It has been two and
half months now, and the commitment to live and work in Tanzania for
two years is starting to sink in. Friendships are forming, the
streets are Dodoma are becoming familiar, and understanding Kiswahili
is becoming more possible with each day. Upon arrival in Tanzania I
was told that it takes three months for a visitor to move past the
condition of being a guest. I near that mark with excitement,
feeling grateful for these weeks of learning that are leading me to a
deeper understanding of the culture and myself.
At school I am
finding myself being challenged and stretched as I learn about the
way meetings are run, how administration and the teaching staff
interact with each other, what motivates teachers and students to
perform well...these are facets of the Tanzanian work culture that I
am slowly coming to understand. This is the first year that teachers
at SPCHS have shifted away from using corporal punishment. Before
classes started this year the Jesuit province of East Africa hosted a
training seminar on child abuse and human rights. All of us teachers
attended and discussed what child abuse looks like in the school
setting and what alternatives we can use to discipline our students.
Classroom management is a constant uphill battle. Each class has
over forty students, and the stubborn few often stand out and
distract the serious majority. Many of the students have become
accustomed to corporal punishment, but now public shaming has taken
its place. Students who misbehave by not wearing the proper uniform
or by not cleaning their tables and dishes after lunch for example,
are called to stand in front of the student body at morning assembly;
sometimes they must kneel on the concrete until the assembly is
finished. These methods seem to be very effective; students do not
want their classmates to stare and laugh at them in front of
everyone, they would rather remain one among the many of students who
followed the rules. A student's test scores and grades are also made
public for all students to see. The idea behind this, I have
learned, is that a student who performs poorly will be called out
among his or her classmates and reminded that they have not done well
so who are they to laugh and make jokes during study time or act as
if they know the material. Understanding this method has taken many
weeks, and still I question how harmful this method might be for the
mental health of the student who was disciplined or performed poorly
on the exam. Sometimes the students cry when they see their low
score. Does seeing how that score compares to others leave the
students feeling defeated, or motivated to work harder? Does public
embarrassment leave the student feeling a lasting shame that leads to
isolation or does the feeling give way to better decision making in
the future?
The students are
kept to a strict schedule: they wake at 4:30 or 5:00am and go to
their classrooms for an hour of study time before 6:30am Mass.
Breakfast is served at 7:00am, then they gather for the morning
assembly or class meetings at 7:30am. Classes begin at 8:00am. At
9:20am there is a thirty minute break for tea. Classes resume until
lunch at 12:30pm. Afternoon classes are from 2:00 to 4:00pm. Then
there is an hour and half for sports, cleaning, or debate activities,
depending on the day. Dinner is served at 6:30pm, then at 7:30pm
students return to their classrooms for evening studies until 9:30pm.
The schedule
changes for the weekends, though the times remain similar: On
Saturday students can sleep until 6:30am Mass, then they have
breakfast before going to their classrooms for Continuing Assessment
Exams. Tea break is the only interruption in this time until 12:30pm
lunch. After lunch is community service: this includes slashing the
grass around campus, cleaning the dormitories, picking up trash, or
traveling with the Community Service Department for the off campus
service projects that I help lead. There is free time from 4:00pm
until 6:30pm dinner, then a planned activity from 7:00 until 9:30pm.
Mass on Sundays is at 7:00am, then morning study time until lunch.
Sunday afternoons are free until 6:30 dinner, then the evening study
schedule resumes.
The students are
starting to readjust to this tight schedule since being on break in
December; some still struggle with staying awake during classes after
a short night of resting from their long day of work, while other
students are so intentional with their free time that they use it to
work on the things they are most passionate about. Some share with me
the stories they have written, or the pictures they have drawn,
others show me their long term goals and a month by month guide of
all the steps they will need to take to reach that goal. The
students are my inspiration on the days when I feel tired or lazy.
Witnessing how they put their passions into action is what motivates
me to put a little more energy and creativity into my lesson plans.
Hearing their stories and ambitions helps me see life in their eyes,
and think more deeply about how I am spending my time and how much
energy I put into my passions. When they share with me their
insecurities and become vulnerable about their challenges – of
learning English, of managing time, of moving on from a father's
death- I am moved to have compassion, to listen to their stories, and
encourage them to celebrate their unique experiences that have shaped
them into who they are.
These little conversations are some of the
many blessings that come with each day. They fill me with gratitude
for all the people and places that have led me to being here, and all
the support I have and still receive as I learn how my skills can be
used to serve others. The more closely that I work with our students
the more I am able to understand that age, gender, and space do not
define who a student is; it is the seeking to be and understand more
that defines the student. Being with the students reminds me that I
am a student myself, and from them I have much to learn.
Amani,
MLS
