Yes, we have arrived and are ALIVE!

‘Kushe’ or ‘Hello’ from Kabala, Sierra Leone!

                We would have loved to have communicated with you all sooner, but when we arrived to our house, a conference for the Sierra Leone CRC churches was happening on the same grounds where we are staying and the meetings continued all week. Therefore, we were unable to access the internet. However, we are also noticing that even without a conference it is VERY difficult to get internet access. We apologize for not getting to you sooner!

We arrived safe and sound in Kabala late Tuesday afternoon. Our flight went well but it was really long and we stayed in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, for the night. Tuesday morning we went to the very busy market in Freetown and then headed out on our six hour drive to Kabala. It was a worthwhile drive though. This town is filled with such friendly people, the culture is remarkable, the place where we are staying has a great view of beautiful Kabala and we get to hear African music every night!

On Wednesday we met with the headmaster of Kabala CRC Primary School and one of the ministers to discuss our schedules for the first couple of days.  In the afternoon, we went on a tour of Kabala and roamed the local markets (all packed with people, but the butcher market in particular had a strong stench of fish), as well as places to buy African cloth, CDs, utensils, flip flops...etc. As part of our tour we visited five different schools including our host school (Kabala CRC Primary School).

Thursday morning we met with the Minister of Education for a quick meeting before heading off to the CRC Primary School for a staff meeting.  This staff meeting was the second official meeting of the year and lasted for about three hours without any breaks.  We found it to be very comparable to the staff meetings had in Canada including the topics discussed.  That afternoon we just came home, relaxed on our veranda in the shade and played some UNO with the children living down the hill from us. 

Friday was spent at the CRC Primary School.  When we arrived the children all neatly dressed in their pink and navy blue uniforms came running towards the vehicle to greet us.  As we were meeting the children and waiting for the school day to begin, we played a few rounds of “stella stella ola”.  We were introduced to the students by the headmaster, and observed their morning routine which included lots of singing and dancing! The school is beginning their spring break so we also observed them getting their report cards marking the end of the third term.  Part of the report card process includes teachers meeting with parents all together in a large room which we also had the privilege to be a part of. In the afternoon/evening we came home and relaxed.

Saturday morning we slept in a little and then after breakfast headed out again, but this time by foot to the market with two new friends.  One of our friends had connections to a local salon where we both got “plants” meaning our hair braided.  We are starting to feel and look more African and the locals love it.  We are also picking up on Krio and Kuranko phrases (two main tribal languages) which have been taught to us by a friend and it’s been neat to be able to communicate a little with those we meet.  

Sunday morning we took an ‘okada’ (motorbike taxi!) to church, it was awesome. We then experienced African worship- incredible!  The people here certainly know how to dance and sing! After church we went into town, waiting patiently while a couple of our friends got their hair planted. While waiting, we witnessed a funeral and wedding procession- what a contrast! For the funeral, those that were grieving walked the street, while all bystanders stood in respect. The wedding parade was similar to back at home, in terms of honking vehicles and the bride dressed in white, but was different in the way that every woman, minus bridesmaids, who attended that wedding wore outfits made out of the SAME cloth- not something we require of our guests!  After a few hours, we left the market area to relax at home.

Monday was our first day at our schools! We went to both schools and met both the headmasters and then Megan was left at her school, Missionary School of Africa- primary division, and Jan was dropped off at her school, Roman Catholic Primary School. We spent a couple hours in our classroom observing our teachers and students. One big difference we both noticed (and do not like) was the use of corporal punishment. We also both experienced a mob of kids once our teachers left us. We attempted to take some pictures, but it resulted in a mad crowd of students pushing and punching each other- yikes!

