Mind the Gap (Year): Zomba and Domasi

After my week long stay at Likhubula house in Mulanje I went back to Zomba to stay with Silas at the theological college. The dean of the college, Gertude, had one or two things she needed help with and seemed to think that I could help out with.

What they had me doing was creating an excel worksheet with all the grades from the first semester for all the students. I was the one who decided to do an excel document because they wanted me to do it in Word, but that would have taken much, much longer. Because computers in Malawi are still a relatively new thing, they weren’t computer literate enough to figure compile all the data in a timely and efficient manner.

In total there are about 120 students and each year takes about 5-6 different classes. What I had to do was take all the exam grades and then all of the cumulative averages for semester, then do a weighted average to find the final semester grades.

It wasn’t that difficult, I just had to short through a mountain of paper to find the grades.

It took me about 3 days to do the whole thing. So, by Friday I was completely done. I had planned to stay in Zomba central for a few more days at Silas’ house. We were thinking about going on a safari about 45 minutes away where I could see elephants, hippos and other animals (no rhinos though, those are too rare). However, Silas had to go to a meeting that he didn’t originally plan on attending so I had to go to Domasi school on Friday.

When I got there, there it was the end of the school day. I walked around met some of the teachers and students. Everyone was very friendly and seemed glad enough to see that they had another (white) teacher. Westerns have a reputation for teaching differently making the kids enjoy it a little more.

On Saturday and Sunday I did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. The too other volunteers here were still on holiday in Zambia, so I had the place to myself until they got back. Since there was also no internet and very spotty service I had nothing to do aside read, watch movies or wander. I wandered a little but the sun was really hot so that didn’t last long. On Saturday and Sunday I also kept busy by going to see a soccer game at the local field. I also cooked, which passed some of the time as well.

I know. I live an exciting life right?

The two other volunteers arrived on Sunday. Their names are Olivia and Margo. Olivia is technically from France but lived in England for the past eight years, and Margo is from Australia. I realized pretty quickly that we were going to get along pretty well. Both of them were very easy going and had a good sense of humor. Both of which are necessary when travelling, especially in Africa.

All three of us went to go see the headmaster to see what I would be teaching. He said that I would be filling in for either Olivia or Margo where-ever needed. That wasn’t really going to fly with me. I didn’t want to teach one class a week and do nothing the rest of the time. I came to Africa to do something new that put me outside my comfort zone, and learn from that. With that in mind I went on a search of a class to teach.

I could have taught elementary school but that’s more difficult because their English is pretty terrible. That left me with the opportunity to teach secondary school, which is the equivalent of high school, through that isn’t the case intellectually. In most cases the kids are a few years behind and tend to learn at a slower rate. That’s not always the case though. One of two kids are very bright! Which can be a problem... they ask me tough questions I don’t know always know the answer too.

After some search I found out Mr. Black was looking for someone to take his Form 3 biology class. I accepted the challenge. In form 3 (junior year) there are two classes both containing, wait for it, 70 kids. Yep. I’m teaching over half of my graduating class in just two class rooms.

Monday was a public holiday so no classes. Tuesday I told Mr. Black I’d like to teach his class. Wednesday I observed his class and was introduced. Thursday I would have started to teach but there aren’t any bio classes on Thursday. So finally on Friday I was able to teach for the first time.

When I observed Mr. Black teach, he was just starting the topic of respiration. He taught aerobic respiration. I was going to pick up with anaerobic respiration. The material to teach isn’t terribly difficult; it’s just a matter of reviewing it the night before. For example, during respiration I mention glycolysis but don’t mention the Kreb’s cycle or anything difficult. On Friday I had to teach a double period, which means I had to fill 1 hour and 20 minutes, for both classes. It may seem short but for someone who has never taught before it’s an eternity.

During that time I was able to get done with tissue respiration and also gas exchange in about an hour. For the last 20 minutes I decided to have a competition. Whoaaaa bad idea. I had this picture in my head of what I did in high school. Two teams each with a player at the board trying to write the answer quicker than the person next to them. Wrong. Try two kids up at the CHALK board, no clue of the answer, and 68 other students yelling at them the answer. I’m pretty sure you could hear us all the way at the top of the mountain. At least the kids had a fun time.

That was four days ago. I taught again on Monday again. I find that I get excited about teaching. I enjoy teaching bio because I get to relearn everything in the process of preparing my lesson plans. That surprised me a little. After not having any schooling or homework for close to 11 months I’ve realized how much I miss it and enjoy it. Go figure.

Aside from that I’ve officially been gone a month. It doesn’t nearly feel that long.