PHYLICIA
Elementary Education Graduate |
PHYLICIA
Elementary Education Graduate |
Well, things are really winding down here in Zambia. This morning Sydney and I woke up early to go to Roma to finish up the last bit of our research. I just love the Head Teacher (Sister Mary Zimba) so much! I sat and talked with her about the ways in which social justice issues affect her students. I was very curious to find out how all of these educational policies actually took shape in the school buildings. She gave me the statistics of “vulnerable students” (students that come from impoverished backgrounds or have lost one, or both, parents). From speaking with her, I figured out that the Education for All (or Free Education) policy is a lot like the No Child Left Behind Act. In theory, it could be good, but, in reality, it’s much less beneficial than it should be due to lack of funding. So, the government says that no child should be turned away from a school for lack of ability to pay or provide uniform, however, the amount of money that the government is providing to “cover” the costs of these students is only enough to buy a case or two of printer paper. I knew there had to be a gap somewhere and I am so grateful for Sister Mary’s openness about each one of the policies and what they really mean for her students. It is also so beautiful to see how passionate she is about her girls. I had a lot of one-on-one time with her and I could really tell that she loves the girls at Roma. So, before Sydney and I left Roma, we left the girls with some donations. They were so happy and excited! We also did a lot of running around today!
Now I guess it’s time to get ready for my last day in Zambia. It will be so bittersweet.
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Last Saturday we drove to Mukambi Safari and Lodge for the weekend. Mukambi is right outside of Kafue National Park. It is a lot different than Mukuni Big 5 because Mukambi is just “the bush.” So, in short, not one of the animals encountered at Mukambi is tamed (minus the cute little wild cat). When we got in we found our chalets to be absolutely beautiful and lunch to be so delicious. After lunch, we all (the students) went for the two and a half to three hour sunset cruise/boat cruise. We found crocodiles, big lizards, hippos and different species of birds. The sunset on the Kafue River was gorgeous. I will admit that I didn’t want to go, but I am so glad that the girls forced (lol) me to come. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards, we had a wonderful dinner and relaxed a little before being escorted to our chalets for bed. At Mukambi, because none of the animals are tamed, guests are not permitted to walk around after dark without an escort. The staff woke us all up at 530am for the morning game drive. The staff informed us that the lions and Basil (the hippo) were out by our chalet during the night. Boy was the game drive that an experience! We found no big cats but lots of other animals. Our driver tried so hard to find us a lion, but they must have all been hiding in a secret place. We found and then traced their footprints and everything. We all appreciated his effort. We rode across the river, back to the lodge, for a breakfast buffet. From that point on I really just relaxed. What I love so much about Mukambi is that, despite how beautiful it is, the staff really tries to afford you a true “bush”/wildlife experience. There was wi-fi but it wasn’t great (on purpose), there were no phones in our rooms, hot water for tea was only delivered in a small thermos at 530am. So, guests find a different kind of relaxation there. The staff is awesome (very friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable). They really make the stay worthwhile. I kind of stuck around and chatted with the staff while the other girls went for their evening game drive. I, honestly, loved just sitting and looking at the stars. I have never seen the stars as clear as I have since I’ve been here. I love the stars, so being able to see the stars so clearly gave me an even greater appreciation for everything; life in general, I suppose. Once the girls came in from their drive, and after we ate dinner, Dirk put on a beautiful bonfire for us. He went to get us marshmallows and everything. He showed us the South African star constellation type thing. We all were escorted to our rooms for bed. That night we really heard the hippo all night long. We knew she was right by our chalet. In the morning, the staff informed us that there was also a leopard by our chalet during the night.
We took it easy in the morning (all of us except Sydney). We met up for breakfast, waited for Sydney to get back from her game drive and headed back to Lusaka. Finally all caught up!
