Second Week of School

Our  school week began Tuesday afternoon due to the ferry schedule, so it has been a quick week. Sasha dusted off (literally) an old microscope that no one could get to work, and with the help of the physics teacher managed to focus into seeing the surface of a leaf. We need a better way to focus the light, it works only at low magnifications and we must find a way to make a slide out of what we have available- which is not much, but it is a good start.

We are slowly getting into the rhythm of school, and planning lessons. Sasha is now in the STEM office with Ryan, as the final teacher (Geography) has arrived. It takes a lot to explain something the students are unfamiliar with, so we must get creative with what they do know. There are some students in each class that are quick to understand, one in Sasha’s class took out the textbook and came up to ask why she had not taught a somewhat obscure part of Halogen binding. It was a surprising question, since he was there when she had to explain what a precipitate was. She showed how the Malawi syllabus does not ask for it, and it will not be tested on but he is very passionate and to know more chemistry. Others in the class can’t be bothered to take their notes out during lecture.  

Wednesday is sports, all the boys go to Football (Soccer) and all the girls go to netball and a few from each go to volleyball. They run barefoot and still dressed in their uniforms. The next day, they were very strict and angry about anyone who had skipped sports. The people on the girls team had taken down names and knew who wasn’t there, though the people in charge of football had not. So girls were sent home for skipping, but no boys were. They also must all have shaved heads. We assumed everyone just liked having short hair as most people around here have very short hair, but it was announced as a requirement. The only other teacher who had long hair (by long we mean four inches) came in with extremely short hair as well so Sasha was getting nervous. We told them how in the States every girl in school has long hair, and the school no matter how strict would not ask girls to shave it. They were quite shocked, as you cannot learn with long hair. Many people were sent home that day for long hair- we’re talking long enough so you can just barely not see their scalp. A girl attended class one of Ryan’s classes with a pentagram on her jacket, but her hair was short enough so she got to stay. A girl in uniform was sent home because her shoes were black and white, not just black. There are other students who have never worn any part of the uniforms and are allowed to stay. We cannot figure out this pattern and are afraid to bring it up. If we know what the rules are we will be expected to enforce them and we would rather plead ignorance and keep our students in class.

Thursday Sasha gave the form 2s their first short assessment to know how much they knew and how much they did not. She wrote questions on the board and handed out notebook paper, then slowly walked around to see progress. Kids only started writing once she asked them personally. After 20 minutes many were still writing the questions. She had to erase the first question 30 minutes in and tell people to move on if it was not complete yet. 35 minutes in a student came up to change a question labeled “2 a. b. c.” to 2 A. B. C.” and 40 minutes in when it was time to go they did not want to hand it back in. Many tried to leave with it in their bags. She eventually got all but 2. Grading it was very disappointing, but now we know how much they know!

That evening we had our first teacher guest- Justice around to get movies. He is our second adult guest, the first one a neighbor who also wanted movies. He showed us “Share-it” an app like air drop for iphones that is very quick. Data is expensive so he shared it via blue tooth. He got Avatar from us to watch on his tiny phone screen. It is odd what of American culture has made it through. People have watched many of the Marvel movies, but no Disney movies. We also learned that there is not a single movie theatre in all of Malawi.

Friday, Sasha brought in the French Press. The teachers gathered as we waited the few minutes, and watched open-mouthed as she pushed the plunger down and began pouring. “You must try it first before adding sugar!” they agreed, tried it, and then added a lot of sugar. Justice was honest in that he preferred his own coffee, which was instant coffee mixed with tea. Upon further questioning, we learn “tea”, which is usually what he drinks, is just hot water and sugar. “This is Malawi, we make it simple. No need for anything else. With sugar and water, you have tea.” Only one- the Chichewa teacher who showed us how to wear a chitenge- took it without sugar.

 We had our first staff meeting. Sitting in the Teachers lounge on kindergarten sized chairs, shoulder to shoulder. The head teacher was gone, stuck on the lake as the weather was too rough. The English teacher took over. We began with a prayer, then by saying everyone’s names. We were very excited as we still did not know many, but they said it too quickly and with such unfamiliar sounds that we learned nothing knew. “The students are doing quite poorly. What can we do as teachers to improve their grades?” he asked, and waited. we felt we were students again, no one said anything. Eventually the priest, Moses, started with how the students were not serious about learning, and we cannot help them. Someone suggested more career counseling, so they know what they are doing and are more motivated. Eventually, Sasha piped up suggested perhaps instead of sending everyone home all the time and missing classes, we try something else. Like detention. That way, they do not fall behind and instead are forced to do homework. Benson explained this was not possible, as they do not understand punishment. And what if they do not show up? Some of the younger teachers did seem to agree, the older ones said this is how we do it. Which is odd to try so hard to get answers out of us as to how to change, and then when we suggest something they say that way is not done. They brought us Sodas and a sleeve of crackers each an hour in. By the end, we had each finished an entire sleeve. The English teacher announced the board wants us to have a staff meeting that everyone attends before the first day of school. We explain that is unrealistic, we have two weeks of break and the boat comes back on a Tuesday. We will not lose a week of break for a staff meeting. Why not have it on the last day of school? After another half hour of discussion it was decided that it would be held on Sunday because that is the way it is done. From the grumbles it sounds like it will be a sparsely attended meeting.

