Salut my blog people!
Since my last post, much has
happened! This includes the beginning of school year, referred to as, “La
Rentrée de L’Année Scholaire.” The
first day is mainly for organization, getting on the same page, and getting the
students settled into the correct classes. The students swept the classrooms and the courtyard; the
teachers received their teaching schedules; then the teachers had the pupils
line up by grade (class) level and did a roll call entry into the rooms (I
helped with 3iéme and totally butchered the poor kids names); finally the
director and one teacher dealt with those students who weren’t registered on
the master list (and thus had no classroom yet), while the other teachers did
introductions into each classroom.
My English Teaching Counterpart, Mr. Laré Lamboni, aided me with my
introduction, and I pretty much said my name, why I’m here, gave them the
schedule for English courses with me, and then I was free to roam the
school/village.
Since then, I’ve had several
classes, and have come to appreciate the art of teaching; it is no easy
job. I not only teach 4 times a
week for 1 hour at a time, but I also co-teach the other 6iéme class (of approx.
76 students) with Mr. Lare at least 3 times a week. My class has about 90-100 students any given day and can be
quite difficult with classroom management (if you can imagine why). I have to circulate constantly and
engage them as much as possible.
It’s also hard to circulate a room with that many students! I wish I
still had my camera so that I could take a photo for a visual aid of the
overcrowding. Oh yes, by the way,
my camera has taken it’s last photo, unfortunately. RIP fancy Nikon.
I also sit down with my
teaching counterpart and do lesson planning together. It’s a great way to combine ideas and stay on the same
page. As a TEFL standard teacher,
I have a certain format that I must combine with while following the Togolese
school system guidelines. I have
tons of material to help, including a teacher’s copy of the students’ English
books (which most Togolese teachers don’t have access to). Thus, Mr. Lare and Director Ayeva, are
quite thrilled to have my help. A
basic lesson plan has a certain heading (level, school, lesson, date, teaching
aids and objectives), followed by an outline with: Pre-Activities (warm-ups,
like songs or “boncs” or games), Activities (there has to be at least 3, and
they should combine different focuses like reading, writing, vocabulary etc),
and Post-Activities (warm-downs like songs, and/or homework).
As an EGE PCV, along with
teaching, I need to do extra-curricular activities, and start a Gender
Promotion Committee. I had my
first “girls club” meeting yesterday, which was co-facilitated by Mr. Lare, and
about 70 girls total from every grade in the CEG (middle school) showed up! We
did a PACA activity, where I split them up by class level and they drew maps of
the Tami Community. It was great
to see them work together and be creative. I find the general “exactness” or perfectionist of the
Togolese very interesting. They
literally can’t make a line, take notes, or draw a picture, without a ruler! I
don’t think we, in the United States, have this patience. After they finished, I had 2 girls in
each group present their groups diagram.
We brainstormed ideas for the group; i.e. themes like science, math,
English, sports, soccer days. I
want to do what interests them.
Then we closed by choosing 2 girls to be a part of the Gender Committee. The Committee will be composed of 1
admin, 2 teachers, myself, 2 girl students, 1 boy student, and 1 representative
from the parent/teacher association.
We will meet to discuss gender issues in the community, how to
solve/work on them, and various programming that has been and can be done.
Other things I’ve been up to:
I “shadowed” a 2nd
year PCV by the name of Aaron, in his village of Timbou. This shadowing program has new
volunteers paired up with seasoned volunteers (each will follow the other) in
order to learn and see how one interacts with the community and how (s)he
programs/works. I was able
to get a community (and street food) tour; sat in on 2 women’s groupement
meetings, and learned how to make “savon liquide” (liquid soap) in one, and
“crème de Neem” (anti-mosquito cream) in the other; and he also gave me advice
and pointers on other programming ideas, such as Village Savings and Loan,
Animal Husbandry, and Funded Projects (such as building a school). Overall, I found this program, and
Aaron, very helpful! (I also got a hella lotta mosquito bites and got sick
again here, health has been a struggle, but I bought some meds and been much
better the past 2 weeks!).
I attended the first Club
Espoir meeting of the school year.
Well, I rode my bike the 24 km to Dapaong (and back to Tami) and was a
little late, but I saw the end! Club Espoir, or Club Hope, is for kids of all
ages affected in any way by AIDS/HIV.
This can mean they have it, a family member does, or they are AIDS
orphans. The club does activities
with them to take their minds off the “real world” and at the end the kids get
a free lunch! This group meets every first Saturday morning of every month.