I kind of don’t want to leave, but I know the rest of the trip is going to go by very fast. Today, we observed at UTH Special School. I loved it so much. My first classroom was a Deaf Ed classroom. The students were so happy to find out that I knew sign language (thanks to Heritage and Jazz lol). So, here’s my shocking moment of the day. The “new curriculum” in Zambia, basically states that for a certain amount of years, students’ primary language of learning must be one of Zambia’s 7 national languages. However, Zambia actually has 73 languages, so, as you can imagine, this new curriculum is quite the task. Aside from all of that, even in Deaf Ed, students are learning ASL, but, as required by the new curriculum, they also have to learn Zambian Sign Language and this has to be their primary language of learning. Imagine that. After I spent a little time in that class, I went to a class of students with multiple disabilities. This classroom was great as well. Tomorrow we’re of to Mukambi for another safari adventure! I cannot believe we are leaving in a week! Monday was a relaxation day for us, but there was no way that I could sit in the house all day long. So, Sydney and I went to Manda Hill to look around for a little bit. We found some really cute sneakers, but they only had her size. After we spent a while at the mall, we did a little running around and went back to Komesa for more Chitenge! Lol. We took our fabric to a new tailor for more traditional clothes. We grabbed lunch and went home to plan the rest of our week and relax. Tuesday, Sydney and I chose to do a little research at UNZA. The time we spent here was so beneficial. Dr. Luangala and Dr. Banda offered us so much wonderful information on the topics of literacy and social justice. They made themselves available at such short notice (Dr. Banda was literally called in to our meeting by Dr. Luangala). Those men are such a wealth of knowledge and I am so glad to have had the opportunity to meet with and learn from them. After UNZA, we went to the Ministry of Education and the Curriculum Development Center to ask for a very long list of books on education policy. Every person we talked to made reference to certain policies and/or “the new curriculum”, so those documents became extremely important to us. Once again, the people at the CDC and Ministry of Education were willing to do whatever they could to help us find what we were looking for. This was a very successful trip. Wednesday we had a plan to, not only visit, but actually observe classrooms in all of our partner schools. We finally traveled as a cohesive unit (we’re usually split up because undergraduate students and graduate students have very different expectations). The order was as follows: Roma Girls Jacaranda Lusaka Girls St Mary’s. The opportunity to observe in each one of these schools was very much appreciated. It really afforded me the ability to put all of the information I have gained (from people like the professors at UNZA and Maina) into an actual school setting. I now understand the affect that the new curriculum has on the education of Zambia’s students. I have also been able to fully conceptualize what is meant by the “Free Education for All” policy, and the benefits and struggles of implementation. I also appreciated this experience because we could see the vast differences between schools. Just like the states, no two schools are the same, and you could observe two schools on the same block and feel as though you have been immersed in two totally different worlds. I like to discuss the similarities between Buffalo and Lusaka with the head teachers and teaching staff because they think they are SO far behind in education. So, if we share the same struggle, I let them know. As I said before: education struggles are, often times, global; they aren’t just happening here, or in Buffalo, or in Detroit, or only in developing countries. I also loved to see the similarities in teaching methods. I actually wrote the words “Teach Like a Champion” at the top of my research notebook because so many of the teachers’ techniques (especially the ways in which the students offered each other praise) reminded me of this text. I asked the Head Teacher about it and she had never heard of it before. That was eye-opening to me. After we finished up with our current partner schools, we collectively made the executive decision to visit the University Teaching Hospital’s Special School. We only went to meet the Head and Deputy Head Teachers, but I just loved being there. We made an appointment to go back to visit on Friday. Today, we went to Libala to observe. Once again, this observation added to the feelings that I hold regarding the observations of all of the schools. Together, Sydney and I observed a fifth grade classroom. I’ve decided that teachers here must have a true love for teaching (not that teachers back home don’t). I don’t know that teachers in Buffalo (I can’t speak for the country because I’ve only spent time in Buffalo’s education system) would still remain teachers if they: had to teach 40-70 students with no aide/assistant; had to self-create their own resources (posters, etc.); had only 10 books (or less) per classroom. These teachers have to really want to be teachers. I will say that the Senior Teaching Staff seems to be very supportive of the staff and children which is crucial. Alright so…. Pictures: After Libala, we went to Roma Girls to talk to the Head Teacher about using their school to collect data for our research.
