School Orientation (June 25)

Today was a busy and very overwhelming day, but in a good way, of course. We took the trip into Domasi to visit all three schools that we will be teaching at, so we could get acquainted with our specific school and be familiar with the others. The first school we drove to was Malemia, where the Radford students are teaching, supervised by Dr. Roberts. A dirt road led us onto the school grounds and when we turned around we saw tons of kids chasing after our bus, as well as running alongside of it. Once we got off they crowded around, and we were able to meet the Head Teacher (our equivalent of a principal) and toured the classrooms of each standard (1 through 8). All the kids were so excited and the thing they loved the most was our cameras! Each time we took a picture we would show them and they thought it was the coolest thing. Some would even start posing for us, and then get in pictures with us, just so they could look at themselves afterwards.

The class sizes were pretty large but interestingly, only about a third of the children enrolled were present. Today was Market day, and it’s pretty normal for many kids to not come to school on market days. They also all carried around little cups, because three times a week they get fed porridge through the food program. We played soccer with them too! It was so fun, but we had to visit the other schools so we had to leave.

The next school we visited was Domasi Demonstration School, where North Carolina A&T will teach, supervised by Dr. Barber. This school operated a lot differently than Malemia. The parents have to apply for their children to go here. It’s kind of like a private school, but it isn’t. It was a beautiful school! The children were also very well behaved and much more disciplined. We didn’t get any kids running up to us, they all pretty much stayed in their classrooms. We still took a tour to each standard grade and classroom, but it was much more calm.

Finally, Charles dropped us off at Domasi Government School, where I’ll be teaching with the rest of the Hokies, supervised by Dr. Kelly. I can’t even begin to explain to you this experience. Walking off the bus onto the schoolyard of this school is something that will stay with me the rest of my life. As soon as the bus pulled up, and the doors opened, we looked out and saw hundreds of school children in their uniforms running as fast as they could from all directions (and from very far!) just to come greet us. We could barely get off the bus and they swarmed around us, all wanting to shake our hands, learn our names and say hello. It was so hard to walk through them! I found many of them holding my hand and arms as I walked, they were so incredibly excited to see all of us. I took a great video that demonstrated them crowding around us toward the end of our visit.

We got to tour the classrooms like we did at the others, and meet some of the teachers. Jess and I really fell in love with the Standard 4B class, taught by Katherine. She was great, and the kids were adorable. They are learning at a rate similar to what a 2nd grader would be in the US, so the material we’d be teaching is exactly what I’m looking forward to. All of the children have even memorized greetings for our visit! This is how it goes:
We say: Good morning, how are you today?
They say: (All of them stand up) I’m fine Madame, how are you?
We say: I’m well, thank you!
They say: Thank you, Madame. (All sit back down)

It was amazing! It took awhile to get out of the school yard because all of the kids wanted to follow us or kept hanging onto us. We walked over to the Malawi Institute of Education (MIE) which is a few buildings over, where we could rest and eat lunch. We then went into a classroom to have our discussion, with all of us and all 3 directors. It was a pretty loaded discussion. We went over a lot and it really got me thinking about our situation in America. It’s also important to note that while we are here helping these children, families and schools, we can’t feel bad for them. They are so happy, and it’s all they know, just like our lifestyle at home is all we know. These are some of the strongest people I will probably ever meet in my lifetime, and it’s worthwhile to point that out. I got to thinking a lot about what my responsibility is here, and how I can do all I can to help them with the little time I have. We have to make sure the knowledge we are leaving them will benefit them in the future, and not hinder them in any way. It’s so important to give them the means, knowledge and ideas for them to be able to continue flourishing on their own, without the aid of others. It’s much like the idea reinforced by Freedom Gardens.

My day was filled with every emotion imaginable, but I love my school assignment and I couldn’t imagine doing this anyplace else.