I came across the headmaster of Msasani Primary School quite by accident in January and went to the flag-raising ceremony shortly afterwards. I had promised the head that I would do some free teacher training and he seemed keen for it.
It was over a month later when he saw me walking on the road and he stopped his boda driver and suggested I should come and do it the day after next. Talk about not having much warning!
I had everything ready anyway – just a few small preparation activities to finish. So it was that, on Thursday 6th February that I hopped in a bajaj and made the short journey to Msaasani Primary Schools (A&B). I turned up a little early and when the allotted time I could see that the teachers were still sitting in the shade chatting and eating. Nobody was making any movement towards the room we had designated for the training.
I thought back to training teachers in Quannan in China. Thee, the local authorities and teachers treated me like a VIP. There was a ceremony and a welcoming party, much excitement and a queue of teachers longing to be trained.
Things are different in Africa! The staff seemed very reluctant to start and I had to round them up and beg them to come for the training. I don’t think anyone would have noticed if I had walked away.
In the end we had about 27 teachers which was a good number and they had a great time and enjoyed the training very much. In fact at the end several people came up to me to ask if I could do some more and one woman asked if I could go to her other school to train her teachers.
I don’t mind doing a bit of free training but I don’t want to be taken advantage of and to be honest, if I got a more enthusiastic welcome, it would make the decision to more free training easier. But as it stands, I do need a bit more enthusiasm if I am to give my time for free.