Busy Bokkies

It has been an extra-busy time for us.

Now halfway through our service contract, there have been lots of interesting changes lately. Recently I have moved into subject advisory, helping our English specialist here with intermediate phase, grades 4-6, where a brand new curriculum must be rapidly integrated and implemented. So there's a lot for me to learn, which I don't mind, and the transition also involves some "perks": This month we are holding public speaking competitions throughout our area, asking 3 tenth graders from each school to speak on whether the government is doing enough to stop crime and 3 eleventh graders about whether reconciliation has worked to make South Africa properly multi-cultured today. I get to judge these competitions for each of our three school clusters and the final area competition as an esteemed guest from America.

My move to subject advisory has not taken me completely out of education management and governance, however. This month, on the days I am not learning my new work or adjudicating public speaking contests, I am co-facilitating 2-day workshops for the school governing body leaders in each cluster, explaining to them the importance of sound school policy development and implementation and related stuff. Though ultimately the education management department has not given me enough to do, after one year in, I do still feel like I am making a positive imprint with my help with workshops, so workshops will sustain my connection with my original counterparts here.

Our supervisor at the office Palma had neck surgery recently, and we have felt the repercussions of this at work and at home. While she was at the hospital, we dog- and cat-sat for her, going back and forth between her house and ours each day (luckily she only lives a few blocks away), and now that she is back at home she is quite immobile and so we are staying with her this week to help her get back on her feet. It's not a bad deal for us to be good people, as we get some assistance with laundry and free food. But it does feel like we are in non-stop motion.

Tim is across the country this week to help with the new trainees once again (which I must also do in a few weeks' time), sort of compounding a growing sense of chaos at the moment which is also stemming from the upcoming/impending/ongoing teacher strike! For weeks talk of the strike has been enough to keep many volunteers from going near schools, and if picketing were to begin Tim and I would have to avoid the office and our home by implication. On the one hand I cringe to imagine rescheduling my remaining workshops and public speaking contests, and it sounds like Tim also has his hands full with developing additional training activities for the new trainees this week barring their originally planned school visits. On the other hand, I could use a few days to unwind before I could even conceive of ever becoming bored here, as it feels like I've been working for about a month nonstop now!

Keep us posted on what is going on, on your side! It's hard to stay in touch when you are busy and across the world, but until the South African winter is officially over (any day now...) we can sure use some of your sunshine.