No one ever enjoys being sick. It is even worse when you’re in a foreign country and without your mother’s ‘cure all’ remedy of ginger ale & orange juice. Am I being melodramatic? Maybe a little. J It’s just no fun being sick & I think everyone can relate to the fact that moms always make it better. I’ve really only got a small cough & stuffy nose, not really anything to worry about; more of an annoyance than a problem. I am hoping this is the only time & the worst of any illness while here in Malawi because I do not want to lose anytime to experience all that I can of Malawi.

That’s more than enough about me, I know what you really want to hear about are the kids… they are wonderful! Now, I don’t want you to get the idea that they are always well-behaved & listen to us & are better than American students, because that is not exactly the case. Yes, they act up in class, they fight with & pick on each other, they have their secret notes that they pass back & forth in class, etc. But, at the end of the day, they smile and wave, saying ‘See you tomorrow, Teacher!’ and your heart melts for them.

So many blessings from these children – I don’t know where to begin. I guess I’ll just tell you about them & then you’ll know for yourself. I am mainly working in the Standard 5 classroom. The children are mostly 8-9 years old, with a few 10 & 11 year olds in the class. Oh yeah, there are 57 of them in the classroom. J I’ll try to post a picture of them when I get a chance. It is a small room, only 3 rows of desks, 6 desks deep. Those of you quick with your math will realize that is only 18 desks. There are 3 children per desk (some have 4). The teachers make seating charts based on the assessment tests that the children take – the top 3 students receive their own desk & are the leaders for the class. They will get the learner books for the teacher, erase the chalkboard and do other tasks as asked by the teacher throughout the day.

The structure of the school day for Standards 4-6:

Children begin arriving as earlier as 6:30am, but school begins at 7:30. On Monday & Friday, all the students gather for an assembly – usually outside if the weather permits – at 7:15. They pray together, listen to announcements from the teacher, sing the Malawi National Anthem, recite a school chant & then go to class. Each Standard has Math (they call it Maths) & English first; each taking about an hour. Then, they have a break. All the teachers go into the lobby area of the church hall and have tea (with lots of sugar) & bread while the children go out to the ground to play. This is only supposed to be about 20 minutes, but often goes a little longer. After break, each class has one or 2 more subjects before lunch at noon. They break for about an hour for lunch & recess, then begin again in the classroom around 1pm. After lunch, they normally have 2 or 3 subjects and then they are dismissed at 2:45. On Fridays, they usually have revision or assessment tests before break, one subject after break and then sports from 11-12. They are dismissed at 12 for the day.

The children in Nursery, Reception and Standards 1-3 are done every day at 12. Some of them who have older siblings in the higher Standards usually just play around the school grounds until it is time for them all to go home.

The students in Standard 7 follow a similar schedule to that of 4-6, except they are not dismissed until 4:00 every day (including Friday) and they have to come from 8-12 on Saturdays as well. The reason they have to stay so much longer in Standard 7 is because they have to cover the curriculum for Standards 7 & 8 which are separate classes in government schools. At the end of Standard 7, the learners (that’s what they call the students here) sit for the exams & if they pass they have the opportunity to be selected to study at secondary school. Unlike the US, the progression from primary to secondary school doesn’t just happen – they must pass their primary exams to even be considered for secondary school. Then, if they are not chosen or selected by a private secondary school, they can try to go to a government secondary school.

I have started teaching English class this week for Standard 5, and I have also helped with some Life Skills & Bible Knowledge classes. When I am teaching their English class, I am not teaching them how to speak English, but more of a grammar class. They know how to speak English, though there are still barriers to our ability to communicate clearly, and are taught English in school beginning with Reception (at least in the private schools).

As we get back into a routine with our classes, Kayla and I plan to work with our teachers in reaching those who need extra help, especially in English & Math classes. We know that it can be difficult with only 20 students in a room to make sure they all understand a concept; with 57, it is very easy for quite a few of them to fall behind. Now that there are 2 teachers in the classroom, we are hoping that we can split the kids up and give the attention to those who need more help.

Here are some things that you can be in prayer for us – these may be genera for our time here, but some are specific to Kayla, I or our friends & family here in Malawi:
-       Dorothy is the woman who works at Young Ambassadors Primary School. When we are here, she is our cook & she cleans for us. She is also our unofficial interpreter. J Kayla & I ask her how to say things in Chichewa all the time. We know that she enjoys working here (because she tells us so) and we are very glad to have her as our Malawian mom while we’re away from home. It is difficult, though, because Dorothy doesn’t make a lot of money and she can see us with all of our things and knows that we have more than she does. Dorothy is smart and she knows that we do not have a lot (and she understands when we tell her we are not rich), but she also knows that we have been able to share a little with her before. Dorothy has 3 children, a house and no husband to help her take care of either one of them. She knows that God is and does look after her to help her provide for them each day. Unfortunately, sometimes I think that to Dorothy we are the answer to her prayers; she will tell us about needing to repair her house and that food is getting more expensive, not asking outright for money, but I think hoping a little that we will give her money. Kayla and I know these requests to be sincere, and we can only imagine how hard it is to see others with so much & wonder why they cannot share, but we also know we must not give in. We made the mistake last summer of giving to quickly – even though it wasn’t much to us in the long run, it made us seem as if we could give like that again. Last summer was an adventure, and we did not mind sharing a little of what we could when we were able. This time, though, we are working/volunteering and we know better how to budget our money so we are not wasteful with our spending. It is a struggle for both Kayla & I to reconcile our desire to help wherever we can with others’ perceptions that we are rich, white Americans with lots of money. Yes, compared to many of those around us, we have money; but, we also know that when we return to America, we will have less money because we haven’t been getting paid for 5 months. It is easy for us to tell ourselves this & we know it in our heads, but our hearts break a little more each time Dorothy tells us about her children or how expensive transport is. If she were to take a minibus to & from work every day, it would cost her over half of her monthly salary – not something she can afford as she is the only provider for her children.

-       Please also pray for the school and the relationship that Kayla & I hope to build with the teachers. We have lots of ideas and ways that we feel we could best benefit the children while we are here, but it is not always easy to communicate with the teachers. I think I was overly excited before we started teaching this week about all we could do – I forgot I’m on Malawi time and it is going to be a process. As long as Kayla & I stand firm in what we hope to accomplish and keep telling them where & how we would like to help, we will begin to understand one another. I just have to remember that we have time – it is not like last summer when we had just gotten started & had to leave. By the time we leave in February, Kayla & I hope to have shown the teachers how to work cooperatively in a classroom with one another, not just letting us take over lessons & share the teaching load.

-       Next week, Oct. 8^th, we will be commissioning a congregation in one of the local villages. Pastor Fadrick has mentioned multiple times that the roads to the villages are very bad – that’s part of the reason we didn’t go to any villages on our last visit. Kayla & I have told him that we don’t mind and that we are very excited to not only be part of this commissioning, but also to visit one of the villages. I know that we have been spoiled in all that has been provided for us here in Blantyre and I can only imagine what we will see next week in the village.

School is done at lunch time on Fridays and Kayla & I have enjoyed our time at our home this afternoon. We had our first Malawi ‘spring rain’ just a little bit ago. The smell of rain is one of my favorite smells – though it had a distinct Malawian smell to it, this shower had a wonderful ‘rain smell’ & is a reminder that we are not so different no matter where we come from.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. If you ever have questions or thoughts you would like to share, please don’t hesitate to comment & I will reply as I am able.

 
Carrie J