Days 2 & 3 in Yalding School, Farato

Wednesday, 26th March

Our daily meetings with Moses, the Head Teacher are very useful to us and to him, I think.  They mean that even the small matters do not become forgotten abad the bigger challenges, well - we have time to consider them carefully.  Moses keeps calm,  he is extremely astute and can work out what is best to do and consider in the complicated circumstances.  As we sit on the terrace of our house, overlooking the garden and banana plantation, frequently interrupted by callers requesting our time, we feel that we are making good progress at these daily meetings in growing to understand one another and to know which steps are “too Gambian” or “too English” and how to achieve a working balance in order to trove the school forward.  Here is our verandah where the meetings take place  - amidst a banana plantain and pink bougainvillaea.

After Nursery school finished I met with Abibatou and we discussed workshops that she and I want to hold.

It is a year since we have hosted one of our a whole day workshop for the teachers in Nursery schools in the village and we did agree that Abi would plan, prepare and lead the next one.  I have asked her to prepare a detailed document by Monday and assured her that I will support her and even lead some sessions on the day if she invites me,  but I see this as an important next step that she develops the skills to run these workshops in the future.  We also agreed that we should time table my visit to three of the schools that are responding actively to previous workshops and support them in developing their teaching styles. 

Alassan the Peace Corps volunteer, has suggested holding a whole staff workshop to share the ideas that he and Darbonding (Grade 3 teacher) received at  2-day workshop that the Peace Corps held in February.  We will plan this when he returns from trek on Friday.

Tony, Moses and I then met Baba to discuss with him the paperwork we need to produce for his visa application.  We hope that this will all be in order and that he will be able to go to UK at the end of May and stay for 6 weeks.  He has an invitation to work in Yalding Primary School, Kent and we plan that he will work with the Years 5 & 6 to see (a) how they use IT in the classroom and (b) how teachers organise provision of tasks for different abilities.  He will then return to The Gambia with plenty of ideas to share with his colleagues in Farato and for his Computer classes.  Then we talked about upgrading the internet because it is so slow.  There was some debate about what causes this but we need to decide upon working with the present provider, the value for money that we are currently getting and do some research into organisations that use an updated version to ensure that it actually I can be quicker. 

As we sat working on the verandah around 5 pm, we were surrounded by the Grade 9 Agricultural Studies lesson - a noisy but not vey busy scene!  Copious quantities of water were being poured amidst loud, mostly jocular, banter between the 16+ year olds and.  The garden forms a feature of the practical aspect of the national exam they will be taking in May.  We talked to their teacher, Lamin Njie, on his way home after school and he was full to the brim (in fact, brimming over) with theoretical knowledge.  When I asked him about the contents of the practical exam he expounded in detail about poultry houses, cross breeding and artificial dissemination of cows to create breeds that produce good milk and meat whilst assuring me that his pupils had covered all this.  The confusion between what is theory and what is practice is widespread in education. After nearly an hour of energetic conversation about all sorts of subjects, darkness began to descend and he bid farewell.  

We ended the day with a cold (this time) beer and a stew made of soya mince, tomatoes, aubergine, onion and curry powder with very sticky rice.  Fresh bananas for pudding. 

Thursday, 27th March

After breakfast George and Tony went into Brikama to visit the bank, get a flavour or a typical local Gambian town and buy some bits and bobs.  I visited the Nursery classes and saw some good number lessons in Nursery 1 and 3.  Ida was playing an excellent counting game with pupils in Nursery 2 (although the rest of the class were quietly sitting at their (new) desks with just one toy each).  We are very grateful for the donation which paid for the smart desks and benches, made locally by Alagie.  Story time is always popular and a great opportunity for the younger children to learn English and see books.  Few, if any Gambians in Farato would have access to story books outside the school but we do also encourage local oral story telling in the various local languages:  Mandinka, Fula, Wolof, Jola.

