Today I have been helping Wilemine perform the assessments at the kindergarten. We assess with a tool from Priceline, which is apparently approved by the government here in SA. The first day I just wanted to redo this lengthy and tedious tool, I though about the cultural appropriateness of some of the questions. Like chose 5 fruits on this sheet – the children attending the Refilwe kindergarten are from the local informal settlements or so called squatter camps, rarely they probably see cherries or strawberries on their table. At the end of the day after barely finishing one child’s assessment I thouhgt again about the tool’s appropriateness and my initial need to redo it… it’s not a bad tool afterall. It is not tedious but comprehensive the question about cultural appropriateness is maybe fair, however, we work with children living in extreme conditions. It’s more the need to train the ‘teachers’ who are volunteers in the community. Child development, first aid, teaching methods, and curriculum ideas are most welcome here. After a while I found out they actually have really solid materials for the curriculum and teachers are using it, however, the ratio in the classroom 1:10 for toddlers under three years of age (more like 1:15)and horendous (in the US terms) 1:25 over four years of age. So I ask the children to point to the left and they cannot follow the direction. I ask them to repeat the five sentence story about a dog and a cat and they have no clue. We do use a translator, one of the teachers since the children’s English is very limited. So the children can answer in Zulu or Tswana or Xhosa or another tribal language, however, pulling the teacher out of the classrooms makes the ratio even more crowded. The children are clearly smart but the potential is not being used up to their best potential, which makes me sad. Today the usual teacher who interprets for us was not available so the head master agreed to help us. At first she was frowning a little so my colleague who has been doing the assessments for the past three weeks asked what is wrong, and she ignored her. I am not sure how my colleague introduced this whole project to her, but since I have started last week the teachers were a little on the cool side to her. After a while the head master came outside and I told her who I was (I only met her briefly before that) I told her that the children seem to be doing really well and there were really only one or two were clearly behind with their skills. I told her that my project will be preparing a policy manual for the pre school and that I would love to have her input on the way they accept children and the whole administrative part, (because I only have about three weeks to do this) and because I want all the involved parties to be part of the whole policy manual. She seemed pleased and talked to me after for a long while asking me about some children who is concerned about, I suggested early intervention type of service, only we will have to figure out who will do it on a continuous basis, for children who show lack in their development. She told me that they had been going into the children's homes to do a home visit, monthly, in the beginning, about two years ago, when she only had 25 children at the creche(nursery school). She said they still do home visits but have to do it on the weekends because they have no time during the week. She promised to take me with her one weekend. It is hard to think about seeing these children go home, because I know here at Refilwe they are protected and sheltered, just like I am, from the poverty and crime which happens outside the gates of our green and vibrant compound. Everyone here takes their job as a mission, it’s not a job it’s a calling, I admire them all for being to dedicated to the children here.
Also, I found out that one of our little girls is HIV+, which is soooo sad. Plus, shouldn't this be confidential? But in our setting it seems that the God-parents should know the status of their children since they give them medications.
So far I have been taking everything in, and after reading blog postings from some of our other global students, I really find myself very sheltered. In Johannesburg and here at Refilwe as well. In Johannesburg I was told not to go anywhere alone, my guesthouse owner drove me everywhere and if it was too far, he drove me half way, waited with me for the next person to pick me up. Here at Refilwe, the compound is in a rural environment, so there is only a little store here behind the gates where we should only go in two’s, best at least one man. But a 20 minutes drive will take to a very western-type mall with all the amenities. I have not gone to the squatter camps yet, since that will be my assignment for my second half of my stay, and the compound here feels like a summer camp. I sleep on a bunk bed and share a room with two other girls, total in out cottage is 6 at this time.
Also, we started with 5 ducklings and today we have 2 only... the rats are eating it, welcome to the cruel world.
