He came, he saw, he pointed

On Friday I completed a second week at Ntabayengwe School. I am developing a role for myself. I teach English, Social Sciences (history and geography) and Life Orientation (personal health and social issues classes). I teach years 6 and 7. On average I teach 3-4 lessons (each an hour long; there are 5 lessons in a day). I also take sport.

As well as teaching my scheduled lessons I also act as permanent ‘cover’ for year 6 and 7. They often are without a teacher. This will be for one of three reasons:

1) A teacher is away. We only have about 9 teachers. One, a young male is on sick leave. The headmaster and I visited him on Friday. He is very unlikely to return. He has Tb and almost certainly HIV. We found him living in an isolated hut, wasting away. He said he had no appetite. Nobody was caring for him. It was one of the loneliest situations I have ever witnessed.

2) A clash in the timetable requiring a teacher to be in two places at once.

3) Late cancellations. Sometimes, a teacher will decide to take a lesson off. Today the principal wasn’t keen on teaching African art and culture period 3.

I cannot be critical of any of the staff. Most work very hard and are paid appallingly. I asked the headmaster about the average salary for a teacher. Embarrassingly, he presented me with the payroll. It showed that most get paid approximately £1000 p.a. Food prices are comparable to the UK. This makes it barely a living wage. I now understand why they have been on strike!

Two things caught me by surprise during the week. The first was a big downpour. This came while I was teaching. And then suddenly I wasn’t. The rain landing on the tin roof made it impossible for the class to hear me. For a couple of minutes I tried shouting over it. I continued until I realised that most of the class were laughing at me. Then I gave up and we all became spectators at the window.

Later the same day the Principal entered the classroom. He arrived to give a motivational speech to the class. Suddenly he stopped and pointed at the eldest student (about 20 years of age) called Caesar. He sits on his own. In front of the whole class he said, ‘That is Caesar. He is retarded. He will not go on to Secondary School. I am trying to find him a special school. Do you understand?’ I did and so did the rest of the class.