Goal-Setting, Professions and Punishments in Schools

Goal-setting is key when volunteering (and with just about everything else). It helps to set both long and short ones. By setting a few goals for myself it helps me prioritize what I hope to accomplish while here as well as breaks down the months into a timeline. One benefit of teaching is that it is very easy to set goals and arrange what I hope and want to accomplish. I am able to plan out the weeks from September-December with what lessons I want to teach and points I want the students to learn. Another goal I can set that is a bit shorter is what I hope to learn while at the clinic; an every week kind of goal. This could be learning more Bemba (the majority of patients that come in only speak Bemba) or more about medication and certain illnesses. I am getting very good at asking “What is your name, what is your age, where do you live and what is the problem?” ha.

So, by setting goals I can break down my time with what I want to focus on. Also, it helps with the down time that can get a bit boring. Speaking of down time I have just finished the fourth ‘Game of Thrones’ book. I didn’t expect to crank through them so quickly, but now I only have one left. These books aren’t the short kind either. Every book sits around 1,000+ pages.  I may take a break from reading that series, though, and look for a different book for a while. I think it would be nice to switch things up a bit.

Furthermore, with down time it is nice to listen to music. Listening to music is known to help with improving one’s mood. When you have down time and there’s not much going on listening to music can be the thing that helps keep you going.

The monastery will be having what they call professions taken on October 1^st. Professions is where the candidates and novice brothers take/renew their vows. Candidates are members who wish to join the monastery full time as a novice. If you were to join the monastery you would have to visit a number of times. On the final visit, which is usually for a few months, you would choose (and the community of monks would vote) to join as a novice. There are two candidates for the Katibunga monastery. Both will be becoming novices on October 1^st. Additionally, the novice brothers that have been a part of the community for a number of years will now say their solemn vows and become a monk for life.

As Zack and I were heading into class yesterday we noticed a number of students being chastised or punished. The teacher was taking a stick and slapping it over the student, usually against their back or behind. For obvious reasons, this form of punishment was discontinued awhile back in the U.S. This is one example that helps show how far behind Africa is compared to the U.S. and other first-world countries. It is hard to see students get hit and I, personally, will never hit any of mine. I don’t think I could get myself to do it even if I wanted to. That’s just messed up. Just think about how big the case against Adrian Peterson became after he hit his son with a stick. This kind of thing happens in their schools.

With October beginning tomorrow the hot and dry season is in full swing. It’s hard not to find yourself sweating at any point in the day. I still don’t understand why their culture requires adults to always wear pants. I wear pants to teach (as an authority figure you should do so) and I burn up. When we get back from teaching we switch from pants to shorts, though. We are already very different from everyone here so I think wearing shorts doesn’t hurt us too much ha.

Happy October, everyone!

Thanks for reading!