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.

Kindness

Last school year my favorite time of the week was handball practice. Admittedly, I was terrible at the sport, but I loved trying to play and being able to connect with a few of my students in a different way.  The coach was kind enough to let me take part in practice and tried to catch me up on the years of the training that the girls had.  Unfortunately, handball is not similar to any American sport I know and even after a whole year practicing, I still couldn't throw the ball with much force.  The game is played on a basketball court, with goals similar to hockey, and a ball similar to a soccer ball.

When I went to the matches that our team played with other schools in town, I was struck by the difference of appearance of our school versus the other schools.  Other schools had full uniforms and some even had names on them.  Our school only had a batch of men's shirts that were giant on them and even then some girls had to wear their own tank-tops or t-shirts.  Our shirts were also worn by the boy's team in matches; they were sometimes worn by both teams each week, and quite frankly smelled of it.

my school, in white

I spent a lot of time with the girls last year and I wanted to think of way to thank them for all their patience with me.  I finally decided I would try to get them shirts that were cut for girls and actually fit. I tried to think of how to accomplish this.  I couldn't think of any place in my town that had nice shirts that were made for sports.  I decided I needed some reinforcement stateside.  A friend of a friend works at Brooks, makers of fabulous running gear. I thought I would give it a shot.  I wrote a letter asking if they be willing to donate shirts to the school.  They wrote back, that they would not only donate shirts, but also shorts.  The girls would have complete uniforms, that actually fit!

Over the summer a big box arrived from Brooks and I have spent the past few weeks in anticipation.  This week will be the sign-up for handball (it's a year-round sport so it starts a little late) and next week will be the first practice.  The coach has the uniforms and is equally excited to show the team their new uniforms.  

Stayed tuned for the big unveil in a few weeks!  Also, again a giant thanks to Brooks, for the amazing donation!