This week has been draining, both physically and emotionally. Getting started on our sessions has been great, but there have been a few difficult issues too...
Day 15 (Mafeteng)
Here we are, the beginning of Week Three, and the start of out eight week schools programme. Eight weeks both seems like a lifetime and a short snapshot, so it is hard to predict just what the outcome of our sessions will be. All we can do is try and make a difference out here - whatever that may be.
Unfortunately, Andile (one of the national volunteers, who is also familiar with my host family) has had to the leave the programme, so we are one person short on the team. He has been offered a teaching job in another part of the country, and as jobs are so hard to obtain here, he had no option but to accept and start building a career. As Daisy no longer has a partner, myself and Mathapelo joined her in running a primary school session at St Gerard's.
While Daisy's session went very well, mine and Mathapelo's class at Bereng High School was very difficult. The pupils we have been assigned are very hesitant to engage with the life skills part of the sessions, which makes me feel like we may be more beneficial to the primary school children in Mafeteng. Mathapelo and I are working in six schools overall (four primary and two high school), so hopefully the more comfortable we get running sessions, the more the children will be wanting to get involved.
I also have a feeling that the language barrier may be more of an issue than I originally thought. I was quite concerned in our session at Bereng High at the hesitant nature of the class in feeding back what they have learnt, and defining different life skills. I do not yet know if this is because of a low level of English, or if they are just nervous, and I am hoping that this is explained in the next few weeks. The more we understand our classes, the more we can develop our sessions around their strengths and weaknesses.
This week is going to primarily involve seeing how the schools operate and how many children they want us to work with. Trial by error seems to be the only logical way to work here, and as long as we remain professional in our approach, this will not be a problem.
Day 17 (Mafeteng)
The last couple of days have been full of positives and negatives. We have been settling into our schools well, yet have also been let down by the organisation of our team, which is very frustrating this soon into the programme.
It makes sense to end on a high note, so I'll start with the low ones and build up to a happy, shiny jazz hands ending (you'll have to imagine that part). It often seems like our team here is the least organised here, predominantly because we are lacking in clear leadership. Tomorrow, an emergency meeting has been called for the LENEPWHA Team, yet myself and Daisy have only found this out through the Thabana Morena team, rather than our own. Due to this, our organised sessions for tomorrow will have to be cancelled, which is awful at such short notice and when trying to develop a regular schedule within our schools. I can only hope that the situation will get better as our time here continues, and we develop more as a team, rather than a bunch of individuals thrown together.
On a much happier, shinier, jazz hands note, our sessions are continuing well. The primary school children are far more engaged in the sessions, so I'm finding them more rewarding, especially when we recap what they feel they have learnt. At Mafeteng Primary, for example, we are focusing our programme on substance abuse awareness at the request of the school, and have therefore been able to adapt some of the Coaching for Hope methodology to deal with this. Running a successful session is a massive motivator, and really does make me glad I applied for ICS in the first place.
Day 18 (Mafeteng)
As of today, we are a quarter of the way through our time here in Lesotho, and it was the day of our first LENEPWHA team meeting. This was a great opportunity for myself and Daisy to raise some of the issues we have had so far with team leadership, which I hope will go some way towards resolving some of the frustration that has been felt over the last couple of weeks. Although we are aware of the need to be flexible and adaptable, often we are unaware of what is happening on a daily basis, which can impact on our planning for placements. All we can do now is hope that the situation improves for the good of the team.
Laura and Paul were also in Mafeteng for the meeting, so we met up with Conrad and Fletch for a much needed drink afterwards. As we are still only three weeks in, it seems common that the teams are still discovering their dynamics. However, there is clearly a positive outlook from all of the UK volunteers, and we're all determined to make the most of our remaining time here.
The Mafeteng team has also finally got a replacement for Andile. Ntabise has become Daisy's new partner, and they start working together as of Friday. Her and Mathapelo are friends from school, so I am sure that her transition into the team will be easy. She already seems like a great addition to the group!
The weather here continues to be incredible hot. Tonight we had an amazing thunderstorm, but the hot weather is still forecast to continue. This makes concentration difficult in our sessions, so I'm hoping it gets a bit cooler soon. You know it's hot when even the locals are are complaining about the heat!
Day 19 (Mafeteng)
And so brings the end of our first working week in the schools. Although Saturday is reserved for community groups and planning sessions, most of our volunteering here takes place Monday-Friday. We've now run introductory sessions at all six of our schools and it's great to be working with a huge range of ages and abilities. Our communication skills sessions this week have appeared to be successful with both pupils and teachers, so I am hoping that we can keep up the positivity next week with our teamworking sessions.
Yesterday we received a timetable for the remainder of our time here in Lesotho and it has hit home how little time we really have here. Four of our remaining weekends here will be spent in Maseru on either training, the debrief or ICS socials. We also only have three LENEPWHA meetings left. With so much to look forward to, and fit around our daily sessions, I am very aware how quickly these next weeks will fly by.
Last night, I finally caved and phoned home, and I'm so glad I left it so long. Instead of getting all emotional, it was just great to hear my parents' voices and have a brief chat about everything so far. The way I see it, the less I call, the more I can tell them when I get back. I feel that I've separated myself the right amount from the UK, meaning that although I have some communication with home, I've ended the co-habitual relationship with my iPhone, and we are using this brief separation to explore new things (aka the outside world).
Day 21 (Mafeteng)
This weekend has been great, spent with the majority of the UK volunteers, and has been the first time I've seen most of them since we left Maseru two weeks ago. It's nice to spend our free time relaxing as a group and sharing stories and experiences from our first three weeks. I don't think I've ever been part of a randomly thrown together group that gets on so well. Everyone brings something different, and it's fantastic to know that it's not just myself and Daisy that have had problems so far. We have all had different challenges, and I'm sure we'll explore more of these during the midterm.
Today's taxi ride from Thabana Morena was the most cramped yet, with the added bonus of the side door falling off mid-journey. The nonplussed reactions from the driver hinted that this is a common occurrence here, which honestly does not surprise me. It's just another example of how different this country is to the UK, where a taxi door falling off would lead to a change of vehicle.
I also have to confess that I have fallen in love while here. Like most of the things I love, it is edible, and its name is a fatcake. Fatcakes are small balls of dough that are deep fried, essentially doughnuts without sugar, jam or a variety of Krispy Kreme toppings (which may sound blasphemous, but without icing it just means you can eat more without feeling sick). Here, they are served with fries, and I could eat them nonstop. They may have to roll me off the plane when I return, but at least I will be happy and be able to visually show how much I love the foods of Lesotho.
This week has definitely been difficult at times, but it only means the best is yet to come. Tomorrow is the beginning of Week 4, and the second week of sessions. I'm becoming more comfortable in front of classes, and am enjoying the variation of days (and not being sat in front of a computer). We only have two weeks until midterm, but I feel we already have so much to reflect on. Who knows what the next week will bring!
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