precaution, several police remained on campus that evening.
The next day, Tuesday, classes resumed as normal. However, when Emily, one of the volunteers, said to one of her Form 1 classes, “It is good to see every thing back to normal,” one of her students replied, “No, Madame Richardson. Things are not normal. They appear normal, but they are not normal.” Some of the other volunteers had heard that some of the students were going to vandalize parts of the school and the Headmaster’s house the night before. Apparently, the police had arrived moments prior to the planned attack. As we, as a volunteer house, discussed this, we reflected on our own concerns. The volunteers who have been here for a year felt confident that the students had no desire to harm any of us or our house. And in the three weeks I have been here, I can see that the students genuinely appreciate and enjoy the presence of the volunteers. I too felt very safe here. Also, all of the negative thoughts had been directed primarily at the administration and the Headmaster.
That evening, we had invited Madame Malwanda, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Chaminade over for dinner. She had heard about the issues of the students, and was concerned about some of the threats that had been made on the school and on the Headmaster. While we were eating supper, we began to hear a roar of shouting erupt. We were all disappointed because we knew that some of the students were probably up to something that wasn’t going to be good for them or for the school. We weren’t too concerned, though, since many of the students have very good relationships with the volunteers. We had also heard that the police were on their way. The shouting subsided, and we resumed our meal. Perhaps ten minutes later, the shouting began again, this time louder and more intense. We couldn’t ignore this anymore, and Madame Malwanda was the first to rise from her seat. We went out to the porch to look out to campus. We could see a crowd of students rushing about the center of campus, which is probably two or three hundred meters from our house. Again, we had no doubt that the students would leave us alone, but we were concerned for the school, the Headmaster’s home, and the students themselves. We could hear some rocks being thrown at buildings, but nothing seemed too out of control. We could tell that it was not all the students who were yelling and running about. Then, we could see a small fire spark. We had heard that the police had arrived to campus, but the sight of a fire was definitely concerning. The fire began to grow, and we became concerned that it would spread. We soon saw a number of police officers run up and quickly suffocate the fire. Things calmed down, and we could tell the police had corralled all of the students back into the hostile. Sarah then drove Madame Malwanda home, who was actually grateful that we happened to invite her over that night. She was able to be present for this event, and so she had a first hand understanding of what transpired.
The next morning, we found that some of the teachers were scared to teach. After all, it would be one teacher in a room with up to 50 students. The Headmaster made the decision to postpone classes while they worked on gathering names of who was involved with the vandalism and fires of the night before. The police were once again brought it, and an action plan was developed to gather the students for an assembly, send them to their classrooms, and then arrest the students who were suspected of being involved. All of this took several hours. It was just before noon when the thirteen students who were named were gathered and taken in. The Secretary and Counselor of the Ministry of Education were already on their way to decide what else should be done. After several meetings with the administration, staff, and students, the decision was made on Thursday to give the school a two week break. This two week break would give the students some time to calm down, while also allowing the administration some time to come up with some lasting and effective solutions to some of the issues that sparked these events.
The students who were arrested were released on bail yesterday and are to report for their court case on September 10th. There are also fifteen other students whose names were identified on Thursday as additional suspects for the riotous behavior that happened on Tuesday night. As of right now, I am unsure how those students will be dealt with.
So, as you can see, this was an extremely interesting week. All of the students have left campus and have returned to their homes. The students come from all parts of Malawi, especially the northern region. In order for them to return to Chaminade in two weeks, the administration has implemented a requirement for one of the parents to accompany the students upon their return. Before they are allowed to re-enter the school, the student and parent must read and sign a contract to abide by the rules and regulations of the school. If they refuse to sign the contract, they will not be allowed to return to school.
What does all this mean for the volunteers? Well, we have a two week break. There is plenty for us to do around the house, but there have been a few ideas floating around of going down to Mzuzu or visiting some other place. We also know a number of other volunteer workers in the area, including the Australian family at Losobila Orphan Center and numerous Peace Corps Volunteers throughout the northern region; all of them are potential opportunities for us to assist in some of the other work that is being done in our area. Most likely, we will probably take this time to relax a little bit, work on a few things around the house, and try to get a little more settled in this place. I wouldn’t say it is exactly an ideal situation, but we will definitely be able to make use of this time. We will also probably have at least a few meeting at school this week to discuss what has happened, and how we are going to go on from here.
Many of the teachers have shown great care, concern, and compassion towards us, especially those of us who have just recently arrived. All week, I was asked by almost every staff member, “Taube, how are you doing?” “Are you dealing okay?” “Is everything alright?” The Headmaster has specifically made a point to check up on us. And just the other night, Chris and Anne, the couple that works for Paladin, the Uranium Mining Company, came over to our house to check in on us. The Marianist Brothers have also been supportive of us. We’ve received a great deal of support even though all of us felt very much that the students’ issues were not with us. Nonetheless, this has been a somewhat stressful and confusing situation. For us new volunteers, we’ve been quite clueless with everything. We hardly know any students, we don’t know what life is typically like for the students here, and we aren’t familiar with the way the school normally deals with issues. But for the volunteers who have been here for a year, I think it has been even more difficult. It has been upsetting for them to see the school as they have come to know it almost flip itself over. Some of the students who were involved, even some of the ones who were arrested, had close relationships with them. And perhaps most troubling of all, Emily and Ryan both teach classes for students preparing to take the JCE’s or MSCE’s, and now, those classes will not meet for the two weeks prior to the tests. This has been particularly difficult for Emily, who was planning on using these next two weeks to work intensively with the students who needed the most help.
This is, by far, the longest post I have written, and hopefully, it will be the longest post I write during my time here. For those of you who made it through the entire thing, thanks for reading and showing your concern and interest. I want to ensure to you that I am, and the other volunteers are, doing okay. Though we were prepared to leave campus and find a calmer place to stay when things got tense, at no time did we feel threatened or in danger. And though this issue wasn’t directed at us, I do ask for your prayers for the school and the students. We are all quite confident that it was only a minority of students who took things too far, but this has definitely affected all of the students and all of the staff. I ask that you pray for the administration as they work out ways to handle the situation, and I ask that you pray for the students as they prepare to return to campus, especially those who are left to prepare for their tests on their own.
While this whole situation was quite unexpected and quite unfortunate, it’s where we are at, and all we can do is go from here. I am still hopeful and optimistic about this volunteer experience. And in some ways, this situation shows some of the ways that we volunteers are needed here. There are definitely ways this situation could have been avoided, and I think the positive relationships the volunteers have with the students shows some of the insight we can share.
If you have any thoughts, concerns, or questions, please feel free to shoot them my way.
Thanks again for reading, and hopefully, the next post will be a bit lighter for you.
Peace and Love.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Team Volunteer...aka..."Team Easy"
Emily has been playing volleyball with the students for the past year, and with all of us new volunteers showing up, some of the students were interested in challenging us to a volleyball match. Emily set up the game for today at 2PM, and throughout this past week, there was a good bit of trash talk floating around.
We decided to get decked-out in Red and Blue (partly inspired by the US and partly inspired by UD), and Sarah made signs that said “Team Volunteers” and then had each of our names in bold. We pinned the signs to our backs, and with our coordinating colors, we looked pretty professional. As we approached, various forms of “ooos,” “ahhs,” laughter, and chatter rose from the crowd of 60 or so students gathered around the volleyball pitch.
Though we started the first game by giving them 8 points before we gained one and quickly earned the name “Team Easy,” we were able to pull it together and gave them a run for their money during the second and most of the third game. (We even gave a few "Team Easy" chants directed at them!) By the end of the third game, they had pretty much defeated us, and we were essentially out of energy. The students seemed to enjoy playing us, making fun of us when we messed up, and watching us as we brought some new techniques and skills. Both the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmaster came by to watch for one or two of the four games we played. (We were playing best of five, and they beat us in the first three, but we played a fourth for fun.) They’re really good, and I wasn’t expecting to find this kind of volleyball here. It’s wonderful!
It was a great community activity for us as well, and I’m looking forward to future matches.
We decided to get decked-out in Red and Blue (partly inspired by the US and partly inspired by UD), and Sarah made signs that said “Team Volunteers” and then had each of our names in bold. We pinned the signs to our backs, and with our coordinating colors, we looked pretty professional. As we approached, various forms of “ooos,” “ahhs,” laughter, and chatter rose from the crowd of 60 or so students gathered around the volleyball pitch.
