The start of our second week, I
lay in bed thinking about all we hoped to get done in these 5 days. “We” is Jan
Dunn and me, the so-called Earth Box Team.
I am very thankful that Jan is my partner, because I have neither her
skill nor her patience when it comes to dealing with groups of really excited
children. To see Jan in action with the 5th and 6th
graders has shown me how effective it can be to praise the children doing the
positive behaviors and as much as possible, avoid giving attention to those who
are not. This may seem like the obvious approach, but it isn’t easy to do, and
it doesn’t seem very popular at the primary school.
Breakfast was tasty as it has
been every morning here at JJ’s Paradise. I’m afraid I might go through bacon
withdrawal when I return homeJ. After Laurie read the journal and Ruth gave us the
message for the day, Ron and Warren gave us our marching orders and we were off
to begin our second week of activity in the village of Anse le Raye.
Warren arrived and we loaded our
Earth Boxes for the day into the van. Actually, Ian loaded them in a specific
arrangement in order to get them all in – I think he has done this before. We arrived at Francoise Henry’s where he and
Marcia selected the seedlings we needed for Monday and Tuesday – tomatoes,
spinach, peppers, cucumbers and onions. Some were very small and still in the
hoop house and others were rather larger and had been moved outside. They were
carefully loaded into the van and off we went to Anse le Raye.
According to our schedule, we
were to plant three boxes at each of the two day care centers and finish
planting at the Infant School. Shelly had given us the window of time that
would be best for the kids at Homey Day Care so we were shooting for that.
Warren helped us unload in front of Kids Steppe and we were ready to roll.
Starting at Kids Steppe we
guided the 5-year olds in planting three boxes – one each of tomatoes, peppers
and spinach. It is fun to watch the kids see and feel the soil and to hold the
plants – such big bright eager eyes in their little faces. The teacher, Ms.
Henri, was very engaged. Not only did she help with the planting, but she
managed the children so that it was a relatively calm and organized activity –
not at all what I was expecting! Still trying to stay within our window, next
we carried the three other boxes and plants next door to Homey Day care and had
another calm organized session with Bernice in charge of the 4-5 year olds.
Curious and excited, all the children wanting their hands in the soil at the
same time, Bernice calmly asked the children to listen, step back, and take
turns. And they did. Jan was working on a second box with a small group of
children. At both day cares we repeated
over and over that the water goes into the tube and only into the tube because
the Earth Box is a special kind of garden
Jan found us a large quiet space
with a lovely afternoon breeze in the Home Day care where we enjoyed our lunch.
I don’t know the history but I am curious about the contrast between the two
adjacent daycares = Homey Day Care seems as large and new as Kids Steppe seems
old and small. But, the staff I have met in each seem equally professional and
kind and the children at both places seem happy and clean. To see the kids
napping today was memorable – the babies in their cribs, 5 yr. olds with their
heads on their desk and the younger children lined up asleep on floor mats or a
shared bed.
At the Infant School Jan
collected a boy and a girl from the second grade to come out and plant the two
tomato seedlings. In spite of Jane reminding us numerous times to please come
and get her when we were going to plant, we forgot. Sorry Jane. After school we
talked to some of the teachers about watering the Earth boxes. We showed them
how to water and when to water, and how not to water, and tried to stress the
importance of recording the watering each day on the charts that Jan had made.
Our planting over for the day,
Jan and I walked with Gabby to the primary school. Gabby has some interesting
and I suspect accurate insights on the RCP and what might make it better but is
also very sensitive to our roles as Global Volunteers. While waiting for our ride, Jan and I checked
out the sturdy new bridge that T-squared had built that morning to cross the
muddy ditch to the new Earth Box location – yeah T-squared! Ian came with the
van, filled up with Global Volunteers, for a cozy ride back to JJs.
I continue to be surprised and
warmed by the camaraderie among our group. I think it must be like the show
Survivor in how quickly you get to know your teammates – seems like you have
known most of them for a long time, not just a few days. I guess it’s not like
survivor in the way everyone demonstrates kindness, as team members we are all
working together to accomplish a common set of goals which require us to try to
think like villagers, and we wear more clothes. We adjourned for the evening.
Jan and I met briefly to pat ourselves on the back for accomplishing all the
things we had set out to do Monday and made a few changes in the schedule for
the coming days based on feedback from Bonnie re the secondary school and Gabby
re the Roving Caregivers.
Just as I was about to turn the
door now into my room, I saw a tiny bug-eyed frog or toad sitting atop the
doorknob so I encouraged him off and went in. The other half of Tome-squared,
who happens to be my husband, was already in bed and after a few shared stories
about our days, we both conked out. It
was a good day in Anse le Raye.
- Kathy
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