Palesa

When I was at Phase 3 training a few weeks ago, we had a session where we each had a chance to talk about our best day and our worst day at our sites so far. I couldn't pick out a specific day that I'd call best or worst, so I didn't participate. There's been one ongoing saga that has stood out as by far the most depressing thing I've encountered, but since it didn't fit neatly into a 24 hour package, I didn't talk about it.

But I get to blabber all I want about it here, and today is definitely the day. This saga started on a Monday morning about 1.5 months ago. Following our morning assembly, our Vice Principal made an announcement. Students who did not have cleanly shaved heads (school policy is to have a shaved head, males and females) were to go home immediately and shave. They could come back when they're clean. Also, students who hadn't paid school fees yet are being kicked out until they pay. Evidently there were some families who were promising to pay, but ran out of slack.

I went to teach my classes and found about 60% of my class missing. I wasn't sure who went to shave, and who was being kicked out over money. I cancelled class, and we spent the day goofing around and playing one of the all-time great math games, 24. This was actually fun, but one thing stuck out - my best student, Palesa, was missing.

Palesa is probably 16 years old. She's extremely well mannered, and raises her hand every time I ask a question. She's almost always right, but what's even better, sometimes she's wrong, and it doesn't bother her. She's the class prefect (kind of like, the captain of the class), and she destroys the curve on every quiz and test we've ever had (On my first maths test, way back when, 81/85 kids got below a 50, with most in the 20-30 range. There were 3 others who got below 56. Palesa got an 85). Once she asked if she could start teaching me Sesotho, though this hasn't come to pass.

When I didn't see her, at first I hoped she was gone to shave her head. But then she wasn't back the next day. Or the next week. Or the week after that. I realized what was going on, and it hit me pretty hard. It is devastating at times to invest so much energy teaching these kids, and to have them average 25% on a test. To have them refuse to do homework, to cheat relentlessly, to have absolutely no regard for their futures. But for the first few months, at least there was this one massive bright spot, someone who listened eagerly when I talked, who enjoyed learning, and who clearly had all the talent in the world. And then she was gone because there was no one to pay her $200 annual school fee. I don't think she has any clue, but I missed her terribly.

So like the resourceful Peace Corps Volunteer I am trying to be, I began working to get her back. I found out about a scholarship I can apply for on her behalf, though it would take months to actually get that money. I convinced my principal to allow her back anyway, and that we'd get the money after the fact. I asked her best friend, another student named Thandiwe, to call her back to school. But Thandiwe reported back the next day that Palesa is gone to Maseru to make money, but she didn't know where exactly. I'm still not entirely sure what this means, but it sounds horrible. Some more time went by trying to get things straightened out.

Finally, just this Monday, I arranged to have Thandiwe and another teacher come with me to Palesa's grandmother's house. I planned to ask her grandmother where in Maseru I could go, and I'd make a trip out of it this coming weekend. Well, we were in luck. Turns out Palesa had just called it quits working in Maseru a few days prior, and was now sitting around her grandmother's house doing nothing. We found her! I told her the deal, I told her to come back to school and we'd sort everything out. She was SO happy. She began to cry. I don't know how to describe what a great moment it was. Her grandmother thanked us profusely in Sesotho, I just kept hearing the words "Ke thabile," meaning "I am happy."

It was, without a doubt, the best day I've had as a volunteer.

This week is not a normal school week - we are having quarterly cumulative exams in all classes. We found Palesa the day before I was giving my maths exam. She was really excited to come in and take the test the next day, which concerned me. I knew she was really eager to get back into the swing of things, but she had missed the last month of class. I urged her to take a few days to read over notes she missed, and take the test next week. But she insisted. She had the audacity to promise to get above a 90. This surprised me, she's normally much more soft-spoken than this, but it won me over, and I gave in. Turns out, once again, 4 people passed the exam (115 students total). She got a 91, 20 points better than anyone else. I get to tell her the good news tomorrow.