Each morning we go to our schools but Dr. Kelly goes to Domasi College because she is in the process of setting up a library database for the college. It has turned out to be quite a lot of work. One day they connected it and it spiked so they were afraid they had lost thousands of dollars worth of technology. Thankfully, it was okay. Today she needs to go to town to look for another electrical part. Once she gets it all set up it, it is going to be a very valuable resource for the college.
When we walked in today Macdonald was teaching Science & Technology. Some of the questions he had on the board the students were supposed to answer were: What are nutritional deficiency diseases? Why is food preservation important? Mention the 3 foods that can be preserved. The class came up with 4 ways or preserving food: smoking, sundrying, salting and canning.
When the students wanted the teacher to call on them they would raise their hand and practically jump out of their seat snapping their fingers and calling “sir sir” to get his attention.
We had wanted to do an introductory activity since day 1, but we never got around to it, so today we planned an entire English lesson. We started off by giving them a sheet of construction paper and asked them to write their name and write 3 complete sentences about themselves. We emphasized that it had to be their own and they couldn’t copy. Dr. Kelly warned us that they are known for doing the exact same as their neighbor. I was pleasantly surprised how individual and unique most of their sentences were. They wrote about their age, family, village, siblings, favorite food, favorite sport, friends and school. Some said they wanted to come to America and one boy even said that he liked his new teachers, Lexi and Krista! I was surprised to find out that their ages ranged from 10 years old to 14 years old. Gift is only 10 years old. Most names were in Chichewa and I didn’t even try to pronounce them, but some names were Deborah, Blessings, Violet, and Joseph. Most of the sentences were incomplete and missed little words but I could get the point. The most common misspelled words I found were “years” and “family”- all of the students who misspelled “family” spelled it the same incorrect way “farmer”.
We asked for students to volunteer to share their sentences but we didn’t have time for everyone. We did walk by and give everyone a sticker on their paper.
I asked them if they knew their ABCs and I got a complete blank from the class. We sang the beginning and then they realized what we were talking about. The class sang it and there were quite a few phrases that were switched. We showed them the ABC mini posters (thanks Mrs. Kettell!) and they were familiar with everything except Rocket and Valentine.
Krista had posters of vowel sounds and each group passed them around. They enjoyed practicing pronouncing the sounds. Next, we planned to play hangman. Krista and I decided it wasn’t a good idea to have a picture of a man hanging, so we switched the game to just fill in the blank. It worked out perfectly. My example was “I like school” and they quickly got the hang of it. They were having so much fun playing that we used these games at the break so we didn’t actually go outside. After my turn, we let Macdonald choose students to go to the board and choose their own phrase. Some of them were “ boy and men” “Malawi” “Mangoes” “I like read books” “I love you Lexi and Krista”! They didn’t really catch on that you didn’t have to fill in letters in order. They only did it one letter at a time from the beginning. Oh well, they had fun!
As they were playing hangman, I took small groups outside to take their picture with their paper about themselves using a disposable camera. There is a place you can print them in town so we would really like to give them each their own picture of themselves. The little kids were outside and they kept trying to get in the pictures. I finally got the students to stand in front of a tree to avoid the little kids in the background. It was very hard to get them to smile. I see them smile and laugh all day long but they won’t smile for the camera, they just stand there. I did manage to get a couple smiles!
As I was taking pictures Krista entertained the class by giving them candy and teaching them “heads up 7 up”. Our last activity of the day was to take a class picture outside on the steps. Each of them brought their paper with their sentences outside for the class picture. Some of their faces are covered up from the paper. We might have to take another.
Today two more students brought a bag full of sugarcane and casava (it’s a root, similar to sweet potatoes when it's cooked). Krista gave the food to our bus driver, Charles since we were too skeptical to eat it. It was the thought that counted. Very sweet kids we have in our class!