I then observed two reading classes - Darbonding led a very animated one with Grade 4 and spent plenty of time explaining the difference between “I am” and “I’m” on the blackboard and going over the story, helping with expressive reading.  Jorjor (Grade 1 teacher) tried hard to encourage the children to suggest the initial sounds of words like “duck” and “rabbit” but the Grade 2 pupils could not come up with the answers.  I need to investigate.  Every pupil has a weekly guided reading lesson in groups of no more than 8 and the teachers are trained to teach them decoding skills.  It is so hard for the teachers to learn this approach as they would have been taught and trained in schools where the most common way to learn to read would be to chant, repeat and memorise a text that the teacher read from a single text book.  We are making good progress in our school towards helping pupils to become independent readers - they love the stories and I highly respect our teachers' willingness to learn a very new approach/method.

Moses ran excitedly up to me as I left the classroom as he wanted to share the news that the new girl in Grade 1 who we had accepted because she has speech difficulties, could now talk.  When I met the little child she was full of smiles but not ready to demonstrate her new skill to a stranger.  

After mid-morning break, during which I did my laundry (washing clothes in cold water with lots of Omo!), we met with Moses and talked about workshops, the issue of exercise books (problems there) and cover for the two women teachers who are due for confinement leave.  We agreed to hold interviews.  

We also talked about the plan for an Open Day which was originally meant to take place at the beginning of March.  I offered to be part of the Planning Committee which has already been formed and Moses has identified a guest speaker.  Tony had the idea of taking this opportunity to sell the UBS to parents of Grade 6.  For instance, displaying their work in Arts & Crafts and demonstrating computer skills.  I feel strongly that it is important that the Open Day itself takes place when we are NOT here so that the message goes to the community that the school can run and promote itself. 

I spent the afternoon preparing posters with “Useful words” from a list that exists in a printed notebook published by Schonell.  I have two copies of the book so my plan is to give one each to Abi and Moses to keep in their offices as references to some kind of structure that informs the teaching of spelling in the classroom. It is interesting to recognise that many Gambian teachers have no concept whatsoever of rhyme and, hence, families of words (from at you can spell cat, bat, mat, etc) and so helping them to make useful choices about groups of words to teach in one lesson has been an insurmountable challenge.  When we consider the wealth of children’s literature and song (let alone adult poetry) that involves rhyme, rhythmic sentence construction, metre and play with sound, it is a challenge to encourage the teachers to start appreciating these things.  I asked a group of children in the reading Room this morning, “How many have books at home?” 2 children said that their brothers in Grade 12 lent them books but none of the others had access to books and there is certainly no culture of reading to children.  Any books that exist in a home are intended for study, memorising.

Lamin Njie, the Agric teacher came to inspect the garden whilst I was alone on the verandah and he straightway came to me and he was friendly and we talked generally about human issues and philosophy.

Adama, Ebrima Njie’s first wife, who lives in the compound opposite the school, found me in the garden taking photos of the beautiful okra flowers.  She gave me a note of expenses for her son, Ali’s treatment of a deformed lip which he has had since birth.  There are 2 people in UK who are helping to provide his treatment.  She is always very friendly and her husband, Ebrima, has 12 children and 3 wives.   Amie, the second wis  is our Koranic studies teacher in the Primary school. The 3 eldest children are adults now but the rest have either all been to our school or will do so when they are old enough.  He is VIce Chair of the Board of Directors and has supported the school from our very first day of sponsorship.  

We finished the day with a beer, local peanuts and concoction of cabbage, tinned tomatoes, foule (YES!!) beans, fresh okra and dried rosemary with sticky rice.  Tony and George had half a tin of chicken luncheon meat with theirs - lucky fellas!  I am enjoying being a vegetarian when I have a garden full of okra.

We have no electricity facility in our house so after our evening meals, we way dishes by candlelight and then to bed.  Darkness falls about 1930 and the sun is up 12 hours later.  

