Due to the rains we had to revert back to travelling via Cathcart as we suspected that the dirt roads were still muddy. This added additional time to the trip but at least we reduced the chance of getting stuck in the mud as happened yesterday.
We arrived at Portia’s house in the St Marks area before 8:00 am and she joined us shortly afterwards. We headed for the Cofimvaba district Offices to collect papers and waited for quite some time. This delay resulted in us only arriving at Cube by 09:00 after taking the wrong road.
The immediate impressions were that the school served a very impoverished community and the institution was run by an authoritarian. The decision was taken to allocate the Grade 4-7 learners to the Alternate Fuel project and the Grade 2-3 were allocated to Johan and Esme for the Lego training.
The Hydrogen demonstrations were disrupted with the collapse of the Dynamo where a single gear cracked due to the high torque during the capacitor demonstration. An alternative will have to be urgently sought if possible. Reference was also made to the device in order to demonstrate the flow of energy form the sun through plants, humans to the light bulb. The rest of the demonstrations went well. Three teachers sat in and when approached for comment on the standard of the presentation and whether the learners understood, they reported that they enjoyed it as it was not too difficult for the learners.
Esme and Johan reported favourably on their Experiences with the Lego though the school principal dominated the proceeding threatening the learners at every turn.
Cube Primary
Gr4 10 6
Gr5 8 8
Gr6 7 3
Gr7 4 6 Total 54
We returned to the region round 11:45 where we had got stuck in the mud the previous day but we were not able to plan a route through the river even on foot. It was decided that despite the fact that the school was small we were not able to complete a session there this week and rescheduled it for the next visit. We also heard the news that all schools in the district were scheduled for an Athletics day on Friday 30th January restricting access to the schools.
This justified the decision to complete 2 schools per day where possible.
We arrived in Cofimvaba round 12:15 where Portia suggested that we visit Cofimvaba Village Primary school as an extra school (with no donated equipment). After consulting with the principal we were given access to the Grade 9 learners. Again this was successfully completed although there was no Lego included as the younger learners were busy with lunch as part of the feeding scheme.
Significant decisions will be made in the morning regarding deep rural schools depending on the conditions of the road
Cofimvaba Village Primary
Gr7 15 31 Total 46