How They Live

Henning Mankell, my favorite Swedish crime fiction writer, also has connections to Africa, I’ve discovered.  His Eye of the Leopard takes place at the end of the colonial period, and in his Kennedy’s Brain (surely the Swedish title was better!) he writes: “…we know all about how Africans die, but hardly anything about how they live.”  Well, that’s what I intend to find out while I’m here, and what this blog will try to portray, especially after swearing-in and ‘affectation’ to my site.  You see plenty of famine, drought, AIDS, starving children, refugee camps, war and destruction on the evening news. If you have questions about how Africans live, let me know!  I’m happy to do the research.

I’m surrounded by beautiful, happy faces!

Your book suggestions are also welcome! Some of the best I’ve read lately are The House on Sugar Beach, Things Fall Apart, and The Poisonwood Bible

The end of PST (Pre-Service Training) is finally in sight!  While the cross-cultural sessions have been intriguing and the language sessions vital, the rest has been more or less one interminable professional development workshop, including the inevitable small group work, colored markers and butcher paper.  Fellow teachers, pity me!  We’re even doing our student teaching in a ‘model school’ for which local kids have been enlisted for a month of morning summer school sessions.  So far, everyone who’s observed my classes has been happy with my work.   I hope I don’t slip up in the next few days!  I’d really like to wear my new African outfit and swear in as a PCV on August 23!

From my vantage point as an observer at model school.  6^th grade math.