when one door closes another one opens

Hello everybody,

Now the Netherlands (should be) is getting colder, Luviri is getting hotter and hotter. But in 5 weeks I will be in the Netherlands… I cannot believe it is only 5 weeks. A lot has happened these last 2 weeks and I don’t want to think about what the next 5 will bring me. Lets hope it is all positive things *smile* My title also has to do with the previous sentence, but I will explain later why.
Thank you all again for the nice letters I have received! I got one from Anne, Marieke Krikhaar, Esther (England), the last card from France from my father and mother, and one from Rebecca with a lovely poem which I am teaching to grade 8 (here standard 8 and in the Netherlands groep 8). About teaching standard 8 I will also explain later. Esther I will not send you a letter back, because I only have your English address. Unless you send me your Dutch address, then I will send a card to that address.

I will start with the library update, because that is the thing that has caused a lot of upheaval the last 2 weeks. In short: I had a lovely conversation with Mariska and she gave me a lot of useful information. Then I had some conversations with the PEA about the contract about which we decided that the contract was giving to much decision power to the youth and not enough to the TDC. Because of this we had decided to elect a library committee in which all parties + beneficiaries, and a chief should be present. During this meeting we decided to end the cooperation. I felt betrayed and lied to, and in general very sad, but it was the best thing to do. I decided to give the National Library books to the TDC because I did not want to go into an argument about them (I paid them thinking it was a Mwalukavichi-TDC library, but I did it on the TDC name because they are registered). The good thing is that I found out the youth club is also registered and Wednesday (today) I will try to get a new contract with the National Library. But for now we will just start the library with 21 books, some magazines, a weekly newspaper, a bookcase and a building. All is better then nothing. And this is what I mean with when one door closes another one will open…. This is not the end of the library. Eva Demaya has showed us a lot of support and I have faith in that we will slowly grow.
For Mariska: thank you so much for your time and good tips. It is a shame it has not worked out and I am still confused, but if you want to hear exactly what has happened we can always meet.

Luckily, there were also fun things *smile* I had organised a netball tournament with 6 teams. The day before the tournament we created a second field, because a tournament with one field is just weird. And I got burned for the first time since I am here. One of the teams was a team that became 2nd in the regional tournament and I invited them because the Eva Demaya Sisters are easily winning in their own competition and are getting an attitude, so this team was to challenge them. Weirdly enough they won… So the objective was not reached, but in general everybody was having fun and there were many spectators. After this tournament I went to visit one of the Peace Corps girls (Sara) who was here some weeks ago. I stayed there during the weekend and had a lot of fun. One of the other Peace Corps girls was also there and we watched ‘How I met your mother’, ate chocolate, strawberries, and American pancakes. It gave me a lot of new positive energy!
The nursery is very busy, with an average of 54 children and I am trying to let the teachers divide them in two groups so that the bigger ones and little ones can learn on their own level, but it is a struggle…. We made a schedule and everybody agreed, but now when it is their turn they complain, for instance they are to tired. And I can understand them being tired, because harvest season has started and this with all their other things to do is a lot. Lets see how it turns out, because I cannot force them to do anything they don’t want. When I leave there is nobody to ‘check’ if it is done anyways.
I have also started working at the primary school in standard 8 (groep 8). The idea was to improve their English abilities and because they have to write a composition (essay) at the end of the year I have bought them notebooks to practice this at home. Yes, homework… I felt pretty mean, because I never liked it, but I have already seen they really need it. There are only 3 of them (out of 48) who can actually write normal sentences. The rest writes just rubbish, let alone an essay…. While it is a large part of their exam! But because don’t know how to write a simple letter (it is even worse: they cannot even write how are you? I am fine… I know, shocking!) I have started to teach them how to write a letter and a composition as simple as possible. Everything I say is translated in their local language, Tumbuka. I have only 5 weeks, so I don’t expect miracles, but at least I have already taught their teacher how to explain how to write a letter by writing down the basics of how a letter is constructed. It is tough to teach them, but it gives me something to do *wink*

That is all I have to say right now. I hope all of you are fine!

See you all in 5 weeks!

Love,

Nienke