Guidance Project

St. Josephs Secondary School in Katenga. On one of the days, 2nd SET of stuudents was running 45 min late ( well, in African time dimention they were probably thinking, that mieans they are still 15 min ahead of the schedule somehow). While waititng, I saw a group of local village kids running outside and repeating movements and routines i've been teaching over the week. Thought instead of wasting time on waititng, I will get those babies in. AND THEY SMASHED IT! ;)

St. Josephs Secondary School in Katenga. On one of the days, 2nd SET of stuudents was running 45 min late ( well, in African time dimention they were probably thinking, that mieans they are still 15 min ahead of the schedule somehow). While waititng, I saw a group of local village kids running outside and repeating movements and routines i've been teaching over the week. Thought instead of wasting time on waititng, I will get those babies in. AND THEY SMASHED IT! ;)

St. Josephs Secondary School in Katenga. This particular lesson was focused around subject of building trust towards others and letting yourself being guided through... a lot of that day we spent with closed eyes (:

St. Joseph's Secondary School in Katenga. Very poor, hidden on the side, looks as if government forgot about it. They have got no running water and the one they have is a cause of Typhoid for many of the students. most of the classrooms are located in swamps which causes a problem of malaria. Building visible on this picture is close to collapsing and serves as a classroom for a number of over 100 students. They have got no power, they can watch electricity wires running on ...the other side of the street but the state will not wire the school. The great part of this place is its students and headmaster. I spent 2 weeks teaching here and I would happily come back and continue. In order to be able to dance to the music, I had to find a way of sorting a generator. After a long search, I managed to borrow one from a very nice headmaster of a Ntungamo High School. It was a stone dropping of my heart when he offered to help me with this. next trick was getting an extension cord long enough so I can hide noisy machine away from the speaker.
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Body conditioning class. Here, students have very little of an actual physical activities.. most of the days are spent on sitting over the books, praying, carring water Jerricans and eating porridge for breakfast, posho with beans for lunch and I think matoke for dinner... On some of them, I saw some good real sweat there for once :)

(:

...You call me out upon the waters, the great unknown, where feet may fail.

Our little short street routine ! I mean... aren't they adorable??!!

Who knew that laying on the floor can cause so much laugh ;)

Very first reaction of primary school students after they found out what is planned for them within next 5 days ahead of the project!! Priceless :) Each group counted 60 students per session.

On Tuesday, Alan - one of my dear students gave me a present - a PINEAPPLE as a "thank you" for returning to Africa to teach him again. To me it was more than a pineapple, more than a flower, he gave me all he had :) <3 #goforthmakeart #guidanceproject2018 #itisnotjustathankyou #ilovemystudents #ilovemyjob #givemorethanyouhave #dance #danceproject #iwasverytouched #itwasyummy #toteachistoinvest

A bit late update on workshops - that's due to having constant issues with the internet for which I apologise. We had our very first class on Monday at the Ntungamo High School. I decided to split students into 3 sets with around 40 students per hour in 3 hours block. First day was a bit hectic and that's due to things operating on "African time" basis rather than im "European" time management...which I am still adapting to.
One wise African man said - "you've got watches - w...e've got time :) ".
I am very pleased with the room we are allowed to use - spacious with tiled floor rather than usual concrete, which is a luxury here for sure. Only issue was lack of power connection which was resolved by connecting some interesting wires (see the pic). As the room was covered in a lot of orange soil dust - I explained to the students, that in order to enjoy the class - we need to clean up the space and try to maintain it for next two weeks :)
Monday class was based on first attempts in basic contemporary dance elements infused with some strengthening exercises. As the sun sets here around 6.30 PM and my last group was until 7.30 PM - due to lack of power and lightbulbs, we carried on in darkness. Quite a fun but not ideal. I am very happy how things are happening at the moment and I hope to be able to keep up the good work. I can really feel how much joy my students have..
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