A man may work from dusk to dawn, but these women's work is never - EVER - done!
Welcome
to the Toa Nafasi inner circle, a group of strong, successful ladies,
who I think by now you know - yours truly (not pictured), Mwalimu Vumi, Mwalimu Yacinta, and Mama T, all decked out in Toa Nafasi swag. We make this Project happen and this blog entry serves as mad props to us as we round the corner into Easter Break!!
We finished with the Observation Period far ahead of
schedule. To be honest, I learned
a lot last year that I was able to apply this year and which helped things to
run more smoothly. For last year's
observation, I allowed a full two months which I now see was KrAzY! This year, I took just one month but
honestly, we could shorten it even more. Last year, I followed the principles of non-participatory
observation to a hilt which kept me removed from familiarizing myself with the students and learning
their various strengths and weaknesses in a timely manner. This year, I engaged with them, not by
teaching, but by checking the work in their notebooks and quizzing them one
on one as they came to me for correction.
I learned that just because a child has written everything perfectly in
his or her book, it doesn't necessarily mean that they understand what they've
written or even know what it means!
Tanzanian children are nothing if not competent copycats; most kids can write perfectly what they
see on the board but when you ask them to read what they've written, you may very well get a
blank stare in return.
Another mistake I corrected from last year's Observation Period was to not concern myself so much with the teachers but rather focus on the students. I learned their names right off the bat, filled out
individual profile forms as I got to know them, and saw firsthand where
each child's baseline aptitude lay, and what each child's disposition was. In this way, I was able to move forward to the Assessment Period with a pretty good idea of who and how many of this year's
Standard One students were going to need Toa Nafasi help.
Last year, I feel like I went in guns
a-blazin', mzungu flag a-wavin', with a whole lotta criticism regarding the
teachers and the system. I cringe now thinking of
how disdainful I was of Mama T (with whom, since then, I have become very
close, so much so that I am pretty sure I am already betrothed to her firstborn
son) and her teaching methodology.
Of course, it's not up to Western standards or even comparable to the
education we are able to receive in America or Europe; WE ARE IN TANZANIA! She knows that, the kids know that, and
I think now, I finally I get that.
So, definitely this year's model for observation is the one
to work off of for the future, and I am hoping with every fiber of my being that
while I am conducting a month-long Observation Period at Msaranga Primary
School in 2015, Vumi will be heading up another at Msandaka and Yacinta maybe at
Kiboriloni. Wouldn't it be amazing
to expand??
Anyhoo,
back to the present reality. After completing observation at the end
of February, we had information concerning all 129 students in the 2014
Standard One class. For the most
part, they were all new faces to me but there were a few stragglers from
last
year who were either held back due to age or ability. Of course,
Standard Two this year is my kids from last
year's Standard One, so unlike 2013, we didn't have to pull anybody
out. The kids needing help in that class are already Toa Nafasi
participants and Vumi and Yacinta continue to work with them, teaching
them in the way Angi showed us to help slow
learners.
Every one of these kids has achieved
some level of success since the beginning of the tutorial sessions in June 2013
and we will keep working with them until June 2014, a full year of Toa Nafasi
support. There are a few from last year who would probably benefit
from joining a Special Education classroom instead of continuing at Msaranga,
but for right now, everyone except my one little girl at Gabriella remains
where they are. We are scoping out alternatives for the others but no one is in as dire straits either
academically or physically as that child, so she will stay at Gabriella studying
and boarding for the indefinite future.
If I manage to raise enough money, I'd like to board maybe a couple more
and also arrange for some day students to attend. Still, space and transportation remain potential trouble spots and the whole situation is ongoing, to say the least….
But I digress.... After completing observation, we
started assessment with Angi's new and improved exam. We finished in under two weeks with me, Vumi, and Yacinta
testing the kids in record time.
Per Angi's instructions, we did not prompt or tip the kids off in any
way. If they made the mistake of
adding instead of subtracting, oh well.
