UPDATE: Kongei Primary Teacher Housing Project
Part I
February/March 09
Kongei Primary School is my favorite place to go. Walking up the long hill to the first terrace, on the right is the outdoor kitchen with two or three huge pots cooking on tripod stones with wood fires – when there is food available to cook. Beyond the kitchen is the school garden that we made together last September which has expanded to 12 long matutas 1 meter by 6 meters.
Then, walking up to the second terrace, I can hear the lower grades reciting numbers , letters or vowels, or singing songs to assist the memory of some concept or pronunciation of new words. “Simama kaa, simama kaa. Ruka ruka ruka, simama kaa.” (Stand and sit, stand and sit, jump jump jump, stand and sit).
I enter the 1st grade class and the students stand proudly to say their school motto and speak one of the first English phrases they have learned, “Good morning Madame. How are you?” Every time I visit, we do something together. One day I explained where in the world I come from, using the cover of a pencil box with a world map drawn.
Yesterday, I came ready to teach them “Head, shoulders, knees and toes.” Their teacher, Sr. Alma had learned it the week before from me and asked me to come teach her class. The students’ favorite thing was when Sr. Alma tried to sing it alone after they had tried. When she made a mistake, all of us laughed together. This kind of excitement for learning and the appreciation of making mistakes is a breath of fresh air after working all week at the secondary school where the relationship between students and teachers is often more formal and for many teachers, distant.
For John and me, the students are free to be more casual. We are visitors to their culture. Both the secondary and primary students touch my hair, pinch my skin and run their hands up and down my arms to feel the tiny hairs - much like a baby exploring a new person when held while drinking their bottle. I might be focused on teaching one student when I realize another little hand touching my hair from behind or pinching the soft skin hanging from my upper arms.
Finally, I walk up to the third terrace where the upper grades and the Headmistress’s office are contained. The students look too big for the desks as they are scrunched into the small space between bench and desk top. Standard 7 students are 13-15 years old and emotionally ready to go off on their own. Most will not go on to secondary school because of the cost of school fees, but instead work on their own fields, get married, and start a family.
One Friday morning, I walked to the primary school to take pictures of community members (parents of students) digging the foundation for the new house for teachers. The lumber, cement, iron sheets for the roof and other hardware supplies were delivered by lorry and stacked by students in the store and the back of classrooms. The stones were quarried and carried by community women to the site. The bricks have been molded in a nearby village home, carried to the school and fired. One morning I had the privilege of watching a man build the line of fires inside the stacked bricks (a kiln made of the bricks to be fired) and then, find him in the evening stoking the fires where he remained all night. The following morning, the cracks between the bricks were chinked and smoke billowed from all sides as the bricks cooled.
I was told the master builder arrived last week, inspected the leveled site and gave instructions for where to dig the foundation trenches. Rueben Masenga, second headmaster, was wearing his gum boots and looking more serious than normal. He told me he has to be there to be sure the workers follow the directions correctly. He also mentioned that the rains have come, and heavy rains can stop work for a day or more. The excitement of receiving the funding for the housing has taken second chair to the worries of building a strong structure and managing on a schedule determined as much by the rains as the workers.
Part II
April 09
On April 4th I was invited to a School Community Committee meeting at Kongei Primary School. This meeting’s agenda included a report of progress on the teacher housing project and a request to consider applying for an environmental Peace Corps Volunteer for next year. Four people from Kongei Primary school including Headmistress, Sr. Shirima, Second Head, Rueben Masenga, and two classroom teachers spoke to the community chairperson, and two community representatives about the housing project’s progress.
· The master builder and his son (also an experienced builder) have worked with the community workers to level the site and lay the foundation. The master builder’s son will take over as the master builder to complete the housing.
· The foundation is completed and the walls are almost completed as of April 4th. The rainy season rains have been late, and this has helped the good progress (the garden has suffered a bit). It is anticipated that the roof rafters will be placed next week followed by iron roofing sheets.
· There were enough bricks provided by the community to allow the builders to make the rooms bigger than originally planned!
· There are not enough stones and sand to complete both septic tanks (one for the new housing and one for the older housing) so the additional stones and sand needed were purchased with part of the donation from Grace University Lutheran Church. The community leaders agreed to bring community women to carry the stones and sand to the building site.
· The older housing unit needs interior ceiling boards installed before the cold season arrives. The community has agreed to find a way to complete this. The funds needed are not yet available but will come from the school community. The school wants to preserve the remaining funds from Grace to assure the completion of the new housing and 2 septic tanks needed.
The Kongei Primary School Community welcomes you for tea and to see their school, the new teacher housing and the garden for yourselves.
The school community is very excited to be working together with their USA partners and so relieved that the rains have waited, allowing them to anticipate completing the new teacher housing on schedule.
I have pictures of the building progress and the gardens. These will be added to my Goggle PICASSO site when I go to Dar later this month where there is high speed internet available.