Dnes jsme open pracovali na posudcich pro petilete deti v nasi skolce. Nektere deti sem dochazi z prilehlych “vesnic”, slamu, kde neni tekouci voda ani kanalizace. Nejdriv mi ten posudek prisel hrozne podrobny a nepotrebny, a pro mistni deti nektere casti nepouzitelne, jelikoz jak ma nekdo poznat jahodu, nebo tresen, kdyz ji nikdy nejedl. Nejdriv jsem chtela nektere casti uplne predelat, ale nakonec jsme jen vybarvili nektere obrazky, aby se dali lepe rozeznat. Uz po par otazkach jsem poznala ze deti jsou velice chytre, ale nikdo je nic moc neuci, v peti letech nepoznaji levou a pravou ruku, tvary ani barvy. Maji problem pracovat podle instrukci a nektere jsou viditelne opozdene ve vyvoji. Nektere taky vypadaji ze jim jsou 3 a ne 5, coz je velice smutne. Taky je hrozne je videt odchazet domu a predstavit si kam jdou. Maji krasne oblecky (nektere) a boticky ktere jim padnou, nebo spis jim vetsinou nepadnou a pak si uvedomim kam jdou, maji vubec svoji postylku, budou mit veceri, neuhodi je nekdo nez pujdou spat, bude jejich maminka opila?
Dalsi vec jsou ucitele, kteri tu uci, jsou to dobrovolnici z mistnich vesnic, tedy opet, pochazeji s mist odkud pochazi vetsina deti. Par deti dochazi do skolky z nasi organizace, bydli v Refilwe u svych kmotricku, tak rikame rodicum, kteri maji opatrovnictvi, a bydli tu u nas v barackach pod nami. Takze ti ucitele nemaji pedagogickou fakultu ani stredni skolu. Pomery ve tride deti vuci ucitelum jsou 10:1 pro trilete a maldsi a 25:1 pro 4 lete a starsi. Toto je dano ministerstvem zdravotnictvi. Takze deti umi strasne hezky sedet a zabyvat se sami sebou a krome par kratkych pisnicek, ktere opakuji dokolecka dokola neumi nic moc navic. Povedet pohadku, skakat pres svihadlo nebo treba modelovat je pro ne pokazde nove kdyz to po nich chceme v nasem testu. Pak jsem si myslela ze by tedy bylo dobre, aby ucitele sli na skoleni o detskem vyvoji, pedagogickych metodach nebo podobnych vychovatelskych predmetech, jenze pak jsem nasla skvelou pomucku, primo v kanceraci reditelky, kerou uz nekdo prede mnou vymyslel – svete div se. Ale pak se zase vratime zpet k tem pomerum 25:1. Dite ktere neni moc prubojne nebo treba min nadane se ztrati raz dva. Dnes jsme s kolegyni prisli rano do skolky a nase ucitelka, ktera vetsinou preklada, dnes nemohla a tak jsme pozadali reditelku, ktera se nejdriv zdala nastvana a nechtela odpovedet na nase otazky… po chvili jsem k ni prisla a znovu se predstavila, nejsem si jista jak se moje kolegyne do sve role uvedla a nevim jestli mela moc casu na to, aby stravila s detmi moc casu nez je zacala testovat, viditelne pani reditelka nebyla rada ze byla mimo obraz a rekla ze by rada vedela jak si deti stoji… pak jsem ji rekla ze deti jsou vetsinou v pohode, jen asi dva jsou viditelne pozadu. Pak jsem ji rekla ktere a ona s ulevou odhalila fakt ze ti dva a jeste dva dalsi prisli k nam do skolky az v posledni dobe a tim padem to neni jejich chyba ze toho moc neumi… coz je pochopitelne, nechteji abychom sli a podali zpravu o tom ze se deti nic nenaucili… coz je podobna a jeste delsi stat nez tato, jelikoz to vsude na svete zalezi na ucitelich. Na konci dne jsme si skvele popovidali o tom jak zacala skolku a jak musela mesicne navstevovat domovy vsech deti aby si popovidala s rodici, mnozi z nichz jsou alkoholici, chudi, a vsichni bez vyjimky ziji v tech vyse zminenych vesnickach bez vody a elektriny. Rikala mi taky ze tam ted musi chodit o weekendu protoze pres tyden nema cas. Tak jsem ji poprosila jestli by me nevzala s sebou. (Mami, tak souhlasila,neni to skvele?) Taky chce abych ji pomohla zaridit spec. ped. Pro nektere deti ktere jsou viditelne pozadu, nebo se vic venovala detem, ktere maji problemovou rodinu…tedy vic problemovou nez ostatni. Problem je pojem relativni, ze. :) Vsichni jsou tu strasne oddani sve praci coz je obdivuhodne. Dnes jsem zjistila ze jedna nase strasne roztomila holcicka je HIV+, nevim jestli by to nemelo byt lekarske tajemstvi, ale ti kmotri to asi vedet musi.
