So I did think of something that is not exactly an everyday experience for people back in the states. A couple of weeks ago the Ministry of Education decided that they wanted all of the schools to do their year end financial report in a new way. So on a Tuesday our headmaster had all of the teachers come together to go over the years finances. Some of them had met the night before and started going through the numbers and had a little bit of the required information. So the next morning we are all together going through the numbers and we are making good progress. I had to remind them that they cannot just change the numbers however they want to make the end result correct but we got to a point where everything added up correctly and we were looking good. All of this only took from about 7:30 am to 1:00 pm straight through. And I was feeling very good thinking we were all set and might actually be able to teach a couple of classes before going home for the day. Then the headmaster, who had been acting like we were going too slow or wanted to rush through some of the information, announced that it was time to begin the second part of the process! It would have been nice to know that there were two parts of the whole thing to begin with especially when I realized that the thing we had just spent 6 hours on is actually supposed to be a summary of the part we have not yet begun! Wow!
So the 'second' part was suppose to be a running total of expenditures and a running balance of expenditures and deposits. Now schools here do not have checking accounts; instead they write vouchers for everything they spend money on, basically a receipt and keep those as a paper trail. So the headmaster brings out a stack of papers that are the vouchers for the past year and we have to decide what section the monies came from. (The money from school fees is split between rotating textbook fund, tuition, central development fund, and something else that I can't remember). We got to a point where I thought we had everything sorted well and in order according to date and put the numbers in and then we noticed a small stack not quite 1/4 the size of the original stack that was sitting on a desk across the room. Surprise, we have to go back and redo the whole thing. At this point it is about 3:30 in the afternoon and I still haven't had a chance to pee. So I just say I'll go through it all at home. The headmaster says okay and hands me the stack of receipts.
I walk home and Tina just looks at me (she had not been feeling well that day and was not at school for any of this). She shakes here head and says "Imagine your mother having the principal walk into her room with a random stack of papers and tell her to balance the budget for the past year. Oh, and do it all by hand."
So I got up at 2:00 am and started re-working the whole thing trying to add up numbers with a tiny calculator that Aunt Becky sent us and I am thinking I'm doing well (getting up at 2:00 is not a big deal by the way. My body has decided that 3:00 am is a good and normal time to get up each day). I have all the number in and am ready to do the summary in the correct order and then I notice that...you guessed it, the vouchers that we had put all together somehow had been split into two stacks again and I only got through one of them. So, it is now 7:30 and I finally have all of the vouchers in and I start checking the numbers. Not a single one matches with what I am expecting to have. At this point I'm a little concerned that maybe someone has been messing with the schools finances but then I think to my self why would the headmaster ask me to do this if they were messing with the money he would know that I'd find out.
I take the stuff over to the school explain what has happened and tell them that I can get all of this done in a matter of hours if I just take it in to Mzuzu and put it on a spreadsheet. By 9:00 I'm on my way to the road with all of the vouchers now (we found 3-4 more that morning). I arrive about 11 and work till about three find three vouchers that had been written twice (when they were doing the summary they thought we needed to change some of the dates on the vouches to make them match something or other and had made new ones which replaced the originals but didn't take the originals out) and had all of the numbers done correctly. That when I realize I left my flash drive at home and the printer at the transit house is not working.
long story short I get it printed and end up getting back to my house in Kacheche about 6:45 pm. Computers really do make things more simple, if you can keep the information on them from the get-go. The good news is that I think we will be able to keep a very good book this financial year since I know what to expect now. So we are learning and taking steps for improvement. I think Uncle Dan needs to come and visit and do a one day training on keeping a budget (personal and institutional). I'm only half joking too. actually anyone who would like to come and do some kind of training with our students or staff is more than welcome. I'll even roast a chicken for you.
