School Project

     Last Tuesday, Jourdan and I went to the village of Tabe (pronounced Tah-bay) to distribute some school supplies to the students.  There are around 209 students attending this school which meets in four classrooms that are rented from the Catholics.  There is no electricity at the school nor is there electricity in the villages where these students live.  Thus, the students attend school from 8:00 until 2:30 each day.  That enables them to get home and do their homework before it gets dark.  The students are divided into classes and the teachers rotate between the classrooms.  One classroom has 75 students with two others having over 50 students.  With so many students in each class, they may have to sit three students per desk rather than the two it was meant to hold.  Also, there are no books for the students so the teacher must write the lessons on the chalkboard.  The students then copy the lessons into a notebook which they take home to study.  If the teachers need to give a test to the class, they must have it copied at a place in Fatick because they do not have electricity to run a copy machine at the school (which they couldn't afford to have anyway).  The school has managed to build an office building for the principal and teachers to have a place to do their work when they are not in the classroom.  In the future it is hoped that they will be able to build the necessary buildings for their school.

Classrooms

Office

Classroom

Classroom (broken desks in need of repair in the back of the room)

     Our project was to give each of the students two notebooks, a pen, and a tract.  This was a pretty big deal for them.  There were parent representatives there as well as some of the community leaders.  All of the students gathered outside under the trees.  The English teacher acted as our interpreter as we shared with them why we had come and what we were giving to them.  He then called each student by name and they came up to us to receive their notebooks and pen.  The people were very open and receptive to our coming and will welcome us back any time we would like to come back and visit the school.  It was a great opportunity for us to learn something about their culture and way of life.  We are hoping this will lead to more opportunities to visit the school.

Some of the parents and village leaders

Students gathered under the trees

Jourdan giving out the notebooks and pen

Me giving out the notebooks and pen

Principal (left) and English teacher (right)
with some of the other teachers between them