Though we started the first game by giving them 8 points before we gained one and quickly earned the name “Team Easy,” we were able to pull it together and gave them a run for their money during the second and most of the third game. (We even gave a few "Team Easy" chants directed at them!) By the end of the third game, they had pretty much defeated us, and we were essentially out of energy. The students seemed to enjoy playing us, making fun of us when we messed up, and watching us as we brought some new techniques and skills. Both the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmaster came by to watch for one or two of the four games we played. (We were playing best of five, and they beat us in the first three, but we played a fourth for fun.) They’re really good, and I wasn’t expecting to find this kind of volleyball here. It’s wonderful!
It was a great community activity for us as well, and I’m looking forward to future matches.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Bedazzled
Tonight we watched the first Lord of the Rings at the Brothers’ house with Br. Bill and Fr. Richard, the two American Marianists here at Chaminade. Fr. Richard even made buttered popcorn, and Dugan shared some of his delicious chocolates that came in his package the other day. It was wonderful.
But even more wonderful was stepping outside after the movie finished and looking up at the sky. Thus far, the moon has been quite full, so it has been hard to see the sky clearly, especially since much of the country has been filled with haze from the farmers burning their fields for the planting in the rainy season. However, tonight, as we walked back the 25 meters to our house, the moon was not out, and the sky was filled with the brilliant dazzling sparkle of thousands of stars, contrasting the deep, dark black of a night absent of light pollution.
Another fascinating aspect of the sky here is that the stars are different than the stars I’ve been looking at for my whole life in the northern hemisphere. For example, there are some stars here that simply can’t be seen in the northern hemisphere. And even cooler, the stars that I have seen before, are flipped from how I’m used to. The Big Dipper for example, is inverted. So every time I’ve looked up at the night sky, it has been as if I’m looking at a sky I’ve never seen before.
And I know I’ve never seen the stars dazzle the way they dazzled tonight. There was so much sparkling that they seemed to be moving. There was so much activity up there that the sky seemed alive; it was awe-inspiring.
But even more wonderful was stepping outside after the movie finished and looking up at the sky. Thus far, the moon has been quite full, so it has been hard to see the sky clearly, especially since much of the country has been filled with haze from the farmers burning their fields for the planting in the rainy season. However, tonight, as we walked back the 25 meters to our house, the moon was not out, and the sky was filled with the brilliant dazzling sparkle of thousands of stars, contrasting the deep, dark black of a night absent of light pollution.
Another fascinating aspect of the sky here is that the stars are different than the stars I’ve been looking at for my whole life in the northern hemisphere. For example, there are some stars here that simply can’t be seen in the northern hemisphere. And even cooler, the stars that I have seen before, are flipped from how I’m used to. The Big Dipper for example, is inverted. So every time I’ve looked up at the night sky, it has been as if I’m looking at a sky I’ve never seen before.
And I know I’ve never seen the stars dazzle the way they dazzled tonight. There was so much sparkling that they seemed to be moving. There was so much activity up there that the sky seemed alive; it was awe-inspiring.
Dream!
Since I finished the Alchemist, I’ve moved onto a new book. The book I’ve started is called The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs. After reading the foreward (by Bono!) the intro, and the first chapter, I’m exceeding excited about this book. The back cover claims that in the book, “Sachs lays out a clear conceptual map of the world economy. Explaining his own work in Bolivia, Russia, India, China, and Africa, he offers an integrated set of solutions to the interwoven economic, political, environmental, and social problems that challenge the world’s poorest countries.”
In essence, Sachs claims our world could end extreme poverty. He even says we could do it by 2025.
After reading the first chapter, I’m seeing two key elements to end poverty: better education and small economic development. My situation here in Malawi is the perfect position to be a part of that work. Here I am, working at a school with the opportunity to challenge my students to strive for excellence. Already, I have claimed that as one of my primary goals. I also have an awesome opportunity to contribute to small economic development by bringing together my connections from home with the Women’s Empowerment Program at MIRACLE, which gives out small loans to the women in the villages surrounding Chaminade. So right here, I have before me two clear ways to contribute to the end of poverty. It’s a dream, but that’s where these things start. And after reading the Alchemist, I have no reason not to pursue this “Personal Legend.”
What are your dreams? What will your personal legend be?
Normally, I would hold back from being this idealistic. Though idealism is my natural state, I know that the realists out there find bold idealism like this an easy target for criticism. That’s okay. Actually, it’s welcomed. I’ll need those criticisms in order to make this idea a reality. However, even if this idea is a bit too unrealistic, it’s worth diving into. Because, even if the incredible goal of ending poverty weren’t my aim, wouldn’t this dream of mine be worth pursuing simply because it is a dream? I think so.
I recently spent some time on the website of a business working in Nicaragua called Salud del Sol. Salud del Sol literally translates to Health from the Sun. This business is currently developing plans to create solar autoclaves which could be used in the hundreds of rural clinics and hospitals throughout Nicaragua to sterilize the medical equipment used on thousands of patients, potentially saving their lives in a number of ways. A few months ago, such an idea was just a dream, but there they are, making progress and getting closer to their goal. And would you believe me if I told you this business was founded by a group of college students? In fact, they’re from my school…my class…and a few of them are my friends.
So I ask, why not dream? Why not work for those dreams? Maybe you won’t get where you originally set out to go, but you’ll go somewhere. And in reality, that’s a whole lot better than going nowhere.
Amidst the blogs that my friends from Salud del Sol have been keeping, I found an incredibly appropriate story. This summer, the group spent their time in the middle of rural Nicaragua developing their solar autoclaves and beginning their testing on them. One day, during their testing, they noticed a young man walking up the road with his bike. He was decked out in biking gear, and his bike was strapped with various bags and equipment. This was far from a common site, so my friends waited for him to get closer and asked him where he was coming from. Apparently, he had been traveling between 70 and 100km each day for the past 13 months. He was traveling from Alaska to Columbia, where he was originally from, and he had already travelled over 24,000km. His name was Oscar Canon, and when the group asked him why he was doing it, he responded: “Some people have dreams…but they remain dreams.”
So…
…what are your dreams?
Don’t you think it’s time to make them a reality?
In essence, Sachs claims our world could end extreme poverty. He even says we could do it by 2025.
After reading the first chapter, I’m seeing two key elements to end poverty: better education and small economic development. My situation here in Malawi is the perfect position to be a part of that work. Here I am, working at a school with the opportunity to challenge my students to strive for excellence. Already, I have claimed that as one of my primary goals. I also have an awesome opportunity to contribute to small economic development by bringing together my connections from home with the Women’s Empowerment Program at MIRACLE, which gives out small loans to the women in the villages surrounding Chaminade. So right here, I have before me two clear ways to contribute to the end of poverty. It’s a dream, but that’s where these things start. And after reading the Alchemist, I have no reason not to pursue this “Personal Legend.”
What are your dreams? What will your personal legend be?
Normally, I would hold back from being this idealistic. Though idealism is my natural state, I know that the realists out there find bold idealism like this an easy target for criticism. That’s okay. Actually, it’s welcomed. I’ll need those criticisms in order to make this idea a reality. However, even if this idea is a bit too unrealistic, it’s worth diving into. Because, even if the incredible goal of ending poverty weren’t my aim, wouldn’t this dream of mine be worth pursuing simply because it is a dream? I think so.
I recently spent some time on the website of a business working in Nicaragua called Salud del Sol. Salud del Sol literally translates to Health from the Sun. This business is currently developing plans to create solar autoclaves which could be used in the hundreds of rural clinics and hospitals throughout Nicaragua to sterilize the medical equipment used on thousands of patients, potentially saving their lives in a number of ways. A few months ago, such an idea was just a dream, but there they are, making progress and getting closer to their goal. And would you believe me if I told you this business was founded by a group of college students? In fact, they’re from my school…my class…and a few of them are my friends.
So I ask, why not dream? Why not work for those dreams? Maybe you won’t get where you originally set out to go, but you’ll go somewhere. And in reality, that’s a whole lot better than going nowhere.
Amidst the blogs that my friends from Salud del Sol have been keeping, I found an incredibly appropriate story. This summer, the group spent their time in the middle of rural Nicaragua developing their solar autoclaves and beginning their testing on them. One day, during their testing, they noticed a young man walking up the road with his bike. He was decked out in biking gear, and his bike was strapped with various bags and equipment. This was far from a common site, so my friends waited for him to get closer and asked him where he was coming from. Apparently, he had been traveling between 70 and 100km each day for the past 13 months. He was traveling from Alaska to Columbia, where he was originally from, and he had already travelled over 24,000km. His name was Oscar Canon, and when the group asked him why he was doing it, he responded: “Some people have dreams…but they remain dreams.”