Thank you from our heats. Happy Easter. Peace
Randee
Part I
February/March 09
Kongei Primary School is my favorite place to go. Walking up the long hill to the first terrace, on the right is the outdoor kitchen with two or three huge pots cooking on tripod stones with wood fires – when there is food available to cook. Beyond the kitchen is the school garden that we made together last September which has expanded to 12 long matutas 1 meter by 6 meters.
Then, walking up to the second terrace, I can hear the lower grades reciting numbers , letters or vowels, or singing songs to assist the memory of some concept or pronunciation of new words. “Simama kaa, simama kaa. Ruka ruka ruka, simama kaa.” (Stand and sit, stand and sit, jump jump jump, stand and sit).
I enter the 1st grade class and the students stand proudly to say their school motto and speak one of the first English phrases they have learned, “Good morning Madame. How are you?” Every time I visit, we do something together. One day I explained where in the world I come from, using the cover of a pencil box with a world map drawn.
Yesterday, I came ready to teach them “Head, shoulders, knees and toes.” Their teacher, Sr. Alma had learned it the week before from me and asked me to come teach her class. The students’ favorite thing was when Sr. Alma tried to sing it alone after they had tried. When she made a mistake, all of us laughed together. This kind of excitement for learning and the appreciation of making mistakes is a breath of fresh air after working all week at the secondary school where the relationship between students and teachers is often more formal and for many teachers, distant.
For John and me, the students are free to be more casual. We are visitors to their culture. Both the secondary and primary students touch my hair, pinch my skin and run their hands up and down my arms to feel the tiny hairs - much like a baby exploring a new person when held while drinking their bottle. I might be focused on teaching one student when I realize another little hand touching my hair from behind or pinching the soft skin hanging from my upper arms.
Finally, I walk up to the third terrace where the upper grades and the Headmistress’s office are contained. The students look too big for the desks as they are scrunched into the small space between bench and desk top. Standard 7 students are 13-15 years old and emotionally ready to go off on their own. Most will not go on to secondary school because of the cost of school fees, but instead work on their own fields, get married, and start a family.
One Friday morning, I walked to the primary school to take pictures of community members (parents of students) digging the foundation for the new house for teachers. The lumber, cement, iron sheets for the roof and other hardware supplies were delivered by lorry and stacked by students in the store and the back of classrooms. The stones were quarried and carried by community women to the site. The bricks have been molded in a nearby village home, carried to the school and fired. One morning I had the privilege of watching a man build the line of fires inside the stacked bricks (a kiln made of the bricks to be fired) and then, find him in the evening stoking the fires where he remained all night. The following morning, the cracks between the bricks were chinked and smoke billowed from all sides as the bricks cooled.
I was told the master builder arrived last week, inspected the leveled site and gave instructions for where to dig the foundation trenches. Rueben Masenga, second headmaster, was wearing his gum boots and looking more serious than normal. He told me he has to be there to be sure the workers follow the directions correctly. He also mentioned that the rains have come, and heavy rains can stop work for a day or more. The excitement of receiving the funding for the housing has taken second chair to the worries of building a strong structure and managing on a schedule determined as much by the rains as the workers.
Part II
April 09
On April 4th I was invited to a School Community Committee meeting at Kongei Primary School. This meeting’s agenda included a report of progress on the teacher housing project and a request to consider applying for an environmental Peace Corps Volunteer for next year. Four people from Kongei Primary school including Headmistress, Sr. Shirima, Second Head, Rueben Masenga, and two classroom teachers spoke to the community chairperson, and two community representatives about the housing project’s progress.
· The master builder and his son (also an experienced builder) have worked with the community workers to level the site and lay the foundation. The master builder’s son will take over as the master builder to complete the housing.
· The foundation is completed and the walls are almost completed as of April 4th. The rainy season rains have been late, and this has helped the good progress (the garden has suffered a bit). It is anticipated that the roof rafters will be placed next week followed by iron roofing sheets.
· There were enough bricks provided by the community to allow the builders to make the rooms bigger than originally planned!
· There are not enough stones and sand to complete both septic tanks (one for the new housing and one for the older housing) so the additional stones and sand needed were purchased with part of the donation from Grace University Lutheran Church. The community leaders agreed to bring community women to carry the stones and sand to the building site.
· The older housing unit needs interior ceiling boards installed before the cold season arrives. The community has agreed to find a way to complete this. The funds needed are not yet available but will come from the school community. The school wants to preserve the remaining funds from Grace to assure the completion of the new housing and 2 septic tanks needed.
The Kongei Primary School Community welcomes you for tea and to see their school, the new teacher housing and the garden for yourselves.
The school community is very excited to be working together with their USA partners and so relieved that the rains have waited, allowing them to anticipate completing the new teacher housing on schedule.
I have pictures of the building progress and the gardens. These will be added to my Goggle PICASSO site when I go to Dar later this month where there is high speed internet available.
Thank you from our heats. Happy Easter. Peace
Randee
No comments:
Post a Comment