Achieved

A few posts ago, I wrote about the uniform donation from Brooks.  The handball team was finally able to get their uniforms in preparation for the season which will start in November. Here is part of the team at practice last Tuesday.  They love their new uniforms and look pretty great in them too.

The full team was not at practice this week.  The students at my school have been greatly affected by the change in the train schedule in town; 70-75% of the students in my school commute from villages outside my town.  This means that they rely on trains, maxi-taxis, and buses to commute each day.  Trains are infrequent and a recent change in the train schedule has meant that many students end up leaving school early.  There is a train at 1:55 and if they miss that train they are stuck in town until after 5:00.  Many students need to get home to do chores before it gets dark, not to mention the fact that if they did stay until the end of school there is no place for them to go.  In one of my 10th grade classes 7 of the 14 students leave at 1:40 (20 minutes early from a 50 minute class) to get the train.  Their form teacher confirmed that I need to let them go early, but it's very hard to try to pack in the entire lesson done in the allotted time before they go.  Not to mention that they only have English twice a week.

In my second year, I find it easier to take these situations in stride, but I feel no less sadness for my students and the opportunities that they miss.