Organised chaos, without the organisation

It's been far too long since I've written on here, which is because I've been so busy. That also means I've got lots to say but you’ll be happy to hear I'm just going to give an overview. I can’t believe I’ve been here for almost 3 weeks already (or that I’ve been traveling for almost 4 months) – it’s gone so quickly.

The camp is an incredibly intense place. The buildings are really close together, and there are people on the streets 24/7. The claustrophobic atmosphere (although I’m not getting claustrophobic yet) is added to by the noise – which starts with the local preacher and announcer on their megaphones at around 5am, through to the next door neighbours putting their TV outside for very loud late night screenings of films for the whole neighbourhood, and continued through the night by the roosters who don’t wait for dawn before crowing. There’s a great community feel here – people I’ve met will always stop and say hi when I walk past. The kids from the school will shout “Brother Simon” and kids that don’t know me will often shout “Abruni” (‘white man’ – not in a derogatory way) and want to hold my hand or play.

(By the way, thought I’d share with you that I’m being slightly distracted and disturbed by two African guys at the computer next to me looking at hardcore porn)

The school was a bit of an eye opener. It’s different to the school I went to in South Africa in a number of ways. There’s enough furniture for all the kids, and the teachers almost always turn up for lessons (although sometimes very late). Otherwise, the school would qualify for the term ‘organised chaos’, if it wasn’t so disorganised. Unlike the school in SA, where the kids were brilliantly behaved, the kids here are OK for some teachers, but absolutely terrible for other teachers – which is down to the huge disparity in teaching ability. At break time, there is no teacher supervision, and the violence between the kids is incredible. It’s like all out warfare, with kids wrestling, drop kicking, slamming each other on concrete, whacking people with bags – but they don’t get upset, it’s normal.

Having seen the poor classroom management of some of the teachers, I’ve agreed with the Principal to run a workshop on classroom management for the teachers (concentrating on some of the good techniques I’ve seen the better teachers using). I’m not surwe about the praise stickers I’ve brought – I don’t know if they’re ready for that yet. I just hope the workshop will help the teachers control the class without resorting to violence or ritual humiliation. The first of these is officially banned in the school, but we (the volunteers) suspect this is only the case due to pressure from the permanent volunteer presence. Although I don’t think formal corporal punishment happens much, I’ve seen teachers – including the Principal – using sticks and fists when they don’t know I’m watching. In some ways, however, I think the ritual humiliation is worse – examples including making kids stand at the back of class with their hands in the air, stand on their desks, and kneel at the front holding their feet behind their backs. I don’t want to be too harsh, as the school is doing amazing things, and I don’t blame the teachers – most have little training and are probably just replicating what they went through at school. All of which makes the workshop a big but important task. Unfortunately, term ends soon and by the time it restarts I won’t be around to help the teachers implement the strategies.

Socially, I’m having a great time. Making friends with locals and also with the other volunteers, who are all great (have to say that, they have this blog address). Cooked dinner for the volunteer house the other night (we do it on a weekly rota) and the Persian food was very well received. On the Persian theme, found out that to get my visa for Iran (my next stop) I have to get a letter of invitation from an Iranian resident then undergo a medical!

Anyways, that’s enough for now, I’ll try to write soon so I can keep it short.