19 Feb: Snuggle Up

Teaching Form III? Great. Form II? Not so much. I dont really know how to get past this language barrier, but right now I'm hoping the students and I just get used to listening to each other. Maybe if they had, you know, books.

We have told the students well be keeping office hours from now on as well, to keep us on task, doing our lesson plans, and of course be available for questions at specific hours. So far during our first office hours session Ive written in this journal, and weve played some volleyball with a deflated soccer ball across our desk ("So this is what working in an office is like" observes Brayn).

We went to watch the Form II vs Form III soccer (football) game. While the boys play soccer, the girls play netball. Apparently only girls play netball, which is annoying. Its a lot like basketball, and I think I might be halfway decent at this game, contrary to soccer. We spent some more time in the office after the games and a dinner of rice and beans. Were fed very well here, which makes me feel a little guilty. The students eat ugali and beans for two meals per day. Our meals consist of some combination of rice, beans, ugali, greens, peas, every so often some meat, and bananas). Usually two or three of these. I have never once heard a student complain about the food they receive, despite the meals being straight out of Oliver.

They also dont complain about their living conditions. 48 boys share a two-room dormitory. The rooms are packed with bunkbeds, and they sleep two per mattress (four per bunkbed). Most have a small trunk in which to keep their clothes. A wardrobe most often consists of school clothes, after school clothes, and sometimes a soccer outfit. They also have a bar for weightlifting. Its a metal rod with a paint can full of dirt attached to either side. The school is currently working on a new dorm which will house about one hundred boys, with six living in each room (twenty in the one larger room). However construction is currently halted due to lack of funding.

Insets: The boys dormitory, the new dormitory under construction, and two pictures at dinnertime in the mess hall.

If this is your first time here, please be sure to read the first entry on this site. Thank you.