So…
…what are your dreams?
Don’t you think it’s time to make them a reality?
Friday, August 22, 2008
Nourishment
This afternoon, I took the Alchemist out to our little summer hut behind our house. A summer hut here is a little straw roofed, gazebo type structure. There is a large one just outside the staff room for Chaminade, and it is where all the teachers sit in between their classes. Our house has a little summer hut in our backyard, behind our chicken house, a good 25 meters from the house. It is nicely secluded and looks out to the bush and some rolling hills that I would call mountains. It’s a beautiful spot. There was a bee flying about the summer hut, so I decided to sit on a stone bench just outside the summer hut. I soon laid down on the bench as I read. I had begun the book three days ago and had been enjoying it thoroughly. I was down to my last thirty pages and resolved to finish the book before dinner.
As I laid there reading, I could see the sun setting just beyond me. The colors of fallen leaves and their crunch under the feet of chickens surrounded me. The wind gently caressed me through the trees, and I soaked in the coolness of this day’s fading afternoon. As I read about Santiago’s conversation with the desert, and then the wind, and then the sun, and then the Creator, the sky around me played a harmonious melody of colors. The sky danced into dusk as my spirit danced to the story of the Alchemist.
It had been a long day. I had accomplished some work in the morning, shadowed a couple of classes in the afternoon, and spent some time socializing with the staff in the summer hut before going back home and eventually deciding to read. This sunset reading was perhaps the most nourishing thing I could have experienced, and I pray that every person has something like this experience that can fill their soul.
If you don’t have something like it, find it! Feed your spirit; if it starves, what else matters?
As I laid there reading, I could see the sun setting just beyond me. The colors of fallen leaves and their crunch under the feet of chickens surrounded me. The wind gently caressed me through the trees, and I soaked in the coolness of this day’s fading afternoon. As I read about Santiago’s conversation with the desert, and then the wind, and then the sun, and then the Creator, the sky around me played a harmonious melody of colors. The sky danced into dusk as my spirit danced to the story of the Alchemist.
It had been a long day. I had accomplished some work in the morning, shadowed a couple of classes in the afternoon, and spent some time socializing with the staff in the summer hut before going back home and eventually deciding to read. This sunset reading was perhaps the most nourishing thing I could have experienced, and I pray that every person has something like this experience that can fill their soul.
If you don’t have something like it, find it! Feed your spirit; if it starves, what else matters?
Mwatandala Uli!
Good afternoon!
Tatandala makola, Kwalimwe!
My afternoon is fine, how is yours!
Tatandala!
My afternoon is fine too!
Yewo!
Thank you!
Yewo!
Thank you!
That is the afternoon greeting in Chitumbuka, the regional language of central and northern Malawi. We’ve been taking language classes here this past week, and it has been a lot of fun greeting some of the local villagers who walk through campus!
I never thought I’d be learning three languages at once, but we’re also learning Chichewa and Ngonde. Chichewa is the national language of Malawi (English is it’s “Official” language which, from what I understand, means that is the language in which official business is conducted.), and Ngonde is another regional language of northern Malawi. Apparently Ngonde is more commonly spoken in and around Karonga, up to the Malawi-Tanzania border. However, Chitumbuka is easier to learn, so I think that is why we’ve been placing a focus on it.
I don’t expect to become proficient in any of these languages, particularly because most everyone on this campus speaks English, I will be conducting my work in English, and I will be living with five native English speakers. However, I do hope to be able to achieve some functionality in them. My community job is as assistant shopper, so I will be going into the market each week where few of the merchants have a strong demand of English, so there, I will get to use some of these languages. Hopefully, in the next two years, I can at least make it seem like I somewhat know the language of the people.
Tatandala makola, Kwalimwe!
My afternoon is fine, how is yours!
Tatandala!
My afternoon is fine too!
Yewo!
Thank you!
Yewo!
Thank you!
That is the afternoon greeting in Chitumbuka, the regional language of central and northern Malawi. We’ve been taking language classes here this past week, and it has been a lot of fun greeting some of the local villagers who walk through campus!
I never thought I’d be learning three languages at once, but we’re also learning Chichewa and Ngonde. Chichewa is the national language of Malawi (English is it’s “Official” language which, from what I understand, means that is the language in which official business is conducted.), and Ngonde is another regional language of northern Malawi. Apparently Ngonde is more commonly spoken in and around Karonga, up to the Malawi-Tanzania border. However, Chitumbuka is easier to learn, so I think that is why we’ve been placing a focus on it.
I don’t expect to become proficient in any of these languages, particularly because most everyone on this campus speaks English, I will be conducting my work in English, and I will be living with five native English speakers. However, I do hope to be able to achieve some functionality in them. My community job is as assistant shopper, so I will be going into the market each week where few of the merchants have a strong demand of English, so there, I will get to use some of these languages. Hopefully, in the next two years, I can at least make it seem like I somewhat know the language of the people.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Classes, music, the market, and new friends
It’s been wonderful to feel better! I’m actually starting to feel like myself, which hasn’t been the case since before Orientation in St. Louis. Everything was just so exhausting that I didn’t have the energy and zest for life that I normally have. I’m finally getting that back, and it has been WONDERFUL!
Friday, I observed two of Sarah’s classes. It is clear to me that the education system here is a good bit different than in the US. I’m sure I will have many observations of this as these next two years progress, but for starters, many, if not most, of the students do not have the various textbooks for their classes, so their primary source of information is from class. From what I have observed, the instructors post notes on the chalk board, the students write down the notes, and then that is what they study. What this means for how I teach, I do not know yet.
There was also a prayer service for the boys on Friday. It was quite simple with opening songs, a reading or two, and then a commentary by one of the teachers, then a closing song. I enjoyed it. The music and singing is beautiful—at least for now. I anticipate that once the newness wears away, I will crave good ol’ fashioned American church songs. But I hope, that I will continue to find beauty in the simple accompaniment of a poly-rhythmic (is that a word) beats of a drum, and the harmonious symphony of voices in parts. It is a definite source of energy for me now, and I hope that continues. I’m also hoping to identify a student who has a family member or a friend who can make drums. I’d love to commission a student to carve a drum for me. From what I understand, that would be the way to do it. They don’t exactly have music instrument stores here. Then, once I get a drum, I’d love to have one of the boys give me lessons. It’s be a lot of fun to have a student be my teacher, especially since there is such division and hierarchy between teacher and students here.
Saturday, we went into town, the center of Karonga. We visited a few shops for groceries, and stopped in the market. Matt and I are going to take on the community job of shopping. I’m looking forward to visiting the market on a regular basis. From what I could tell, not many of the merchants know excellent English, and the market is much like what you would imagine a market in a small African town would look like. I think this will be an excellent source of cultural immersion for me.
Also on Saturday, we visited the home of a middle-aged couple from Australia named Chris and Anne. They have a very nice house right on the other side of the airfield, which is about an eight minute drive from our house. The two of them work for Paladine, a foreign mining company who is constructing a Uranium mine not too far from Karonga. Their job has to do with community relations. I’m not sure yet exactly what that means, but it sounds pretty cool, and they make a Western income, so in Karonga, they are very well-off. Somehow they became friends with the former volunteers, and they host us for dinner on occasion. We also met another muzungu (white-people) family at Chris and Anne’s. The Feldmeier family is a family from another part of Australia who had no connection to Chris and Anne. The Feldmeier's actually have come to Karonga for a full year to volunteer together at the orphan care center in town. The family did this in response to an impressive call the father had to come to Northern Malawi. In Australia, the family also did work in an aboriginal community, so they are no strangers to working with the struggling members of society. There are four children in the family, Daniel, Jessica, Diner, and Emily who range from the ages of 17-12. They are all extremely mature, though, and us volunteers quickly found friends in them. On Sunday, they came over to our house for a visit, and ended up playing ultimate Frisbee with us for two hours. It was great! And they seem like they are really extraordinary people! They will be here until at least December when they will evaluate whether they feel called to stay in Karonga for more time. I’d love for them to stick around and get to know them a bit more.
