Partner Meeting in Mandal

This week the contact persons from Norway, Brazil, Cameroon, Thailand and Laos have been gathered at Hald together with the contact persons from Fokus and Act Now. We have worked very hard with the new Partnership Agreements and budgets, and we really think that in 2008 - 2009 all the Team Nettverk participants have a lot of good tasks and activities to look forward to.

Hva er nakenhet?

Hege i Thailand skriver:

Før vi dro ut til dette landet var jeg nervøs for hvordan det ville være å ha på så mye klær i den varmen som ventet oss. Jeg spøkte litt med thaiene som var så faue at de måtte dekke skuldre og knær. Det er visst like dumt som å vise andre kroppsdeler. Dette gjelder særlig kvinner, og skuldrene er verst.I Phibun hadde vi hus med hage som var ypperlig til soling. Men da var det viktig å låse porten slik at ikke hushjelpen plutselig skulle komme å se oss "naken". For det er sånn det føles nå. Disse "absurde" tankene om å dekke til skuldre og knær har blitt en del av meg. Selv om jeg kan bruke singlet her i Bangkok, skjer det sjelden, og det ville aldri skjedd i Phibun.På hotellet ved kysten i dag, fikk jeg sjokk over hvilke friheter turister faktisk tar seg. En vestlig dame i femtiårene sprader selvsikkert inn i lobbyen, kun iført bikini! En bitteliten bikini som dekker det alle nødvendigste. Av og til lurer jeg på hva thaiene faktisk tenker om oss hvite rike. Blir de vant til disse halvnakne menneskene? Eller er det like pinlig hver gang de ser dem? Det stritter jo helt imot deres kultur.

Dataundervisning på Centre Socio Menager

Helene storkoser seg i Kamerun:

Her underviser vi jenter som aldri før har rørt en datamaskin. Vi har brukt tid på å bli kjent med mus og tastatur. Tenk så fasinerende det egentlig er: at når du flytter musen til høyre, så er det en pil på skjermen som gjør akkurat det samme! Og at du kan trykke på bokstavene på tastaturet, og så kommer både tall og ord opp foran deg. Og ikke minst: at du kan lagre det du skriver, og deretter finne det igjen neste uke!! Moro!
Skolen har nå 5 maskiner, og jentene er veldig ivrige og engasjerte. Jeg storkoser meg hver tirsdag og torsdag på CSM. Utviklingen er enorm! De lærer fort, eller, relativt fort.. Nei, de lærer fort!! De kunne jo ingenting. Og nå kan de masse. Jeg er stolt av jentene på Centre Socio. De er flinke. Det er givende.

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Skiing

Edson from Brazil says:

I will remember: February, 9th and 10th, 2008. Maybe 21 is a good age to try ski for the first time in life. It was for me! Together with my Norwegian family, I could understand and be introduced to the famous ski.Gullingen (western part of Norway) testified my first experience with ski. The place was whitely covered with snow. Some small hills, some trees without leaves and, luckily, few people are witnesses of those first and funny falls I have experienced by learning how to ski.To start, I walked three hours. The effort is nothing comparing to breathtaking views along the way. While looking and admiring the landscapes, I could relax my legs.Speaking on legs, I need to say: ski is a kind of sport that uses our whole body. From head to toes, everything is important to ensure balance and movement. As a beginner, I can not deny: a soft pain comes the day after in your legs. But it does not prevent you of accepting one more time in order to experience another kind of ski.That’s what happened: I tried “slalåm” (in Norwegian) that means “downhill ski”. We use different equipments: shoes and skies are specials for this mode. To me, it is not possible to try downhill without an instructor. And, thanks God, I had one. When I got up in the mountain I asked him: “Wow! Do we need to take this slippery way to get down?”. With his instructions, bit for bit, I could go down slowly. When the speed increased and I could not manage to reduce, my solution was to sit down.Normally, it takes less than one minute to go downhill. I can remember a little boy – about 9 years-old – passed by me three times. My first experience with downhill took around 10 minutes to get back down from the hill. Is this a record in the sport?Surely, it was remarkable

The power of the white human being

Inki in Madagascar tells a funny story, meeting the police in Madagascar:

