Opening eyes: a beginning

This year, as you may have noticed if you have read any of my blogs since January, has been a bit difficult. It has been wonderful in many ways too, but with a particularly snooty, prejudiced L6 Language class and a crazy schedule that leaves little time to be creative I've wondered, again, why I'm here at this time. Here I should insert that I am so grateful for this job. It is teaching me a great deal about teaching and people and myself, and it is a privilege to have such a good job in a country where 70-80% of the population is out of work. I am grateful. But I find myself increasing frustrated at the attitudes of many of my students towards those outside their circle - generally a wealthy, upper-class circle. And I wonder why I'm here in this privileged place with a privileged job. At the beginning of my time at this school, I decided that one of the reasons was to try to open the eyes of some of the students in my class to the world of the other around them.


This holidays I got in touch with Rafiki Girls Centre, an organisation that meets in our church and provides practical skills education to 16-18 year old girls who have, for various reasons--financial, ability--not been able to pass or write their O-Level exams. Acting as the equivalent of a high school diploma, this exam decides the future employment, training or education opportunities for students in Zimbabwe. The Centre takes in 2 intakes of about 15 girls every year and they each choose a practical course to follow: catering and hospitality, cosmetics, cutting and design, hairdressing, and others. Most of the girls have lost at least one of their parents and many look after younger siblings. I spent the holidays thinking and planning how I could create a lesson that would open the eyes of my L6 Language students (the same age as the Rafiki Girls) even just a little to the lives of other young women who, due to no fault or action of their own, are in very different circumstances. Rafiki very kindly agreed to allow my students to come and interview their girls. After a couple weeks of writing good interview questions and preparing them to ask and listen well, and giving them a few hard talks about leaving their superior attitudes in the bus and going with open minds and ears, we went to Rafiki on Wednesday.


My girls were nervous but excited. I was just nervous. Although I had tried hard to prepare them well, I was terrified that my girls would not take this seriously and that the impact of it would fall flat. I knew they would be outwardly polite, but I was concerned that inwardly nothing would change or be moved. I was (am) under no false illusions that this one conversation would lead to radically changed attitudes and worldviews and that their superiority and prejudice would just magically fall from their hearts and minds as they listened. But I hoped that it might be a beginning. That they would be challenged. That they would meet, talk and listen to a real person who belonged to the group they had such strong opinions about. It is a lot harder to hold to certain beliefs and attitudes about yourself and an other when the other tells you her story. Stories are hard to argue with. There was a lot at stake. But I was not in control. And oh how I love to be in control. So, I was praying hard.


And it went so well.


I cannot see into hearts (thank goodness) but as I stood watching discreetly in the doorway of the large hall where pairs of girls sat, talking, listening, and laughing together, pairs who would never have exchanged greetings, never mind life stories in our segregated world, I felt so grateful, and so hopeful.

The actual writing assignment part of the lesson hasn't even happened yet (and that could still flop), but in my eyes, that part is of minor importance.

My most sit-at-the-back, homework-skipping, uncaring student (who had just given a presentation the lesson before where I cringed at some of the stereotypical language callously coming out her mouth) came up to me afterwards,
"Miss Bell, can we do this again? It was SO fun!"
Another said she was "humbled".
I eavesdropped on two of my students in the bus on the way home and heard them exchange stories.
My deputy head had some of my students for a lesson after we got back and wrote me an email, "Congratulations and thank you for opening the girls eyes as well as inspiring them. You have made such a great impact on them and have changed the way some of them view the world."

Any good that came/comes wasn't me. Only God changes hearts and minds, and hopefully this is a small beginning towards mind/heart change.

Words are powerful; you can't argue with someone's story.

First week of term: boards, wikis, and carpets

One week late... again. This whole "one blog a week" deal is not going so well...

Second term started on Tuesday and we are in the full swing of school already. Just this week:

1. We started cataloguing books for a book drive we did last term for a primary school in Mbare, a high density area of Harare. We had some fantastic student volunteers ('tis the season of recommendations and volunteering looks oh so good on a college application) but we underestimated the amount of books we had collected and how long it would take to "catalogue", even with our basic (and flawed, as we discovered) system.

2. I've marked 2 Language papers of Form 4 homework - only 2 Upper 6 essays, 2 more Form 4 papers, a L6 project and a Form 3 project to go. Yay. Why do I give holiday homework again?

3. Our headmaster has left (he's South African and his work permit was not renewed) - I have not had  a single term at this school yet that hasn't been marked by some major staff change or drama. The day after his last day, the first day of term, we had an emergency staff meeting where the chairman of the school board sternly told us who would be coming to fill in while they look for another head and informed us the two deputies would be leading the school until then and they had full powers to exercise "Disciplinary Sanctions" against any - wait for it - staff member who did not comply with their authority. "Disciplinary Sanctions"?! First of all, what the heck are "Disciplinary Sanctions"? I'm tempted to be non-compliant just to find out!  And secondly, who does he think we are that he feels the need threaten us with "Disciplinary Sanctions"? Why do we have boards again?

