Work

So I now have a lot of projects. The first and foremost is to encourage people to move from the discussion stage of our projects to an active stage. It has been a difficult past few months. People are busy with the fields, it is hot, schools have been out (they just opened last week Tuesday) and many are visiting other places. My work is primarily in the community. I have contacted a primary school and a high school this new term and have spoken with the head teachers. I am preparing some proposals for lessons, clubs, and ideas for improving the communication and cooperation between the community and the schools as well as with school personnel. I am working with some government initiatives and NGO’s, trying to help them increase their efficiency and effectiveness. I also discuss any and all issues that youth bring up: drugs, alcohol, school, bullying, lack of jobs, etc . as well as bouncing ideas of job opportunities with some older, out of school youths. I have no idea if they will be accepted and really I don’t care right now. They have been requested and after so much effort just trying to get people to ask me questions I am happy with that.

I came with the idea that I could not force my agenda. That has only been reinforced. I am happy for that. It keeps me in check. One thing I did not expect was the lack of questions during meetings and more formal sessions. I figured when I asked for feedback on possible lessons, they would come. They didn’t. Things are starting to change now which is soooo nice. It all comes with increasing relations and comfort levels. I am being told things that are completely counter to what I was first told and despite the fact that they are mostly problems, I am overjoyed.

In the beginning, people were saying, “Oh Zama, Bulandzeni is nice. We are happy. Things are good.”  Yeah. It was frustrating. I would ask about issues and all I got were the same ones over and over: we need water, we need food, we need sponsors for school fees. It is difficult to come into a community that you know/understand next to nothing about (at least nothing deep or fundamental) and say, “I’m here to help” and then have to repeatedly say that you cannot offer the help that is requested. I am happy that now I am getting into what I consider the real issues which deal with problems in communication, MOTIVATION: to stay in school, to work, to try to improve one’s condition, etc., and cooperation. I am happy to have deep enough relationships with a few people, of roughly each level social standing, who are comfortable enough to discuss these issues with me.

I can finish my PC objectives quickly if I want, it would take less than a week. I’d round up some kiddies and adults and teach them about HIV: sciencey/statistical background, prevention, treatment, and effects on individuals and society, then work with service providers and improve their ability to work. I wouldn’t be doing my job however. I may be able to call it good after that. All that was intentionally vague. Our work is like that until you get down into the causes of issues our objectives address. I can teach about HIV to a bunch of kids but like back at home, they probably won’t listen to me until they want to. Adults, oh man, that is a much more complex issue.

 I saw a saying on the wall of the high school head teacher’s office.

“Paradoxically, a teacher’s role is not to teach but to cause others to learn.”

Semantics aside, I thought the saying was pretty interesting. In English, we have the infinitive “to teach.” We define it as to give knowledge or instruct. This seems to imply that you can just insert skills or knowledge into people’s brains and let them go from there. It places the responsibility of transmission solely on the “teacher.” In siSwati there is the infinitive “kufundza” often translating to “to learn” There is also the verbal extension “-isa” which when added to a verb changes its meaning to be “causes to _.” So, “kufundzisa” has the meaning “to cause to learn.” To me it implies that one initiates an action in another to take on the responsibility of learning. The responsibility of knowledge transmission is shared. It starts with the teacher. The teacher has knowledge and a desire to give it. The student does not have the knowledge and may or may not have a desire to learn. If the student wants the knowledge the teacher gives it causing the student to learn. If the student does not want the knowledge, the teacher must somehow persuade the student to take the knowledge which also means the student learns.

To me the siSwati phrase, “Thishela uyafundzisa” (The teacher is causing learning), has a much stronger meaning than the English colloquial equivalent of, “The teacher is teaching” (The teacher is giving knowledge). The English teacher could be teaching and yet students may not benefit in the slightest. If the Swazi teacher “uyafundzisa” then the children “bayafundza.” Now whether or not either teacher is causing children to learn is a different conversation but in in my opinion, in the pure denotative sense, the Swazis have a better version of “to teach.” I tried to explain this to a few Swazis but they had no idea what I was trying to say. It makes sense I suppose. They may have been taught that our English “to teach” was equivalent to their siSwati “kufundza,” at least the opposite was true for me.

So yeah, that concept has been heavily on my mind for a while but seeing that saying really put something tangible to my thoughts. I cannot force my knowledge and skills on my community. I must cause them to learn them if I am to fulfill my job description. That is my hurdle. After that I get to look forward to application and behavior change. That will be fun.