Advice Column #1

Dear Replacement Volunteer,

Thus far I have truly enjoyed my time living and working here in Thaba Tseka. Overall, the experience has been nothing but positive. You are living with one of the most progressive host mothers in the entire country; she has tons of love to share! I imagine she will impact all of your decisions here as much as she has my own. I have made many friends I hope you will soon adopt, especially my dear friend, the puppy-making machine, Spads. I am sure in no time at all the community will embrace you as much as they have me.

I have several questions I wish I could ask the volunteer before me and therefore I have decided to keep an “advice column” for you throughout my stay. I taught math and science to eighth and ninth grade, and I assume you will be doing the same. You will notice within a week of teaching how challenging it is to teach students who lack the fundamentals in math or any note taking/study habits that would be beneficial in science, not to mention there is a major the language barrier. T.T.G.H.S. is an English-medium school so you do get to teach in English, however, it’s the students second language and they are far from fluent. The rest of the teachers have the advantage of being able to translate misunderstandings/confusion to Sesotho, the native language. Be patient and laugh often. You might offer yourself up as an immediate aid, a tutor perhaps, as I did. I highly recommend serving as a tutor and should you choose this path my first piece of advice is to set ground rules and tread lightly.

I am a little over six months into my service and I am tutoring six children regularly, three of them are family members. The semester is rapidly coming to an end and I feel totally burn out, not a good feeling with 21 months of service remaining. I tutor two hours a night, six nights a week. It’s too much, at least for me, after teaching a full day at school during the week. My schedule is strict and leaves me feeling guilty when I want to travel on the weekends or simply have alone time.

For the most part tutoring has been the most encouraging part of the experience. Working one-on-one with these students has allowed to visually track their progress (keeping me motivated) which I have been unable to do with my own students as there are only two recorded grades a quarter. It is significantly easier to work with one student and focus on their struggles as opposed to a class of 60 plus on all different levels. I have been able to build into the lives of these students and allowed them to build into my own. On lonely nights their company is welcome. They teach me just about as much as I teach them. It’s just those few off nights that remind me I am only human.

Next semester I am having tutoring hours, twice a week, two hours each night. It is going to force the students to share their time but it is going to give me weekends, freedom to breath, and optimistically give me more energy for each session (less answer giving, more thought provoking). I’ll be sure to let you know how that works out.

For all I know you will not tutor at all or you will be a machine and tackle the entire school. This is my humble advice; use your own digression. Best of luck during your service!

Sincerely, Ausi Relebohile