Not So Humble Beginnings

So here I am, in Burundi...never knowing what to expect. Will we have hot water? Sometimes. Will we have water? Sometimes. What about electricity? If the government feels like turning it on. Those are all typical situations in Burundi that I've dealt with before. What I've really been itching to know is what my school is like where I'm teaching. The only schools I've seen here in the past have had dirt floors, no windows (i.e. the holes are there, the glass is not), desks, chairs, and a giant chalkboard.

I'm lucky that the school I work at is right on my compound where I live. Just an overall safer feeling than walking in the streets of the city. Most everyone knows the family I'm staying with here because they have lived here for so long and built most of the buildings on the mission (aka the compound). I live with the director of the school, Jan*, her husband, John, and their three kiddos--Zeke (6), Mike (3), and Elijah (11 months). It's nice living with them because I get the inside scoop on most things that I wouldn't get otherwise (especially since John grew up here.) They started the school about six years ago. When it was first built, enrollment was 80 students. Now, they've added grades all the way up to Maternelle (Preschool) through Second, the grade I'll be teaching, and enrollment is at 500! It's one of the better schools in the country and probably the cheapest private school parents can send their children to. (Other schools

can be about $120/month while this school is only about $20/month). The school also gives job opportunity to grow and salaries to many Burundians who would otherwise maybe not have one (Burundi has an 80% unemployment rate). I like that it builds into the future, allowing these students to have real jobs one day, (i.e. a banker as opposed to standing in a field all day watching goats) and that these jobs that will build back into the country's economy and in turn impact the country as a whole. I really like the role Jan has given me because well, in her words, "it will have exponential impact." (YES.)

Here's a more specific jist of what I'm doing: I'll be teaching the languages arts in English for grade P3 (second grade) and tag teaming science/math with another teacher on my team. Whoa...and I'm the only teacher in school to get an assistant! (Thank God...I'll have 41 kids!...but mostly not all at one time.) The reason I get an assistant is because I will be training that person...so they come, observe, partake, and implement the strategies and techniques of an American teacher into their classrooms. I will get a new assistant every couple of weeks so that each teacher has a chance to learn some strategies to make his/her classroom better. We're not trying to Americanize the school, but simply take what's good from America, and combine it with what's good from Burundi. So some of the main strategies I'll be teaching is classroom management (It exists in a whipping stick here..or they'll tell the child they are going to be eaten by a wild animal if they don't behave), implementing things like read-alouds, more hands on activities, a word wall for vocabulary...things we simply take for granted in the US. Most schools in Burundi are simply lecture and notes, even in first grade. (I never would have made it as a Burundian child...I simply wrote way too slow and got distracted way too easily.) It is really exciting to me that even when I leave, these teachers that stay will have tremendously improved as professionals that will keep impacting class after class! Whoohoo!!

Teacher training starts next week, which I will help direct with Jan. In the meantime, I've just been setting up my classroom--making nametags for desks (Jan says they have probably never had those before), a reading corner, etc.

So a bit o' humor to close...I got my student roster yesterday with all my lovely children's names on it. A little background to know is that Burundians like to name their children a bit like Native Americans once did...except instead of naming them Walking Cloud or Warrior Lion, they name them things that have to do with God's love. Let me just fill you in on this cultural difference..some of my favorites (i.e. funniest) were "Queen G. Love," G standing for God, "J.M. Laurette," J and M standing for Jesus Mary...yes,her full name is "Jesus Mary Laurette," "Saint Augustin," (What if he's not a saint? Do I still have to refer to him as Saint Augustin or just Augustin?), and the grandest name of all "Mac Alysie Dan du Ciel" which literally translates as "Grand Alysie In Of the Sky." (Hmm, maybe her parents didn't know French as well as

they thought they did.) All these, contrasted with the most ordinary of names, Billy Bob. I think his parents and I will get along just fine....

Some prayer requests:

• continued health (allergies seem to love it here)
• safety on the roads
• the start of the school year, that teachers and students would take to this foreigner lady well, and that we would learn well from each other

*All names have been changed in case you're my stalker.

Pictures:

Far left: A sign for my school

Middle: My classroom is the one in the middle. It's not your typical building because these were bought for a cheaper price from the UN instead of building one.

Bottom: my room; note mosquito net tucked in :o)