Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001

From: Abigail Stamm

Subject: Dzenza, or Preservice Training

18 November 2001

Moni nonse,

I don't have much to say about Ulongwe. I've hardly been there since I last wrote. After leaving Lilongwe on 11 October, I returned to site for less than 24 hours, literally long enough to get my camping gear. On the 12th, I went to Blantyre for the Gender And Development meeting. Several girls' empowerment related activities are being planned that I will describe as they occur.

On Sunday, I traveled with Evan (Namwera) to the Dedza Forestry College turnoff. We expected we would be picked up by a Peace Corps vehicle and stay at the College overnight. That plan changed without notice. Wellington, the PST technical director, picked us up, and kept driving in the wrong direction. He brought us to Linthipe CDSS for a meeting of PCVs-of-the-week. Only five of the eight invited were present. The rest were stuck in Lilongwe without transport. We were told our duties. Two PCVs would stay in each of the four villages that hosted trainees for two weeks. We would attend school each morning with the trainees during their teaching practical. During the first week, we would teach one or two demonstration classes and observe with the trainees the Malawian teachers teaching the classes that the trainees would take over. During the second week, we would observe the trainees teaching and see how they progressed over several classes. For the entire two weeks, we would answer trainees' questions about being a PCV and try to allay their fears about life in Malawi. We were to be careful what we told them; nothing too negative, like crime or deaths or terrible disease stories. When the debriefing was over, we were brought to our homestay families in the villages. I was placed in Dzenza, a small village north of Linthipe, with four trainees. Rob (Chiradzulu) was placed in my village as well.

Being PCV of the week was fun. I did not have to actively discipline, try to impart knowledge to students and fellow teachers, or cook for myself. I could hang out, chat with people, communicate relatively easily with my homestay family, and wander Dzenza or read a book. My family knew English, but refused to speak it unless I could not understand at all what they were saying. I spent a great deal of my time playing with their kittens, on whom I practiced Chichewa. This was wonderful entertainment for the family. As I have said before, Malawians do not normally talk to their animals.

On Monday, we went to the local school, Dzenza CDSS, to meet the teachers and organize when and what the trainees would teach and who their counterparts would be. On Tuesday, Rob and I taught demonstration classes. He taught maths in forms 1 and 3. I taught general science in form 1 and biology in form 3. It was challenging teaching classes that we had never met before. These students had never been taught by Americans and did not understand our accents. They were not accustomed to our teaching styles or our rules. In short, the trainees did not observe us at our best. Afterward, Christopher, their technical trainer, asked them to critique our classes and find ways to improve them. On Wednesday, they watched and critiqued their Malawian counterparts teaching the classes they would teach the next week. I observed the English class for form 1 with the trainees. In the class, we learned that curiosity is a very strong feeling, a legend is something boring that happened a long time ago, and a saga is a sudden event that should not have happened. The teacher was describing the first few passages of "The Diary of Anne Frank." The trainees were naturally upset and inquired whether teaching was often so bad. Unfortunately, especially in schools with few resources, it could be much worse.

Wednesday night, the technical trainers in Dzenza, George (who taught me some Chiyao during my training) and Christopher (an alumnus of Ulongwe CDSS!) came to my homestay to give me a note from Wellington. It said in short, pack my stuff and bring it to Mayani next day. I would be leaving Dzenza early. I was very confused, but complied. Next morning, the entire cluster (group of trainees in a village) boarded the minibus for the 45-minute long ride over partially worn dirt roads to the meeting place at Mayani. Thursday the PCVs sat outside and chatted while the trainees were in a session. Angie, our PCVL (Peace Corps Volunteer Leader, serving her third year now), came over with a message from Dora, the Education Admin Officer. There had been some problem. Five of us would have to leave. We felt like we had just stepped onto the set of Survivor, and most of us had never even watched the show! We demanded to know the reason. In typical Peace Corps fashion, the response was vague. It had nothing to do with money or logistics. So we all looked at each other and started with, "Who wants to stay?" The unspoken question: who wants to party for a week in Senga Bay? Not surprisingly, the three who most wanted to stay were the three Diversity Committee members. We were planning a session for the next week. But there was a catch. We had to have one volunteer who taught each of the following: Biology, Physical Science, and English. We all taught sciences, but none of us taught English. More frustrating, none of the English teachers wanted to stay. After some deliberation, Nori (Nkhotakota) was ousted and Evan was corralled into staying. Bryn (Chipoka) and I remained in Mayani, where I was placed with a new family, a woman whose son's name was Patience.

