Back to School
Back at school, and finally feeling a glimmer of inspiration again. It’s a good thing because I had spent the last month discouraged and disillusioned knowing that I still wanted to be here, while at the same time constantly questioning if there was any point; if really, was I actually helping anyone? Was I hurting more than doing good? I think the book Dark Star Safari really made me feel jaded about the whole experience.
Then I got to Letseku on Monday and all the teachers were genuinely excited to see me and gave me hugs and talked about my upcoming workshop series on “Best Classroom Practices,” and I began to see legitimacy in myself again. I realized: I don’t drive a Land Rover, I’m living in the village and gaining people’s respect instead of simply throwing money at them, and I’m not just here for a month to build a school and leave while it collects dust in my absence. I’m hoping my permanence here for the remaining 21 months helps to encourage the sustainability I dream of.
I was reading my newest copy of National Geographic yesterday, and it was pointing out that aid in the world was like a giant lottery. Whoever has the biggest natural disaster gets all the foreign money and goods even if much of it gets wasted. For example, after the tsunami many clothes were donated and much of them were burned because there was such an over abundance and no way to store or distribute them. Yet, so many children in the villages here run around in nothing more sufficient than rags. I suppose to truly get that boost to you country’s infrastructure you pray for a natural disaster that captivates the media’s attention.
Likewise, the article was commenting on how many people die daily from AIDS with little world recognition, yet when you see a super model clinging to a tree so as not to be swept away by a giant wave you heart goes out to her. I suppose it’s the sensationalism of the experience. An AIDS death takes lifetimes as compared to the devastation of a sudden earthquake.
I’m not trying to discredit the intensity of huge scale disasters. They are horrific and we should reach out our arms in support. Yet, we need to realize that all over the world tragedies occur everyday. Yet, constantly focusing on them is discouraging: “Yes, people in the Sudan are being raped and murdered, yes people in Ethiopia are starving, yes the baby a few houses down from mine has AIDS, and yes there are homeless children in America, but my dinner is getting cold, and I’m going to be late to see the new Tom Cruise movie.”
When I first got here I kept saying to myself: I’m going to build new classrooms! I’m going to get the school new computers! Etc. etc. Yet, I now realize that these material goods are not going to improve the education of the children. The teachers keep telling me these are the reasons their schools aren’t good, because they don’t have things. Yes, I could build them a new staff room, but why? So they have a nice place to run to and spend even less time in the classroom?
My goal now is the encouragement of seeing students as individuals, to decrease the amount of harassment of children and focus on the encouragement of personal growth and success, and to plant a love for learning and improvement because without that these children aren’t getting anywhere.
I still have my personal aims of establishing a library, which I still feel is a good thing. I also know that I want to establish the library soon so I have an entire year to train the teachers to use it so it’s sustainable when I leave. I would cry to know it feel into disrepair and disuse upon my departure.
I’m cynical to my core now but maybe that will make my development projects more viable in the end. Only time will tell. For now I will take pride in very small successes.
Then I got to Letseku on Monday and all the teachers were genuinely excited to see me and gave me hugs and talked about my upcoming workshop series on “Best Classroom Practices,” and I began to see legitimacy in myself again. I realized: I don’t drive a Land Rover, I’m living in the village and gaining people’s respect instead of simply throwing money at them, and I’m not just here for a month to build a school and leave while it collects dust in my absence. I’m hoping my permanence here for the remaining 21 months helps to encourage the sustainability I dream of.
I was reading my newest copy of National Geographic yesterday, and it was pointing out that aid in the world was like a giant lottery. Whoever has the biggest natural disaster gets all the foreign money and goods even if much of it gets wasted. For example, after the tsunami many clothes were donated and much of them were burned because there was such an over abundance and no way to store or distribute them. Yet, so many children in the villages here run around in nothing more sufficient than rags. I suppose to truly get that boost to you country’s infrastructure you pray for a natural disaster that captivates the media’s attention.
Likewise, the article was commenting on how many people die daily from AIDS with little world recognition, yet when you see a super model clinging to a tree so as not to be swept away by a giant wave you heart goes out to her. I suppose it’s the sensationalism of the experience. An AIDS death takes lifetimes as compared to the devastation of a sudden earthquake.
I’m not trying to discredit the intensity of huge scale disasters. They are horrific and we should reach out our arms in support. Yet, we need to realize that all over the world tragedies occur everyday. Yet, constantly focusing on them is discouraging: “Yes, people in the Sudan are being raped and murdered, yes people in Ethiopia are starving, yes the baby a few houses down from mine has AIDS, and yes there are homeless children in America, but my dinner is getting cold, and I’m going to be late to see the new Tom Cruise movie.”
When I first got here I kept saying to myself: I’m going to build new classrooms! I’m going to get the school new computers! Etc. etc. Yet, I now realize that these material goods are not going to improve the education of the children. The teachers keep telling me these are the reasons their schools aren’t good, because they don’t have things. Yes, I could build them a new staff room, but why? So they have a nice place to run to and spend even less time in the classroom?
My goal now is the encouragement of seeing students as individuals, to decrease the amount of harassment of children and focus on the encouragement of personal growth and success, and to plant a love for learning and improvement because without that these children aren’t getting anywhere.
I still have my personal aims of establishing a library, which I still feel is a good thing. I also know that I want to establish the library soon so I have an entire year to train the teachers to use it so it’s sustainable when I leave. I would cry to know it feel into disrepair and disuse upon my departure.
I’m cynical to my core now but maybe that will make my development projects more viable in the end. Only time will tell. For now I will take pride in very small successes.
posted by Cait at 2:35 PM
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