In Tami, there are two other
schools (well 3 now with the commencing of the Lycee Seconde), and I have also
visited those schools, met the Directors, and had a tour/meet and greet with
the teachers/students. I hope to
work more with those schools as well the CEG. The Kindergarden, or Jardin D’enfants, seems quite eager to
have help; whereas the Ecole Premiere, or Primary School, seemed content of my
interest and said I could sit in on a few classes. I visited the first week, when things were hectic, so they
weren’t near as enthusiastic as I had hoped but after the overwhelming Rentrée
diminishes, they’ll want me more, I’m sure of it. Director Ayeva likes to joke that me sitting in the primary
school classes will improve my French (sadly, it’s not a joke).
I organized a group of people
(6 Volunteers), a chauffeured van, and a tour-guided trip to the Moba Caves in
Nano (village in Savannes). We
were able to climb down into the side of this cliff and see where the Moba
people used to seek refuge in times of war. In the 15th century, there were tribal wars that
caused the people to create a safe place for the women, children, and elderly
to retreat to, complete with food, animals, first aid, and protection. Back then, they used to climb down on
vines, but today there are metal caged stairs. They built food storage vase-like items from mud and
earth. They grew Aloe plants for
those injured who couldn’t leave the safety of the caves. They had a fresh water source from a
geyser that cascades from the side of the cliff. And the elderly made and stored a poison, used on darts, which
could kill a man upon skin contact, supposedly. After our trip up and down this cliff, we were invited to
eat at the house of out tour guide, and ex-homologue of RPCV Dillon (who has
already COS’ed).
I had the Vet give my dog,
Rocco, his annual “Rage”, or Rabies, shot. Now I just gotta find some flea-be-gone and doggie waterless
shampoo (he HATES water—tried washing him several times and it’s always a
task). I usually have to sneak water on him, let him run away for awhile, then continue this water process until whatever it is that he rolled in has diminished in smell/sight. I once bathed him completely, with the help of one of my host moms, Rachel; we locked him in my bathing/latrine area and had our way with him (soap and all!). Then 2 days later, we strolled up 30 minutes after I let him out of my living chambers, all covered in some kind of animal droppings... later he decided to sneak past me and lay on my spare lipico pad... This PCV was not happy with him for awhile. I may have even told him aloud my thoughts on how I'm the only thing keeping the villagers from eating him... I know, sounds terrible, but in my defense, I continually have offers of gifts, new puppies and money in exchange for his meat (and when he's rubbing his feces honey all over my repose bed, it seemed all too welcoming a thought). He's recently won my heart back with his sad little eyes and crocked doggie smile though, so no worries.
In other, negative, news:
As read above, the camera has
broken for good (or until I get it looked at in the states). =(
My stomach issues were pretty
bad, but better now—so this is now positive! (just thought I’d throw some
positive at ya!)
The other day I fell on my
bike, on my way to Naki-Ouest and got pretty banged up. I had a sprained wrist and many
cuts. I was taken care of by my
host mother, Rachel, and host father, Francois, who came speeding on his moto
with first-aid supplies. The story
is kind of hilarious actually. I
sat by the side of the road, being cleaned and bandaged like a little kid,
trying to explain how my wrist is NOT to be moved, taking the pain of the first
aid treatment, and laughing about funny it all was. Then they insisted on washing my shirt because I insisted on
continuing with Rachel to the Marché.
So there I sat, full of bandages, in a sports bra on the side of the
road, while my shirt was being washed, and my belly cleaned up (I definitely
belly flopped when I fell). Oh,
life in Africa.
The next day, I got off my
zed-man’s moto in Dapaong, and as he helped me put on my backpack (my wrist was
ace-bandaged from the sprain), I burned myself on his exhaust. So then I has bruises, scrapes, a
sprained wrist, and a 2nd degree burn on my calf.
So this week, no hanging out
with the little ones until my wounds are better. Everything is actually good but my darn calf. The wound doesn’t want to close up; but
with patience, time, and care it will.
One just has to be super careful with all the bacteria, dirt, flies, and
insects here; infection is all to easy to happen.
…So I began typing up this
blog entry after my morning classes and before the Parent/Teacher Association
meeting… After which, well, let’s just say that when you are dealing with
people’s money and kids, you are bound to have some conflict. For those of you that remember my job
at Kids Quest, I can already attest to this lesson. I’m just thankful that I’m not the Director; it seems like a
tough job here in Tami. I give the
guy credit for taking all that heat and dealing with all that he has on his
plate!
To wrap things up: HAPPY
BIRTHDAY to all the OCTOBER babies!! This includes, but is not limited to:
Gretchen, Wawa, Patrick, and Kelsey!
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