Also on Sunday, I went to my first Mass here. The community chapel is about 25 meters from my bedroom, which is very nice since I can hear the drumming and singing before Mass from my bed. The whole Mass was in Chitumbuka, the vernacular of the people, which was very interesting. They had about 20 young boys and girls who were liturgical dancers—very cute! And the music, once again, was beautiful. I hope to learn some of the songs so I can sing along with the congregation. Tonight, we start our Chitumbuka lessons, so I’m hoping to learn the various Mass parts so I can respond and become more a part of the celebration. One thing I did notice, however, is that even though the music and dancing were much more lively than in the US, still very similar to the US was the way many of the congregation did not seem too interested or involved in the celebration. I’m interested in learning more about their views of Catholicism. So much to learn!
Thanks for reading! I know it's a lot, but there's just so much to record!
Friday, I observed two of Sarah’s classes. It is clear to me that the education system here is a good bit different than in the US. I’m sure I will have many observations of this as these next two years progress, but for starters, many, if not most, of the students do not have the various textbooks for their classes, so their primary source of information is from class. From what I have observed, the instructors post notes on the chalk board, the students write down the notes, and then that is what they study. What this means for how I teach, I do not know yet.
There was also a prayer service for the boys on Friday. It was quite simple with opening songs, a reading or two, and then a commentary by one of the teachers, then a closing song. I enjoyed it. The music and singing is beautiful—at least for now. I anticipate that once the newness wears away, I will crave good ol’ fashioned American church songs. But I hope, that I will continue to find beauty in the simple accompaniment of a poly-rhythmic (is that a word) beats of a drum, and the harmonious symphony of voices in parts. It is a definite source of energy for me now, and I hope that continues. I’m also hoping to identify a student who has a family member or a friend who can make drums. I’d love to commission a student to carve a drum for me. From what I understand, that would be the way to do it. They don’t exactly have music instrument stores here. Then, once I get a drum, I’d love to have one of the boys give me lessons. It’s be a lot of fun to have a student be my teacher, especially since there is such division and hierarchy between teacher and students here.
Saturday, we went into town, the center of Karonga. We visited a few shops for groceries, and stopped in the market. Matt and I are going to take on the community job of shopping. I’m looking forward to visiting the market on a regular basis. From what I could tell, not many of the merchants know excellent English, and the market is much like what you would imagine a market in a small African town would look like. I think this will be an excellent source of cultural immersion for me.
Also on Saturday, we visited the home of a middle-aged couple from Australia named Chris and Anne. They have a very nice house right on the other side of the airfield, which is about an eight minute drive from our house. The two of them work for Paladine, a foreign mining company who is constructing a Uranium mine not too far from Karonga. Their job has to do with community relations. I’m not sure yet exactly what that means, but it sounds pretty cool, and they make a Western income, so in Karonga, they are very well-off. Somehow they became friends with the former volunteers, and they host us for dinner on occasion. We also met another muzungu (white-people) family at Chris and Anne’s. The Feldmeier family is a family from another part of Australia who had no connection to Chris and Anne. The Feldmeier's actually have come to Karonga for a full year to volunteer together at the orphan care center in town. The family did this in response to an impressive call the father had to come to Northern Malawi. In Australia, the family also did work in an aboriginal community, so they are no strangers to working with the struggling members of society. There are four children in the family, Daniel, Jessica, Diner, and Emily who range from the ages of 17-12. They are all extremely mature, though, and us volunteers quickly found friends in them. On Sunday, they came over to our house for a visit, and ended up playing ultimate Frisbee with us for two hours. It was great! And they seem like they are really extraordinary people! They will be here until at least December when they will evaluate whether they feel called to stay in Karonga for more time. I’d love for them to stick around and get to know them a bit more.
Also on Sunday, I went to my first Mass here. The community chapel is about 25 meters from my bedroom, which is very nice since I can hear the drumming and singing before Mass from my bed. The whole Mass was in Chitumbuka, the vernacular of the people, which was very interesting. They had about 20 young boys and girls who were liturgical dancers—very cute! And the music, once again, was beautiful. I hope to learn some of the songs so I can sing along with the congregation. Tonight, we start our Chitumbuka lessons, so I’m hoping to learn the various Mass parts so I can respond and become more a part of the celebration. One thing I did notice, however, is that even though the music and dancing were much more lively than in the US, still very similar to the US was the way many of the congregation did not seem too interested or involved in the celebration. I’m interested in learning more about their views of Catholicism. So much to learn!
Thanks for reading! I know it's a lot, but there's just so much to record!
Friday, August 15, 2008
My First Class Observation: The First Meeting
It seems normal for the students to emphatically respond with “OKAY,” to comments and statements as a sign that they understand—however, some seem like they are doing it just for fun.
They all stand when they answer.
Sarah uses examples the boys can understand. She’s not afraid to use examples of the culture. When teaching them about tolerance, she addressed a major cultural issue using the example that they may not like the fact that they have a woman teacher, they may disagree with the idea of having a woman teacher, but they at least tolerate it.
Before the class started, Sarah stood outside the door, trying to gather the students who hadn’t come in the classroom yet. While she called them in, I stood at the front of the class, unsure where I should go. The students who were already in their seats looked up at me with their eyes wide open. Perhaps their eyes stood out to me because of the stark contrast between the white of their eyes and the black of their faces. Nonetheless, I sensed they were inspecting me with everything their minds could muster.
As one late student came in, strolling at a cruise as if he had a stereo blaring inside his head, he looked up at me as he entered the doorway. The moment he saw me, his feet froze in their spot and his body stood still as a statue. I don’t know if he was just shocked by the stranger standing before him or if it was my whiteness and maleness that spooked him. I gently smiled and motioned him to come in the room.
Sarah is giving them notes now, and they will then have an opportunity to ask me questions; I’m excited to see what they ask about me. But, even as confident of a person as I am, I’m also nervous to see how they respond.
They all stand when they answer.
Sarah uses examples the boys can understand. She’s not afraid to use examples of the culture. When teaching them about tolerance, she addressed a major cultural issue using the example that they may not like the fact that they have a woman teacher, they may disagree with the idea of having a woman teacher, but they at least tolerate it.
Before the class started, Sarah stood outside the door, trying to gather the students who hadn’t come in the classroom yet. While she called them in, I stood at the front of the class, unsure where I should go. The students who were already in their seats looked up at me with their eyes wide open. Perhaps their eyes stood out to me because of the stark contrast between the white of their eyes and the black of their faces. Nonetheless, I sensed they were inspecting me with everything their minds could muster.
As one late student came in, strolling at a cruise as if he had a stereo blaring inside his head, he looked up at me as he entered the doorway. The moment he saw me, his feet froze in their spot and his body stood still as a statue. I don’t know if he was just shocked by the stranger standing before him or if it was my whiteness and maleness that spooked him. I gently smiled and motioned him to come in the room.
Sarah is giving them notes now, and they will then have an opportunity to ask me questions; I’m excited to see what they ask about me. But, even as confident of a person as I am, I’m also nervous to see how they respond.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
1st Week! Get comfy; it's a long one!
So here I am. Karonga, Malawi. Can you believe it? I’ve been here for almost a week, and I’m only now just starting to really realize that I’m here.
We arrived here late Friday evening. Sarah Wdowiak, one of the volunteers who will be staying with us for another year, and Br. Bill, an American Marianist who is the Director of MIRACLE, picked us up from the airport in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. We then rode in Br. Bill’s pickup truck all the way up to Karonga, stopping a few times along the way for lunch, dinner, and a few rests. The entire ride was through the countryside and was extremely beautiful. However, Sarah informed us that it is the burning season now, which is when all the farmers burn their fields in preparation for the next planting Additionally, everything is dying since it has been a while since the rains, and it is beginning to get warmer again. So, long story short, according to Sarah and the other volunteers, Malawi isn’t as beautiful right now as it will be after the rains come. Apparently, though, the ‘good sunset season’ just started and will continue into, through, and beyond the rainy season, all the way to January or February. HOW COOL IS IT THAT THERE IS A WHOLE SEASON OF GOOD SUNSETS!?!?! (Anne and Helen, I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures.)
The ride was long, but all of us were excited to finally make it here. We arrived at our house around 9:30PM, where Ryan Dugan and Emily Richardson were awaiting us with a delicious dinner, including cake made from scratch, all prepared by one of our cooks (I’ll write about our cooks later). Saturday we were allowed to sleep in, which we all very much needed, and then we unpacked, and began to get settled. Since then, we’ve had a few house meetings, discussing various things from expectations, hopes, strengths, weaknesses, goals, budget, and other community building issues. I think we are off to a good start, but I know it will take some time for us all to get settled in, including Sarah and Emily, who have to now get re-settled in with the four of us.
