January 15, 2009 Standard One

Yesterday, I arrived at the primary school (Standards 1-8) assembly at
7:15. All the students stood in lines according to their grade. The
principal and a couple of teachers stood on a porch in front of them.
They did exercises and sang the National Anthem. There were
announcements and then classes filed away one at a time.
I noticed a lot of hoes near the porch. Older students picked them up
as they left as they would be working during the day. Younger ones
broke branches from trees and swept the ground near their classroom
door. They also piled branches inside to be used for classroom brooms
later in the day.

Inside the room each child had been assigned to one of four large
circles. Each group had an appointed leader who held a stick, which he
or she used to tap the feet of those who spoke out of turn or
otherwise misbehaved. I am interested in whether these leaders ever
abuse their authority, though I didn't see any of that. I am
impressed that such young children could carry out the duties laid on
them.

The teacher held a poster and talked about the topic of school,
classroom care and other beginning of the year things. (Yesterday part
of it was about the toilet. Shades of Kindergarten, U.S.A.) She
called on a few children from each circle to stand and give answers.
When a correct answer was given, the whole class clapped once.

About 8:30 it was time for a break. The children filed outside and
the teacher and I went out on the porch. I could see the boys
bathroom across the field. It is made out of wood and thatch, with
several stalls open at the front so you can see the guys standing in
them. I haven't seen the girls' facilities yet.

A few kids had bits of food with them, which they ate during the
break. When we went back in, the teacher, Martha Julius, a cousin of
Fr. Phillip, asked those who had breakfast to stand up. Of the 104
children in there at that moment, 18 stood up. After a while, about
13 more straggled in from the break.

The next lesson was about folding paper. Mayi Julius held up a large
sheet of paper and demonstrated how to fold it. Then she tore the
sheets and gave each group leader some. The leaders demonstrated for
their own circles and then tore their papers and gave each child a
piece. Each child folded!

One little boy had come in late and clearly didn't want to be there.
He sat just behind his circle the whole morning. The teacher left him
alone and told me that he'd come around in a few days.

Towards the end, there were some songs. One was the Chichewa version
of Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes. The teacher then asked one circle to line up, girls on one side and boys on the other. She sat down by the door and had them come up one at a time to tell her their name, age and village. It took about a half hour. The ones not in line at any given time sat in their circles and talked quietly.

In the afternoon Chet, Sarah and I had our language class. We learned a lot of nouns and words that we would need at the market.

Thursday is a national holiday, Chilembwe Day, so there is no school.

Chet drove Phillip's truck to the market at Chinsewu, about 5 km. The ruts in the muddy roads are more than incredible. Mimi escorted Sarah, Chet and I. Her language skill and experience in the country really helped. We bought tomatoes and cucumbers. We saw dried fishy-smelling fish, red beans, maize, other dried beans, okra,eggplant and pumpkin leaves for sale. We bought some cucumbers and tomatoes. Sarah and I each bought some fabric for skirts or other endeavors. (the African quilt??) Mimi warned that if I took out my camera I'd be swamped and called a "mzungu" (foreigner). I refrained as we shopped, but couldn't resist a quick few shots as we left.

In the afternoon I attended a meeting about plans for the new nursery school. During the meeting the power went out. Now, at 6:23 pm. there is still no power, but I can compose this
with the computer running on its battery. We are preparing to have a candlelit dinner.

As we walked back from the meeting, we saw a couple of little boys playing with a wonderful galimoto. Manuel said he had made it himself. As we walked back a couple of guys stopped us to talk. One of them is a student in the computer class of the Trade School. I told him my name and that Chet is my husband. He knew "the engineer." He offered to make me a galimoto, but I said I'd prefer that he teach me to make my own. He said he'd collect the wires for it.

Tomorrow I'll spend the morning in on Standard 2.

For those of you who are getting one of these emails for the first
time, I apologize. My email list has been erratic because of the fog
of jet lag. I am about to launch a blog and hope to put the previous
email messages on it. I'll let you know when that is up and running.
I've been too busy to "miss" you, but I sure wish you could all be
here with us!

I'd best close now and go to bed. The roosters crow whenever they
feel like it, but the alarm clock will ring at 6 (if the power stays
on).