First day in Farato

Daily Newsletter
from Yalding Nursery & Basic Cycle School, Farato,
The Gambia

Day 1 - Tuesday, 25th March

Smooth journey and flight with amazing views over the desert and Atlas mountains - such swirls of sandy colours set against dark relief of snow capped mountains.  We are travelling with George, a graduate from Sheffield University who has been working on GamBLE’s Income Planning Group for the last six months.  It is his first visit to The Gambia, although he worked as a student in a school in South Africa.  He has volunteered to spend 10 days in Farato with his camera, making an album of pictures to show school life, village activities and individual stories.

We were met at the airport by Modou Lamin, our trained Bursar and Moses, our Head Teacher plus, of course, Abdouli, our regular driver for 11 years.  But the greatest welcome came from the pupils of the Upper Basic School who had assembled at the gates with placards stating “Welcome George!”  We walked down the line of the welcoming party rather like dignitaries but with the added touch of warm smiles and hugs for Tony and I.  We sat to listen to a beautiful speech from the Head Girl, Ameniata.  Baba, the Grade 6 teacher also spoke of the strong relationship between Yalding School and the work of GamBLE and how much everyone benefitted from the education and new ideas that GamBLE continued to bring to the teachers and pupils.  It was very moving (embarrassing, actually) for Tony and I but a wonderful and humbling surprise for George, who made a short but excellent response.  Then we took him to Tonka Kunda (our house) through the verdant garden - a joy to see okra, aubergine and sorrel maturing, after the struggles of the last year to try to grow vegetables to sell for school funds.

A Grade 8 pupil prepares the ground for vegetables - this is the beautiful okra plant with a tiny bud of okra on the left of the flower.  Ready for eating in a day or 2!

It was very dusty in the house and all the shutters were closed as our Peace Corps volunteer, Alassan, who has been living there since January, is away on trek.  So we began by opening them to let in the light and air.  The next thing that happened to me was like a slow motion action movie:  the entire window frame came away from the wall and seemed to enwrap me from head to shoulders.  I could only respond by shouting “Help!”

Although it was a shock, my only injury was a cut or two on my wrist and I recovered immediately.  We are now left with just the open window and metal bars - no screen, but apart from extra dust and dead bougainvillaea flowers blowing in, it is not too much of a problem!
Then we swept and tidied, sorted out our provisions, unpacked the school materials we had brought and then walked through the village to find rice, fruit, peanuts and margarine.  So many people greeted us along the way, mostly by name and we stopped to chat and pass the time of day. and to introduce George.  By the time it was 7 pm and getting dark, we were ready for a beer and supper.  I cooked local spaghetti and covered it with some pesto sauce that I had brought from UK, sprinkled with dried cheddar shavings that we bought in UK.  Beer was warm because we had no time to buy ice.

Day 2 - Wednesday, 26th March
Call to prayer was half an hour late but we were all awake by 4 am anyway because we had gone to sleep at 8.30 last night.  Breakfast on the verandah of the usual tapalapa (fresh french bread), local margarine and our own marmite, plus the bananas that Moses had saved for us from the school garden, covered with Tony’s UK yogurt.  George was escorted by Abibatou, the Deputy Head, to be introduced to the assembled school.  I then took him round the classrooms to be introduced to all the pupils and teachers.  He soon settled into the role of photographer which involves chatting to people and getting to know everyone.  That involved the typically Gambian pastime of sitting under a mango tree, drinking green tea (atayah) and passing the time of day with Kebba, the caretaker and Modou Lamin who cannot get on with his office work if there is no electricity.
Tony and I met with Moses to catch up on what has been happening in the 6 weeks that we have been in UK and there was a healthy balance of achievements with challenges.  Kemo is definitely trying to manage the UBS (Upper Basic School) more efficiently and effectively and the peer monitoring of teachers is proceeding according to the format and programme with the teachers responding well to helping maintain and even, increase learning standards.

………..to be continued