This article is from page 29 of the 2007-09-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 29 JPG
A DAY IN THE LIFE – 6am and the dawn is peeping through the banana leaves. The ceiling fan drones lazily above the mosquito net but our neigh- bours are already out and about.
A group of barefoot teenagers are training for soccer, children are on their way to school and the goats and hens are foraging for breakfast in the dump behind our house.
There is something stimulating about the trot across the yard for a cold shower followed quickly by breakfast of passion fruit and banan- as on toast.
Then it’s on the bikes and it’s off down Kilimandege (Bird Hill) to the teacher training College a mile eae
No two days in college are the same So one 1s ‘winging it’ a lot of the time. Yes, there is lots of team teaching in English, Maths and Science but that’s the easy bit! Often we are called on to fix the computer or research some- thing on the internet.
We have been put on the spot to solve complicated problems in Maths or questions in English Literature by students who are resitting their Form 4 exams or correct essays written on
scraps of paper! Staff need help to write proposals or letters of applica- tion for further studies and teachers who are doing Open University some- times discuss their assignments.
We hear stories of the struggle for
education, of infant death, of the harsh choices some people have to make and tales of abject poverty. It is a humbling experience to share our life with these wonderful, resilient people.
Evenings are varied but most eve- nings we teach English or computers at the Catholic Mission or students call to the house. Just before dark there is the race to the ‘kidala’ for fresh bread and at exactly 7 o’clock a shrill voice is heard.
‘Neeeenas, no school au yes?’ as ten year old Hiradi, outside on the veranda pleads with Neilus to come and teach reading to herself and her friends by torch light.
It has been a good day with the add- ed luxury of uninterrupted water and electricity. At last it’s time for rest, reading, relaxation and a sound sleep under the lazy drone of the ceiling e0F