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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The Final Finals

Two and a half weeks left; and only 7 of those days are with my kids. That's all that's been on my mind lately; how soon my departure is. While it's half exciting, it's also half sad and maybe a little bit scary (if I'm going to be completely honest).

As it turns out, I wasn't able to get into graduate school for this fall. Apparently, it was a very competitive year, but I was given very good feedback from a couple of universities that told me I should try again next year. So, I'm going to try and take some prerequisite courses this fall and spring which might help my application even more for next year. Thus, the future is a little uncertain at this time, but I just have to put my faith in God and I know that all things will work out.

As for life here in Tanzania, this week has been mid-year finals week. Exam week always feels like a big black hole and I personally don't care so much for it. The students just take exams all day and it can be pretty boring for me as a teacher. Because Class VII doesn't take the monthly exams, I only have two sets of papers to grade throughout the week (Classes V and VI English) and each day I'm only scheduled to give one or two tests the whole day. Thus I've been reading a lot and hanging out with the kids when they finish their tests and are allowed to go outside. Also, I've been giving the Class VII students a LOT of work to do throughout the day since no teachers go in to teach them while the others are doing exams. It keeps them quiet for a while and reassures me that they're learning something.

Today was the last day of exams (praise Jesus). For the next two days Class VII will be taking a mock examination to prepare for the exams in September and I'll be doing test corrections with Classes V and VI. Then, next week is the last week before the mid-year break. Usually, breaks are good and I look forward to them. In fact I know that it's just about time for a break now because it's been taking me 20 minutes to wake up to my alarm lately. But, it hasn't quite hit me that this is the end. Up to this point during my time here, we've had several breaks; we go and we all come back again. The difference now is that after this break, the students will return to school and I will not. So next week is it; the end. I'm slightly torn between wanting to continue teaching up to the end and just letting them watch movies or something like that. I mean, we've already had the exams and they're going to go on break for a month, so what's the point of teaching something new? But, at the same time, this is my last chance to pour out any last bit of information into their brains. I already know that Friday is going to be the "farewell party". Maybe I'll teach until Wednesday and have some movie time on Thursday? We'll see how it goes.

As for myself, I'm going to be traveling to DAR this weekend to see friends and say a final goodbye. Also, we have a mission team from Oklahoma that will be arriving mid-week next week, so that will be exciting to meet them. They will be here up until about the time that I begin my journey back to the states via Kenya and Czech Republic. (On my way home I'm going to be visiting some missionary friends that I met through my training to come here. I'm really excited to see where they are living and what kinds of things they have been doing!)

Well, I guess that's the update for now. I hope that you're having fantastic week so far!!

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine





Sunday, May 19, 2013

A Teacher is...

So this week, nothing particularly exciting or amazing or wonderful happened. It was just an average week at school, teaching and sharing with my kids. Soooo...I tried to think of what to write about and this is what I came up with! Enjoy!! :D

When I was in my undergraduate classes, we talked about what/who a teacher is. We discussed how teachers spend a huge chunk of the day with their students; and sometimes the students spend more time with their teachers than their actual parents. So, what does this mean for teachers? It means, that a teacher takes on many roles. A teacher is not just a teacher, but a friend, a counselor, a mother/father figure, a confidant, and so much more. And, just because you living in a foreign country does not change this fact. Somehow, over the past year, I have managed to embrace all of these roles in some form or fashion. When I'm in the class, I am "Madam" and I do my best to maintain control while allowing the students to have some fun and laugh a little. Outside of class, we talk, make jokes, and tell stories. The students are always coming up to my desk during break time to hang out with me. Many students, especially in Class VII, have been coming to me with questions about English and Math. A few students have opened up to me about personal problems they're experiencing and I've been blessed to be there for them (it is a very rare thing here for people to express their real emotions). Yeah, we've had a good run together and it's going to be really hard to leave them all so soon.

Just this week, one student was asking me what day I was leaving and another student who standing nearby said "She's not leaving. Nope!" When students make comments like that and "Please don't go madam!!" it makes me want to start crying because I realize how much of an impact I've had on their little lives. It's in those moments I realize that I have succeeded as a teacher, in all of these aspects.

I knew, when coming here, that I wouldn't be able to change the whole world. It's just a bit to big for me. ;) But, I hoped that God would move through my life to change the lives of the people I met here in Morogoro. I'm so blessed that He has allowed me to have such a powerful experience with memories to last a lifetime, and also because I'll be leaving a small mark here that I hope will last beyond my own impending departure.

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine


Haha, sorry for all the repeat photos! I've got to get some more recent ones at school this week and in the last two after that! ;)







Sunday, May 12, 2013

Sick of Saying Goodbye

I'm going to try and make a quick update. However, if you go by my previous history in writing blogs, short is not exactly in my writing vocabulary. ;)

On Sunday, for our usual prayer service, our group of missionaries and I had a special goodbye party for three groups/families that were to leave this week. One family has now moved back to the states for good. One family is going home of furlough and will be back after a number of months, and one group is moving to DAR to begin work on a ministry there. We all sang worship songs together and a message was given. Then, we shared a meal of Mexican food and talked a lot. It was a great time of celebration of Jesus' sacrifice and how that has allowed them to be here in Tanazania and how God has done so many great works through them. Though we will miss them, we know that they're all in God's hands and that He will continue to do great things in their lives.




The other big news from the week is that I got a very bad case of a cold or the flu on Wednesday  I managed to teach most of my classes in the morning, but had to go home in the afternoon and was stuck in bed with a very high fever. I continued to be sick on Thursday and Friday, but I still managed to teach all of my classes, even though I went home early each day because I was so exhausted. I'm doing much better now and am praising God that I brought some cold/flu medications with me from the states. By Saturday, I was feeling much better and even managed to play frisbee with the other missionaries. And, today I'm feeling pretty much back to normal (maybe just a little bit tired). 