We are white. It is so obvious. As if it wasn’t enough getting glances and comments on the streets because our skin colour is so noticeable, the police have to stop us too. One Saturday Eline and I got to borrow the Norwegians’ car. We were so ready for a road trip to Ambositra (1 hour North), where we would buy each other birthday presents and have a nice restaurant meal. It was a long time since we’d driven a car, so we were quite nervous and very excited.When we were driving home from Ambositra, we got pulled over by the police. This isn’t just peanuts, because in Madagascar the police have huge rifles on their back. You have to fear them for them to get respect… As it was my turn to sit behind the wheel, I was quite nervous as I rolled down the window.this is a nice road in Madagascar!“Salama tompoko,” I said politely and smiled. Could he see that I was nervous? Apparently he didn’t care. He had stopped us for private reasons. After having flattered us with compliments about our appearances – and found out we teach English – he explained that he’d like to learn too. Trying to impress us with the knowledge he already had, he said “I love you” and hoped for a positive answer. What to do?! He was the police, so I had to act in a proper way. Eline and I couldn’t help but laugh – and that saved us from the awkward moment. At the end he asked me for my driver license, indicating it was ok if I had left it at home. After having seen my name and the date of birth, he used the information to get to know me better. Luckily we got away soon enough. “See you, mademoiselle Swan,” he said at last. Well, we’ll see about that…We had to be stopped twice again by different police on our way back. These smelled of alcohol and had the same purpose as the other one, but we got away safely and somehow managed to avoid giving them our number…

Read more about Inki's experiences

Infield in Thailand and Brazil

Gunhild in Brazil says:

(...) Men jeg hadde det utrolig fint i Rio. Var kjempe koslig aa treffe Synnove, Kjetil, Agnar og Oystein igjen. Det aa vare litt norsk igjen var deilig!! (.....)

Miriam in Thailand says:

Last week we had visitors. Inger Johanne and Monika, our teachers at Hald, came and had a course for the Hald students from Thailand, Laos and Serbia. It was great to see both the teachers and the other students again. We did a lot of serious work like evaluating our stay so far and making goals for the rest of the stay.
However we had much sparetime too. Elephant tracking was one of the things we did.

22 22 63 71

Yaoundé er hovedstaden i Kamerun. I Yaoundé ligger det et trivelig hotell. Det hotellet heter Hotel Tango. Oslo er hovedstaden i Norge. I Oslo ligger det et trivelig bakeri. Det bakeriet heter Baker Hansen. Hva har Hotel Tango i Yaoundé og Baker Hansen i Vogts Gate 68 i Oslo til felles bortsett fra at det er to trivelige steder plassert i hver sin hovedstad?? Ja, nå kan du lure nå...
Men det har seg nemlig slik at de har det samme telefonnummeret! Tro det eller ei.Tlf nr. til Hotel Tango er nemlig 22 22 63 71, og det er det sannelig til Baker Hansen i Vogts Gate også. Snakker om sammentreff. Så nå er det bare å slå på trå’n :)

Hentet fra Helene's blog

Brown Cheese

Reflection of today by Glad:

It's cheese but brown. Well just like how it's called. The norwegian people, they think, or they say it's sweet. And maybe some international people, but hehe, I think it's kinda in between sweet and salt. Anyway, I wanted to through up when I first tasted it, a few months ago, but now, seems like I cannot eat breakfast without it, what a spell!!!!!!

Read Glad's blog

På jobb i Bangkok

Karin skriver:

Tirsdag, onsdag og torsdag fram til lunsj er jeg på Immanuel Day Nursery, en førskole for barn fra 3-6 år. Jeg er i andre klasse, der det er litt under 20 barn på fem år. I mai begynner disse i tredje, her har man "sommerferie" i april og halve mai. Om morgenen er det samling for andre og tredjeklasse, med litt undervisning, sanger på thai og engelsk, en lek etc. Så er det dopause, før det er samling for alle klassene klokka ni. Da er det oppstilling, flaggheis og kongesang (da står de på sitt roligste), sanger og bittelitt undervisning. Så er det melkepause, før klassene har en time undervisning. Hver dag har jeg en halvtime engelsk med dem, to dager med andreklasse og en dag med tredje. De er så gira! Nå hilser de i vei og sier hva de heter, og når de bygger med duplo ramser de opp fargene på klossene. Veldig motiverende. Etter undervisningen er det leking fram til lunsj, så er det tannpuss og soving. Tirsdag har andreklasse sportsdag (da er det gule uniformer i stedet for den vanlige røde og hvite) med leking oppe på takterrassen. Fredag er jeg på Lovsangshjemmet, en barnehage for unger fra 6 måneder-3 år. Her går det stort sett i å leke med og klemme på ungene, samt tørke snørrete neser titt og ofte. Klokka ni er det flaggheis og kongesang her også, og så har de samlingsstund hver dag. Mellom samlingsstund og lunsj har vi sansemotorikk på fredager, det er gøy! Da er det trampoline, krypetunell, basketball og andre aktiviteter. Etter lunsj er det soving.
Tirsdager er jeg og Lise på ettermiddagsaktiviteter her. Da er det frilek og engelskundervisning. Ungene er fra 4-5 år og opp til tidlig i tenårene. Jeg prøver å lære dem nyttige ord og fraser, og plukke av dem mindre bra ord som "fuck you". Noe engelsk har de da lært på egenhånd.
Onsdager er vi alle sammen på ettermiddagsaktiviteter, det er formingsdag. Til nå har vi malt, perlet og lekt med Play Doh. I tillegg er det leking.

