Two Weeks of Rurality

Two Weeks in and I'm getting used to things - or am I?

I still cant get used to the "toilets" with the stench, the flies and the dangerous snakes ( a Mamba was spotted) but I am getting used to the Africa time where nothing is urgent and things are done ... when they get done. Lessons start 20 - 30 mins late if they start at all. Lesson plans for the day are either used by the teacher to teach or the teacher suddenly changes the plan on the way to the class and asks you to start a new section with the class in that lesson.

The first week was reserved for marking exams from last term, submitting marks and writing reports.

The second week was used to start the curriculum for the second term.

We also had two assignments to hand in and our Practical assessment.

This week (being the third week) is only, in essence, 2 days long, one of which we are having another practical assessment.

Next week is the last week of Practical and there are two assignments I haveto hand in that week.

On top of this all we have taken on a little "Project" at the school.

I have set up a website for the school and still need to get all the info to fill in but the basics are there. What we want to do is start up a feeding scheme and I thought a good way to keep it running would be to get people from all over the world to sponsor a child. At R1 a day a child can be fed for R100 - R200 a year. That is less that 20 pounds to feed a child for a year.

People could also sponsor a child's school fees or their ARV's. There are so many children who live alone because their parents have died from AIDS and there are so many who are infected with HIV and do not have access to medicines.

The teachers there do what they can by bringing extra food (but there are too many hungry mouths to feed), if a child is looking really sick they will drive them through to the nearest town to see a doctor, but it is usually too late by then as a 14yr old girl found out, she died a week later from AIDS.

There are many girls who are getting pregnant to get money to live on, and children who are selling drugs to make money or to numb out the hunger pains and the pain of losing their family one after the next.

Last year there were 9 girls in Grade 12 who were pregnant. I found a grade 11 girl with her baby at lunch time, and all the other girls were gathered around her excited and adoring.

The frightening part of it all that those children who are battling are also too proud to accept help. The teachers say that the children don't want to be singled out as struggling so they would rather go hungry than accept food and admit to their fellow students that they are not coping.

I can cope with the lack of sleep, the many major assignments, the lesson preps, etc but the emotional side of it is something that I am really struggling with.

I get to sleep in a warm bed, with a full tummy, I have my family for support and yet I still moan about the most insignificant things in comparison with what these young children have to face.

It is very humbling, and I cant help lose sleep over it, so hopefully we will be able to make a small difference in some other way beside providing our knowledge for their consumption.

For those wanting to take a peek at the unfinished website.... http://sites.google.com/site/mpolwenischool/