Amar Jyoti Primary

Sunday 30^th October

I went to school today full of good intentions.   The first thing I wanted to do was find the resources supplied by past volunteers – but the Headmaster was not in school and again, no-one else knew anything  about them.

 I started teaching in the kindergarten, talking to the  children about their names and sounding them out. Then we worked on the S and A sound, so far so good. 

  
After that things started going down  hill.  Tara asked me to teach Year 1, whilst she had the next class  in the same room.   It was impossible to hear so I went outside with my group and a small whiteboard to talk about the M sound -  they had just done an exercise about mangoes, mouth and moon.  Ths was difficult as many Nepalis pronounce  M as ‘yam’ (and H as yach!) 

Susmita is 3 and has amazing pencil control
She is copying capital letters

Then I was asked – yet again to go to the secondary school.   I stressed no teacher, no volunteer, so watched an English lesson.   There were only 10 children in the class – 20 were absent!  One of the children read out from a text book with great difficulty

‘We cook food for various reasons.   The cooking process partly sterilizes food.   The growth of bacteria falls off rapidly above 40 degrees Celsius.’ 

The teacher then translated into Nepali.    The children learnt a little science but not much English.   I asked them what foods they liked  and if these foods  needed  to be cooked The children struggled to tell me anything at all about food or cooking. 

One of the children in the kindergarden

31^st October

I decided to follow on from yesterday’s lesson to discuss food.   I asked the children about yesterday’s lesson and it was all a fog to them.   I simplified by discussing fruit and vegetables writing lists on the board and describing and sorting etc.   Then I asked the children to write two sentences about a food they like.   Most of them found this difficult, and just 4 managed it easily.   At the end of the class when I talked it over with Besh Raj the teacher, he told me this task was too easy for them.     His grasp of English was  not good enough to understand my reasoning

At last I have met the Headmaster.   He looked worried when I asked about previous volunteers’ resources.   After 40 minutes with Year 1 he called me over and showed me where they were – it was a very very dusty pile and much looked as though it had been eaten by rats.   It so obviously hasn’t been used.   He apologised for it not being in the Science room in the cupboard  where it had been put last year,but he said that as that room had been donated they had to keep it for Science (his subject)

I spent the afternoon sorting out what would be useful and putting it all in the primary school ‘staff room’.  It was a very dirty job as everything was covered in so much dust. Will try and get cardboard boxes from the Lodge – hopefully some of the provisions come in cardboard?

Then surprise surprise, it is another holiday tomorrow!

 So – another opportunity to get to the Internet Café – and if I can find a lift, possibly a visit to the Tibetan Buddhist Monastery?

                                                         

Felt really ill this evening and one of the bites on my leg has blistered. My legs are not a pretty sight, even worse than usual

YUK!  And this is just one of the many blisters on my legs!

(Dont worry all,  I will be careful and look after myself !)

Granny

 One of my pupils insisted on bringing out Granny, with her handbag, for a photograph.   Another wonderful experience.

This bus was not particularly crowded - and no goats on top which is unusual

Dressed up and made up for Diwali

Have just seen something move very quickly behind the loo.From the corner of my eye it looked enormous – but probably wasn’t as big as I am now imagining.  I don’t want to investigate too closely and hope it will find its way out when I go out!

Friday 28th October

Was stung/bitten on my back this morning, through my supposedly bug repellent shirt. Until now I thought the repellent had been working well as the little creatures had only attacked my ankles This sting is difficult to get to, but I can see in the mirror that it is red and swollen so have just sprayed and taken paracetemol and ibuprofen as it’s quite painful. The insect looked like some sort of giant wasp – let’s hope it’s not disease carrying!

Itt’s another day off but don’t want to beg a lift to Pokhara yet again,

I will go on a hike this afternoon and look for some betel nuts that I can use as counters for number work in school

Very fortunate to have met a wonderful English couple called David and Joanna Thomas. They own five prep schools in London called Thomas’s and do amazing charity work here in Nepal under the name of the Cairn Trust. They have kindly asked me to join them on Saturday to visit a Montessori school in Pokhara to see good practice in Nepal. I am so delighted because I will then have a guide line to work on and know what to aim for at Amar Jyoti.

The pain from the insect sting is passing so I think I will survive!

I feel like the Pied Piper walking along the road and always end up with loads of children in my wake.

Five beautiful laughing girls joined me on my walk this afternoon and tried to teach me Nepali.There was lots of posing for photographs and so much laughter each time I showed them the results on the camera.They begged for more and more photographs wanting me to take them all individually. One girl wanted to show me her home which she said was ‘veree beautifol’,but when I got to the top of her track I saw that it was very very steep.  Luckily the one with the best English reiterated my thoughts and said it wasn’t safe for me.

