A week of school in July

Monday - Our puppies are almost three weeks old now and we've been following the development stages. They are now walking around exploring the enclosure which I've built from old cardboard boxes and outdated math textbooks. It's only 50cm high but that's high enough. They are super cute and are becoming more vocal and active every day.

Tuesday - last week, my Grade 11's finished reading Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. For many of them, this was the first English novel they had read (it took us four weeks). The treat today was watching the movie on the projector. They were so thrilled to be able to see a movie that they had struggled to understand as a book. They'll be less excited to write their comparative essays.

Wednesday - As I returned from playing basketball with some learners, I noticed a large gathering around the classrooms and many teary-eyed children holding their arms. Curious, I approached and asked what was going on. "We're getting injected, sir." Ah...vaccinations. What are you being protected from? A group of crying girls stopped and stared at each other for a second. "We don't know, sir." Turns out their was a meningitis outbreak in Angola and the local hospital is being strangely proactive.

Thursday - just before the sun went down, we watched a local man get beaten by a group of guys with sticks just outside our gate. Since it was within view of all the students, hundreds of kids swarmed our yard to watch. I started to head out to intercede but our principal called me back. The assailants escaped through the graveyard and the police arrived but the mob of kids didn't disperse for about an hour.

Friday - this is a home weekend for our school meaning that everyone in the hostel will be leaving on Friday afternoon for the entire weekend. Sweet tranquility! So we're going to have a small party here. Chloe and I will race to Oshakati to get to the bank during business hours and we'll need to buy more dog food.

For the past month or so, we've known that one of our dogs, Percy, was pregnant. The question was how many puppies would there be? Most guesses were between 3 and 5. Last week, it became clear that she was in labour and she dug a huge hole in our yard. The next morning, there were SIX little balls of fur inside the hole. Percy's apetite is staggering now that she's nursing six puppies. Luckily, the puppies are inside our compound at school, so the students don't get too close. Percy definitely gets very protective when anyone other than me or Chloe goes near her hole.

Two fellow teachers of mine have shown interest in taking a puppy, so that only leaves four more homes to find. It seems to be harder to find people to take the girls (since boys don't have any direct puppy responsibilities!) They are currently 10 days old and have yet to open their eyes but they all look healthy enough. Since none of the puppies are white, we are hopeful that our other dog, Bingo, is not the father. He is still a bad teenager dog who chases chickens, pigs, and even donkeys (see photo). Although exuberant, I see no value in him breeding.