4. I introduced two of my classes to wikis. Over the holidays I spent some serious time working on a couple for two of my exam classes (a wiki is a website that can be edited collectively by a group of people, the largest example of which is Wikipedia). I had used a wiki with my student teaching class in Michigan and it was very successful - students were able to discuss with each other online and post comments and questions about the book leading to, I think, a greater depth of understanding and enjoyment of the text. I had removed all thoughts of online/internet/computer teaching from my planning when I came back to Zimbabwe - you cannot count on every person having access to internet, but this holiday (after being inspired by some English Journal reading) I decided that we can make it work. We have a computer lab, so surely the boarders can have access to internet there, and this is a wealthy school - almost every student will have internet at home (or, even more likely, a smart phone with access to it) and they are all on facebook all day long so 15 minutes of wiki conversation shouldn't be arduous. I spent a lot of time on the wikis making the home page attractive, creating pages for notes on characters and discussion questions. And, on Tuesday morning when I showed my classes, did the faces of my students glow with anticipation and awe as I revealed our new private wiki? Did the room start to buzz with comments as they turned to each other in glee? Did they call out in a grateful chorus, "Oh Miss Bell, thank you for all that hard work and time you put into that wiki and giving us space to take ownership of our learning, to interact with each other and our texts in a richer, different way leading to a greater depth of understanding and enjoyment of this play"? No. There was no glow, buzz or chorus. Why do I think up new, creative ways to teach again? Don't worry, my students are going to use these darn wikis and they're going to enjoy it, whether they like it or not.

5. The new carpets that the matron and I ordered for the hostel were installed while I was teaching and now I have to tell the matron that the carpet that she oversaw being installed into the front hall of our hostel was not meant to go there but in the common room and so, no, she cannot ask the Head of Boarding if she can have the old front hall one for her room because the old front hall one is not old and needs to go back in the front hall. I'm doing role plays for that conversation in my head.


However, three highlights:

1. Yesterday one of my Form 1 boarders came to show me her new guitar... just because.

2. I saw one of my L6 Language students in another class before our first language lesson and she said to me  excitedly, "I can't wait for Language!" I almost fell over (they are a class that has been very difficult to draw any kind of emotion from, let alone excitement) and then I asked, "Why?" and she said, and I quote, scout's honour, "Because we had such a cool holiday project!"

3. When I walked into my Upper 6 lesson (a class which has been easy to connect with and which, if teacher's were allowed to have favourites...) they just grinned at me. They were happy to see me, so they say--I personally think it more likely to be a combination of first week excitement, second term stress getting to them early, the joke L had just told and the chaplain's sermon that morning that told them that if they weren't happy they would fail--but I'm going to go with they were happy to see me.

8 Steps to Surviving Zimbawean Powercuts

1.       Expect, not the unexpected, but the worst. The unexpected would be an improvement in power, or the switching on of power. The worst might be any of the following:

a.       an announcement by the Hwange power station that provides electricity the country that four units were “off the grid” and power consequently being out for 3 days.

b.      power cuts that last longer than 24 hours and cause freezers to defrost.

c.       the loss of an amazingly well-written blog post because the alternate internet source used did not allow saving.

d.      the oil in the transformer at your local substation being stolen and causing the substation to blow up.

2.       Expect the worse possible timing.

a.       the middle or just before the preparation of supper.

b.      the middle of a shower fed by an electricity dependent borehole*.

c.       the middle, beginning or end of the Wimbledon finals, the season finale of Masterchef, a breaking news report on the fall of ______(insert current dictator’s name).

d.      the middle of your powerpoint/video dependent lesson.

e.      the middle of your wedding.

3.       Make a plan. This plan may come in various forms and stages:

a.       a gas stove

b.      a wood fire out back

c.       LED lights stuck up around the house

d.      a generator*

e.      an inverter*

f.        using dropbox to distribute your powerpoint to your students so that when the power goes they can access it.

4.       Be flexible and learn new skills.

a.       Do not plan meals that need microwaves, grills (gas ovens do not have grills), blenders or toasters.

b.      Learn to cook over a flame.

c.       Learn to take a bucket bath.

d.      Learn to hand wash.

e.      Learn patience.

5.       Ignore all rumours of improvements or positive developments. Remember guideline 1.

a.       ZESA* has not been bought out by a private company.

b.      the power situation will not improve.

6.       Believe all rumours of deterioration or negative developments.

a.       the auditor of ZESA equipment is buying himself a larger generator.

b.      the transformer at your local substation has just blown.

c.       there is no money to buy the transformer that has just blown at your substation.

7.       Don’t get attached to anything. Anything could include:

a.       your favourite white blouse that is now pink after being left in the water of the washing machine that stopped half way through its cycle.

b.      your blog posts.

c.       your cake in the oven.

d.      hot showers.

e.      ironed clothes.

f.        television shows.

g.       access to electronic devices that have to be charged or attached to a power source. Learn to enjoy reading or playing scrabble.

8.       Make friends. These will come in handy as:

a.       contacts for cheap gas stove/generators/invertors/firewood.

b.      lenders of freezer space/water/hot showers/washing machines.

c.       fellow survivors.

*Zimbabwean Power-cut glossary

generator: (n) a machine that produces electricity run by an alternate fuel source such as petrol or diesel and makes loud, annoying noise. The generator is out of fuel.

inverter: (n) a electronic device that changes direct current generally from a battery into alternating current. A small inverter can run your television and lights, a large one can power your house. You need electricity to charge the battery that runs your invertor. The inverter has not been charged: we cannot watch American Idol.

ZESA:     1. (abbrv.) Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority. ZESA has just announced that the substation has been overtaken by terrorists.

2. (n) informal a Zimbabwean colloquialism synonymous with “electricity”. The Zesa was out; I couldn’t do my homework.

borehole: (n) the equivalent to an American well. The borehole has finally been connected to the house; now we can have water when we have power.

With thanks to John Bell who helped with the technical language within this blog and ZESA for providing much fodder and helping to make Zimbabweans better people, one powercut at a time.