 

 

I then met some of my pupils – two very wicked looking little boys and one insisted on bringing out Granny for a photograph.   Another wonderful experience.

Frustration

29th October

Just spent last 40 minutes updating this, with photographs and then it all disappeared..... oh well, more ginger tea and I will start again!

Diwali celebrations in Pokhara



Not a very clear photograph but his little girl was an amazing dancer

Making diwali patterns on the doorstep

Just loved the idea of this being the sausage centre of Pokhara

Walking along the ridge

A preying mantis on guide Hari's shoulder

27th October

Went for a walk along the ridge this morning but even that has lots of gradient.   Saw large kestrels and buzzards and enormous beautiful butterflies, but only managed to get a picture of a rather boringly coloured one.   The more colourful variety didn’t want to pose.   Dry leaves keep dropping from the trees and make me jump as I think it is some sort of wild life – perhaps it is – disguised as a dried leaf!

A very large Nepali house

Some of my pupils, brothers, playing hide and seek on the roof of their house on their day off

This village community is very spread out and some of the children have to walk about 5 miles to school each day.  I saw one of my pupils playing hide and seek with his brother on the roof of his house.   Millet, maize and rice are the main crops, with lentils and some green vegetables and these provide the basic diet.  There is a barter system between the locals with any surplus. Millet is used to make dhido- I have been told it is like Japanese Sake, but not much alcohol is drunk, as strictly speaking it is not allowed by the local Brahmins.

25^th October

As it is a festival  tomorrow the primary school children had a fun day today with little formal school work.   I was given a tika mark by one of the locals on my walk, but I was so hot and sticky that it started running down my face.

I was asked again to go to years 4 and 5 but said no firmly this time.

  Instead I stayed with 2 Primary teachers and we had 3 classes together in one room. 

 The discipline is not good.  The children have not been taught to put up their hands or sit quietly.  I showed them  my  puppet and said that he wouldn’t come out to see them if it was noisy, and it worked!   For a few minutes you could have heard a pin drop.   Hopefully the teachers might pick up on the idea.

There is now no school for 4 days so I hope to go to Pokhara and find an internet café so that I can post this.   The next time I will have an opportunity will probably be Saturday.

It has just started raining – very heavily and the noise on the roof of my bedroom is deafening.   I am looking at a small ghekko and a large spider having a race up the wall opposite me.   I am not very keen on either of them. 

26^th October

Have had a very relaxing morning walking along a small track looking at grasshoppers of various sizes, and a preying mantis or two.  The herbs and wild plants smell wonderful and have picked a handful to scent my room.  Even though I am wearing socks trainers and trousers something has managed to bit my ankles and anthisan is now a necessary part of my kit.   I have managed to get a lift to Pokhara this afternoon – hopefully and also asked a local guide to buy a cheap mobile for me then I can go walking without fear of getting totally lost.  

Had a brief moment of panic when the netbook wouldn’t start up and got jammed on some sort of repair.   Luckily when I removed the battery and started again all was well.  

Diwali

25^th October

Giant webs with spiders as big as my netbook gave me a bit of a shock this morning and all sorts of ants appeared from nowhere when I ate my packed lunch.   I started walking to school at 9am and was pleased to not have got lost  I spent an hour or so in Year 1 who were learning words starting with k.  Their  teacher Tara has a reasonable grasp of English with a very strong accent, consequently all the children are learning that we cook in a ‘keeshin,’ but spelt properly.   I sat under a tree at break and showed them some photos on the computer and one of the children pointed out the stream of large yellow ants crawling all over my shoulder. 

Two 9 year olds came to take me to the secondary school.  I was handed a pen by a Nepali who didn’t speak English, led into a classroom and he then disappeared leaving me with three classes. 

 After a few games I decided to talk about rectangles squares and triangles, corners, etc. An hour later I began to wonder how long to continue.  The children told me they finished at 1pm and it was 1.15.   There were no staff to be seen and certainly no lesson plans so eventually I let the children go home. The staf have been told not to leave volunteers to teach but to learn teaching methods from them. 

I got lost coming home as I used the wrong tethered buffalo as a marker and all the rice fields look the same.   I wear a local Nepali straw hat to school and use a bamboo stick to help me up the hill.  I would like to get some local clothes to wear as they are cheap, comfortable practical and beautiful.

It is still very hot in the daytime – particularly the walk back up the hill from school but children walk with me some of the way talking constantly even though they know I haven’t a clue what they are saying.   When the sun goes down at about 6pm it suddenly gets quite cold.

