Our Steez: Our Second Week

Three things right off the bat: I am sure that eventually my titles will not have to do with the amount of time we have been here, and I have a second blog! This one is more for COPA use, it is much shorter, and each post includes one picture. It is much less personal, really just for increasing the amount of information available to the public about what we do here, and what life here looks like. The address is copa365.blogspot.com . Also, since I update these at random times, you can become followers and you will receive an email letting you know there is a new post (so you don't have to check back every day, which I know you all are doing!)

I thought I would start off with a picture of one of the kids from the Bombita school. He was quite the flirt!

Ok, on with the show!

THis week we have settled in to a bit of a routine. Work starts at 8, and we usually walk there together which is just a really nice way to start the day. We work, sometimes together sometimes separate, until noon when we have a two hour, count em, two hour siesta. During this time we eat lunch, take a little nap, play a little guitar, play with the dogs, and do a lot of reading! At two we go back to work, and work til four. Work for me so far has been teacher evaluations. This has been a great way to get to know the teachers better than just a "hi howarya" and a handshake. More on this later...After work we walk home together, walk the dogs in a plantain farm or on the baseball/horse field behind our house, and then make dinner. We haven't been too social at night so far, there have been some board games with other volunteers and such, we pretty much stay in and watch a movie, talk, or read. I think that once we get used to the heat we will not be so drained at the end of the day and will begin to spend more time with people we have met. So far, interest in the dogs has not cooled down, we still have kids climbing the walls to see them, and in art class student are drawing the dogs with our names in hearts, or drawing all four of us together. When we walk through town, new people come up to us to ask if we are the Americans with the dogs. I was also asked by a farm owner if we would be willing to breed Tosh if he found the male dog and paid us. I explained to him that she doesn't have to appropriate organs for that purpose, but he continued to ask that if he could find a way, would we be willing to do it. At some point I just said sure, if you can find a way to impregnate a dog with no uterus, feel free. He said he would be working on it.

More on the teacher evaluations-These are pretty well set up, and i have really enjoyed the process. I always loved being evaluated in the classroom, and I actually like it from this side better. I have already been asked to meet with a new teach to discuss her plans for her eval, and it made me feel like I knew what I was doing when she liked my ideas, was stumped by some of my questions, and ended up tweaking her plans on account of those questions. i have been able to contribute a good bit to the discussion after the evaluation, and I have learned a lot as well. The people in the evaluation group are myslef and the other education advisor Olivia, and the principals from each school. We watch a class for 45 minutes, then we discuss for about 3 hours and meet back with the teacher 30 minutes. The three hour meeting in the middle gets to me a bit, because about half that time is spent talking about completely unrelated subjects and we could be spending that time in the classroom, I mean, sometime we don't even get t o see the entire lesson, and yet we still evaluate them on it! So I think that will be something I will work to adjust in the future. Also, almost all the teachers give repeat lessons for their evals. Meaning we are not seeing how a teacher teaches, how she handles the situation if the kids are not getting it, etc...We flip throught he teacher's planning book every time, and many times see that they taught this particular lesson, with these some activities and questions just yesterday, two weeks ago, or last month. And nothing gets said to them. I will say there have been some excellent lessons taught that were not repeats, and some of them that were repeats were so good, I am sure the teacher was just very nervous and didn't want to mess up. OH! The teachers' bonuses are based of these evaluations, so it is pretty stressful. So to keep that particular gaff from continuing, I suggested doing pre evaluation meetings with just one of us and the teacher, to review their plans for the day and tweak it a bit if necessary, in hopes that they will learn more, and be more confident. The suggestion was well received and hopefully we can put it in to place next year.

Ruber, Maribele, and Olivia during the evaluation meeting

Last weekend we were in a bit of a strange and stressful situation. We always go into Barahona, which is the closest city, do do grocery shopping and eat lunch as a group. That particular morning, right as we were leaving La Hoya, A Haitian woman and her two small boys were walking towards us. Olivia stopped them and asked where they were going and did they need a ride. The woman was pretty out of it didn't answer at all. So Olivia asked again, where are you going. This time the woman replied "Where are YOU going?" Eventually she got into the truck with us. All three were lethargic, dirty, and the boys did not have shoes, and one did not have pants or underwear on. They did not talk the entire way there. Once we arrived we all got out of the car, Olivia gave her 50 pesos, and we went to do our shopping. When we came back tot he truck to drop off the groceries before lunch, they were sitting outside the truck, or so Patrick told me, I didn't actually see them there. So After lunch we brought them our leftovers and a fork (portions are massive here!). But when we got in the truck, so did they! We didn't really know what to do, but we found out she was homeless, Her house had been robbed and she said her husband and two older kids had been lost and she had been walking for the last two weeks. So we called some of the locals we know, and they suggested we take them to the fire station. When we did, they said they could stay there one night only, and did not have any information on any shelters or resources. So we came back the next day, and the kids and their mom were significantly more alert and talkative. Patrick and I bought the boys some shoes and clothes, the woman had nothing but he clothes on her back and her boys. We also brought them some breakfast, a towel, some fruit and some water. We took them to the other town we work in, Bombita, which is a Haitian village. A human rights worker met us there and let us know that there was a house that had an extra room they could stay in. The mother showed no emotion at this news, I am sure in her mind there were still so many unknowns remaining such as food, water, being accepted into the community, etc...The boys were sad to leave us as they were led away, and the way they kept looking back at me just broke my heart. We have been back to see them a few time this past week, and every day the mom, Cito, has been more alert and more talkative. She is obviously traumatized, but the community, which is already hard off for basic needs, has welcomed her and her boys, and have brought them food, a mosquito net, and more. We feel confident that this will e a good long term solution for the little family, and she may even be able to get a part time job cleaning at the school.