Day 12: The groundbreaking

Today we all headed to Masandarka for a ground breaking ceremony with the Local Lions Club and Rotary Club for the new Dormitories that are to be built there. (I can't remember how much we have explained about this school (I would look back over everything, but as this is so temperamental I will just keep typing), but it is a boarding school for the deaf, from which children come for miles around). It was a bit of an historical thing as the Lions and Rotary notoriously do not work well together over here. So it nice for Peter to be part of the breaking the boundaries down.

It was nice for Ruth and I to get a tour of the school, we saw how well Amys' mural was coming on, and the work that Keilah was doing with the children on the library. They both seem to have a great relationship with the kids there which was fantastic to see. Keliah asked Ruth and I to look at the computers (supplied by the Lions Club) as the teachers reported that only 3 or 4 of the 20 they have actually work. We tested them and all but 7 worked fine, 1 didn't have a hard drive and the remaining six were not connected up to a secondary power supply. The units were there but we later found they were spoiled and due to be replaced. Anyhow, from our observations the computers were more than adequate and had excellent software on, so it was very likely that the pupils and teachers simply did not know how to use them.

Afterwards Ruth and I headed into town to buy the pots and blackboard paint for the school and got to experience a local African market. Much like an English one, if a little tighter on space and you can't understand most of what people say. Godwin always tends to head in first to check prices as particularly in the markets they are likely to try and over charge a white person as they think we have lots of money (well compared to them I suppose we do).

We then fitted in a bit of tourist shopping (well its nice to be tourist occasionally :-)) and then headed back to the lodge. I think the lack of sleep had finally caught up with Ruth and she was feeling a bit unwell, so we decided it would be best for her to rest and we stayed at the lodge for the rest of the afternoon.

As I previously mentioned I tried updating the blog, but the Internet crashed and then the Germans got on the computer so I couldn't get on again before we went out.

It got to the evening and we started getting ready for an evening with the Lions club and a Curry. We lost power some time after six, so it was another of those nights getting ready in semi darkness. I thankfully had got into the shower before it was pitch black and Ruth was before me. It was much darker by the time the girls got back, but the staff at the lodge managed to get the generator going so thankfully they were able to have light. Just before we left it started to rain, and continued for most of the night, whilst we sitting in the dark (with candles) and the restaurant where we met the Lions we could hear is getting heavier and heavier outside. This did not bode well for the morning.

We had an interesting meeting with the Lions, the issue of the computers was brought up and they said it was the teachers fault as they did not take them up on the free tutoring that had been offered to them. I found this a bit harsh, computers are completely new to these people and they find them very daunting. Surely it would be better to send someone into the school to do the lessons and give them confidence, rather than send them on classes in the city. I think the Lions forget that whilst these teachers are educated, they make not be at the same level as them and need encouragement rather than this is what we are offering and if you don't do it, tough. That way you end up with 20 computers sitting in a school not being used and what is the point of that. I think we got somewhere with them and hopefully they are sending some people over on Thursday to start some training.

After a very enjoyable evening and a very nice curry we headed back in the pouring rain to the lodge. This would normally be very simple except for the fact Godwin had let the tank run to empty and we nearly ran out of fuel. You could here the poor engine struggling, he tried to get to the petrol station down hill (so use the very last bit of fuel) but it was closed so he had to go elsewhere which was uphill and boy did the engine strain. I don't know how he did it, but we made it (just). Out here it is likely for vehicles to be siphoned for fuel so they tend to run on empty most of the time.

We got back and went to bed.

Naomi (and the team)