Yesterday morning, I awoke to the first frost of the winter! The thatched roofs on our traditional-looking Basotho huts were dusted with powdery snow as we crunched on ice walking our normal route through the village to school. The entire South African region is currently facing a cold front, with temperatures (wind chill included) below freezing!
We are almost done teaching our first whole week at Letsie High School. The number of students in our class continues to fluctuate on a day to day basis, ranging from 30 to 35. The students have warmed up significantly, eagerly answering questions, asking for one-on-one help, teaching us new Sesotho phrases, surrounding us during lunch time, and walking us to our lodge after school. In general, our students are quite the rowdy bunch; their singing and cheering could be heard across the school courtyard as we celebrated a student’s birthday this morning. It has been a joy not only teaching these students, but also getting to know them on a personal basis. On Thursdays, Susan and I have a Q&A session where the students are allowed to ask us questions about our lives in America. As they see us being transparent, they are more open in sharing about their struggles in school, their hardships at home, and their goals for the future.
We have taught our students the first three steps to the problem solving model we will be using throughout the entire course. The students are extremely engaged, slowly but persistently tackling these new concepts. Along with our model, we are trying to get our students to think in a more critical and creative way. We have quickly realized that the creative activities we did as children, such as brainteasers, skits, journaling, and expressions, are very new to our students. Therefore, in our camp, they have been challenged to expand their minds as they work on mathematical pattern recognition problems, deserted island scenarios, and fairy tale journal prompts.
Today we were also given the opportunity to teach a short workshop on Dating/Courtship and Microfinance at the SOS Children’s Village. Susan and I spoke on the basics of microfinance, including a brief history, why it works, and several success stories. The students had never heard of microfinance before, and they were extremely interested in learning about local microfinance institutions. It was clear through their questions that many of these teenagers had a realistic, entrepreneurial spirit. We are currently working with the staff at SOS to see if we can volunteer there on a more regular basis.
This Saturday, we will have a class field trip to climb the famous and historical Thaba Bosiu Mountain. Let’s hope for warm weather, climbable trails, and good conversations with our students!
Cheers,
Beverly