After 8 months of living in a culture that is not my own... I am not sure why it still catches me by surprise when something is said or done that doesn't make sense to me.
I should realize by now that different cultures do things different ways and have expectations that don't meet my own.
I should be able to just let it go without getting irritated and frustrated.
I should just roll with it and be flexible...
But for some odd reason... it just doesn't happen that way.
Take today for example... last day of the term. Thought I had learned from the last term so scheduled sponsorship letters to be written, a party with biscuits and juice, and games. School was to be dismissed midday then a parent meeting from 2 to 4pm. All of my staff were aware of this... had written down the schedule of events and given it to them at staff meeting 2 weeks ago... then did verbal reminders last week with an emphasis to make sure the children knew the times for the parent meeting.
Last term we had a parent meeting... the teacher's scheduled it for 10am and didn't have anything planned to keep the children occupied... just keeping them closed in to one of the classrooms until meeting time. When I saw this I made the teachers take them in the yard to play. The parent meeting which was scheduled to start at 10 am didn't start until 11:30 and ended at almost 4pm. Lots of endless talk which was very repetitive. Parents also didn't show up until midafternoon when they were done digging.
So after asking our director of operations and parents what time... we settled ln 2 pm and I put an end time on it so that it wouldn't go on forever and I made it clear... we start at 2 and end by 4 .. which is a foreign concept. Well would you not believe I had parents coming at 10am ready for the meeting... by 2 pm the room was filled and by 3:45 we were done, room cleaned and I was headed up the hill to the house.
During these parent meetings the parents have a time to share concerns... some are serious and others downright funny in my book...
-children have to cross the swamp to get to school... not bad in dry season but very treacherous right now during rainy season... to solve this the families that live on the other side will bring wood and our work crew will assist in putting together a bridge over the swamp
-one child is teaching other children bad words and bullying on the walk home from school... thes little ones are as young as 3 walking home by themselves so the solution was given to the parent bringing up the concern... meet your child after school is finished andmwalk home with them
-school fees... always a concern but we again stressed that individual families need to come and discuss their situation with us and we have lots of jobs on campus that we are willing to pay for so they will have money for school fees
-children don't want to wear their school shoes as they are heavy and make the children's legs tired... I felt like saying duh... yeah they are heavy when you never wear shoes... but instead I was a goo administrator and explained the importance of wearing shoes ...to cut down on foot infections and jiggers.
-one of the teachers brought up a concern to the parents about sending homework books back to school with the children and not using the pages as toilet paper to clean little ones behinds...
Again having to train these parents to value their children and their education!
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