I apologize, but I still haven't figured out how to imbed the photos where I want them in the text. So, all the pics are up front. It probably works better to read the post first, then go back to the pictures, but it's your choice. Let me give a brief description of what they are..
first picture--hand washing demo
second--tooth brushing with Tom and Brian
third--Isaiah gets inot the teeth with them
fourth--kitchen for the dormitory
fifth--typical dorm room--sleeps 16
sixth--morning calisthenics
video--Brian, Tom and Isaiah showing how germs can be spread. (video upload failed, I'll try again later)
Today was first day at the school. Before I get into our day, let me give you a little background. THis school serves about 2500 people in a widespread and sparsely inhabited community. Most of the people in the area are of the H'Mong minority, and are granted free access to an education. However, the education is not mandatory, which is why attendance is not what you might expect. There are a total of 161 children enrolled in 6th through 8th grade at the school. Only around 50 were in attendance today, as there is quite a bit of farming activity going on at this time of the year. About half of the kids stay at the school during the week, the test being that if it takes more than one hour to walk to school, they can board there during the week. The dorm rooms leave something to be desired, though, as they are about 10 x 14 feet in size and room 15 or 16 kids. The school itself is a very nice structure, and was built by the local government. It has ample rooms for the number of classes and children being educated. There are 25 teachers on staff, which makes for a very good ratio of students to teachers (7 to 1). However, 2 of the teachers don't have much to do, as they teach IT even though they have no computers for the kids to use. Another disparity is that the community governors didn't fund a water system for the school, so they currently use the runoff from the uphill rice paddies for all water needs, including drinking water. In all, it's an odd method of determining and applying funding priorities.
As for us, we arrived this morning and met with the school leadership as well as the local party representative. They welcomed us over some traditional Vietnamese tea and thanked us for our willingness to help out. When asked of their most pressing faciltiy needs, they listed clean water, security and computer capabilities. We are addressing the most pressing need on this trip, and are looking into how we could help with the next two. Following our cultrual guidelines, we were careful to make no promises, but rather listened to their needs and told them we understood their position.
Once the meeitng was over, it was off to class. We are teaching the children a series of lessons on hygiene and nutrition. THe basics are that germs are everywhere, they can be spread in several ways, and the best way to deal with them is through washing with clean water. Sounds pretty simple, but is was obvious that the concepts were pretty foreign to the majority of the students. During the hand washing demonstration, you could that many of the children had not washed for quite a while, and had no idea how to go about doing it. We also covered the need to eat the right kinds of foods to maintain a healthy diet. Surprisingly, the type of food missing from most of thier diets was not meat, but fruits and vegetables. Especially surprising in such an agricultural setting. The last part of the lesson dealt with brushing their teeth. Brian led the classes with the rest of us assisting, working with the kids, and demonstrating. OVerall, the presentation was fun for the kids and I think they learned some things about keeping clean and healthy that the didn't know before.
While the classes were in session, part of our team was helping with the water project. Tom and Isaiah in particular got a good taste of just how manual the labor can be in a situation like this. They made a ton of trips up thye steep slope behind the school, hauling one load after another of cement, bricks and sand up to the site of the water filtration system. I'll put more info on the water system in tomorrow's post.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent playing with the soccer balls, Frisbees and badmitten sets we brought with us. The kids had a great time, as did our entire team. The children are extremely poor, and yet they are exceedingly happy. They are all polite and respectful, but quick to smile and laugh. It is such a pleasure to teach and play with these kids, and I really believe we are gaining a lot more from this week than they are.
Tomorrow we teach the last of the hygiene classes to the 8th and 9th graders. We will also continue work on the water system and just hang out with the students. I have attached several pictures as well as a one minute video. They can't really convey everyting we are experiencing, but I hope they give you a little taste of what's going on here this week
Thanks for your support,and look for more updates tommorow (assuming I can manage an internet access again)
JF
No comments:
Post a Comment