Taky jsme zacali s peti kacatkama a vcera uz byly jen 2, pry je v noci zerou krysy, kruty co?
ADRESA/Address
Prosim posilejte balicky dle sveho uvazeni, susenky!, filmy na DVD, Fixy, nafukovaci mice, kosicky na badminton, voskovky, tempery, vodovky, mice na fotbal, pravitka 2-3, a tak podobne. At to nestoji majlant, ju?!
Please feel free to send packages including, crackers, Republic of Tea (any flavor), TAZO Chai Spiced Tea (the dark yellow box) from Starbucks, DVD, inflatable beach balls, crayons, water colors, rulers, soccer balls.
If you’d like to sponsor a child or an extra teacher for our pre school – let me know I will set it up!
Pokud byste radi sponsorovali dite nebo dalsi ucitelku pro nasi skolku dejte mi vedet, zaridime!
DEKUJI!!! THANK YOU!!!
I love you and miss you all! Mam vas moc rada a chybite mi!
Oh, I almost forgot? Skoro jsem zapomnela:
Send it all here please/Posilejte balicky na tuto adresu:
Relifwe
Jana Touzimska
PO BOX 1020
Lanseria 1748
Johannesburg, South Africa
Zprvu to vypadalo ze pujdeme po travnate nahorni plosine ale asi po 30 min jsme dosli ke kanonu. Bylo to tam dole jako v zacarovanem lese. Sli jsme kolem potoka a prodirali se kolem padlych stromu, a krome sestupu a vystupu to nebylo moc narocne zato pohledy staly zato. Aloe rostly ze skal a taky tam rostly takovy cerveny houbicky, ve tvaru hvezdice ktere mely uprostred vlhke hnede kolecko, vypadaly jedovate, ale krasne. Sdilim je v sekci fotky, jak uz jste si jiste zvykli. Skalam zdar!
Today we set out on the long planned hike. As usualy we did not have exactly the perfect picture about where and for how long we were going so I pack like for a 5-6 hour tour, froze my water and packed some extra granola bars and bandaids. We left as planned at seven and after an hour we came to a camp/training center for two JoBurg universities, which also own the land, I think. We borrowed their tour guids Sammy and Michael. At first it looked like we will hike in like a plato/grasslands but after about 30 min we arrived at this beautiful gorge/canyon, we descended and took a trip along the brook on the bottomof teh canyon. It looked like in an enchanted forest, I was waiting for a fairy to fly around, no fairies, but weird star-like mushrooms with a brown wet middle were abundant. Aloe plants grew in the walls of the rocks. Except the climbing up and down which was pretty hardcore (for a Sunday hike) the walk in the canyon was just plain pleasant. Pics are posted under photos as you may have guessed.
Today we set out on the long planned hike. As usualy we did not have exactly the perfect picture about where and for how long we were going so I pack like for a 5-6 hour tour, froze my water and packed some extra granola bars and bandaids. We left as planned at seven and after an hour we came to a camp/training center for two JoBurg universities, which also own the land, I think. We borrowed their tour guids Sammy and Michael. At first it looked like we will hike in like a plato/grasslands but after about 30 min we arrived at this beautiful gorge/canyon, we descended and took a trip along the brook on the bottomof teh canyon. It looked like in an enchanted forest, I was waiting for a fairy to fly around, no fairies, but weird star-like mushrooms with a brown wet middle were abundant. Aloe plants grew in the walls of the rocks. Except the climbing up and down which was pretty hardcore (for a Sunday hike) the walk in the canyon was just plain pleasant. Pics are posted under photos as you may have guessed.