What can I say? This trip is awesome! I know I’ve said that in every blog post thus far, but it’s the only word I can use to explain such an experience. This will be a long one, so please be patient with me. Last weekend: Friday, we left our beautiful flats at 6am for the 6+ hour drive to Livingstone. The entire trip was amazing! We did so much there, but I’ll just give you all the highlights. Friday night we visited a few local hotels so we could see a few wild animals. There, we found zebras, giraffes, monkeys, and a wild cat. Saturday morning we visited the Livingstone Museum, the biggest museum in Zambia. It was great to learn more Zambian history, as our tour guide escorted us through the museum. While at the museum, we met our personal tour guide, Charles, who spent the remainder of the day with us. We then visited the Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was gorgeous! Before we got there, however, we found some wild elephants along the side of the road and stopped to take pictures of them. Once we got to The Falls, we walked 800 steps down to the Boiling Point in the midst of baboons. The walk was long, but it was so worth it. We then walked through the rainforest and over the Knife Bridge. We got soaked, but it was one of the most beautiful walks I have ever taken. -All the pictures are on my actual camera so I’ll upload them on here when I get back to the states.- We had a pretty busy day planned. After we left The Falls, we went to Mukuni Village to see what a real village looks like and how people live in the villages. This was also such a great experience. The media portrays life in Africa in such a negative manner (which, most critical thinkers know isn’t 100% truthful) that it can be hard to conceptualize life in a village outside of those negative thoughts and ideas which have, in many ways, been ingrained in our minds. To have seen an African village, for myself, and to have seen how villagers live allows me the opportunity to push back against those thoughts and ideas; to bring light to promoted darkness. Afterwards, we finally had the opportunity to visit a traditional restaurant where I had the best curry chicken dish of my life! It tasted so good! Maya, Dr. Shandomo’s nephew, also taught us how to eat nshima, a dish prepared from corn meal which reminds me a lot of grits minus the salt and butter. As you can imagine, we were exhausted, so, after all of that, we traveled back to our lodge for some rest. Sunday, the girls and I woke up at 6am for our animal interactions. We were picked up and taken to the Mukuni Big Five Safari. The “big five” are the five most dangerous animals in the world, all of which can be found here (hippos, elephants, lions, leopards, and buffalos). I love this safari because it is nothing like a zoo. All of the animals in this safari are rescued from dangerous conditions (such as from being hunted) or are orphaned. They come to The Big Five for rehabilitation and are then sent back into the wild. As they breed, their offspring will also be rehabilitated at The Big Five and, once again, released into the wild. We were more than tired, but I think we all forgot about how tired we were when our elephants arrived. We all took part in the one hour long elephant back safari. I don’t think there are words to describe the feeling of riding an elephant. Was I a little nervous at first? Of course! However, I became very relaxed about fifteen minutes into the ride and was able to thoroughly enjoy it. Here’s our elephant: Sondela, 18 years old. I’m just feeding him to thank him for an amazing ride. From there we went to………… THE LIONS!!! I have loved lions forever! We had three lions: Cholwe, Terry, and Diana. They were cubs, no older than four years old. Terry was the only male and his mane had just begun growing in. The animal trainers were great at briefing us on how to treat the lions. The trainers do not make the animals do anything that they don’t want to do, so we really had to just go with the flow of the lions. The trainers taught us to look them in the eyes (so they would know that we were dominant), always approach them from behind (so they wouldn’t scratch us with their front paws or bite us), touch them firmly (so they wouldn’t think we were tickling them), to never panic, and to ALWAYS reduce our dominance when approaching them (so they wouldn’t feel threatened). The sticks are to mimic the lions’ natural environment. If they turned around to face us, we would offer them the stick to play with to avoid being bitten or scratched. Afterwards we “walked the lions” (basically walked with them while they let us hold their tails). From the lions we went to the cheetahs. We had four cheetah cubs: Lillian, Susan, Magisa (the only male), and, my favorite, Luyando which means “love” in Tonga (one of Zambia’s 7 national languages). We also interacted with and walked them. We were, once again, taught the proper ways to interact with the animals. This time, however, there were no sticks. So, if the cheetah turned toward us, we should offer them our fist and they would lick it. I don’t believe any one of us was brave enough to actually do it. Lol Lastly, we got to see them run. Afterall, they are one of the fastest animals in the world. Here’s Lu Lu at the beginning of her run: Would you believe we did all of this before noon!?
I still can’t and I was there. Lol We quickly grabbed a bite to eat, got our things from the lodge, and hit the road back to our Sugarland homes. You must know that the five of us slept most of the ride back. Sydney and I ventured to the Lusaka Museum: one of Zambia’s five national museums. There, I received a lot of information on the history of Zambia. The two exhibits that I found to be most interesting were the exhibit on slavery and the statue of the first man in Zambia to declare that he was HIV positive. I loved the slavery exhibit for a few different reasons: 1) I am an African American woman who was born and raised in America. If I could only think of one reason to seek greater knowledge on slavery, this would be it. However, there certainly isn’t just one. 2) My passion is for urban youth. I need my youth to know that the history of their (and my own) ancestors did not begin with slavery. We come from civilization not savagery. We were not, by any means, inferior, although we may have been less valued. I’m not sure that I can fully express the extent to which this exhibit and the exhibit on the development of humankind made me feel. All I can say is that I know what I stress to my kids (the children I encounter back home every day) about their history and the importance of knowing their history is right, but this trip to the museum made me feel like it’s even more right and even more important. [The wording may be a little off, but, as I stated, the feeling is hard to express]. 3) At Buffalo State, both Dr. del Prado-Hill and Dr. Hunter discussed, in depth, how imperative it is to see the world through another lens; to view it from another perspective; to try and understand how the situation looks from the “minoritized” point of view. So, looking at an exhibit on slavery in Africa is very different than learning about slavery while in America. The story in America, often times, is told through the lens of the dominant group (which obviously wasn’t the enslaved Africans). This exhibit afforded me the opportunity to better conceptualize what slavery was like to African people. As Sydney and I were standing outside of the museum taking pictures of the statue below, a young man ran up to us saying, in a very firm voice, “you don’t understand, you don’t understand.” He said: you’re just taking pictures of that statue because it looks nice, but do you know what it means? He explained that the statue was of the first man, in this country, to declare that he was HIV positive (1989). The statue is constructed using pieces of the beds from the hospital he stayed in. The spear and the circle of hands represent the need to come together and fight such a deadly disease. Lastly, we stopped by the Freedom Statue that represents Zambia’s independence from British rule. This (2014) is their year of Jubilee – 50 years of freedom.
