Mixed Feelings

There are three things I wanted to tell you that were positive. Let's do that first ..

1. There is a group here from COEJ made up of about twelve or fifteen people total. When they first arrived, I was skeptical about the whole "too many chefs" theory. However, having spent a few days with them here, I have come to enjoy their company. The girls are strong-willed and sensible. The boys are equally sensible and can carry great conversation. It's also fun to have people on your team when you're discussing how to approach a situation. Spending time with them, sharing ideas with them, etc makes the whole sleeping-super-late situation completely worth it.

2. As mentioned earlier, I go to the orphanage everyday at 4:30 or so in the afternoon to spend time with the kids there. There is a four and a half year old there named Fadhili. He is the one who leads prayers there and kind of plays the role of "pseudo leader." Every morning during his break in school, he picks wild flowers for me. Then, when I see him in the afternoon, he gives them to me. How sweet is that? I tell you. These children. Such warmth. Such love. Masha'Allah.

3. I love the people in Tanzania. Like, straight Africans. What an amiable group of people. I wish the volunteer training included encouraging volunteers to spend plenty of time with the locals. Most of us don't do that enough.

Okay, now that my excellent pieces of news have been shared, let's move on. So many of these kids have been stifled, imagination-wise. They are so scared to make mistakes that they stick with what is familiar instead of venturing out into the endless space that exists in their minds to find what they are missing out on. I think this problem starts in the administration. A few of our coordinators are big on micromanaging - "my way or the highway" about the most insignificant, smallest things. Also, if an idea is out of their imaginative range, they find it to be beneath them. This is so silly! We cannot progress if we do not consider ideas other than our own! I've been doing as I please here. I'm not going to let someone who enjoys repetition and normalcy tell me how to run my classroom or my schedule, but the constant stream of commands coupled with disdain that they send my way is unnecessary and tiring.

One example is how to teach. Learning does not necessarily have to occur in a classroom from 7:30 to 2:30. It does not have to occur by means of a textbook with big, fancy words followed by tons of memorization on part of the student. It can happen anywhere doing just about anything! Every moment can be a teaching moment!

So, if someone wants to hold class on the football ground, let them do it! What on earth is so wrong with that? If someone wants to take a nature walk during their English class, how is that classified as an inefficient use of time?! I guarantee the kids will remember ten times as many words when they have physical / visual memories with nature attached to them than sitting in a classroom in front of an instructor who is merely regurgitating what he was once force fed. Reading bedtime stories in English to the younger children, tracing letters in the dirt, integrating word games into other games like tag, giving writing prompts like "What if I were invisible?" or "If I could re-create the world" - these are all perfectly sound teaching techniques, in my opinion. The students are still expected to utilize the information that they have accumulated in their mental banks. They are still expected to learn!

As volunteers, we shouldn't be adding more classroom time. Kids don't need or want more time in those damn white-walled boxes. Why not let them venture?! Kids without an imagination are trained to be the employees, the 9 to 5 workers. Kids with an imagination are trained to be the innovators, the masterminds - the real future!

I'm not saying eliminate typical-classroom-style teaching. I'm just saying it's okay to change things up every once in a while. It's okay to let kids have their own ideas and run with them. And, hey, maybe I've got the totally wrong idea. Maybe the classroom is where they should be and maybe memorizing exactly what the professor says is a great teaching device and where real learning takes place. Maybe making robots out of humans is how we are going to become a better society. Juuuust maybe. But, until someone proves that to me, I don't believe it.

Enough venting. I'm repeating myself. Gotta get back to work anyway.

PS. I still love it here. I just think the administration is unnecessarily stressful. Then again, I suppose that is true of most establishments.