Classroom Conditions

October 30^th, 2007

Yesterday morning Kate woke up very sick so she didn’t do devotions with me as we had planned. Every morning we have devotions as a group on the compound and that morning we were supposed to lead it. I felt so bad for her! We both decided that our stomachs are so bad that we should have a doctor living here. Hee. The devotions went fine. I read from Luke – the passage of sewing seeds. They enjoyed the devotion and it was relevant to what they are doing in Sasiga.

Afterwards I went to class and observed Teka teach 8^th grade. I talked to Kasshun for a while and observed his biology class. I visited the kindergarten class which was adorable. Kassa said it wasn’t facilitated. Instead, the parents pay 2 birr (there are 9 birr to a dollar) so their children can come. The children are advised to bring food because they aren’t used to being away from home and food for so many hours in a day. They are usually 5 and 6 years old, but there are a couple 4-year-olds.

I saw their library which is small and the books are falling apart. The men who showed it to me said that they don’t have any books for teachers to teach from. They only have students’ books. Also, most of their books are very old. Then Kassa showed me their materials room. There were charts and other visuals which the teachers can use to help instruct. One thing I’ve noticed is the materials here such as bookshelves, file folders, and things such as that which will help organize their books and materials. I want to help somehow when I return to the states. Maybe I can start a fund for them so we can send them money or materials. They need them so bad.

I was shocked to see the rooms that they taught in. they were essentially mud and stick rooms with uneven, dirt floors. They didn’t have window panes, but only wooden shutters to open and close to let in light. There was barely any light in that room even if the windows were open. I could barely see the students. I don’t know how they read or write in these conditions. There are a few buildings which FH and USAID helped to build that are really nice, but the rest of them are terrible. The ones that FH and USAID helped build have actual windows, they’re made of cement, they have real floors, and there’s enough light to see in them. Hopefully they can receive enough funds to make more of those some day. The government needs to make education a priority.

I met many teachers and conversed with them for a short time. As a result of such a full day and I was exhausted when I returned to the compound. Communication exhausts a person when he or she is in a new culture. I was dragged from one thing to another with no clue as to when I would be leaving. So I was there from 9 am to 1 pm. When I came back Kate was still sick. We were afraid she might have to go to Nekemt to see the doctor the next day. I took a long nap and so did Kate. Soon afterwards, Kate felt better and I was relieved. I didn’t want her to go to Nekemt. I also didn’t want to miss out on class and other activities.

This morning I taught English in class. I had thought that I would get a couple days of observation, but nope, I had to wing it. We read from a passage in the work book and I defined some bold words for them. It was strange for me because I had never done anything like this before, with so many eyes on me. They drank in every word (that they could understand) and they were silent. I was so glad that Kate was there sitting in the front row so I could use her for examples and so she could say, “tell them the page number.” My brain doesn’t completely work when I’m in front of the class, so I forget obvious things like that. Then we observed the 7^th grade class. We had tea with a few teachers and I taught again even though I thought I only had one class period today. We answered some questions about he passage concerning the comparison of Ethiopian and British cultures. They seemed interested, but I am by no means an expert on British culture. They wanted to know so much. They wanted to know where English came from in America. But I am also no history major! They think I know so much! It is true that I am more educated than most of the people than they know, which is an overwhelming thought. They really do think very highly of us.

Fortunately Teka said my teaching was done well. Hopefully I will continue to improve. Kate and I are most worried about the grammar since we don’t know how to teach it. We just speak it naturally. When we returned to the compound, many children followed and stood outside the gate. A few were girls from my class. They wanted us to take their photos. An old woman came by and wanted a photo too. She was pretty funny and kept kissing our hands. She kept asking “Akem” which means 'how are you' or 'hello.' Then we would answer “Naga” which was one of the answers you can say. But she kept insisting we say “feya” instead.

Kate and I watched the cook, Tanagne, make injera (which is the bread I hate). It’s more difficult than it looks. It’s made out of teff. The teff is bought already pounded in Nekemt and water is added. It looks like pancake mix. She scoops batter out and pours it onto the large, round skillet over the fire. When I tried it, I made it very lopsided. But she kindly kept saying, “konjo” which is "beautiful" in Amharic. I laughed at my creation anyway. Then she takes the bread off of the skillet quickly with her hands and lets it cool on the basket lid. When she takes it off, the fire licks at her around the sides and she often gets burned. The smoke escapes out of an opening in the roof, the doorway, and the window, but not well enough. It still smells like horrible burning chemicals, soot covers us, and the fire climbs upwards to burn the tin walls. It doesn’t seem safe. Kate and I were wondering why they haven’t made her one of those newer fancy stoves. I want to make her one, but I don’t know if it’s possible. We don’t think it’s fair that the community gets new stoves, but she doesn’t. Of course we haven’t been there, so we don’t know the whole story.

Kate and I have been having such a difficult time here. We just want to go home. It was especially hard because we both had a really good dream last night. We both dreamed that we married our boyfriends! Crazy. I also dreamed that I was at home and it was Christmas time. Dreams like that make it super had to get up in the morning when you’re not in the place you want to be. We also don’t like the food (except for a couple things), so we are losing weight. The men are noticing we don’t each much either. They might even get us spaghetti from Nekemt for us. It’s cute how concerned they are. But we don’t want to change what they eat just for our sakes.