Off to School. . .

Mon-Wed we spent at a very poor rural primary school. During our time there, we intended to do a few things, including:

· Help build a VERY large water holding tank for the school, out of concrete and bricks

· Get to know the principle and some of the teachers better, building on interactions from previous Cool River visits

· Share some fun with the kids

· Go fishing (well, that one was uniquely Chuck ;-)

So here we go!

The first day when we arrived we met with the vice-principle for tea, because the principle was at an all-day meeting offsite. She was so warm and welcoming, and after tea we got a tour of the school. We saw where the boarding students sleep, 3 per twin bunk, and where the meals are cooked over a wood burning grate. We heard about their vision to expand the dining room (currently only about half of the school’s 120 students fit in the room), and add more boarding space to more comfortably accommodate the kiddos who stay during the week. We learned that they’d prefer students to board at the school M-F, because the students who sleep at home often miss school due to rain (the walk is over an hour each way) or if their parents want their help working at home.

After the tour, we got to work!! Lots of mixing sand/concrete, shoveling concrete and carrying pails of it to use for the tank base/bricklaying, and carrying bricks right to the2 bricklayers so they could more efficiently complete the thick walls of the tank. Holly and Jen both attempted bricklaying, but got “fired” quickly – Jen for lack of speed in the task and Holly for something we’re still not sure we can identify. So materials prep and handling seemed to be where our value lay. The work was hard but fun, and we all worked up quite a sweat in the humidity, except Chuck who didn’t sweat a bit! Ha!

After about an hour we heard Euro techno music start blasting over a loudspeaker, at which point all the kids rushed out of the classrooms into the main courtyard, where they began dancing choreographed routines with a drill-sargeant-esque teacher leading them from the front. We jumped in to dance with them, bring many giggles and stares from the kids - who were those giant sweaty creatures with curly hair and WHERE did they come from?!? These kids come from families so poor that they have one outfit, only rice to eat, no TVs, phones, or computers, so they rarely if ever have seen tall western-looking people…we were quite the novelty.

After dancing, back to work!! We worked some more, then went to a little outdoor café for lunch, then back to work. It was a long, fun, and tiring day. Tuesday was similar with a little less work but more play (including leading them in silly kids songs – Jen drew the short straw on that one), and we had ample time to talk at length with the school principle and a couple other teachers. We were all thrilled to be learning about each others’ day to day lives, and cultural/professional challenges. We learned of their struggles teaching at such a poor school, and their dreams for improving it. In one instance they shared that although school started two months ago, none of the expected government funds to cover costs had yet arrived. They were so grateful for us coming and funding this water tank for them. The pictures we had brought them on Monday taken on previous trips (thanks Angela!) were posted on their board and the principle got tears in her eyes as she thanked us for the pictures, and our support of the school.

Oh, and Chuck finally did get to use that fishing rod he carted from Colorado. Sadly he’d left his flies at home, but the schoolchildren dug some worms and Chuck had captured 2 frogs, and so on one of our breaks we hiked down to the river behind the school to watch him try his hand at fly fishing, “worm-style”!

Jen