This stop was the most enjoyable of the trip. Tamba is one of my really enthusiastic second year students. He is an amazing individual. I observed his teaching which was really inspiring and passionate. He was teaching a lesson on mass and used donated scales as well as homemade scales and had a variety of objects for the students to weigh. Usually the lessons are just the teacher telling the students something and the students repeating what the teacher says, so Tamba’s lesson was very exciting. The students were all engaged and really understanding the lesson. Each time they started wavering Tamba led the class in an energetic singing and dancing session to wake them up.
After the lesson it was break so Tamba took me around the village to show me his projects. He has a field behind the school which he is making brick to build some new buildings such as a multipurpose room and he also plans a food ball field. Not far away is a chicken farm where he keeps 300 chickens (in a barn style set up) and sells the eggs to the villagers and to the urban areas. This helps to fund the school and he is making bricks to expand the business. He is also trying to start up a vegetable garden project to skill build unemployed youths and also to improve the nutrition of his village. This will also help to fund the school.
After break the school had bantaba time. Because it is hot in the afternoons Tamba takes the classes to a cooler outside shelter where they tell traditional stories and practice languages and social skills such as washing. During bantaba time Tamba used a lesson that I had taught during my sessions. It was really rewarding to see what I had taught in a school and engaging the children. It was a story written in the local language which Tamba taught by asking predicting questions about the story and the vocabulary. It was all in the local language but I could tell by the actions and the children’s responses what was going on. It was very rewarding to watch.
After school we went to Tamba’s compound. The men got ready to pray again so I was at a loss, until I saw that Tamba’s wife was crocheting so I went and got my sewing and sat with her. (I should probably point out that the women also pray regularly but it seems to be less formal than the men’s prayers). I put down my sewing at one point to go and get a drink and I was really interested that Tamba’s wife picked it up while I was away and continued on with it. During the afternoon more and more women came, some for a chat, some with crocheting to do. One lady came, and although we didn’t speak the same language, she was very keen to communicate with me. In the end through watching each other’s actions and using a small bit of mandinka, I taught her how to do the sewing I was doing and she showed me how to crochet. So we sat together doing each other’s craft and listening to the chatter among the women.
Another really nice thing in Tamba’s compound was the excitement the children had to see me. They really loved sitting on my lap and getting ‘horsey’ rides and being spun around. In every other place we visited the children generally screamed when they saw me – they were absolutely terrified of me because I was the first white person they had ever seen. It probably doesn’t help that I have blue eyes, I think that would be really freaky if you had only ever seen brown eyes.
After the lesson it was break so Tamba took me around the village to show me his projects. He has a field behind the school which he is making brick to build some new buildings such as a multipurpose room and he also plans a food ball field. Not far away is a chicken farm where he keeps 300 chickens (in a barn style set up) and sells the eggs to the villagers and to the urban areas. This helps to fund the school and he is making bricks to expand the business. He is also trying to start up a vegetable garden project to skill build unemployed youths and also to improve the nutrition of his village. This will also help to fund the school.
After break the school had bantaba time. Because it is hot in the afternoons Tamba takes the classes to a cooler outside shelter where they tell traditional stories and practice languages and social skills such as washing. During bantaba time Tamba used a lesson that I had taught during my sessions. It was really rewarding to see what I had taught in a school and engaging the children. It was a story written in the local language which Tamba taught by asking predicting questions about the story and the vocabulary. It was all in the local language but I could tell by the actions and the children’s responses what was going on. It was very rewarding to watch.
After school we went to Tamba’s compound. The men got ready to pray again so I was at a loss, until I saw that Tamba’s wife was crocheting so I went and got my sewing and sat with her. (I should probably point out that the women also pray regularly but it seems to be less formal than the men’s prayers). I put down my sewing at one point to go and get a drink and I was really interested that Tamba’s wife picked it up while I was away and continued on with it. During the afternoon more and more women came, some for a chat, some with crocheting to do. One lady came, and although we didn’t speak the same language, she was very keen to communicate with me. In the end through watching each other’s actions and using a small bit of mandinka, I taught her how to do the sewing I was doing and she showed me how to crochet. So we sat together doing each other’s craft and listening to the chatter among the women.
Another really nice thing in Tamba’s compound was the excitement the children had to see me. They really loved sitting on my lap and getting ‘horsey’ rides and being spun around. In every other place we visited the children generally screamed when they saw me – they were absolutely terrified of me because I was the first white person they had ever seen. It probably doesn’t help that I have blue eyes, I think that would be really freaky if you had only ever seen brown eyes.
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