2010. September 04.

Angelika:
The weeks are rushing -- we have spent another one yet. So, last Sunday we were working in the school. And not by chance as the week ahead was going to be a busy one.
On Monday we had a brief staff meeting at school as everyone was busy preparing the Open Day. We transported to the school the sewing machines, typewriters and computers to be displayed. Besides the building, that’s what really counts here in Congo when parents pick a school. We furnished the „Exhibition Hall”.
Next day France unpacked lots of little presents from the donations and we playfully handed them over to the multitude of children arriving for the Open Day. We had fun and music; and when we had waved off the children, we rounded the parents into a classroom and France gave an informative presentation to them only. He was in his usual brilliant self: involved the parents answered even the hidden questions that emerged in the audience and all turned out fantastic. The parents were thrilled with the opportunities offered by our school and many decided to bring over their kids who studied elsewhere to ours.
Those unfamiliar with the Kinshasa schooling situation should know that here too we had to destroy some stereotypes well-planted in the minds of the people; for instance, „quality education is expensive” and „an inexpensive school can’t be a good one”. The people, accustomed to corruption and lies, were surprised that everything we were talking about was real, tangible, verifiable and not just fairy tales – which not a lot of the schools can say about themselves!
What was basically good about it all, what made everyone enthusiastic, was that much more parents showed up than what is common at an all-school mid-term PT meeting, especially that it was still during the holidays while the people are usually „asleep” in Congo. And we even had lots of new parents there. This gave new hopes to all of us that we will have a good start of the school year. We’ll see. I daren’t rejoice now as you can’t anticipate anything here… I’ll tell you in our next week’s story :-).
Thus far we have about 120 students enrolled, out of which a hundred or so are new ones – which means the good reputation of the school is beginning to spread. This ratio roughly matches those in other schools. We have on hand the enrolment dumping now with the first two weeks of starting school. This is when everything and everyone settles into their places.
It has also been a great pleasure for us that this year a lot of things are going smoothly, with everyone knowing what to do. The clerical work is progressive and accurate, both in the enrolment, the financial, and the educational areas. All this reflects the quality at the school, thanks to the reforms initiated last term. Besides, back then we had teachers very much against the reforms but now they too have seen that all has been for their benefit they are working well for the implementation of our common goals. Therefore the change of attitude we strived for in our institutions has taken place at College Othniel. This year it’s the orphanage’s turn.
First thing in the next couple of days, Wednesday and Thursday, we held a seminar for our teachers. France, after a few words of encouragements, called on to our coordinator, M. Albini, in charge of our school’s educational reform, who then taught the teachers how to make lesson plans well and effectively, based on the national curriculum, for the whole year in advance, and what to pay attention to in the process. Also, mock lessons were held with each teacher giving a short lesson and then all of them analysing how well they did. So they were also dealing with how lessons are made up.
Teachers are the second pillar of the education reform and M. Albini sees that well. And he does all he can for us to have a well-trained, dedicated staff that provide an evenly high standard of education. This year, for example, we got rid of 3-4 „naughty” teachers and are hiring new ones to replace them; and we also had to employ new vocational teachers for the newly created areas of training. We are still in need of an IT teacher, because, when Toto and I were considering the task we realized we couldn’t cope with it ourselves. Although we could hold the lessons, their sheer number would be too big, as the objective is to train IT to everyone, from first grade primary to graduate high school, in one lesson a week. This would mean about 24 lessons a week, amounting to a full time teacher’s position. So we decided we’d rather take part in outlining the curriculum and maybe give a couple of special classes in more interesting, specific topics we might be more experienced in than the teacher.
There had been a personnel problem at school that finally came to a conclusion this week. The school discipline director and the receptionist had to be dismissed as they couldn’t work together and their quarrels resulted in a bad atmosphere. Of course, this was a last resort as we had tried everything (persuasion, advice and all) but in vain. Luckily we have filled both vacancies and hope we’ll not be disappointed by the new staff.
On Friday we worked in the school again and went to town in the afternoon. Our IT specialist Toto and I have been feeding the data of the freshly enrolled children into the new system so that everything will be available by Monday when school starts. Inputting the data is his job now I only helped him get started and now am busy improving the system – training to use Acces meanwhile.
It’s early Sunday morning and again we’ll not be sitting around. I’ll be cooking in the morning and we’ll take the orphans on a last, summer holidays outing to the Bonobos. For the night we are expecting visitors: a good old friend, Jerry with his family. But how the day will turn out I don’t know yet. I’ll tell you next week; till then, keep your fingers crossed. I hope the monkeys will not run off this time. :-)