Two Weeks!

It’s been a hell of two weeks and I am just beginning to immerse myself into this new but exciting environment.

I’ve been looking forward to this opportunity of serving in a community where I can contribute through my experience and ability. Although I am here with the role of assisting English teaching, I see myself contributing beyond just that. I’ve been cooking up different plans that the students and the community may find interesting and I can’t wait to make them happen.

However, before the big talk, let’s get to the chores. Every morning, I have to stand at the school’s main entrance to make sure that students arrive safely. It’s a half hour shift in the morning sun. On some days, I will be sweating like a pig just standing there. On cloudy days, it’s a breeze. Parents always ask me if it’s too hot. I always say it’s ok.

The biggest reward of standing this morning shift is to greet most students and their parents. This helps me to increase my exposure to them and to help them know me. For myself, my favorite part of this job is seeing these kids come to school with genuine smile on their faces. Unlike city schools where students face competitive environment and school is more of a hell than heaven, I am very glad that these kids have a place they look forward to go to every day.

Being in the assistant role, I do some administrative jobs, but luckily for me, my supervisor hasn’t assigned me too much of those. The staffs are very kind folks, chatterbox type. They are all genuine educators who really care for the kids’ well being. There are two teachers in particular who devote a ton of their time and effort. They started and host night time home work revision initiative, where they not only help students on their home work, but use the time to prepare them on competitions that the students may be taking part in. They also act like their parents who they may not have, making them dinner and buying snacks for the students. They are like mothers offering relentless care and love.

The kids are the most sincere, pure and adorable children I’ve come across. From first grade to sixth, as well as kindergarten, every one of them is like a little angel. On the first day when I am on duty, I walk a bunch of them off school when they go home. After seeing them off and heading back, they kept yelling back at me from a distance,”Good Bye!” And I will turn back and wave back. Then a few steps later, they yelled at me again, and I turned back and waved back. Then again, and again, until we can no longer see each other. For some reason, the first graders are simply super excited to see me.

The first graders are the most expressive ones. A few little girls will run towards me and surround me when they see me. A few days later, they got a bit more daring and start to hold my hands and swing around. Today, the bunch of them were pulling my arms at all directions….

The six graders are more mature, but no snobs. They are like little adults, playful but respectful, much more likable than those city bastards. Every morning they are supposed to be sweeping the school ground, but instead of sweeping, everyone is spinning their brooms like cheer leaders do with their sticks. May be it’s a local trend?

So it’s getting a bit embarrassing that I don’t know the kids’ names and I promptly asked for the student’s name list. This list also includes brief notes on the student’s family background. There are about 45 of them and only  a few with a clean blank on the “remark” section. Almost all of the kids either come from families in poverty, single parent or raised by grandparents. A few have lost both of their parents and being cared by relatives. Many of them are alcoholics and/or jobless. Many of them have parents who have to make a living in a far away city in order to support them back home. In general, most of there children don’t have a so-called healthy family.

Here’s it’s a norm to come from a broken family. It’s a luxury to be normal.

But you see, every morning I stand at the school’s main gate. It’s on a major road where cars zoom by as they travel between cities. There are also often tourist travelers and bicyclists. They see the smooth winding road, the lush and green mountains and the blue pacific oceans. They see resorts and tourist attractions, they see coconut trees and seafood restaurants. However, they don’t see the missing parents, the poverty and the smiles on the children when someone shows them new knowledge.

The other day, a grandpa came to school to pick up his grand son. He came with a strong stench of alcohol.

The other day, a problematic kid was punished for disturbing the class order. When I asked him why, he said in tears,”My dad and mom have passed away, but they(classmates) kept saying bad things about me…”

The other day, I was jogging after school and ran into a student playing by the side of the road. I asked him where he lives, he points to a shack made of sheet metal, a shelter that I thought was a storage house.

The other day, a teacher called a student at night to remind him to have his grandpa (his only guardian) to sign a document. The student said his grandpa passed out from drinking. The teacher asked if he had dinner yet. The student said he made instant noodles for himself.

I think they need a lot more than English.

Last Friday, the school held the annual parental education day event where they invite parents or guardians to attend a speech followed by a series of interactive games with their children. On this special occasion, many parents will drop their work, whether it’s on a farmland or on a fishing boat or construction site, they will sober up, dress in the best dress they have and show up. This is one rare day when they have time to play, run, fell and laugh with their children. This is also a chance when they can win a donated used bicycle.

As always, I played the role of photographer trying to capture special moments. To me, every moment was a special moment, perhaps not to me but to these parents, grandparents and relatives.

And today, the whole school went for the annual outing where we take the kids to some where they don’t usually get the chance to visit, and then to McDonald’s. Since last week, the kids have been asking me if I will be joining them. This week, I asked a girl to stay after school so I can help her prepare for an English reading competition. She said she’s “busy” that afternoon because she needs to go buy snacks for this trip. Today, all of them showed up super excited. Excited not because they are going to visit another tribe and learn about a different culture. It’s not really because of the McDonald’s happy meal later in the day. It’s because…. It’s simply a rare chance when they get to get out of town.

It was just about 1.5 hours ride. As the bus approaches the destination situated in the mountainous area, the kids wowed at the river valley and mountain gorges. It’s hard to believe that they live just 60km away, yet rarely have the chance to see this. Today, they got excited at making soap. They got excited at making leather stamped prints. They got excited about feeding ducks and fish at a pond. They got excited at McDonald’s and happy meal. They also got excited at getting back to school and going home with lot’s of exciting stories to tell. It’s an exciting simple life for them, but a simple exciting experience for me.

To me, this is like a annual school outing that I didn’t have. Well, I did have it when I was a kid, but this one felt more real. I went to the store the night before to buy snacks. I stood at the snacks aisle pondering which ones to get. They weren’t for me. I wanted to make sure the kids have snacks to eat. You see, bringing snacks to the trip is the most important part of this trip. There is no reason to this, it just is. Suddenly, I was that boy going for a school outing.

Of course, I was the photographer.

Since I was snapping away and kids posing for me whenever they see me pointing the lens at them, I was the obvious target. Most kids want me to take photos of them, but one. This third grade girl wants to click the shutter. She was persistent, so I put the strap over her neck and handed her my DSLR. She snapped away, and I have a portrait of myself. I asked her if she likes to take photos. She said yes. I asked her if she has a camera. She said no. I promised to get her a camera.

This is also when I realized that most of these kids don’t have cameras. They don’t even have people to take them out and take photos of them, photos of their childhood. I realized that the photos I took are not just important as documentation for the school, but critical pieces of the children’s childhood and memories.

A lot happened in these two weeks. A lot was experienced in these two weeks, and I see lot’s of opportunities going forward and excited about what I can do here.It’s been eventful, but not stressful. I feel that everything I do here is meaningful for the first time in my life and I want to do a lot of it!

Click HERE for Parent-Student Day Photos

Will update later with more photos when they are ready!