Yet another day has ended here in Zambia. Today we received a vast amount of information from UNZA personnel in those areas that I spoke about yesterday (social justice issues, literacy, and special education). Each presenter was well versed in his/her area and so helpful to our research. The Assistant Dean who spoke about Special Education was phenomenal. I have had such a growing heart for SPED ever since I began working for Heritage. So, to hear his passion for SPED and inclusion (which, from the knowledge I’ve gained, are almost two separate programs) was awesome.
We also spoke with Maina, the former Head Teacher of Libala Basic School, about the history of the Zambian Educational System, the trends in Education, and the challenges that educators and the government face while trying to implement new (better) practices. Her presentation was very thorough and I gained a lot of knowledge from her as well. Zambian Educational Policy is so intriguing because, in just this short time, I have found that the same educational challenges that we face at home, are also faced here. That lets me know that educational issues are global; they are not just issues faced in New York, or in Chicago, or in DC, but rather, they are faced all over the world. From UNZA we went to yet another fabric store and to lunch at Galito’s. I am loving the Peri Peri seasoning/sauces here! The food, in general, is just great! Lol Oh, Sydney and I attempted to make banana pudding without clear instructions on the custard box. Needless to say, we’re eating strawberry rice krispie treats instead. Lol Looking forward to the Lusaka Museum tomorrow! Below are pictures of today’s trip to UNZA. This experience has been awesome thus far!
Here’s a catch up: Yesterday we went to UNZA, the University of Zambia, and met some amazing professors in the areas of math and science education. They provided us with such great information on Zambian Education and teacher preparation. One quote that really resonated with me was from a man who has spent a little time studying in the states and is now a professor at UNZA. He said: “No teacher in the US has the right to say ‘we have no resources’ when they see what others are coping with.” Teachers in the states spend so much time complaining about everything: class size, lack of resources, assessments, etcetera. The teachers here have a 70:1 student to teacher ratio in most schools, with very very minimal resources. Some classrooms can even cap off at 100 students! So, this professor is absolutely right: we have no right to complain. From there we headed to the Ministry of Education. We then went to see the Indo Zambia bank and went on to the Comesa Market to get Chitenges (fabrics) for our traditional African dresses/skirts. The Chitenges in that market come from all over -from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Tanzania- and were beautiful! Our driver from the University is and has been so good to us. He is so respectful of our wishes, very professional, and is very excited about showing us around and taking us to the best places. We came home and cooked, ate, and watched Nigerian movies until we went to bed. Today we woke up early so that we could visit all of our partner schools: Libala Basic (which is now Libala Primary), St. Mary’s, Roma, Jacaranda, and Lusaka Girls (which is in the process of becoming a secondary school and adding boys). It was very nice to be “most welcome[d]” by all of the Head Teachers (principals), Deputy Head Teachers (assistant principals), and Senior Teachers (administrators). After that, we went back to Mandahill for lunch at Wimpy and for the experience of shopping at Shop Rite: hands down the biggest supermarket I have ever been in! The professors we met yesterday really put forth the effort to afford us the best opportunities to gain the knowledge that is important to us: social justice for me; special education for some; and literacy for others. So, I am really anticipating going to UNZA tomorrow so that I can meet with someone who studies Social Justice Issues! The picture below is of all of us at UNZA. What a weekend!
The 14 hour flight was very long. I didn’t sleep much, but I spent time listening to music, reading, and journaling. We traveled through South Africa and found a pretty neat beaded statue of Nelson Mandela. Yesterday, we exchanged our US Dollars for Kwacha and bought all of our groceries. Today we went to the Sunday Market and I bought some awesome things. It is very interesting to see the differences between life in America and life in Zambia. We went to Mandahill for lunch at Nando’s and had great chicken burgers! After we came home, the girls and I went to Melissa (supermarket) for a few things. Then Sydney and I attempted to order pizza, and that didn’t go over too well. So after multiple attempts and walking to Debonairs twice, we finally enjoyed our pizza. Today was a busy, but GREAT day. Number 1: Time goes by s o s l o w here. Lol. Our flat is BEAUTIFUL! So, here’s a picture of my first Zambian breakfast on the patio. |