Friday, May 13, 2005
Most of the economics program is going very well. But there may be trouble at Nganza Secondary. Everywhere else, the two teachers at each school are working together, double-teaming their groups. But Nganza has been difficult to get started. First, one of the selected teachers opted out of the training when she decided that she wasn’t going to be paid enough for her participation. Good riddance! At the last minute, Adam volunteered to take her place, which is great, although he is on the faculty of Nsumba instead of Nganza.
Now John, the Nganza teacher, has taken off on his own and has presented the first three chapters all by himself. That isn’t good – the plan had been for both instructors at each school to share the teaching. But in addition, he doesn’t seem to have a specific time to hold the classes, and he claims that his classes – 40 students – have had 100% attendance for all sessions, which seems highly improbable.
The problem seemed to be John going off on his own. During his past week, I have tried to pressure both John and Adam to get together to plan their program, but somehow it just didn’t happen. So I invited them both to my home last night, and reminded them of the meeting. John showed up, even 15 minutes early which is unheard of, but Adam did not. John left after an hour, and I walked to Adam’s home to find that he had gone to town. He came over at 8:15 to apologize and say that one of his relatives was sick, he had to go to see him, and he had run out of minutes on his cellphone. I insisted that he talk to John RIGHT NOW, dialed John’s number from my cellphone and gave it to Adam.
Now they have an appointment to talk at 11:00 this morning. We’ll see what happens. John said his next class will be at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon, and I sure do intend to be there.
Meanwhile, I finally found the vet who had vaccinated Hodie when she was young. He had changed his address and wasn’t easy to find. But now all six puppies have had their shots against rabies, distemper, hepatitis, and parvo virus. The pups are almost four weeks old now, and are getting to be a lot to handle. Hodie doesn’t want much to do with them anymore, and I’m trying to get them started on solid food. I guess it is OK, because they are all fat and healthy, wobbling around, falling over each other, biting and playing. I will try to get back the $10 per puppy for the shots – that will sort out the people who have expressed interest in getting a pup to the ones that really mean it.
Now John, the Nganza teacher, has taken off on his own and has presented the first three chapters all by himself. That isn’t good – the plan had been for both instructors at each school to share the teaching. But in addition, he doesn’t seem to have a specific time to hold the classes, and he claims that his classes – 40 students – have had 100% attendance for all sessions, which seems highly improbable.
The problem seemed to be John going off on his own. During his past week, I have tried to pressure both John and Adam to get together to plan their program, but somehow it just didn’t happen. So I invited them both to my home last night, and reminded them of the meeting. John showed up, even 15 minutes early which is unheard of, but Adam did not. John left after an hour, and I walked to Adam’s home to find that he had gone to town. He came over at 8:15 to apologize and say that one of his relatives was sick, he had to go to see him, and he had run out of minutes on his cellphone. I insisted that he talk to John RIGHT NOW, dialed John’s number from my cellphone and gave it to Adam.
Now they have an appointment to talk at 11:00 this morning. We’ll see what happens. John said his next class will be at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon, and I sure do intend to be there.
Meanwhile, I finally found the vet who had vaccinated Hodie when she was young. He had changed his address and wasn’t easy to find. But now all six puppies have had their shots against rabies, distemper, hepatitis, and parvo virus. The pups are almost four weeks old now, and are getting to be a lot to handle. Hodie doesn’t want much to do with them anymore, and I’m trying to get them started on solid food. I guess it is OK, because they are all fat and healthy, wobbling around, falling over each other, biting and playing. I will try to get back the $10 per puppy for the shots – that will sort out the people who have expressed interest in getting a pup to the ones that really mean it.
