Life on hold

So, you've passed the sixth month mark, time for some reckoning. 

Let's start from a very important question: you're back to writing a lot, why so?

The reason is we're not working as much as before, at least Mattia the writer, because school is finally over. At last, because as you've already understood from previous posts, it has been very challenging, for the school is not well run, so the kids are quite badly behaved and violent but not accustomed to being rebuked and are not actually accustomed to learning either, therefore trying to teach them or to educate them was very frustrating, up to seeming a waste of time or a lost cause, given the way the school in general doesn’t seem to be really interested or committed to any of the two aims. Contrasts on the methods of managing the class and the undisciplined kids ensued and the validity of teaching English when their learning needs are definitely others is quite doubtful, so Mattia won’t be teaching any more. He'd like, instead, to dedicate himself to the children and youth, enlarging his afternoon sport programme (which has kept him going, given him a sense of being relevant, made a lot of children happy and receive many positive comments from different sources) into a full blown project of youth activities, which in this context means much more than it seems, as the more active the youth are kept, the further away they stay from the world of the gangs, both as to how they spend their free time and as to their horizons, passions, ideas for the future.

Sorry about that, but at least the prospects seem good. What about Elena?

Elena has done a lot but at times she feels she's done very little, as in some areas there's no real support for her projects, meaning the association doesn't really care so they're not looking into finding people for her to train so as to continue programmes like the early development check ups, the dentist appointments or the P.E. classes for the school, while in others they're leaving her to deal with people not interested in changing, as it happens in the pharmacy, where she's trying to help arrange the managing of products but the nurse doesn't seem to appreciate, to say the least.

Mmm, we're sorry for you all again, but it seems she's done a lot indeed, as we didn't doubt. 

And the boys?

The boys' experience in school was not so great either, mostly from our point of view, though Michele really had a few tough moments and admitted he didn't liked it completely. Academically, they've not advanced much and at times it seems they've even unlearnt a bit, but that can be easily mended as they're still only midway through primary and are still good enough to recover soon; more worryingly, they've instead learnt (especially Sam) behaviours, not properly sanctioned in school, that we would have preferred not to see in them.

Oh dear, from what we've read you've worked a lot and sure you've done some good, but the situation doesn't look very nice, at the moment. How do see your future there?

Right, the situation is not the best, but it's not too bad either: despite some hard times for Michele, the boys are happy with the place and their friends, as to daily life we are by now able to feel sort of fine everywhere, we get on very well with our half-new roof mates and as to our work we're sure there are serious needs we're somehow trying to fill. Moreover, things should now improve, as the stress of school is over, for Mattia and the boys. However, the future is definitely something we're thinking about a lot, but basically we're on hold, as we're waiting for the results of the application with a big organisation for the youth project (we submitted the proposal at the end of September and we thought it would be a matter of a couple of weeks, but the third week is already gone): if the grant is not given, we can't continue working here, because we were already stretched with only Mattia's teaching salary and sure we can't afford to stay with none, as they haven't found anything for Elena, as instead they let us believe they would, and there are no signs they will in the near future; if instead the grant comes, we would not only have a salary but also a very good project to work on, which would include Elena too, which might help her arrange times and effort in a more satisfying way. However, we would still have to meditate on what to do with the kids, as we would like not to send them to this school next year: one option is  to find a different school, but the good ones are very expensive (we can't afford it and anyway we wouldn't be comfortable with it after having  already done that in Rwanda) and are already booked, while others might not be much better than this, so it might not be worthwhile to move them again for nothing; the second option is to dive into another adventure, ie. home-schooling, which might seem too much of a burden, but many have done it before and many are doing with good results, so it could be a good solution, especially because they would not only study by themselves or with mummy&daddy, but then join other activities in the youth project.

Well, we understand the difficulty of living with the uncertainty and we'll be eagerly waiting for news. In the meantime, what are you doing?

Elena keeps working nearly as usual, given that only P.E. in primary is finished (she still does it with pre-school) while the all the rest is going on; the boys will be busy every afternoon with their swimming vacation course (and the long journey there and back) and from next week two hours per morning, at different times due to their different age groups, with a reading programme organized by the library; Mattia carries on with his sport afternoons (and some Saturday mornings, now to a different stadium, only with dirt track but closer) which are going to get bigger from next week when he'll be at the campo 3 hours per day as he's offering sport to the kids of the reading programme, with the help of our dear friend José for some time.