The third term of school just started this week. We had our first staff meeting on Monday morning, which was really interesting. It’s very intriguing to be entering into this position. Not only am I learning all about a new culture, but I’m learning about what it is like to simply be an employee—to be a member of a staff—to be a teacher as opposed to a student, which may be a tricky thing for me. The headmaster Mr. Ntala led the staff meeting, and the other teachers shared their views and ideas. I’m finding that everything is very formal here, and hopefully I can describe more the formality of everything later with various stories.
Since we are here, we have officially been welcomed onto the staff, and are expected to start teaching as soon as we can. Luckily, Matt, Kat, and I, the three teaching at Chaminade, have all been given only one subject to teach for this term, and we have mentor teachers with whom we will be observing and then team teaching. Classes started Tuesday, and I think I was a bit overwhelmed by the suddenness of it all. I ended up coming down with a bit of a headache on Monday afternoon, soon a mild fever, and then Monday night I got sick shortly after I went to bed. Luckily I had felt it coming on a little earlier in the night, so I had a bucket next to my bed. Had it not been there, Dugan and Matt, my two roommates probably would have had quite a mess to clean up. I ended up spending the ENTIRE day on Tuesday in bed, which was actually really nice. I think the whole sickness was my body’s way of telling me I needed more rest before jumping into everything. My stomach was pretty upset, and my temperature stayed pretty constant at 1.5 degrees too high. Luckily, my mom bought me a whole bottle of Excedrin so I was able to combat the migraine pretty effectively. I didn’t have any appetite until Tuesday evening when I had some applesauce and pineapple. The acidity of the pineapple probably wasn’t the best thing for my stomach, but the taste was so delicious that it made me feel much better…at least mentally. I slept in pretty late on Wednesday, and then lounged around most of the day watching a movie or two, taking naps, and snacking on the small reserve of American food I have.
During the time my stomach was upset, the smell and even the mere thought of eating rice, nsima (corn mash), or chipati (equivalent of a tortilla)—the three main staple foods here, mind you—all made me even more nauseous. So if you are considering sending a care package, basically ANY American food would be received with jubilation on my part! I already miss fruit snacks, cereals, pasta, pasta sauce, cheese, pizza, yogurt, milk, and ice cream more than I ever imagined I could miss them, and it’s only been a week and a half since I left the US! The volunteers have informed us that Velveeta is a godsend, and I’m already seeing why. It doesn’t have to be refrigerated, so it can be easily shipped, and it brings to us the taste and enjoyment of cheese. I guess even pizza with Velveeta taste good here. In the States I never would have gone for it, but already here, my mouth is watering at the thought of it.
I don’t think I would have begun craving these foods so soon had I not gotten sick, but I found myself very much desiring those things that bring me comfort. It was pretty hard being sick in a place so far from home. Thankfully, Ryan and Matt have been phenomenal roommates, and the girls have been absolutely wonderful in accommodating me and helping to comfort me. Also, the couple of messages I was able to download from my email yesterday were extremely encouraging. It’s amazing how much a message from a friend at home can bring an extra bit of energy; thank you! (And, please, I welcome many new ones! )
It’s now Thursday afternoon. I slept in again today, even though the others have been going to classes, teaching or observing them. They are all supportive of me, though, and are definitely encouraging me to take my time getting better. I don’t want to and they don’t want me to fall back into sickness before I’m all the way well again. Alick and Vicki both have been supportive of me too, which has been very sweet; I can tell they are somewhat like house parents for us. And Frank and Ricky, the two boys who do work around our house for us, have also wished me a speedy recovery every time they’ve seen me. (I’ll tell you more about Frank and Ricky later; much like having cooks, it’s weird to have house boys, but I can already tell that both of them are wonderful young men. Apparently, there is a third one whose name I’m not even going to attempt to spell right now. We’ve heard rumor that he is in jail right now; no one seems to know what that is about. I’ll fill you in when I figure out what is going on there.)
This is getting long, so I should get to closing this. I think I will go observe Sarah’s class tomorrow. She is my mentor teacher, which is really nice. I will only be teaching Social Studies this semester, which is also nice since it shouldn’t be as complicated as Biology. But I do hope to teach Biology in future terms. The education/teaching/learning system seems a bit different here than it is in the States, but I will write more about that in the future, perhaps when I get a better feel for it.
Really, there is a lot I can get a better feel for. I haven’t left the house too much because I’ve been sick. Also because of the sickness, I haven’t had much energy to observe, absorb, or appreciate anything, so I will really only just now be getting into it all.
Rest assured, I am feeling much better now. It’s perhaps the first time in a month or so that I’m feeling close to full energy. July was a whirlwind with the GRE, graduation party, fundraiser, preparations, and goodbyes. Then the week in St. Louis was mentally, emotionally, and physically draining. From there I went straight into a two day string of sleepless flights, stopped in Nairobi, Kenya for a major does of culture shock, hoped on another plane, only to jump in the back of a pickup truck for an 11 hour car ride. (The ride was FREEZING by the way!!! Much of the journey is up into the mountains where it got very cold, especially in the back of a pickup truck. I never would have expected to be shivering on my first day in Africa, but I suppose those surprises make up a part of the beauty of life.) Then once I got here, it felt like we were just being thrown into the ring with no time to get adjusted, so I’m actually quite grateful for these past three days during which I’ve had much time to simply let my body, mind, and spirit rest.
I’ll have unlimited access to the internet here, as long as the electricity and internet are running, which isn’t always the case. (It’s quite typical for the power to go out. Last night it was out for about two hours, so we decided to make a “Blackout Box” in which we put all kinds of suggestions for things for us to do whenever we have a Blackout. None of us shared what we were writing, so all the suggestions will be a surprise to the group. We get to pull two different ones out, and we have to do one of those two. We are all pretty excited for the next Blackout so we can pull out the Blackout Box and see what kind of fun we will have.) However, the internet access is at MIRACLE, which is on the other side of campus and is about a 10 minute walk from our house, so I probably won’t make it over there everyday—actually, you can count on me not making it there everyday. I do have a cell phone, WHICH YOU ARE EXTREMELY ENCOURAGED TO CALL. From what I understand, the best way to do it is to buy an international phone card. Or, if you have skype, you can also call from skype, which is much cheaper than a phone card. Or, if you are interested in talking to me on a regular basis, we can set up a time where we can talk skype to skype, which is free! (That’s what my mom and I will be doing. ) Let me know if you want my phone number. (I can also send/receive texts to/from the US!)
This is ultra long, so I will end this here, but hopefully you all have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy reading about my experiences, challenges, reflections, and other random writings. I enjoy doing it, but let me know what you think. Post a comment, send me an email, or give me a call. What are your thoughts on what I’ve written? Is there something you’d like to know more about? What’s going on in your part of the world? I look forward to hearing from you.
We arrived here late Friday evening. Sarah Wdowiak, one of the volunteers who will be staying with us for another year, and Br. Bill, an American Marianist who is the Director of MIRACLE, picked us up from the airport in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. We then rode in Br. Bill’s pickup truck all the way up to Karonga, stopping a few times along the way for lunch, dinner, and a few rests. The entire ride was through the countryside and was extremely beautiful. However, Sarah informed us that it is the burning season now, which is when all the farmers burn their fields in preparation for the next planting Additionally, everything is dying since it has been a while since the rains, and it is beginning to get warmer again. So, long story short, according to Sarah and the other volunteers, Malawi isn’t as beautiful right now as it will be after the rains come. Apparently, though, the ‘good sunset season’ just started and will continue into, through, and beyond the rainy season, all the way to January or February. HOW COOL IS IT THAT THERE IS A WHOLE SEASON OF GOOD SUNSETS!?!?! (Anne and Helen, I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures.)
The ride was long, but all of us were excited to finally make it here. We arrived at our house around 9:30PM, where Ryan Dugan and Emily Richardson were awaiting us with a delicious dinner, including cake made from scratch, all prepared by one of our cooks (I’ll write about our cooks later). Saturday we were allowed to sleep in, which we all very much needed, and then we unpacked, and began to get settled. Since then, we’ve had a few house meetings, discussing various things from expectations, hopes, strengths, weaknesses, goals, budget, and other community building issues. I think we are off to a good start, but I know it will take some time for us all to get settled in, including Sarah and Emily, who have to now get re-settled in with the four of us.
