WIN a Fork!

Remember when you were little and you opened a new box of your favorite cereal, reached inside, and pulled out new toy? Or perhaps your box of crackerjacks had the latest action figure? Or maybe that McDonald’s happy meal came with your favorite new teeny beanie babie….those were the good old days, weren’t they? I mean, all that anticipation, excitement, and joy from that simple little surprise found in your food!

Actually, sounds a little crazy if you ask me.

However, the highlight of my week was certainly finding a prize fork in my 22 pound bag of rice on Wednesday!! Yes, the pure simple delight of finding a prize in your food has even reached the African continent! When I reached in to measure out our ration of rice for the night, I was startled when I hit something hard….and low and behold, I pulled out a brand new, neatly packaged, heavy duty fork. Literally the best surprise ever! Does it make carrying the 22 pounds of rice across country borders worth every ounce of frustration as it was slung across my shoulder, oh certainly! I mean, who wouldn’t want to win a free fork in their sack of rice?

We also now have four forks instead of three…which is just a much nicer number of forks for a household of two in the bush. Don’t you think?

In fact, this is such a great highlight, that this is the only blog post that you will be getting this week. Pole sana! However, surprisingly enough, I’ve actually had a really busy week in the bush, which means minimal time to write posts. But I promise to bring wonderful updates for all of you very soon!

Challenges of Teaching

One of the challenges of teaching here is the extreme variation in student ability. When I say extreme, I literally mean it. I have Form 1 students who actually can’t read or write, in any language, and then they certainly do not speak English and probably understand nothing I say. And then I also have Form 1 students who raise their hand to enthusiastically answer every question, and can do so correctly every.single.time. In Form 4, I have some students who can’t speak English, can barely write their names, and if you ask them -2 + 2, they will tell you 4. AH! Then, I have other students in the same class who are so bright, and can understand my explanation of how to graph an inequality in a foreign language after the first example. It’s so crazy! And so difficult to teach. Do I try to begin with the basics, in hopes that the students who are behind will catch up? Do I pace with the fast students, since they are likely to be the only ones to pass the National Exam anyway? Or do I somehow try to find a balance…

This is a daily struggle in all of my classes, and since I’m teaching all four forms mathematics as well as Form 1 and Form 2 English, I ask myself these questions often.

To give you an idea of what I mean, I gave my Form 3 class an exam on the first unit, Relations. It was only four questions, and I gave them an hour to complete it.

1. The relation R is defined as R = {(-2,1) , (-1, 3) , (0,5) , (1,7) , (2,9)}

a.     Show R as a pictorial representation

b.     What is the domain of R?

c.      What is the range of R?

d.     What is R^-1?

     2. Given R = {(x,y): y = 2x + 8}, find R^-1

     3. Graph R = {(x,y): y = 3x -1}

     4.  Graph the inequality R = {(x,y): y < x + 2}

Now, I understand that half of this exam is expecting them to know how graph a relation, which is actually a very difficult concept for most students here. But, the first half of this is fairly easy, considering how much time we spent going over the vocabulary and examples in class.

However, I knew it was going to be a rough day when I walked into the classroom to see 47 students in their seats, considering we’ve only been averaging 25 to 30 students in Form 3 (we’re still waiting to hear who actually passed form 2 last year…but that’s a story for another day). But like I mentioned in my Uji post, attendance has been up since we’ve started serving the students porridge. It’s a blessing and a curse, because those extra 20 students had literally no idea what was happening on this exam.

After marking the exam, I had 3 students score a perfect 10/10. And 11 more students score at least a 4/10, which is a pretty decent score in math here. Then I had a few score 2 or 3 points, 7 scored 1 point, and finally, 23 scored a perfect 0/10….which in any classroom is just crazy! And this is the moment when I begin to wonder about everything. I guess we’ll just keep plugging along, and hope that the 14 who had some idea of what was happening will continue to be successful in school. And for the rest of them, well, it actually makes no difference if they are able to graph a relation or not, because the reality of it is that these esoteric math topics could not be less applicable here in the bush. 