On Saturday we slept in and had a lazy morning, and set off around 9am for Mango Drift. We tried a new way, and the roads didn’t line up well with google maps. Two boys began following us, occasionally pointing at signs for Mango Drift and asking for our Water Bottle. Finally, we make it, and learn the whole place has been rented out by one family. They are quite friendly and curious about where we came from, but it was a little awkward. We order our pizza (30-45 minute wait time), sit down and read, and get it hour and a half later (good ol’ Malawi time). We slowly eat both savoring every bite of cheesy goodness, then Sasha goes for a paddle board along the beach. We get our fill of the water, and then walk back. More children mob us again asking for our bottle. Those are tough to get here; we aren’t giving up our bottles!

We sit on the porch and sip our water, while Ryan chats with his family. Unexpectedly a bat is flying around the front porch and crashes into Ryan’s leg, and then dies or is stunned on the ground. We watch it, and then poke It with a stick. It barely moves. We go inside to google Rabies. An article says to try to catch it so they can do a test. We open the door, and the cat meows at us. We wonder if she ate it, though it takes her at least a minute to eat a cockroach. We wash the leg and look for any bite marks, but none can be found under his hair and by the light of a cell phone. We text the hospital administrator who promises it is fine, but then we read an article about a man in BC who was hit by a bat which didn’t leave a mark, and then died shortly after. Rabies is a particularly evil disease as you feel totally fine for an unknown amount of time (10 weeks to 12 years) when it is curable, and then as soon as you first feel a little sick, there is no cure and you will die a very uncomfortable death soon after. We decide it is probably unlikely that it even had rabies and go to bed.

The next day we walk to the hospital, and the nurse we ask about the situation laughs and promises it is fine as well. Then we go to church around an hour late. People are still arriving. About an hour and a half in, they collect money and we go to the front and Ryan, having gone to church for a reasonable amount of time, makes his way home. Sasha toughs it out by sketching the hand of God. Then she walks to town to pick up her Chitenge.

The Chitenge is the colorful cloth you wrap around your waist to wear as a skirt, or around your back to carry a baby, or to put on your lap as you sit so no one can see up your skirt, or a great number of other things. I will have a difficult time not wearing one in the States. I walked to the tailors, which was open with no one inside so continued to the beach. It seems to be shower day, and a swarm of boys covered some rocks a ways from the beach. I stand with my feet in the water for awhile, and they chant “Camera! Camera!” I oblige with a photo and they cheer. I make my way to a rocky hill to the side of the beach “where are you going?” A 12 year old, Annie, asks. “I am not sure, I am exploring” “I will follow”. She and her sister walk with me up to an inn with a boat labelled “Ambulance” at the front. We walk to the top of the hill, and she points out her Grandmas house. Then her fathers. Her sister, Margaret comes out “Hello Sasha. I am form 3” She is in my Chemistry class, I really must take another round of photos since I do not remember her. Her father comes out to welcome me. I explain I am exploring, seeing what is around. “ah, you are moving. That is good.” I get the sense people don’t do that. We meet the Grandma on the way back, “your garden- it is beautiful” She smiles and nods. We walk back to the beach, Annie starts striping down to change. It seems odd, a place that requires you to be in dresses down to your knees in public has no qualms of striping stark naked on the beach.

Later that afternoon Ryan is still worried about his impending rabies death and decides to go to the hospital and ask for more information about the shot. Unfortunately, the doctor is not in as it is a Sunday and he was asked to come back on Monday. In a break between classes Ryan was accompanied by Sasha down to the hospital where we stumbled our way into a doctors office for a consultation. Theres no front desk, or person in uniform to ask. Around 50 people, many women with babies, sat waiting with papers in their hands outside the office. Someone led us to the very front. We realize a few minutes in that we cut in line- saving atleast 6 hours of wait time. We hope they were waiting for something else, they didn’t seem surprised or too dismayed when we walked by. The doctor seemed confused by the request leading Ryan to feel as though he was being rather ridiculous for worrying. Eventually he said he could give me a shot of TTV that would prevent rabies. In the research we had done we had not come across that treatment and asked him for more detail. He didn’t seem to have more information and excused himself to ask someone else. When he came back he said there was another shot I could get that was for post bite, but I would have to get 5 shots. I responded by asking him if those were at day 1, day 3, day 7, day 14 and day 28. He seemed surprised that I knew this and asked if I could repeat that so he could write them down. Between here and Australia I am getting good at writing my own prescriptions. With prescription in hand I went to go collect my shot and take it over to the nurse that would administer it. As we sat and waited Ryan tried not to think of his fear of needles especially ones in a rural hospital where 50 percent of the population has HIV. They pulled out a new needle and gave him the shot in the waiting room as others gathered around, seeing how the white man took a shot. Ryan looked away and didn’t flinch, a man that recognized us from the school congratulated him on being so stoic. One down 4 to go! The cost for this preventative medicine in the states often costs upwards of $3,000. Here in one of the poorest countries in the world it was free. America is pretty great, but we really got to figure out our medical system.