If they made the mistake of reading BE BI BU BA BO as BA BE BI BO BU, oh
well. If they didn't know their
left from their right or a square from a circle, oh well. All's fair in love and assessment!
Out of the 129 students assessed, we came up with 23 who I am
sure have some type of issue in the classroom. Of course, it might not necessarily be a learning
difficulty, it could be a medical issue (needing glasses), a social issue (baba hits mama), or something we never even thought of (I have a set of twins, the
Shemganga brothers - I kid you not - who we came to find out use entirely
different first names at home than in school, so when you call one Rashidi and
the other Rajabu in the classroom, neither of them know who is who!). Because Angi is not here to work her magic and manipulate
the data to tell me who we need to focus on first, I have made the executive
decision to follow these 23 to the next step which is the parent and teacher
interviews, and others who are question marks can wait until Angi has seen the exams and tells me who to add to the Toa Nafasi list.
So that's
where we are now. We have interviewed all the parents or guardians of
the 23 kids in the last ten days and also asked Mama T to fill out
teacher questionnaires for cross-referencing with the parents. The
findings were pretty interesting. Lots of parents this year seem
unaware that their kids are having trouble in school. Others might know
but are resigned to it. In some cases, the apples don't fall far from
the trees: after meeting Mama Shemganga, I kinda know why the boys don't
have a
clear sense of who's who. We tried
to do two different questionnaires, one for each son, but mama kept
saying "they, they, they" in answer to our questions even
though Vumi, when asking, would name each boy individually. To tell the truth, I'm not entirely
sure mama knows which twin is which! Pretty tough circumstances for a kid to develop a healthy sense of individuality and purpose!!
We will continue to try and get to the bottom of each case, but where parents are concerned, it's difficult. When they receive a letter
asking them to come to school, they are often afraid they will receive bad news
of some sort, so they don't come, or they come and are extremely
defensive. We have to really set
them at ease when questioning them, explaining the background and purpose of
the Project, and showing them their child's exam so they can see what the
tatizo (problem) is. Once they understand
that we are not a.) calling them out as bad parents, b.) trying to cause trouble
for them or embarrass them personally, or c.) doing anything that would involve them paying for
something, they are generally down with the program. Generally. But
it's still pretty hard to get some of these people to move. Particularly, I have noticed, when it
comes to social issues as opposed to academic ones.
The grandfather of the little girl who is now at the Gabriella
Center complained quite a bit while I was in America last year about the fact that this sort of dirty
secret was aired and people in the village now openly knew about it. Of course, he took umbrage to the fact
that people were saying he was not caring properly for the child and it reached
the point where her behavior was so out of control and she was in so much
danger that we had to take action. Well, pardon me, but he wasn't going to do it....and I would rather risk an
old man's already dubious reputation in the village than the mental and
physical health of a young child. Now, this babu is asking me to
find another school instead of Gabriella because someone he knows told
him that his granddaughter will "turn into" one of the kids with more
severe intellectual and physical impairments if she stays there with
them. Sheesh. It's an uphill battle. Kilimanjaro-sized, at times....
At any rate, we are pretty much ready to start the Referral Period
probably next month as we are off until Easter and then I am traveling
for a little bit at the end of this month. I am starting to put
together groups of children to go to CCBRT for hearing tests and speech
pathology, KCMC for eye exams, neurological testing, and pediatric
visits, and Gabriella for their infamous Weeks of Therapy. This is all
for the new kids. The old kids continue with their tuition and their
own Weeks of Therapy which are scheduled every three months at Gabriella
so the students and their parents can check in with the therapists
there, explain how things are going, and receive further support and
education from the Gabriella staff. We actually have one such week
coming up in a few days.
I think that pretty much sums up our maendeleo (developments) since the last time I wrote a lengthy piece about the Project. I hope it answers some questions and fills you all in on the work we are trying to do here. Back at you soon with even further maendeleo and hopefully some really great matokeo (results) in the near future!