The students at school are continuing well. Classes V and VI are doing reading units and Class VII is in full swing test preparation mode. I'm really enjoying the reading unit that we're doing in Classes V and VI. I hope that it's not just challenging the kids in English, but in other areas of their lives as well. I started with shorter books like Little Red Riding Hood, Madeline, and Peter Rabbit. All classic stories with easy plots and I wanted a variety of stories that I hoped kids could relate to. 

It was hard to choose a longer, chapter book that I thought would be interesting and relatable for the students. Although we have many books, a lot of them are written from such a western mindset that it's hard for the students to relate to them. Of course it's still good exposure for them to read those things, but I wanted to choose a book that we could do a lot with. After much consideration, I chose a book about the Holocaust called Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. I guess it does seem like a strange topic to teach students in Africa, but there are a lot of very relevant aspects. First of all, the book is historical, so it's easy to teach "this is what happened" and give more background and understanding. Also, I thought they could relate to things like power outages and food shortages. And it's not about America. The kids hear, talk about, read about, think about, etc. America so much. Everyone in Tanzania wants to go to America because it's the place where "all your dreams will come true for FREE!" I want the kids to learn some things about other places in the world too!

But, the biggest thing I want them to get out of this, though, are the great lessons that can be learned from what happened as a result of hatred and those which are the results of love in this story. The main character of the story, Annemarie, and her Christian family go out of their way to protect their Jewish friends from the violence of the German soldiers. I want my students to learn from their actions of bravery and courage. I want them to realize that she was only just their age and that they also have some power. Things between Muslims and Christians hang on a thin line sometimes. Even since I have been here there have been multiple incidents of violence between the two groups (none of them in Morogoro, thankfully). Most recently, as in within the past week, there was a bombing of a Catholic church in Arusha. I want my students to consider the things that have happened in the past as a result of hatred so that they can learn from the mistakes of others. I want them to consider how they can try and live in peace with each other and help each other in the future instead of taking part in the violence. I want them to consider Annemarie's actions of love and bravery and strive to be like her if and when things get tough. I want this to be my final challenge before I go. 

Here are some pictures of the reading unit!

Drawing pictures of Madeline.



Break Time!! (And the students are still reading) :D


That's all for now! Hope it wasn't too long! ;)

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine

Monday, May 6, 2013

What is Poverty?

Living in a place where there is poverty all around me, and where I am basically living as the people are living, has caused me to question what exactly is poverty? From a western mind-set, poverty is a lack of material goods. And while this is true, that is only the tip of the iceberg. I've talked to people here and I've discussed the issue with other missionaries and this is what I've come up with.

Poverty is a lack of material goods. Poverty means not eating some days of the week for lack of funds. It means that parents can't send their children to school, or buy new clothes for them when they outgrow their old ones. It means that some people walk many miles every day to get water for their families. It means that people die from preventable diseases because they can't afford the medicines needed to cure it. To me, I would call these the external poverties.

But I think that the thing which harms people even more than these external poverties is something I'll refer to as the "poverty of the mind" that plagues people in underdeveloped countries. This is a mindset of poverty; a feeling that you have no power to do anything that can change how things are. People see problems and they don't do anything about it. Instead, they blame the government for their problems, and they say that the government should do more. Many people can see that the government is corrupt, but people here don't vote; especially not young people. Even if they don't like the government, they don't vote because they don't think that their vote will count for anything. Or, they think that even if they do vote, corrupt people will just change the situation. So the problem gets worse because no is doing anything to change the government or the problems that they see.

From what I can tell, all of this comes down to one thing: people don't feel like they have the power to change anything because their own situations are so desperate. People feel like they don't have the resources to bring about change and a better way of life, so they just don't do anything and accept the way things are. Or, worse, they just wait until someone comes in and "saves the day" by fixing the problem for them. And yes, by others coming in to help, it seems to be fixing the problem, but really it's like putting a bandage over a wound and not actually treating the infection that is raging inside. People are afraid to try and do something for themselves and they just wait until someone does it for them.

Sometimes I see this in class. There are certain students who always call me over saying "Madam I don't understand!" even after I've just explained how to do it and given examples. I try to refer them back to the examples and guide them through another one to make sure they're on track. But, I refuse to just give up the answers. I want them to do their own work. I want them to feel proud of themselves for accomplishing something. I don't want my students to feel like they can't do anything. I don't want them to think that they don't have any power to change the world around themselves. I want them to see that they are intelligent and that they have good ideas. I've done some journals with them concerning changing the world and things they can do to change what they see around themselves. I've even done a journal entry about what they would do if they were the president and how they could change the situations for people. I want them to start thinking about these things now, while they're young. I want to sow the seeds of change in their hearts now and I pray that they will grow inside those kids.

When I first came to Tanzania, my goal was to teach kids English and that was all. But now, my teaching has become so much more than that. While I am still teaching English, my goals have become more about personal development. I want the kids to explore and express themselves and the things that they want. I want to challenge the kids to think about things in new ways about things. I want my students to question things so that they can come to greater understandings about themselves and the world in which they live. I'm not sure when this change happened; I think it was a gradual thing, but I praise God that I get to teach English because it is a subject that lends itself towards self expression. I hope and pray that somehow this is the difference that I will make. Yes, it's good to teach them about grammar and tenses. Yes, it's good if they pass their exams and get into graduate school. But, to me, the great thing is the development of the person and new ideas. I hope that will be my legacy here.

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine