Rapale International School

Saturday was orientation for students and parents at Rapale, where I’ll be teaching. Mark and I rode out to the school with Kevin, a local AIM missionary, and his two boys. The trip out to the school is long, somewhere between a half hour and forty-five minutes, and most of the road is red dust.

Dust. Red dust covers everything here. Every evening I wipe down the counters and tables in our house and the rag comes away with a film of red dust. Any object lying out is also covered with red dust. We’re smack-dab in the dry season here, so even the trees by the side of the road are covered with red dust. Most vehicles here don’t have air conditioning, so to keep from sweltering to death in your car, you roll down the windows, paved roads or not, so people in the cars are also covered with red dust. And the people who aren’t in vehicles are engulfed in clouds of the red dust every time a vehicle goes by. I’m not complaining about the dust. I just want to properly convey the way this rusty powder settles like a blanket over everything.

Anyway, the point of my writing was not to talk about dust. The car we rode in out to Rapale on Saturday was actually one with air conditioning, so we did not have to roll the windows down and breathe red dust for forty-five minutes.

As we arrived at Rapale, the other teachers were already standing in a line on the veranda, greeting students and their parents. As more and more families arrived, I felt like I was stepping further away from Nampula, Mozambique, and closer to the U.S. Or at least the U.K. Or South Africa. Or Zimbabwe. But definitely away from Nampula.

After enduring many impassive stares from the local Mecua people in Nampula, I sincerely appreciated the warm welcome I received from parents and fellow teachers. The teachers and the couple who run the school, Mike and Dilys, are all quite proud of Rapale. Rapale’s moved to a new location and only just within the last few days has everything come together so that classes can begin in the new facility.

In any case, the location for the school is absolutely beautiful. The land was given to Rapale (or sold to? Or loaned to?) by a local egg and chicken operation. I’ll write more about the egg and chicken operation when I think I have my facts straight.

The geology of the area in which Rapale is located is really interesting, in my opinion. Large granite boulders protrude suddenly from the ground at random intervals. Some boulders are large enough to look like they could be mountains, but they’re fairly smooth and solid rock, so very little grows on them.

I’m feeling divided, currently, about taking kids outside to do hands-on ecology or geology. I will have no better setting to teach junior high or high school kids about science in a hands-on way, but I’m a little afraid of the possibility of snakes. Some possible snakes we could encounter on a romp through the wild (or even in our own schoolyard) include: puff adders, green mambas, black mambas, and spitting cobras. Oh dear.

I’ve been told that if you just make enough noise most of the snakes will run away from you. However, apparently puff adders do their hunting by lying sluggishly in one place all day, so you should also watch where you step. Hearing all of that is enough to make me want to stay safely inside the classroom, but obviously people go outside all the time. And I would love to get the kids outside learning about ecology and biology in tangible ways. We’ll see!

Depending on when our Internet is up and running again, I may or may not get this posted before Monday morning. But please pray for my first week of teaching, and please also pray that I’ll be able to find a regular ride out to the school. All of the families and teachers are scrambling at the moment to find regular and affordable transportation out to the school (as it used to be located in town). Thanks so much, in advance, for your prayers!

--Hillary