Welcome to my Desk

Just a glimpse into my daily life here at Bukiriro. Exercise books to mark, lessons to plan, chalk dust everywhere, and a lovely new kanga to keep a smile on my face because underneath it all, my desk looks so pretty! I’ll be honest though, teaching all four classes an intense mathematics syllabus, as well as teaching my Form 1’s and Form 2’s as many English class as possible, is an extremely daunting task! It’s a lot of work and at the end of the day I’m exhausted! While it would be easy to be discouraged, especially when you give a seemingly very easy exam to 70 Form 4 students and have 6 students score 0/10 and only 2 score 10/10, you have to just keep it all in perspective. For those two, you are making a difference, and for the other 68 students, well, maybe it doesn’t necessarily matter if they understand how to write the equation of a line or not. They have many skills that students in America will never have, and they can still be successful outside the classroom. So, I guess I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing, show the students that I care about them a million times over, and we will simply enjoy our next four months together! :)

Save Your Change to Be The Change

Before you read this post, I’d like you to check your pockets, your purse, or the under the seat cushions of your couch. How many coins did you find? More than 12 cents? If yes, then I’d like you to continue reading to learn how that 12 cents you didn’t even know you had, could make a huge difference in the life of one of my students.

On Monday, my school began serving porridge, Uji, to all students during our morning break. In the 5 months that I’ve been teaching at Bukiriro, the academic master at school and I are the only people who would eat or drink during the day. Taking this step to feed the whole school has been more of a leap for us, but one that has been extremely positive! My students walk up to 8km to school in the morning on an empty stomach, waking up well before the sun rises. They sit through classes all day, and then walk all 8km home on an even emptier stomach. No wonder I had students regularly fall asleep during my afternoon classes…I would too if I was them!

I can personally say that in the four days that uji has been served, the difference in the afternoon is unbelievable! To say that students are more alert, attentive and participative is an understatement: the energy that radiates through the room is palpable. It’s amazing what 16 ounces of porridge will do for a person! Attendance is up, students are awake, and the school is alive!

Soon, I will certainly post pics of the students enjoying their uji!

Now, back to that 12 cents you found buried in the side of your armchair. The students are each expected to pay 200 shillings per day for uji, which is 1,000 shillings per week and 40,000 shillings for the entire year. In US$, that’s $0.12 per day, $0.62 per week, and $25 for the year. Compared to hot lunch programs in America, this sounds pretty good, right? Unfortunately, many of my students cannot afford this. Many families can barely afford their annual school fees of $25, so to expect them to pay twice as much is unrealistic. Also, a very high number of students are sponsored by various organizations and donors for their school fees and uniform, but the uji expense is not included in their funding. Currently, about 80 families have contributed to the uji fund, but with nearly 300 students, you can imagine that the money will run out eventually. And unfortunately, no money means empty cups and empty stomachs.

That is why I would like to raise money to support this effort. My goal is to cover 8 weeks of uji for the entire school.

$1 will buy 1 kilogram of maize flour, which feeds at least 10 students.

$2 will buy 1 kilogram of sugar.

$30 will feed the whole school for one day.

$150 will feed the whole school for one week.

Ultimately, 8 weeks of uji is $1200, and I am confident that together, we will keep these students nourished, awake, and energetic throughout the school year.

If you are interested in supporting our UJI effort at Bukiriro, you can donate directly to WorldTeach, specifying the community project for Elizabeth Martin, Tanzania, at www.worldteach.org.

Or, you can donate to my page on firstgiving, and although a small percent of your donation goes to First Giving, I promise the money will all make it here to our tiny village. Check it out: https://www.firstgiving.com/WorldTeach/worldteach-tanzania-bukiriro-2013 .

So before you throw that quarter on the ground or grumble about the change weighing down your pockets, think about the two days you could be feeding a child and keeping him or her in school. I wish I could adequately say thank you for your support, but words are not enough.  It’s hard to capture the simple joy that lights their eyes and the brimming smile on their face as they sip from their steaming cup of uji, but I promise you that your $0.12 will make a huge impact in the life of a student. 

Happy Heart Day!

This Valentine’s Day, I would like to simply make a shout-out to all of the loves of my life, wherever you may be. For everyone who has supported me in all of my endeavors, and for all of you who still share your love with me, even though I’m a million miles away. My parents, grandparents (HAPPY 60^th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY Grandma and Grandpa!), my brother, my friends from high school and college, friends from my summers spent at camp and my summer in Oklahoma, my lovely roommates and wonderful boyfriend, all of my new friends and students in Tanzania, and last but certainly not least, my one and only true LOVE of my life: JESUS. You are all amazing and without you, my life would not be complete!

Today, know that I am sending all the LOVE I can possibly send from TZ to you wherever you are in this wonderful world of ours!