Two weeks ago classes at the school were suspended Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The reason: a small mosquito called “jején” or “puri puri”. Sounds trivial? Not really, these little insects can bite you through your clothes, and when they come, they come in clouds of mosquitos. At the moment, there are many at the Laguna de Sinamaica due to the dry season and the very low tide in the morning hours. Those are the perfect conditions for the unpleasant mosquitoes to reproduce. Just thinking about it, makes me remember the many times I got bitten badly at the Gran Sabana, and my skin starts itching automatically!
Sadly, for the kids that meant no school. The Tepui team took that change of plans to make progress on other areas: gathering the tools and equipment we were needing to start with the workshops for the teachers.
Once with the equipment, William started to prepare the vegetable bed “showcase”. A showcase will provide a real example of what we are intending to do, how it develops with the vegetables and facilitates the learning for the whole community. As the kids started to see all of this they got very curious and some couldn’t wait to get their hands on the job.
This week is all about workshops with the teaching staff. The idea is to equip them with the knowledge they will need to carry out the activities to start working with the vegetables garden. Content includes from the creation of the vegetables beds (“canteras” or “barbacoas”) and preparation of the fertilizer, to planting and harvesting. It is important that the teachers are one step ahead and know about the techniques before engaging the children, in that way they can support the learning much more effectively.
Busy times ahead and we hope for an interruption-free week so that we can keep the schedule.