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