Celebrating Diwali

beautiful dancing

These two walked with me to school this morning

Sophiya from Year 1

My daily walk to school

The walk to school is stunning, past local dwellings (photo) with buffalo and goats and tiny little rice plantations with children coming to join me en route. It takes about 45 minutes down but it is quite a steep climb back at the end of the day. All the dwellings have some goats, with lots of kids.Surprisingly they don’t milk the goats.That comes from the buffalo. The children carry the kids like pet kittens

   Going past women sorting the wheat from the chaff in the morning  so that they can eat, or carrying really  vast bags of rice from a strap around their head is thought provoking.

 There are harvested white radishes outside all the dwellings which are as big as  baseball bats and twice the size of the many cucumbers.

 

First Day at School

23^rd October 2011

Just after taking this I saw that I was covered in little yellow ants

Assembly and Year 1 gewtting ready to saing their National Anthem

The brightest child in Year 1

The staffroom

 
One 5/6 year old came to me to read his work.    He spelt out the word ‘surroundings’, not phonically but very quicly and then read it back…..almost properly.   Mind blowing!  Perhaps the look and say method is the right one out here?   

It is going to take  a few days to work out the best way to help.  

The second teacher I saw this morning fell asleep whilst he gave children work to copy from the board.   They all came to me and we played number games on our fingers.

 The school needs so much help and this is a challenging project.    Discipline is poor and most of the  little ones haven’t got a clue what they are learning.   On the other hand, some 6 year olds can copy well from the board and the bright ones can read it back.   The school is so much more basic than I had been led to believe.

There are no posters, pictures or stimulating materials to be seen.  The children each have a pencil less than an inch long and they share a minute piece of rubber.   Just as well I brought some with me – not enough for all, so prioritising will be essential.

The plan at the moment is that from Sunday to Thursday I will

 try and guide the teachers in the primary school and on Friday morning the secondary school teachers  want help to teach in English.   Friday afternoons and Saturdays will be free time for me.


Running out of battery time so please excuse typos!

The IT room (very basic!) at school was locked this morning as the headmaster is away but it is supposed to have an internet connection so who knows what will happen tomorrow!

Journey to Pokhara

22^nd October 2011

  Nepalese driving is extraordinary.   There don’t seem to be any rules and coaches and lorries overtake any slower vehicle regardless of traffic coming in the opposite direction or a blind corner.  But it seems to work.  The drivers are all really skilful and miss each other by just a few inches.   Every bus has a conductor who toots the horn, gives hand signals and indicates how many centimetres to the edge of the chasm below. 

 I had moments of complete bliss.   The river valley is spectacular and took my breath away.   Thank goodness I chose to take the bus journey rather than travel by Yeti airlines.   It was 7/8 hour long journey with ‘comfort’ stops and a break for lunch which was a very hot curry. Perhaps what I thought was a green bean in the vegetables was really a chilli!  My training walks have been such a bonus.   The thighs are now strong enough to manage using a squat loo wearing a backpack!     

Kathmandu bus station

cheaper seats on the roof

A tree had fallen on the road in front of us.   You can just see the crack
in the windscreen.   It didn't instill me with confidence

The bus condutor toots the horn gives hand signals
and leans outside to see how far away the other vehicles are.

The Lodge here is wonderful and I have had a lovely welcome. There was a power cut whilst I was having my first shower and I hadn’t really got my bearings or remembered where the wind-up torch was, but I staggered around the room feeling for it and power returned about 10 minutes later. No chance of email/Skype/blogging unfortunately, so will have to get a cheap mobile so that I can text home. School starts at 10am tomorrow and it is about an hour’s walk.

Boudnath

I walked across the city to Lucy's house this morning and was pleased to have only taken a couple of wrong turnings.  I was welcomed as a long lost friend by her fluffy lhasa apso whose  photo is below  Perhaps I still carried the smell of Bertie on me?

I forgot to take my shoes off but hopefully will remember on the next visit to a Nepalese home

  We went to the beautiful Shechen Monastery and had lunch in the Monastery garden cafe.

  I then walked anticlockwise around the stupa whilst Lucy had a lesson. It was a peaceful place and fascinating to watch the Tibetans and other buddhists, performing their religious rituals. Lucy showed me how to a spin the prayer wheels three times.


We then met up for Masala tea with Tashi, a monk who is coming to Pokhara in November

. Hopefully I will meet up with him there. Lucy and I then returned to her house for a wonderful Nepali meal and now I am getting my bags together ready for my 6.30am wake up call for my journey to Pokhara tomorrow. Let's hope it is not raining or nearly as hairy as described by the two comedians on the BBC programme a couple of weeks ago.


I have added a few  photographs below. When I have more time I will try to improve the layout of this page

My favourite photo of the day