We left our class and headed back to MIE to eat lunch. Lauren talked about chapter 5. There are quite a lot of police check points on the roads and our bus is always waved through even though there are lines of buses waiting to be checked. Apparently whites and politicians are always waved on and never have to stop. However Malawians are searched head to toe and can spend long amounts of time waiting outside even in the rain.
Last year Malemia Primary was given $100 to put to good use for the students and the staff said the students need food the most. $100 was enough to provide food to every student at the school (over 1,000) twice a week for 7 months. It was a great service but it was short lived. The Radford advisors worked hard for donors and were able to bring $3,000 for the feeding program this year. Jennifer/Dr. Jones gave them $100 on the second day and they are grateful but they have no idea that they have more money. The advisors are trying to set up a bank account for the principal to access the money. The village came together and cooks the food. $3,000 is enough for every student to have a meal every day for over a year. Its also enough to have protein in the food for extra nutrients. This is going to be a great surprise. We are hoping to get it all set up and be able to present it to the school before we leave.
At 2pm the group was meeting to head to Teddy’s village. He came by a few days ago and invited us to his garden and village. Katie worked in his classroom last year and he knew we were coming again this year. He actually moved schools but still wanted us to come visit him. Teddy’s left handed and he said he doesn’t know anyone else except his father who was left handed. He said left handed people are considered crippled. He has 7 of his own children and is the only person in his village who works so he supports many families.
As usual the drive was incredible, and I’m amazed at how different the mountains look each day. The morning view compared to the afternoon view is completely different. They always catch my attention and are so breathtaking. I feel like we have been here so long it's almost looking familiar but I hope I don’t get too comfortable with the view. I always thought the drive down to Blacksburg was beautiful but Malawi doesn’t even compare.
We left for Teddy’s village and it was very cute and typical. We met some of Teddy’s children and their friends. His wife was at the market but we did pass her on the way back and she got on the bus and introduced herself. He had lots of chickens and goats. We didn’t go into his house because his wife wasn’t there and he didn’t know if it was presentable. What a thoughtful husband. We had to get on the bus and drive to his garden. We were looking forward to seeing his garden because it was the same concept as Freedom Gardens. He had never heard of Freedom Gardens so we aren’t sure how he came up with the idea but its very clever. Since he works all day he pays workers to run the garden for him. He has quite the contraption that he hides under the bushes and only brings out when he needs to water the garden which is about twice a week. It’s basically an elliptical machine that he stands on to pump the water out of the pond and through the pipes to get to the garden. Very cool!
Next, we headed to town to exchange some more money and to eat at Tasty Bites of course! We ordered cake and samosas! Our favorite meal so far. We watched them make the samosas by hand. While we were sitting waiting for our food, we ran into two Canadians who were visiting. The girl had been in Blantyre since May studying agriculture. We told her she must go research at Freedom Gardens! She had never heard of it, so Krista had their business card and we told her to ask for Daniel and tell him that the VT girls sent her! She seemed very interested and excited to learn more about it. We told Daniel he would be famous and we are doing a pretty good job at advertising his garden to everyone we talk to!
On our way up we stopped by the seamstress to try on our dresses. They are beautiful and I think they will look great even at home! We showed them what alterations we wanted and we will check back again tomorrow. They finished them earlier then expected so I’m thinking about getting a bag or another outfit made.
Well, the Internet doesn’t work for anyone tonight. The signal strength is strong, but we can’t even get to the opening page. It’s getting worse and worse each night instead of better. So instead I washed my laundry in the sink. The socks are just gross and I can’t get the stains out. The clay dirt we walk on all day long is basically permanent.
This week has flown by, I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday. Krista and I quickly planned our lesson for tomorrow and spent the rest of the night writing in our journal and watching some TV. This Saturday our trip will be half done. Unreal.
Peter came by tonight to ask about the Internet. He said the entire server for Zomba is down so there’s nothing we can do about that. He also told us all these evenings he is planning for us. He said we are his new friends because he usually has no one to hang out with. We all feel silly because we didn’t bring any makeup or going out clothes. We only have school skirts and sweatpants.
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