We Can’t Get A Bus Day (by Jill Hansen)

Today was our last day @ Eastlea and Murundu, and the day that the students had an opportunity to apply what they’d (hopefully) learned throughout the week by presenting their own independently developed skits about some aspect of HIV/AIDS to all 4 groups of students, with a prize for the best overall skit. In an effort to make the grading process as legitimate and fair as possible, we used a rubric that allowed 10 points each for originality, creativity, message, and working within the 5-minute time limit; all of us team members plus the facilitators formed the panel of judges. I conducted a quick quiz of my class before I herded them over to the student center for the presentations, and was pleasantly surprised by their quick and accurate responses. I wasn’t sure how effective my lessons had been since I’d had a different translator nearly every day, the last of whom had been an Eastlea teacher who had “translated” by paraphrasing everything I said in English prefaced with “What she was saying is…”

The presentations were all quite entertaining, despite all covering basically the same events: boy (or girl) meets girl (or boy), who pressures them to have sex. Girl (or boy) finds out that they have HIV, and the parents/grandparents/friends reject the HIV+ person. Most of the skits concentrated on portraying the seduction process and, since the teams were made up of all girls or all boys, each got creative with their portrayals of the opposite gender. The girls teams had the baseball caps, slouching walks, and awkward pick-up lines of the stereotypical Zambian high school boy down pat, while the guys teams stuck out their butts and pranced their way across the stage in comical portrayals of their female counterparts. A team from my class actually won with their well-choreographed and melodramatic presentation that culminated in a perfectly timed ensemble admonition not to have sex before marriage. I’m so proud of my girls! It’s so encouraging to see the spark of initiative and thirst for knowledge spring up in the eyes of these precious students, especially after a long week of feeling as if I were a less than effective teacher. :)

We left Eastlea right on (Africa) time, so about 30 minutes after we said we would, and had to hike quickly to the taxi stop (i.e. the side of the road) so we could make it to town in time to pick up a minibus and get to Murundu by 14 hours (2 pm). Finding 2 taxis is always a problem, but we managed to do so in record time. Once they dropped us at the Murundu minibus stop, we decided against climbing into the “Liverpool” minibus (they all have names) that sported 3 broken windows, a flat tire, and a non-functioning trunk latch. Unfortunately, the buses are not on any sort of fixed schedule and the unspoken but omnipotent Minibus Drivers Code requires that the first bus to arrive must be filled before the next bus can leave, so we had to wait for 15 people to brave Liverpool and 15 more to fill up the equally sketchy bus in line behind it before we found one that looked remotely road-worthy. That process took about an hour, and by that time we decided that it was worth the 60,000 Kwacha (~ $12) to pay for the extra seats to hire a minibus to take all of us to Murundu, instead of waiting another hour for a safe minibus for 2,000 Kwacha each (K 20,000/ $4 total). By the time we arrived at Murundu Basic School (after having been stopped by the police for illegally changing lanes-and watching the bus handler hotwire the bus to get it started afterwards), most of the children and teachers had gone home for the day. We did find about 50 of our group members, though, and set up the skits in one of the classrooms. Honestly, we weren’t sure what to expect, but the kids did a wonderful job! Watching Zambian high school students perform skits about HIV/AIDS entirely in Bemba (with occasional snatches in “Bemblish,” as they call it :) ) is quite an experience, and the Murundu kids went all out. The possibility of winning a certificate is an incredibly effective motivational tool for the average Zambian student, and these kids were no exception. We were entertained and enlightened to see how these students see HIV/AIDS in their everyday lives, and left the school exhausted but pleasantly surprised at how well the kids seemed to have assimilated the lessons. We’re all looking forward to the sports clinic @ Butondo tomorrow, and to not having an Indaba tonight. :) Overall, I think God has used this week to teach us patience and faith in His ability to work even when we’ve had to change all of our best laid plans, and to keep a sense of humor no matter what comes our way.