Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Quick update

Hello everyone!  I'm back in the capital to get (another) vaccine, so I wanted to add a quick post while I have internet.

Things have been going pretty well, although I've been a little under the weather for a couple of days (nothing too serious, just a little Peace Corps gastrointestinal excitement).  There's word that the cholera outbreak has made it into the Batey, but I'm confident it's not that.  The rainy season has just started, which means there are frequent downpours, which means the dirt roads are actually mud rivers.  And a recently shared a very small latrine with a very large tarantula.  At night, in the dark, with only a small flashlight.  I tucked Netalie in extra tight that night.

On the positive side of things, I've started helping out in the local school with 3rd graders who need extra help with reading.  There are lots of kids who don't even recognize all of the letters yet, and it's common for kids to be held back a grade several times in a row.  I sit with them one-on-one and help them work through simple words and sentences, which is really rewarding work, because I can already see some improvement, and they love the individual attention.  There's less than a month left of school, though, and some of them need more than a month of work before they can go on to 4th.  Also, there are 35-40 kids in a class, with cement walls (so everything makes an echo), and lots of the kids have really terrible behavior...I've already wrestled apart kids who were on the floor beating each other, in 3rd grade, multiple times.  But the teachers are dedicated, if overworked, and lots of the kids want to learn, and one of my biggest problems is trying to share my time with all the kids who want to read or play with me.  Some volunteers have a hard time finding people to work with...I don't think I'll have that problem!

No comments:

Post a Comment