Now that the 4th year boys are out for their month of teaching practice I find the days even slacker than usual. I didn’t teach until 12.10pm today and finished at 1.30pm. Fortunately there are lots of things to do in the lab, sorting out boxes and generally blowing the Sahara dust off everything. There’s still no constant running water and no sign of the problem ending. Rumour has it that the pipes were sabotaged by workers who were disgruntled about their wages. The lab is stocked with a huge variety of equipment which was provided by the British Council. Sadly, most of the equipment is too sophisticated for the students and so it’s never used. I have to follow the general science curriculum and rarely does it mention anything about using scientific equipment to show the students anything.
I went back to school with Huseini to be with the prefects for a meeting on school discipline. He showed me a termites’ nest and it was fascinating. There were so many of them on the surface that it seemed as if the ground was moving. It’s amazing how nature can provide us with ants that work in the day and termites which are active in the dark. One morning I watched the termites by looking down the long funnel-like extension they build up from the ground. The hole was about 2 cms across with one centimetre thick walls to the chimney so it must be a labour of love.
Teaching practice time is hated by the students. The Kumbotso Teacher Training College sounds posh but actually it’s a school for male students who are not academic. Instead of being destined for university the government sends them to us to be trained as village teachers. While they are with us they have electric light and running water but, when they are in the villages the conditions are far more primitive. I hear that most of them leave school and never go into teaching because the conditions are not good and the pay is poor.
