Levitation and Christmas in the Mail

One of the best things about science is the hands-on stuff – aka labs. This is when you can really see science in action. As I brought the Form 1s to the laboratory today, I realized that the best part is also the worst part when it comes to safety. There are a ton of possible safety issues and the problem is magnified here because 1) my students barely (or not at all) understand English, 2) my Kiswahili needs improvement, and 3) these kids have never been in a lab and exposed to (taught) lab safety. Even when my Kiswahili improves, I’m not too sure how much it will help because the local tribal language (Kiiraqw) is so strong I probably have some students who won’t even understand the Kiswahili. Plus many of the students may pick up bad habits before I can explain the correct way so that they understand it. Despite this, I still think it is important and will do labs.

A student was rather sick today and the doctor had to be called. Her friends would hold her head and try to comfort her as she lay in the grass in front of the staff room. We had tried to ascertain (find out) what side of her abdomen the pain was on but got conflicting answers and so couldn’t really tell the doctor much when he arrived. He pressed on her stomach, asker her some questions, and then gave her some pills. I had him write down the names in case she had more problems later but I didn’t recognize any of the three so I’m not sure what he diagnosed her with or treated her for. Anyway, it was now the end of the school day so I joined a bunch of the girls in carrying the sick one to the hostel across the “street” where she stays. In talking briefly with Sister Josephine, it seems the girl only arrived this past weekend so she may have been sick before she came. In the end, she recovered tonight and is now fine.

As I sat at home tonight, my secondmaster Novati stopped by because he had picked up my mail in Katesh today – 3 large envelopes!! Merry Christmas to me!!! I received many wonderful things like a crank flashlight, chocolate, a book, more gum, camera batteries, oatmeal packets, Luna bars, etc. etc. Doesn’t matter that I got them a month after Christmas, it was still Christmas for me and I feel very blessed. Thank you!!!

Water, Water Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Drink

I’m getting into more of a pattern with running and went this morning to make sure I don’t get out of it after not running yesterday. I went running before mass but I think I was a bit dehydrated, which is something I really have to watch. I also need to make sure that I have enough water boiled (& cooled) before I go because it’s really rough coming back from a run and only having a little water left to drink – and having to wait for water to boil then having to drink it hot (usually I opt for cocoa in that case).
After mass, I saw Uma then did some typing. As class mistress for Form1A, I am supposed to take attendance every day and need the names of the students in alphabetical order and separated by gender. I figured the easiest way to do this is to type the names into Excel and then sort them, so that’s what I did.

Up, Up, and Away!

There are 2 kinds of markets here: the fruits and veggies kind (soko) and the flea market kind (mnada). I had heard mnada can get pretty crazy and jumped at the opportunity to be shown the ropes by an expert (aka Kristen who’s been here a year). Uma and I walked down to meet Kristen in Endasak then we all walked to Endagaw a little down the main dirt road. I’m still not sure of what things should cost so I was thankful to have Kristen there to ask and verify if the price was decent. I bought a tea strainer (for if I ever make tea) a kanga, a kitenges (to make a lab coat), a small thermos, and a small metal pot (so I can bake smaller cakes and end up eating less). While walking around, the wind created a dust devil (small dust tornado) that whipped through the grounds. It picked up a kanga or kitenges, among other things, and I watched it go higher and higher in the sky. That fabric must have gone over a hundred feet into the sky – no way the vendor got it back. My sitemate (district-mate?) Lauren lives in Endagaw so we visited her and I finally met her. She’s another Environment volunteer but she does a lot of health work as well. Now I only have to meet Duncan and Charlotte in my district.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step

I’m pretty terrified of running a Chemistry laboratory here not only because of the responsibility it entails but also because the students have had minimal to no experience in a laboratory. Well, you have to start somewhere so I had my Form 3s of to the lab today. Since it’s the first time we’ve entered together, I had them tell me safety rules before we entered and the lesson was just asking them what different apparatus (equipment) are. Supposedly they learned all of the names and uses of the apparatus in Form 1 but I’m not counting on them remembering after 2 years and not using them.

A majority of the time, I don’t call or text people, even in the States. Yet when I do talk with friends, it’s great. Such was the case tonight when I talked with Megan (S) for a long time. I’m not sure if I appreciate such conversations more because they aren’t frequent or if I just forget how great it is.

