Abukloi School: We Can South Sudan!

Before we left for South Sudan we were told to bring more than one of anything that we must have. So I brought 3 pair of eye glasses (one sun and the other two for inside, reading and distance). Just two weeks into this three month stay the screw came out of the pair I was wearing and I could not find it. No problem, I still had another pair. Today I decided to "bond" with the students by playing a little volleyball. I served and actually got the ball over the net. But then when I was to return a volley it smacked me square in the right eye! There was no damage to me but the lens came out of the glasses. Once the students knew I was not hurt they laughed and told me I was not a very good player - no kidding! I was able to get the glasses repaired this afternoon at an optical place at the market for just $12. Now that I know there is such a place I will have to take my other glasses there to be repaired - just in case. But no more volleyball for me:) Time management is a big issue here - people are always late. So today we started turning students away who were late. Others were "punished", they were made to "slash" the grass for about 15 minutes before they could go to class. It has greatly reduced our numbers because so many are late but it will establish the rule and in the long run benefit everyone. Apparently, when it rains people are more likely to be late. Well, it rained a little last night so that was the excuse. But it does not work for us. Even so we continue to have new students - still a moving target. There is no photocopying here so everything goes on the board - chalk dust everywhere. But we are getting the hang of it and going through a lot of chalk. It was suggested today that we might try dictating rather than having them copy from the board. I may try that tomorrow. It will help everybody get the information in their exercise books at the same rate. Today one of the students asked to go home. He looked very sick and told me he thought he had malaria. That disease is as common here as the flu is in the States. There are injections for it for people who can afford them and it seems to pass quickly for them. Others suffer longer and some die. All in all things are good here. Thanks for reading our blog! Marg