Planning, Planning, and More Planning

I realize it has been some time since I last posted a blog, so I knew needed to take a break from running with the lions here and let you know I am still alive. My first few months here I sat back and monitored the situation in my community and figured out what needed to be done. Now that I have taken the training wheels off, I have been moving at a full speed trying to get programs up and running. Last week I went to a workshop with my Swazi counterpart, and they (Peace Corps) trained us on how exactly to start a project to make sure it is sustainable—this was very helpful for my counterpart and I am glad they were able see how Peace Corps works; I feel like it brought both of us up to the same page.

So right now I am busy teaching life skills to the grade 10 classes. We talk about self-esteem, self-awareness, decision making, goal setting, gender equality and human rights, healthy lifestyles and career choices. The kids are great to teach and it is very rewarding hearing them share their story and seeing them develop into their own skin. I can’t speak for the other teachers in my school, but the atmosphere in my classes is different from anything they have had before. One of the tools I use in my class is a “Question Box”. I have a box set up on my desk in the library where my kids can anonymously submit questions they may be too afraid to ask in my class. Most of the questions I get are about being popular, wanting to have boyfriends/girlfriends, and how to get long hair like mine. I’m still scratching my head trying to find answers to these.  The school year is still new, so it is hard to generalize what the focus will be, but so far I have realized that one of the topics that’s needs a lot of attention is gender equality and understanding and appreciating their culture. In one of my classes we discussed gender roles. My entire class told me that women cannot run the family because they are too weak and too emotional. They said that women must stay at home while the men work. I kept digging into this topic saying “so women can’t do this… and women can’t do that?”, they all replied with a yes, thinking that it was the answer I was looking for. I flipped the script on them and shared how I was in fact raised by a single mom and how she worked to support me, and how I also have been independent and supported myself for the past few years.  Their gasps of bafflement indicated they knew they had thought wrong and their answers slowly started to change. What I take away from this, is that these kids are so use to just saying what is expected and never really question or think is this right or still the case of today? I come from a different type of culture with different things are seemed as acceptable. I am not trying to get these kids to see the world from the way I want them to see it; but rather I want them to learn to think for themselves and learn to challenge things taught to them, don’t just accept something said to you because society says too.

The classes I teach are so fun, but I don’t spend much time planning them. I already have the materials and the kids are required to come, so not much effort is needed on my part. The area where I really put on my running shoes is the clubs at school. With the help of the English H.O.D., I am starting up an English Club. Right now we have 125 members; that’s half of the school! Some of the programs we will do are Debate Team, Drama, Creative Writing, Book Club, Tutoring, and School Newspaper. Since this is the first time ever for this, we are spending this first term planning. It has been work trying to create activities for each group within the club. It seems like everything will go well though. Fortunately my administration is great and whatever I need, the Head Teacher is always happy to help. The second club I work with is, Junior Achievement (J.A.). I could honestly dedicate my whole service to this club because the amount of work it involves. JA is a young entrepreneurs club funded by the USAID. We spend 15 weeks coming up with a business plan, a product, production, marketing, and eventually we compete with 49 other schools in the country to see who has the best presentation over all. The past two years, my school has won the national completion and when to compete in Ghana and Kenya where they took home First Place for Africa! As great as that is, I am now the facilitator and definitely feel the pressure to live up to the reputation. It is lots of work, but this is what I wanted to do initially in the Peace Corps, teach business.

Along with JA, I will also be teaching business classes to all members of the community on how to be employable. I want to help people learn how to write a resume, hold a successful interview, find opportunities in networking, and focus on financial literacy. During the workshop I attended with my counterpart, we looked at the needs of the community…. Unemployment is a factor, but really it is the person’s capability to get and hold a job where we want to focus. I want to teach people how to market themselves and present their self in a professional manner. All too often, people in my community spend their time drinking their time and money away simply because they have nothing else to do. This is just one peg in the cycle of why HIV is still prevalent here. I want to give people a sense of value and self-worth so they will not slum to bad habits that turn into unhealthy lifestyles.  This project is still in the beginning phases, so again, lots of planning and leg work is being done to get this going.

The final club I find myself busy with is the Girls Empowerment Club. I am not the only stakeholder in this club, so it requires a lot of patience to make sure no one is left behind. This club works hand and hand with an NGO that deals with gender-based violence, so in order to get funding and fulfill certain requirements we have to do things by the book. This is a lot different than just some grassroots club that many other volunteers have started in their community. But I have high hopes that we’ll running soon soon.

I still have a lot more projects in the bag I want to pull out….. 2 years is not enough time.