The Joke’s on Me :-)

My Form 3 Chemistry students do not take the national exam (NECTA) until after next year (after Form 4) but most of the laboratory portions are supposed to be covered in Form 3. Being their 3rd year of chemistry, I was thinking that my students already have lab experience and should know how to use the basic equipment. However, I doubt they know how to use any o fit. When I asked them about some of the Form 2 experiments they were supposed to do, they told me the teacher did them. Great they’re further behind than I thought. And this is the same teacher who wanted to teach my Form 3 students again. I’m glad I told him no because with me they will be able to do experiments themselves and I can teach them proper lab techniques (how to use a balance, read a burette, etc.).
Sports and Games again today and I was tricked a little by some of the girls. On Tuesday, the boys raced down the field in groups so I had the girls do the same and I ran with them. Today they seemed to want to race again. I lined up with them, did the count, and started running. Most of the girls started running but stopped after a couple of steps; only a few kept running with me until the end. I didn’t care too much because I like running and I laughed it off but I can’t believe they thought I would fall for it more than once. I didn’t.
Despite the girls’ trickery, I let them pay soccer because the boys got to play on Tuesday. Turns out the girls never get to play soccer – they play netball and the boys play soccer. It was hilarious watching the girls put on the schools’ set of shorts and shirts. I’m pretty sure none of them had worn shorts before so they were giggling the whole time. When we finally got them settled, I was given the job of referee and I did my best to teach the girls and call the more important things. There was no way I could call everything because the girls did not know the rules so it was very much like reffing 8 and under kids. Nevertheless, there are some girls that are pretty good players and I’m glad the girls got a chance to play. I hope I’ll be able to teach them how to play soccer this term; soccer isn’t just for the boys.

Thank the goat for lunch

In America, agricultural science is only at some universities but here in Tanzania, it is taught in secondary school. My school is surrounded by farm fields and wandering livestock because that’s how the tribes (Iraqw & Barabaig) have made their living for countless years. It should come as no surprise that the students and teachers take the subject pretty seriously – it is probably the most relevant subject to their everyday lives.

Today a goat was sacrificed in the name of education. At the beginning of the teaching day, a goat was bleating (crying) behind the laboratory building. Not long after, there was a cry and then silence. A little later I allowed myself to be shown part of the dissection. The goat’s throat was slit and the students (my Form 3’s) were nearly finished skinning it. When I returned to the lab later, a couple of teachers were arranging and labeling the different organs. Specifically, the purpose of the lesson was for the students to understand the digestive tract of ungulate animals (think those with hooves). Therefore, the throat to stomach to intestines to anus (and everything in between) was spread out on a couple of long (wooden) lab tables. It was interesting to see but I didn’t stick around long because the smell wasn’t great and I’d rather not know what other surfaces came into contact with goat gut fluids.

During chai or in between classes, I was joking with a few other teachers that because of the goat dissection, we would have meat at lunch. I wasn’t sure how much was joking and how much was serious; I don’t think most of us were sure if we would end up eating the goat. Well, we did. I was hoping it’d taste really good because it was fresh meat but it wasn’t cooked very well; at least I ate meat (a rarity for me because I don’t bother to buy & cook it).

Normally I don’t listen too much to conversations in the staff room because I can only catch a word here and there that I understand. Yet I was able to hear enough words today during lunch and string them together to figure out that the results from last years national exam (NECTA) are out and online. Up to this point, I hadn’t told the other teachers that I have a modem but this seemed like a good reason to bring it out. There were about 8 teachers gathered close to me at the computer as I looked up the results not only for my school, but also a plethora (many) of other schools the teachers asked me to look at. I’m not sure what was supposed to get done this afternoon but I spent it and the early evening looking up (mostly waiting for) test results.

Red Light, Green Light

Form 3 is supposed to have 4 periods per week of Chemistry so I tried to go through the timetable (weekly schedule) to make sure all 3 streams have 4 periods scheduled. I tried to go to one class during the period when they didn’t have anything scheduled that I had penciled in chemistry. Lo and behold, they were in biology even though it’s not on the new schedule. I kind of wonder if I will be able to get all 4 periods for chemistry that I am supposed to be teaching each stream per week.

For Sports and Games time after school, I tried teaching the girls some basic games but it was an epic failure. One game I tried was “Red Light, Green Light”. Although none of the students had likely seen a traffic light before, I think they could remember green = go and red = stop. However, they either didn’t understand the stop & go commands or they couldn’t hear me. Either way, they ended up playing some game they know so I actually learned a new game. I don’t entirely understand the rules but I get the basic gist of it.