Friday, July 3, 2009
updated wish list
So I've had a few people ask if the wish list to the right there is an updated one. Yes. I updated it today. None of the things on the list are things we need to survive here; we do a pretty good job of that on our own (check out Tina's pictures tinaandzebinmalawi.blogspot.com to see some things we've been cooking at site with charcoal and a pot with a lid). Some of the things, like pictures, will help us achieve the second goal of Peace Corps; helping host country nationals to gain a better understanding of Americans. So take pictures of things that you think really mean America or American to you. Maybe it is a GM truck or a John Deer, a picnic at church, fire works, a rally in DC, a mother pushing a stroller, a mall, apple trees, waves on a beach, and eagle, anything.
Other things like games will actually help us to teach some critical thinking skills. We grow up playing games and thinking about probabilities, and making strategies, playing go fish or old maid and what not; all of those things actually help you develop your thinking skills and here, it is something that is definitely lacking. It is hard to teach students who in high school are asked for the first time to begin thinking creatively and critically and trying to teach that stuff is difficult especially because many of the teachers here have never really been taught in that way or maybe have never really had practice themselves. So games could be a fun way to do that (for the students and for me).
It is interesting how many things that we do outside of school with children actually help them learn skills that make them better thinkers, problem solvers, and better able to manage life. We don't even think of those things like having a piggy bank teaches saving money, getting an allowance teaches work ethics, taking care of toys teaches responsibility for keeping personal things in good shape, and so many others that we just don't think about. Here children learn to herd sheep and how to make a toy car out of a milk carton shaped thing that had a local beer in it that morning (the kids don't drink it the men do. But they are allowed to run around the bar and get all the empty cartons). They learn how to plat maize, they learn to write down everything the teacher puts on the board and then read it over and over until they can recite it word for word without any real concept of what it means (work-a job or career that one has to make money, but not a term used in science i.e. force, work, etc).
Anyway there are some others here at the office who would like to use a computer (there are about 70 volunteers in Lilongwe because the ambassador is having a party tomorrow for the Fourth and we like any excuse to have American food).
If you've been reading this or have thought of anything that you would like to know more about as far as our Peace Corps experience goes or what ever leave a comment and I'll try to get some answers up for you. Sometimes we forget what things are different or odd or exciting for people to hear about because it is just everyday life for us now. Kinda like a pilot probably thinks flying a plane is no big deal, but drawing one is amazing. I don't know. Let me know.
Other things like games will actually help us to teach some critical thinking skills. We grow up playing games and thinking about probabilities, and making strategies, playing go fish or old maid and what not; all of those things actually help you develop your thinking skills and here, it is something that is definitely lacking. It is hard to teach students who in high school are asked for the first time to begin thinking creatively and critically and trying to teach that stuff is difficult especially because many of the teachers here have never really been taught in that way or maybe have never really had practice themselves. So games could be a fun way to do that (for the students and for me).
It is interesting how many things that we do outside of school with children actually help them learn skills that make them better thinkers, problem solvers, and better able to manage life. We don't even think of those things like having a piggy bank teaches saving money, getting an allowance teaches work ethics, taking care of toys teaches responsibility for keeping personal things in good shape, and so many others that we just don't think about. Here children learn to herd sheep and how to make a toy car out of a milk carton shaped thing that had a local beer in it that morning (the kids don't drink it the men do. But they are allowed to run around the bar and get all the empty cartons). They learn how to plat maize, they learn to write down everything the teacher puts on the board and then read it over and over until they can recite it word for word without any real concept of what it means (work-a job or career that one has to make money, but not a term used in science i.e. force, work, etc).
Anyway there are some others here at the office who would like to use a computer (there are about 70 volunteers in Lilongwe because the ambassador is having a party tomorrow for the Fourth and we like any excuse to have American food).
If you've been reading this or have thought of anything that you would like to know more about as far as our Peace Corps experience goes or what ever leave a comment and I'll try to get some answers up for you. Sometimes we forget what things are different or odd or exciting for people to hear about because it is just everyday life for us now. Kinda like a pilot probably thinks flying a plane is no big deal, but drawing one is amazing. I don't know. Let me know.
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