The Last Day

27/08/09

Today was my lasy day with the kids and this morning was incredibly special.
We made musical instruments and offered painting and drawing till mid-morning. The irony was that the children involved the instrument making ended up being the messiest of the lot covering the bodies from head to toe with stickers!!!

The teachers sat us all down to thank us for our work and devotion to the project and we received certificates with marks for our teaching. We presented the school with the remaining gifts - the junk we didn't want in our suitcases! Then the party begun.
We had pass the parcel, musical bumps and statues. Awesome fun and the kids were brilliant at it all.
We fed them with fritters, although as usual there was not enough to go round.

Suddenly it was lunch and a case of mass photo taking of every single child before we left.
I realised how little time was left, and felt really emotional especially as Dereck appeared and started singing "Shut the Door". Saying goodbye then seemed so difficult.

Claire and I walked through Mapalo surrounded by our class and picking up more along the way, definitely the Pied Piper of Mapalo. Cries of "Masungu, how are you?!" I'm fine, how are you?!"
I'm sad, I shall never hear those words uttered again :(

The afternoon passed slowly, watching too many aggressive teachers beating small starving children. Giving out food is always an impossible task (I should highlight that Bread of Life were having a big party for all the schools). No wonder they often drop aid from the air!!!
The party would have been so much better on the field at St Pauls.

I had a lot of fun playing with the Bread of Life children and organising mass games of Duck, Goose. Also got to cuddle cute kids. First and Last days, woooo!

Suddenly the bus arrived and we were really saying goodbye. Of all my kids, my slightly blank girl, Virginia started crying first and all the others laughed at her. Royce and Jacklin started crying and I'm so touched to have made such an impact on their lives.

Last Week :(

26/08/09

This was a jam-packed week full of exciting activities and parties for the kids.

I had some amazing lessons planned for the kids, including an English crossword, wordsearches, and my best lesson; The daily routing, where they had to fill in the blanks and draw pictures. They are still rubbish at maths! Oh well, so am I.

They all took part in something called the Mapalo Challenge, which was a quiz between the best students in each schools - we came second! I was so proud of our kids :)

One of the tasks I've been asked to do is nominate some kids for child sponsorship. Its been a really really tough decision and I've still got no idea. I wish I could nominate all of them. Its the hardest thing in the world to do.

"Mapalo's Got Talent"

22/08/09

I just realised I never wrote about the Talent Show.
It was highly entertaining and the teachers and obviously the kids enjoyed themselves so much.

Initially the kids were reluctant to submit themselves to enter, but from a few acts, we had multiple entries of singing, dancing, soccer, acting and poetry.
The dancing was ace (though a bit sexual given the age of the girls).

The teachers had plenty of fun, particularly with the number cards, giving each act a random mark! I'm not sure they got the idea of there being a winning act!

Ooooh! David's offer from Leeds is official.

Today was spent visiting the Copperbelt museum as Ndola is in the province of the Copperbelt so this museum is devoted to the history and culture of this area and particularly the mining aspects. I spent a huge amount of time (and finances!) in the shop and finally found a present for Andy, I'm paranoid that they don't break. aaaah.

I can't believe we're heading into our last week of school next week :(

Results

20/08/09

It has been such a rollercoaster of a day.
It took me an age to get through to my brother and when I did I found him disappointed and moody, mostly with himself for not getting the grades he needed and feeling like he'd let everone down. Mum would be disappointed, Granny would be disappointed etc.
I told him to phone up Leeds telling them how much he still wanted to go there. Apparently loads of people had missed the grades this year and if he was willing to change from deferred to this current year they'd take him.

I'm so pleased for him and so excited that he gets to start uni. I'd love to be in his position all over again. Results day is so exciting when it goes right :)

Progress

15/08/09

What a day! I must start by acknowledging the achievements of Shadrack. This young girl was the bane of my life at the start of teaching as her writing was all over the page and whilst she would try and copy of the other pupils, even that wouldn't make sense as she would only write in Bemba, despite my efforts to write "NO BEMBA" in BOLD LETTERS for them all to see.
Today we witnessed a miracle in her education, she started to write in English, compiling some form of sentences together. I felt a sense of pride in her achievements as I had been able to pass on something to someone so deprived of an education. Incidentally, the task had been to write a story, just to highlight the gap in her knowledge!

The understanding from all the class is questionable, as displayed in my science lesson on excretion, as none of the class could answer the questions correctly, a problem that is based on the fact that their whole curriculum is taught in English, and they have the ability of kids far younger than themselves, yet they are accessing materials designed for their own age. There are so many changes that need to be made! We complain in the UK about our education systems, yet you look at theirs and you realise the uphill struggle that they face.

The afternoon was incredible. We put on a Sports Day, hosting a "Potato and Spoon Race", a sprint, and an obstacle course, which definitely involved extreme creativity. It was a lot of fun and we were able to hand out prizes to the winners! All the kids enjoyed themselves immensely, as did the teachers :)

"RIP Grandpa"

11/08/09

It is really hot today and yet I still have the snivels.
I can't believe today is over already.

I'm writing on my Grandpa's anniversary. I wonder what he'd say if he could see me now; if he could see my mum now, with her gone to Tanzania. Would he be proud? Fearful? He always loved travelling. I remember being devastated that he never got to see David's photos of South Africa, he'd have loved to see them :(
I always remember taking such an interest in his photo slides of mum and Rose when they were young, and even some of their holidays around Europe.

I hate the expression "lost someone". I think that there is the potential to find them again and with death one knows that is not the case. When you "lose someone" you think, well "how careless of you", never mind, they'll turn up. But in death this doesn't happen, does it?

Oh yes, I believe and pray that my Grandpa is safe with God in heaven and that I'll find him when I reach there, but we are talking now. You are losing a loved one who you can' t replace.

I miss the complete family. Christmas used to be normal. We went to Granny and Grandpa's house on Boxing Day. We opened presents on Boxing Day. There was no fuss about who was where on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, the whole family were united.

This coming year David may not even be home for Christmas. :( I hate change so much. I couldn't bare to leave the junior choir and leaving NCO was impossible.

God bless you Grandpa, RIP.