Friday morning, Bryn and I went to Chikundo CDSS to observe the volunteers who were beginning to teach there. Of the other three schools, one was celebrating Form 4 graduation that day and at the other two, the trainees were still observing classes. I observed one maths class and the general science class. Considering that was the first day either of them had taught a class before, they did well. They saw many of their own weaknesses and though I did not observe them again, I was told that they improved immensely the next time they taught. They were not discouraged, which Bryn and I considered very good. Angie met us there. After observing, Angie, Bryn, and I all went to Lilongwe for the weekend, where nothing interesting happened.

On Sunday, we returned to Linthipe via Dedza Pottery, a nice and expensive azungu cafe a few kilometres outside Dedza. Yes, mom, we walked. On Monday, I went to Makota CDSS down another nightmare road and observed my favourite class taught by a trainee. The trainee was Peter from Los Angeles, who went to the same high school as Jerome in Luchenza. Peter was teaching Integrated Science in Form 1 and was doing a section on plant respiration. He wanted to do a lab demonstration and had managed to gather all of the necessary equipment. But he had not had time to try the experiment first. It required covering a leaf for 24 hours, then boiling it to extract chlorophyll, then testing it for starch with iodine. His leaf covers had been poor and the wind was fierce that morning, so all of the covers blew off the leaves. The leaf he chose was too big, so it did not lose its chlorophyll by the end of class. When iodine was applied, the leaf turned black. Even though everything that could go wrong did go wrong, including something spilling and the paraffin stove nearly catching on fire, Peter maintained his composure and explained that even if things go wrong in an experiment, record mishaps and move on, then use what you learned to repeat the experiment. I don't know how much the students learned, though they were very entertained, but Peter learned a lot. I soon learned that observing trainees' improvement over time was not a priority. It seemed quantity was more desirable than quality in our observations.

Tuesday I went to Linthipe CDSS and observed two biology classes. Both trainees used demonstrations with local resources. One even had students participate in the demonstration. The other fumbled a bit and her demonstration almost did not work. Wednesday I went back to Dzenza and observed a maths class and a science class. Andy, the science trainee, could have passed for Bill Nye, whom he apparently admires. He has the energy and knowledge and was full of activities. Unfortunately, I think the observers benefited more that the students, who are not accustomed to so much enthusiasm or to an American accent. Andy was half of the excitement about the new training group. He and his wife are serving together and our last married couple, for health, just finished their third year. From the health couple, Stacia is now the Crisis Corps coordinator. She came to me this morning with a request: to use mine to repair hers. Her husband killed it last night. I have enlisted Scott (my group, Mzimba) to help me.

Thursday found us back in Mayani, where Bryn and I anxiously waited for the Medical vehicle that was also carrying the supplies and volunteers for the Diversity session. Part of the excitement was that we did not know which volunteers were coming. They arrived late of course. Trainees have joked that the only ones they see running on Malawian time, which is much slower than American time, are not the Malawians, but the Peace Corps. They arrived and while the Diversity volunteers updated Bryn and me on the session plans, Pat (my group, Rumphi) led the medical session's condom demonstration. I wish I could have seen it. It was said to be very entertaining. Their group was not as lucky as ours though; they used real dildos instead of bananas.

Our session went well. The others completely reorganized it, which was good. The old plan had been terribly boring and something had to be done to make it more lively. When we tried it, the trainees were much more positive than in past sessions. Basically, it consisted of a short anonymous survey, a game, and at the end, small group discussions of the results. I facilitated in the group with Chris (health, Chikwawa) and somehow we ended up with all but two of the boys in our group. The discussion was good; Chris and I hardly had to say anything. The follow-up session is on Thursday this week, right before the Thanksgiving party at the Ambassador's house.

>From Mayani, the PCVs of the week went to the Dedza Forestry College to stay the night. We ate dinner at the nearby Ed's Bar, which had only chicken and chips, which is a problem since I do not like chicken. We hung out there for a while, mostly playing Bao (Southern Africa's version of Mancala or Owari). The Bao board is 4 by 8 holes. There are two versions recognized in Malawi, Men's Bao and Women's Bao. I had seen Men's Bao once in Kenya, on Lamu I think. Women's Bao was new to me. In general, I think Malawian Bao is much harder than the Kenyan versions. The rules from the two countries often oppose each other.

Next morning, Friday, we headed back to Blantyre. We got a ride with a man who was driving an American model 1972 Mustang if memory serves me correctly. In Malawi, like in Kenya or Britain, people drive on the left side of the road. He had gotten the car in Zimbabwe from some expats who were preparing to leave. Saturday was the big Halloween party, which was almost exactly like a frat party. When I got bored, I hid in my tent out back. Surprisingly, it was really easy to clean up the next day. Then I called my school. I was not surprised to learn that my school was still on strike. My school told me not to return immediately, so I traveled for a week. More soon.

Abby