Walking home from school

There is never a dull moment walking to and from school.  It is always busy and there is always something interesting to see.  It begins when we step outside the heavy metal gates of the house when we look around to see how many young men are waiting to catch a glimpse of our fair maiden volunteer Fran.  She has gathered quite a following (literally) of young men who when they have a spare moment wait casually on the corner for her to appear.  They don’t do anything other than stare and feel satisfied that it wasn’t a wasted journey.

Looking back at the house

We set off to the KG (Kindergarten) school and this only takes a 5 minutes or so depending on how much it has rained in the early hours of the morning and when we arrive at school all the children rush towards us to welcome us.  Of course there are several ways they do this; 1) Formal handshake 2) Back of the hand is offered  3) shoulder is offered 4) a leap followed by cuddle and a kiss.  I have now introduced a new variant – when offered the hand, I shake it and then twist them around as if we are jiving.  They love this and the boys have now started to dramatically fall on the floor when I do this as if I have hurled them across the room.  (Ahh boys!)

Waiting for hugs at the KG school

 After class we usually stay for 20 minutes of break time and then set off for the Grade school which is about a 20 minute walk.  We are usually relieved to have finished class and do a post-mortem on our lessons, what worked well and how we could improve them.  Martin lights up and we dodge the puddles, mud, and rocks, tuk-tuks, donkeys and boys asking for money and make our way to the main road, passing a couple of coffee ceremonies and bike repair places positioned on the side of the road.  The main routes are nicely cobbled but the side roads are unmade and difficult to navigate when it has been raining.  The bike repair people have stopped calling out (presumably obscenities) to Fran now and less boys ask for money.  In the beginning we just had people following us putting their hands out.

Walking towards the bridge

What is interesting is the number of different modes of transport there are.  We see them all at the same time and is a curious blending of old and new.  Donkeys laden with hay or goods; tuk-tuks racing through the mud, splattering god-knows-what-is-in-the brown-liquid as they go; horse drawn carts with passengers, the occasional car.  At the main road we meet up with large trucks, lorries and buses that compete with the tuk-tuks for right of way.  This morning we saw a huge articulated lorry do a U-turn that only just made it.  Everyone and all vehicles just get out of the way.

Laden donkey

We cross the main road and this marks the next stage of our walk, up the cobbled road to the bridge.  This road is lined with small shops and a few vegetable and fruit sellers and of course another coffee ceremony site.  There are hairdressers and CD shops.  Most of the women and girls have their hair plaited and so they are kept in business.  The music shops play their music loudly all day and so entertain us all.  The music has a definite Bangla feel and is quite pitched and cheerful. 

We walk over the bridge which transverses a dry river.  Even in the rainy season it is dry quite often and on these occasions, you can see many young men digging up the sandy river bed, filling plastic sacks and carrying them up the steep sides to be tipped into a pile then spaded into a lorry, presumably to eb used for building.

Dry river

Wet and dry river

A house on the edge of the river was washed away just as we arrived and it is being rebuilt.  Every day it gets higher and higher.  Hopefully the next heavy rain won’t wash it away again.  We have to watch ourselves at this junction as invariably a horse and cart or tuk-tuk tries to run us over as they turn the corner.

After the bridge the road is no longer cobbled and very squelchy. There are a number of large lorries parked on the side and so we are forced back into the main road to walk and at risk of being beeped at and splashed by the traffic.  It is very muddy and slippery here and I have nearly fallen over several times!

The door to the Grade school is usually locked and we wait until the guard comes and unlicks the metal gates and let us in.  There are a lot less children for this second session and the welcome is tamer but still enthusiastic.  The playground is often flooded or recovering from flooding and this means that the children often are playing on the covered areas by the classrooms or inside the classrooms on the 2 computers or playing board games. We have introduced Chinese jump rope, bubbles, and various playground games such as ‘What’s the time Mr. Wolf?’, ‘The Big Ship Sails on the Ally-Ally-O’ and ‘Oranges and Lemons’ for when the ground is playable on.  ‘In and out the dusty bluebells’ is next.  Plus we brought with us some indoor games, ‘Guess Who?’, ‘4 in a row’, ‘Flounders’ and ‘Frustration’.  Not forgetting the famous Pom-Pom fest!

After class we have another enthusiastic goodbye session where we repeat the hand-shaking and then we head back to the house, with about 8 children in tow!  They insist on carrying our bags and boxes of colouring pens and then release them to another child when they come to their turn-off.  They like to chat and Martin and Fran are very good at this.  The girls love Fran and want to talk music and clothes and the boys hang around Martin and they have a good chat too.  Me, I am whacked and don’t really feel like giving any more, but I have a couple of lads who walk with me and I try my best to talk.  Silence is underrated I tell myself.

Martin and the boys

 

Fran and the girls

Me and my shadows

The bridge on the way home

The bridge on the way home

We arrive at the house and then every day the girl carrying Fran’s bag ‘forgets’ to give it back!  That is their little joke!

Lunch is ready more or less as soon as we arrive.  I so appreciate this!  I just turn up and get fed.  I bring over a bag of dirty clothes and then I get them washed and folded and put bag in the bag! It’s like being a man it’s wonderful!

Azeb our fab cook

After lunch we return to the KG school to teach the teachers and then finally at around four o’clock we are free!