The third term of school just started this week. We had our first staff meeting on Monday morning, which was really interesting. It’s very intriguing to be entering into this position. Not only am I learning all about a new culture, but I’m learning about what it is like to simply be an employee—to be a member of a staff—to be a teacher as opposed to a student, which may be a tricky thing for me. The headmaster Mr. Ntala led the staff meeting, and the other teachers shared their views and ideas. I’m finding that everything is very formal here, and hopefully I can describe more the formality of everything later with various stories.
Since we are here, we have officially been welcomed onto the staff, and are expected to start teaching as soon as we can. Luckily, Matt, Kat, and I, the three teaching at Chaminade, have all been given only one subject to teach for this term, and we have mentor teachers with whom we will be observing and then team teaching. Classes started Tuesday, and I think I was a bit overwhelmed by the suddenness of it all. I ended up coming down with a bit of a headache on Monday afternoon, soon a mild fever, and then Monday night I got sick shortly after I went to bed. Luckily I had felt it coming on a little earlier in the night, so I had a bucket next to my bed. Had it not been there, Dugan and Matt, my two roommates probably would have had quite a mess to clean up. I ended up spending the ENTIRE day on Tuesday in bed, which was actually really nice. I think the whole sickness was my body’s way of telling me I needed more rest before jumping into everything. My stomach was pretty upset, and my temperature stayed pretty constant at 1.5 degrees too high. Luckily, my mom bought me a whole bottle of Excedrin so I was able to combat the migraine pretty effectively. I didn’t have any appetite until Tuesday evening when I had some applesauce and pineapple. The acidity of the pineapple probably wasn’t the best thing for my stomach, but the taste was so delicious that it made me feel much better…at least mentally. I slept in pretty late on Wednesday, and then lounged around most of the day watching a movie or two, taking naps, and snacking on the small reserve of American food I have.
During the time my stomach was upset, the smell and even the mere thought of eating rice, nsima (corn mash), or chipati (equivalent of a tortilla)—the three main staple foods here, mind you—all made me even more nauseous. So if you are considering sending a care package, basically ANY American food would be received with jubilation on my part! I already miss fruit snacks, cereals, pasta, pasta sauce, cheese, pizza, yogurt, milk, and ice cream more than I ever imagined I could miss them, and it’s only been a week and a half since I left the US! The volunteers have informed us that Velveeta is a godsend, and I’m already seeing why. It doesn’t have to be refrigerated, so it can be easily shipped, and it brings to us the taste and enjoyment of cheese. I guess even pizza with Velveeta taste good here. In the States I never would have gone for it, but already here, my mouth is watering at the thought of it.
I don’t think I would have begun craving these foods so soon had I not gotten sick, but I found myself very much desiring those things that bring me comfort. It was pretty hard being sick in a place so far from home. Thankfully, Ryan and Matt have been phenomenal roommates, and the girls have been absolutely wonderful in accommodating me and helping to comfort me. Also, the couple of messages I was able to download from my email yesterday were extremely encouraging. It’s amazing how much a message from a friend at home can bring an extra bit of energy; thank you! (And, please, I welcome many new ones! )
It’s now Thursday afternoon. I slept in again today, even though the others have been going to classes, teaching or observing them. They are all supportive of me, though, and are definitely encouraging me to take my time getting better. I don’t want to and they don’t want me to fall back into sickness before I’m all the way well again. Alick and Vicki both have been supportive of me too, which has been very sweet; I can tell they are somewhat like house parents for us. And Frank and Ricky, the two boys who do work around our house for us, have also wished me a speedy recovery every time they’ve seen me. (I’ll tell you more about Frank and Ricky later; much like having cooks, it’s weird to have house boys, but I can already tell that both of them are wonderful young men. Apparently, there is a third one whose name I’m not even going to attempt to spell right now. We’ve heard rumor that he is in jail right now; no one seems to know what that is about. I’ll fill you in when I figure out what is going on there.)
This is getting long, so I should get to closing this. I think I will go observe Sarah’s class tomorrow. She is my mentor teacher, which is really nice. I will only be teaching Social Studies this semester, which is also nice since it shouldn’t be as complicated as Biology. But I do hope to teach Biology in future terms. The education/teaching/learning system seems a bit different here than it is in the States, but I will write more about that in the future, perhaps when I get a better feel for it.
Really, there is a lot I can get a better feel for. I haven’t left the house too much because I’ve been sick. Also because of the sickness, I haven’t had much energy to observe, absorb, or appreciate anything, so I will really only just now be getting into it all.
Rest assured, I am feeling much better now. It’s perhaps the first time in a month or so that I’m feeling close to full energy. July was a whirlwind with the GRE, graduation party, fundraiser, preparations, and goodbyes. Then the week in St. Louis was mentally, emotionally, and physically draining. From there I went straight into a two day string of sleepless flights, stopped in Nairobi, Kenya for a major does of culture shock, hoped on another plane, only to jump in the back of a pickup truck for an 11 hour car ride. (The ride was FREEZING by the way!!! Much of the journey is up into the mountains where it got very cold, especially in the back of a pickup truck. I never would have expected to be shivering on my first day in Africa, but I suppose those surprises make up a part of the beauty of life.) Then once I got here, it felt like we were just being thrown into the ring with no time to get adjusted, so I’m actually quite grateful for these past three days during which I’ve had much time to simply let my body, mind, and spirit rest.
I’ll have unlimited access to the internet here, as long as the electricity and internet are running, which isn’t always the case. (It’s quite typical for the power to go out. Last night it was out for about two hours, so we decided to make a “Blackout Box” in which we put all kinds of suggestions for things for us to do whenever we have a Blackout. None of us shared what we were writing, so all the suggestions will be a surprise to the group. We get to pull two different ones out, and we have to do one of those two. We are all pretty excited for the next Blackout so we can pull out the Blackout Box and see what kind of fun we will have.) However, the internet access is at MIRACLE, which is on the other side of campus and is about a 10 minute walk from our house, so I probably won’t make it over there everyday—actually, you can count on me not making it there everyday. I do have a cell phone, WHICH YOU ARE EXTREMELY ENCOURAGED TO CALL. From what I understand, the best way to do it is to buy an international phone card. Or, if you have skype, you can also call from skype, which is much cheaper than a phone card. Or, if you are interested in talking to me on a regular basis, we can set up a time where we can talk skype to skype, which is free! (That’s what my mom and I will be doing. ) Let me know if you want my phone number. (I can also send/receive texts to/from the US!)
This is ultra long, so I will end this here, but hopefully you all have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy reading about my experiences, challenges, reflections, and other random writings. I enjoy doing it, but let me know what you think. Post a comment, send me an email, or give me a call. What are your thoughts on what I’ve written? Is there something you’d like to know more about? What’s going on in your part of the world? I look forward to hearing from you.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
I Will Make It
I’m sitting at my desk now, hearing the rhythmic beats of African drums roll out of the community chapel. The chapel stands less than 50 meters from my bedroom window, just beyond the remnants of the garden left by Nichole, one of the volunteers who lived here last year. I can hear the voices of the boys singing in harmony, singing of the Kingdom of God. It’s a beautiful sound that reassures me as my stomach tugs and pulls with aches, my body is over-warm from within, and my head feels a bit sore. The drums just began again, this time with clapping. This taste of music is short, but it encourages me. I will make it here. For now, I just need to get adjusted and regain my energy.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Marianists are SWEET!
I've been in Nairobi for just about two days now. Our plane landed at 6AM Nairobi time and after a quick pass through Immigration, we grabbed all our luggage---thankfully none was stolen, tampered with, or lost---and walked out to the main lobby and found a Marianist priest, Fr. Gabriel, and our friend Nichole Davis, one of the former Karonga volunteers, waiting for us. What a relief it was to see them, and a comfort to see a familiar face in Nichole!
After having some porters grab some of our luggage to carry it for us, (luckily Nichole convinced them we had no money) we rode back to the Marianist District House in Nairobi. We had some breakfast and then joined Maria and Liz on their way to one of the Marianists missions in Nairobi: Our Lady of Nazareth, a primary school for about 1700 children who live in one of the slums of Nairobi. To get there, we rode a Matatu---a big bus/van that serves as public transportation here and is very exciting/somewhat scary at first---to get to the road that leads to the school. We then had to walk about a mile or two in through the slum where the school was located. Talk about diving right in. Luckily my experiences in southern Mexico had given me a taste of third-world poverty, but it's still pretty shocking to see, especially on such a large scale. The headmaster of the school told us there are 100,000 people in the slum that the school serves alone. And from what I could gather, there are a number of these types of slums in Nairobi; crazy.