On Tuesday we spent about three hours in our classrooms. Megan sat in on math, language arts and physical health education lessons and noticed that everything was done by rote memorization. The teacher stated the same phrase ten times and then had the class repeat him. Then, for variation, got a student to go to the board to point at the words and have the class repeat him another ten times...not exactly the way we were taught, eh, education students! Janis saw a math lesson and then was asked to be part of the sports committee, which took up the majority of her day. Her class was lacking in extra materials, so the lesson was taught with tomato cans and sticks, and many of her students were without pencils and paper.  Often the lack of materials is used as an excuse for weak teaching and learning, but there are many other things that teachers could do to make students learn much better!

                In the morning at the MCA where Megan is teaching, her class started out with about 30 students and the number drastically dropped over the course of the morning (there are supposed to be 54 students in the class). By lunch hour, there were just over a dozen students in attendance but the teacher continued on with his lessons for the day. By talking to others, we concluded that since the two week holiday is coming up, students as well as some teachers are getting into an early holiday mood.  Megan was however asked to prepare her first literacy lesson for the next day (Thursday)! At the RC school where Janis is placed, she attended a sports committee meeting immediately when she arrived at school.  The meeting was about raising funds to cover the cost of the upcoming sports day. Once the meeting with the headmasters were over, Janis was asked to help delegate and sort students into different “houses” (teams) for the sports day. Four students were asked at a time to approach Janis and then select one bottle cap to determine which house they would belong to (i.e. P = Pink House, R = Red House, B= Blue House and W = White House).  Janis with help from other teachers directed pupils to the correct table where their names were recorded on a master list.  The process was very slow and time consuming – each class (grade) went at a time.  Once the students signed up they were sent back to class.  However, of the major observations we had during this whole process was that all other classes were not in session, so children were busy running in and out of classes and playing with each other while other teachers were socializing with one another in the shade.  At noon, went back home, at some lunch and then a friend took us to a nearby football field to teach us how to drive a motorcycle! We were both really excited and ended up driving it by ourselves, making laps around the field.  In the evening relaxed, and experienced an African thunderstorm – needless to say it poured, but did stop after a short while. 

                Today we both were at the schools early enough to experience the morning routines of announcements, singing and dancing.  Megan also experienced teaching her very first lesson.  It went well, being the first time teaching over twenty-five students.  After the morning break her teacher mentioned that he had a “short” meeting and left the class – Megan never saw him again and the student attendance slowly dropped as it did yesterday.  After the morning routine Janis went to her classroom, but the teacher never showed up. The class list has 95 students registered, but only 60 students came to school today.  After debating on what to do as there has not yet been a formal conversation on what is being taught currently, Janis decided to test the children on their alphabet skills (letter recognition).  She taught them up to the letter “Gg” until the classroom teacher came in and told her to continue.  A few minutes later Janis was left alone again and the classroom teacher never came in again.  Janis was successful in teaching the children to recognize their letters up to “Nn” until she was asked follow the sport committee coordinator out of the classroom in mid lesson – leaving the children behind in the classroom again with no one to teach them.  Janis was lead into another classroom where some members of the sports committee was organizing a football game between class 5 and class 6 (grade 5 and grade 6).  Janis sorted and handed out jerseys, shorts and football socks to students.  The whole school was invited to watch the match and everyone sat in the shade under the mango trees to enjoy the football match.  The girls played first, followed by the boys.  Whenever a goal was scored the children erupted in cheer, clapping for the student athletes.  After school, we wanted to test out our bikes and ride them through the streets of Kabala, but the back tire on the one is busted so we’ll just need to wait a little while longer until they are fixed. We went to a friend’s house for a visit and then stopped at the market to pick up a few items for dinner (we tried carrying heavy items on our heads like the Africans do!).  Tonight we hope to lesson plan a little more and relax.    

In addition, we have eaten a variety of African foods (some better tasting than others  J ), met so many new people, and feel very welcomed to this new place. We both find the people here to be outstanding: very friendly and eager to talk to you.  We trust you are doing well and we hope we can update you again sooner than later – we go si back (goodbye/see you later)!