Trevor: Wednesday, June 6, 2007

One of Diane's younger patients, born premature, who is now healthy

Another view of my living quarters

It’s been a while since I’ve written on the blog. It seems like the time passes so quickly during the day. We wake up at 5:00 am every day, just as the sun is coming over the horizon. Waking up and getting up are two different things for me, and I end up getting out of bed around 5:30 or 6:00 am, so I’ve missed the sunrise for these first 3 days. That’s hopefully something I can rectify soon, as we have a great view of the sunrise over the ocean since we’re up in the hills here.

The school has certainly been an experience unlike any I’ve had before. The term “boarding school” simply doesn’t do it justice. A completely different form of student-teacher interaction exists here. The teachers serve as not only teachers, but also as parents, brothers, and sisters for the students. The kids are only allowed to return home during winter and summer vacations, as the school has no holidays during the year and will not provide car fare for the students to return home on weekends. Everything from distributing laundry soap to supervising the cooking to checking whether students have cut their nails is the responsibility of the teachers.

The rainy season has started, and according to some of the teachers, it will rain here every afternoon. When it rains here, it’s not a little sprinkle; rather it’s a torrential downpour. There is a hole in the roof right above where my head usually is when I lay down, so I’ve had to move my bed.

Classes have begun in earnest, and Steve and I have been trekking up and down the hill to visit the different classrooms. He’ll mainly be focusing on math, whereas I’ll be helping mostly with the English classes. The English classes here are separated into speech and language sections, which are taught by different teachers. The classes seem to overlap, and I’m working with Jennabeth and Wilvin, the two speech and language teachers for grades 4-6, to try and develop a project which will incorporate both classes.

Yesterday, Steve and I observed one of the first deaf classes of the year. The students were sharing their experiences from the previous summer. All of the students here are extremely inquisitive, and the deaf students are no different. The minute we walked in, we were asked (in sign language) our names. Neither Steve nor I have much background in sign language, but we’ve picked it up quite quickly because of the students’ and teachers’ willingness to sign with us. Archelin, one of the teachers, is deaf, and we’ve been able to sign with her over meals.

The overall lifestyle here is very simple, but it’s certainly teaching me the value of the little things in life. For the kids here, a volleyball net can provide hours of fun, and the TV is a pleasure that is used sparingly. They have so much responsibility and have to work on the school farm while attending classes, in addition to their other responsibilities of cooking and cleaning. Yet I’ve never seen anything but a smile on their faces.

And lastly, I’ve come to realize just how valuable a cold shower can be in the tropics. It can provide a brief respite from the state of constant sweating that I seem to encounter here.