Today was a more fun/relaxed day. We again rode a Matatu, this time into the center of Nairobi, which is much more developed, but just as crowded. I can already tell that being white here is going to be an interesting experience. We had lunch, went into several shops to try to find a cell phone for Kat and a charger for Molly. (I'm buying a cell phone from Ryan Dugan, and will get that number to people whenever we trade hands. He will be here for another month, so it may not be until then.)
Nichole, Adam, Peter, and Meagan were all staying here at the brother's as well. Adam was a Karonga volunteer with Nichole, and Peter is a friend of Adam's who has been in Africa for four weeks visiting Adam. The two of them, with Nichole, all left tonight to fly home to America. Meagan is a volunteer with the Maryknoll Sisters. She is a friend of Nichole's and was here visiting her. She is also from UD, and I had met her last year at an UDSAP visitors weekend. She's pretty awesome, and it was a great pleasure spending the past two days with her---not to mention the fact that she knows Swahili, and provided tremendous help to us getting around Nairobi! I wish I could have spent more time with her and Nichole. Luckily, Meagan will be in Africa for three year, so I definitely plan on meeting up with her again.
Now, I must get to bed. Our plan leaves Nairobi at 8:15 tomorrow morning, and we much get up at 5:30AM. It's just turning midnight here, so I should get some rest before our flight and long drive to Karonga tomorrow. But I should be home by tomorrow night! We are all very much looking forward to getting settled!
I posted a lot from this past couple of days. Hopefully, it isn't over-saturating for you all. But I really wanted to share and record some of my experiences from this journey so far. I imagine things will slow down once I get into a routine. But for now, there is so much new and different to experience, that I hope to share it and record it. Karonga tomorrow! And it's 08/08/08!
After having some porters grab some of our luggage to carry it for us, (luckily Nichole convinced them we had no money) we rode back to the Marianist District House in Nairobi. We had some breakfast and then joined Maria and Liz on their way to one of the Marianists missions in Nairobi: Our Lady of Nazareth, a primary school for about 1700 children who live in one of the slums of Nairobi. To get there, we rode a Matatu---a big bus/van that serves as public transportation here and is very exciting/somewhat scary at first---to get to the road that leads to the school. We then had to walk about a mile or two in through the slum where the school was located. Talk about diving right in. Luckily my experiences in southern Mexico had given me a taste of third-world poverty, but it's still pretty shocking to see, especially on such a large scale. The headmaster of the school told us there are 100,000 people in the slum that the school serves alone. And from what I could gather, there are a number of these types of slums in Nairobi; crazy.
Today was a more fun/relaxed day. We again rode a Matatu, this time into the center of Nairobi, which is much more developed, but just as crowded. I can already tell that being white here is going to be an interesting experience. We had lunch, went into several shops to try to find a cell phone for Kat and a charger for Molly. (I'm buying a cell phone from Ryan Dugan, and will get that number to people whenever we trade hands. He will be here for another month, so it may not be until then.)
Nichole, Adam, Peter, and Meagan were all staying here at the brother's as well. Adam was a Karonga volunteer with Nichole, and Peter is a friend of Adam's who has been in Africa for four weeks visiting Adam. The two of them, with Nichole, all left tonight to fly home to America. Meagan is a volunteer with the Maryknoll Sisters. She is a friend of Nichole's and was here visiting her. She is also from UD, and I had met her last year at an UDSAP visitors weekend. She's pretty awesome, and it was a great pleasure spending the past two days with her---not to mention the fact that she knows Swahili, and provided tremendous help to us getting around Nairobi! I wish I could have spent more time with her and Nichole. Luckily, Meagan will be in Africa for three year, so I definitely plan on meeting up with her again.
Now, I must get to bed. Our plan leaves Nairobi at 8:15 tomorrow morning, and we much get up at 5:30AM. It's just turning midnight here, so I should get some rest before our flight and long drive to Karonga tomorrow. But I should be home by tomorrow night! We are all very much looking forward to getting settled!
I posted a lot from this past couple of days. Hopefully, it isn't over-saturating for you all. But I really wanted to share and record some of my experiences from this journey so far. I imagine things will slow down once I get into a routine. But for now, there is so much new and different to experience, that I hope to share it and record it. Karonga tomorrow! And it's 08/08/08!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Airplane food is pretty good!
Though the British accents surrounding me assure me that I am in a place far from where I grew up, I know that my mind doesn’t fully grasp the fact that I’m ten thousand meters above the ground somewhere between London, England and Nairobi, Kenya.
The flights have gone well, so far. Our first, a three hour flight from St. Louis to JFK in NYC, was a breeze; each of the four of us had our own row, and I found the flight to be very re-energizing. The flight from NYC to London was a bit harder, and none of us got much sleep. We landed in London at 9:30AM local time, and had until 7:15PM before our next flight. With that much time, we decided to take the opportunity to check London out and go into the city. Thanks to the friendly and witty advice from our immigration officer, who upon our asking how much the train costs said with a smile after pointing to herself “Immigration not information.” At that point, she had already recommended we go to Hyde Park to play Frisbee, taking the Piccadilly Line. So that is exactly what we decided to do.
Little did we know, we’d spend the next two hours repacking all of our luggage because Virgin Atlantic has some pretty ridiculous restrictions. We got it all taken care of though, and all of our stuff is flying with us to Nairobi…at least it should be…
Seeing London was great. It was quite surreal. We road the underground to Hyde Park, a 45 minute ride, and walked around for a few minutes before I led us into a pretty ritzy pizza place. When I saw the name “Pizza at the Park,” I figured it’d be a cool little pizza joint. When we walked in and found white table cloths, wine glasses, and fine dining utensils, I regretted steering us in there. We stayed, though, and the pizza was delicious! (And expensive :-/, but so you could expect.)
We are scheduled to land at 6AM, Nairobi time, and I’m hoping to get some sleep before then. I probably only slept for an hour or two last night, and many of you know how much I struggle on little sleep. It sounds like we are going to have a busy time in Nairobi, so hopefully we call can make it. I took some Benadryl after our meal, hoping that it would help knock me out, and just as I wrote that, I yawned, so things are looking good. I’ve only been traveling for a day and a half, but already I’m so excited to sleep in a bed! The yawns keep coming, so I’m going to try to catch the sleep train. Next post will probably be from Malawi!
P.S.-All these travels are inspiring some cool thoughts in my head. Unfortunately, they probably aren’t as articulate as if I were well rested, and I’m definitely going to struggle to recall them, but hopefully, I can post some good reflections when I’m a little more rested. Hoping for some peacefully dreaming!
The flights have gone well, so far. Our first, a three hour flight from St. Louis to JFK in NYC, was a breeze; each of the four of us had our own row, and I found the flight to be very re-energizing. The flight from NYC to London was a bit harder, and none of us got much sleep. We landed in London at 9:30AM local time, and had until 7:15PM before our next flight. With that much time, we decided to take the opportunity to check London out and go into the city. Thanks to the friendly and witty advice from our immigration officer, who upon our asking how much the train costs said with a smile after pointing to herself “Immigration not information.” At that point, she had already recommended we go to Hyde Park to play Frisbee, taking the Piccadilly Line. So that is exactly what we decided to do.
Little did we know, we’d spend the next two hours repacking all of our luggage because Virgin Atlantic has some pretty ridiculous restrictions. We got it all taken care of though, and all of our stuff is flying with us to Nairobi…at least it should be…
Seeing London was great. It was quite surreal. We road the underground to Hyde Park, a 45 minute ride, and walked around for a few minutes before I led us into a pretty ritzy pizza place. When I saw the name “Pizza at the Park,” I figured it’d be a cool little pizza joint. When we walked in and found white table cloths, wine glasses, and fine dining utensils, I regretted steering us in there. We stayed, though, and the pizza was delicious! (And expensive :-/, but so you could expect.)
We are scheduled to land at 6AM, Nairobi time, and I’m hoping to get some sleep before then. I probably only slept for an hour or two last night, and many of you know how much I struggle on little sleep. It sounds like we are going to have a busy time in Nairobi, so hopefully we call can make it. I took some Benadryl after our meal, hoping that it would help knock me out, and just as I wrote that, I yawned, so things are looking good. I’ve only been traveling for a day and a half, but already I’m so excited to sleep in a bed! The yawns keep coming, so I’m going to try to catch the sleep train. Next post will probably be from Malawi!
P.S.-All these travels are inspiring some cool thoughts in my head. Unfortunately, they probably aren’t as articulate as if I were well rested, and I’m definitely going to struggle to recall them, but hopefully, I can post some good reflections when I’m a little more rested. Hoping for some peacefully dreaming!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Goodbyes
Last night was our commissioning ceremony. We had the opportunity to invite friends and family, which was wonderful! My mom and younger brother Dan were able to make it down to St. Louis, and it really was very meaningful to me to spend a decent amount of time with them just prior to leaving for Malawi; I am so grateful I had that time to spend with them.
I am particularly grateful for the way the goodbye went with my mom. Over the past few weeks, there had been some tension building up between her and I. I think both of us were feeling various emotions as my departure date drew near, and it was pushing us apart. I wanted more independence, and my mom wanted to offer me more. Both are good things, but when they are in conflict with each other, they can be frustrating for anyone. Luckily, my mom and I were able to share a few various conversations, notes, and times together, and we were able to get on the same page with things. I also feel like I, for the first time, came to a decent appreciation of all that my mom has given me. I was so busy being frustrated by all that she was trying to offer me, that I was failing to appreciate how lucky I have been and how lucky I am to have such a supportive person in my life. In several ways, I feel that the struggle over the past few weeks brought her and I closer together as we communicated to each other where we were comeing from. And in some ways, I can see this adventure in Africa as an opporutnity to bring my mom and I even closer; this is a great hope of mine, though, I know it will be hard to balance it with all my work and experiences in Malawi.
Molly, Matt, and I also had several wonderful friends come to our commissioning, which was absolutely encouraging and stabilizing for me! Our friends Anne Lustig, Anne Johnson, Beth Schroeder, Colin Gerker, and Gordon Schweitzer all came to our commissioning, and then again came on Sunday to hang out with us/take us around St. Louis before we leave tomorrow. Spending time with them was a great treat, and was very energizing before our trip. It was a tremendous gift for them to come and be with us; thank you.
Now I must finish up packing and get to sleep!
I am particularly grateful for the way the goodbye went with my mom. Over the past few weeks, there had been some tension building up between her and I. I think both of us were feeling various emotions as my departure date drew near, and it was pushing us apart. I wanted more independence, and my mom wanted to offer me more. Both are good things, but when they are in conflict with each other, they can be frustrating for anyone. Luckily, my mom and I were able to share a few various conversations, notes, and times together, and we were able to get on the same page with things. I also feel like I, for the first time, came to a decent appreciation of all that my mom has given me. I was so busy being frustrated by all that she was trying to offer me, that I was failing to appreciate how lucky I have been and how lucky I am to have such a supportive person in my life. In several ways, I feel that the struggle over the past few weeks brought her and I closer together as we communicated to each other where we were comeing from. And in some ways, I can see this adventure in Africa as an opporutnity to bring my mom and I even closer; this is a great hope of mine, though, I know it will be hard to balance it with all my work and experiences in Malawi.
Molly, Matt, and I also had several wonderful friends come to our commissioning, which was absolutely encouraging and stabilizing for me! Our friends Anne Lustig, Anne Johnson, Beth Schroeder, Colin Gerker, and Gordon Schweitzer all came to our commissioning, and then again came on Sunday to hang out with us/take us around St. Louis before we leave tomorrow. Spending time with them was a great treat, and was very energizing before our trip. It was a tremendous gift for them to come and be with us; thank you.
Now I must finish up packing and get to sleep!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Transformation Unknown
I'm here in St. Louis now at the Marianist Retreat Center for MVP's Orientation Retreat. We finished all our sessions today, and are just about ready to get going. Matt, Molly, Kat, and I are the four international volunteers traveling to Karonga, Malawi, where we will meet up with Sarah Wdowiak and Emily Richardson who have already been there for a year and will be volunteering with the four of us newbies for the next year. The four of us have spent the week with three girls named Heather, Nicole, and Courtney who are the three domestic MVP volunteers working here in St. Louis for this next year. They are really great, and it has been fun getting to know them.
This has been a long week full of sessions focused on preparing us for our volunteer commitments. We've looked at who we are, and where we are coming from. We've explored community, prayer, and the Marianist history and spirituality. As we discussed Marianist history and spirituality, I was once again reaffirmed in my motivation for doing this. The Marianists are all about social transformation through Christ: through Love. This is really what got me into committing these two years to service. I hope to help transform the world---even if only in tiny ways, one individual at a time---through Love.
Now, it's obviously not that easy. To begin with, the issue of culture is going to be a particularly difficult thing to manuver. It is my hope, however, that through this experience, I can better understand and work with people of various cultures and perspectives, and as a result, be more effective in transforming the world. How that is going to happen, I have no idea. But it is my hope, and that is what I'm going to follow.
Two sessions this week proved particularly challenging: the session on cultural competence and the session on conflict and communication.
I knew conflict and communication was going to be a challenging aspect of this experience. Living in an intentional community is not easy. In many ways, it's much like a marriage, and as the world's divorce rate attests, conflict and failure to communicate can shatter even the greatest of commitments.
However, I did not expect to be presented with such a challenge in terms of cultural competency. I've lived a life where I've been exposed to and immersed in many different cultures. I've read books and taken classes on cultural issues and solutions. I try very hard to be open and accepting of all people, and I truly believe that I at least recognize the value and dignity of each human person (living that out is much more difficult than recognizing it, and unfortunately, I can't honestly say I live out respect for the value and dignity of every person with whom I interact.). But one of the things Patricia Mejia, our presenter on the cultural aspect of volunteering, challenged us to explore was the idea of privilege. I thought I had privilege all figured out. I took a class called Racial and Ethnic Minorities in which I reflected on and analyzed the concept of white privilege. But all that was done very academically. Though I put a lot of effort into bringing my lessons home, I was still able to separate the injustices I read about from the injustices I lived. Patricia made these injustices even more real to me when she drew our attention to the fact that by choosing to volunteer, we are already assuming that we have something better to offer the people we are serving. By making this decision to go to Malawi, I am claiming that I have some sort of superior knowledge or understanding or gift to offer the people there. By western standards, perhaps I do. But I have a feeling that I am going to be one who is transformed and made better, not them. So does this make this whole commitment a bit selfish?
This has been a long week full of sessions focused on preparing us for our volunteer commitments. We've looked at who we are, and where we are coming from. We've explored community, prayer, and the Marianist history and spirituality. As we discussed Marianist history and spirituality, I was once again reaffirmed in my motivation for doing this. The Marianists are all about social transformation through Christ: through Love. This is really what got me into committing these two years to service. I hope to help transform the world---even if only in tiny ways, one individual at a time---through Love.
Now, it's obviously not that easy. To begin with, the issue of culture is going to be a particularly difficult thing to manuver. It is my hope, however, that through this experience, I can better understand and work with people of various cultures and perspectives, and as a result, be more effective in transforming the world. How that is going to happen, I have no idea. But it is my hope, and that is what I'm going to follow.
Two sessions this week proved particularly challenging: the session on cultural competence and the session on conflict and communication.
I knew conflict and communication was going to be a challenging aspect of this experience. Living in an intentional community is not easy. In many ways, it's much like a marriage, and as the world's divorce rate attests, conflict and failure to communicate can shatter even the greatest of commitments.
However, I did not expect to be presented with such a challenge in terms of cultural competency. I've lived a life where I've been exposed to and immersed in many different cultures. I've read books and taken classes on cultural issues and solutions. I try very hard to be open and accepting of all people, and I truly believe that I at least recognize the value and dignity of each human person (living that out is much more difficult than recognizing it, and unfortunately, I can't honestly say I live out respect for the value and dignity of every person with whom I interact.). But one of the things Patricia Mejia, our presenter on the cultural aspect of volunteering, challenged us to explore was the idea of privilege. I thought I had privilege all figured out. I took a class called Racial and Ethnic Minorities in which I reflected on and analyzed the concept of white privilege. But all that was done very academically. Though I put a lot of effort into bringing my lessons home, I was still able to separate the injustices I read about from the injustices I lived. Patricia made these injustices even more real to me when she drew our attention to the fact that by choosing to volunteer, we are already assuming that we have something better to offer the people we are serving. By making this decision to go to Malawi, I am claiming that I have some sort of superior knowledge or understanding or gift to offer the people there. By western standards, perhaps I do. But I have a feeling that I am going to be one who is transformed and made better, not them. So does this make this whole commitment a bit selfish?
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