Les mer på Karin's blog

Gode grunner til å søke Hald Internasjonale Senter

v/ Elisabeth Mulelid.

- Få venner for livet
- Dra på utplassering til Brasil, Bolivia, Peru, Serbia, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Kamerun, Tanzania, Madagaskar, Laos eller Thailand i 6-7 mnd.
- Få sjansen til å lære ett nytt språk
- Dra på bli-kjent hyttetur uten mobil og kontakt med omverden
- Ta utfordringer- Lær å jobbe sammen i team
- Lær mer om deg selv
- Gå på fjelltur med bind for øynene
- Ha morsom kjøkkentjeneste, vasketjeneste eller vakttjeneste
- Se lærerne dine rappe
- Drikk kokosnøtt for første gang i livet
- Arbeid i et utfordrende miljø, og få spennende oppgaver
- Få minner og venner for livet i praksislandet

Rett og slett få ett av dine beste år i ditt liv!
HALD ER ABSOLUTT TIL Å ANBEFALE!!

Les mer og se flere argumenter og bilder på bloggen hennes ved å klikke her

Dancing in Norway

Photo:Edson Munck Junior
It was the new year´s day, and that was my way of celebrate because I knew that we were going to a teenager´s party and I realized I will not be able of dancing, even Norwegian dance, and also because I kind of were missing Brazil and all its traditions this time of year.This is a very famous dance coming from North of Brazil called CALIPSO it a good rhythm, , once started you can never stop, I wish I could teach some Norwegian, but it has to do with moving your hips, kind of complex , if you know what I mean, hehe... but I am sure they would love to learn that dance.

Cirene from Brazil is dancing, "The movie"

Å jobbe i slummen

Å jobbe i slummen tar på fordi der er alltid mørkt siden den ligger under en stor veibane. Det er veldig skittent der, og grisene og hundene går om hverandre, så jeg føler meg ikke så ren når dagen er over. Vi får og vite om en del historier til barna som går der, og mange har det ikke bra i hjemmet. Salg og bruk av narkotika, fedre som får seg flere familier og spilling preger hverdagen til mange av barna. Men slummen er ikke så fattig som jeg på forhånd trodde. En del har fine biler, flere har både datamaskin og TV, og mange hadde nok hatt mulighet til å komme seg bort fra det livet de lever. Problemet er bare at de har vokst inn i miljøet, og Thailand er et klassesamfunn, og en klatrer som regel ikke over klassen en er født inn i.Er en født i den fattige klassen begynner man på skolene som koster lite eller ingenting. Også må man fortsette på samme typer skole, til slutt dropper mange ut av skolen.Her er mange ting det burde blitt tatt tak i. Tro ikke at norske barn spiser mye godteri, thaibarna slår de langt ned i støvlene! Spesielt spiser barna fra slummen mye godteri, som desverre blir erstatning for skikkelig mat, som fører til tynne, underernærte barn. Det fører og til tenner som råtner, mange av barna i barnehagen og på skolene har kun svarte stubber igjen i munnen sin.

Les mer på Lise's blogg

Infield in Norway

Cirene says:

I am having such a great time at Hald, it is really nice to meet all the International Students, it is like when we first came here, of course with a slight different: every place is white.The classes has been very important in order to make us look back over all time in Norway until now. Today there was a class about building on strengths, and it was great, very interesting subject. We were told to focus on our weaknesses, and even in school the system goes like that. You have to be good in every areas in this life, if you are not, people starts push you dow as if you were in some level not so clever as the others. It made me think on my information work when back to Brazil, I want go to some school and share one of theses things I have been learning while in Norway, also because it has been a blessing for me, so why not just share!

(.....)

I am so thankful I am in this place where I can be challenged and even encouraged to try new thing, although I few sometimes powerless! But God has opened my eyes to see that He want to use my life, and I only need to be willing and wait for His guidance. Read more

Gwladys says:

The second of january, ah! what a long journey and tireing, but very exiting, well simply cause I was gonna meet every one again.

(.....)

Monica and Agnar picked us up, cause we had as usual too many extra laguage for just 5 girls we had 20 bags or something..Anyway!Seeing everybody again was just so amazing, I never imagined that I would miss this senter that much... Read More

Edson says:

During the break between classes at Hald, Agnar - our teacher - taught us a new snow-game. So, we decided to play. Video by Nan (Thailand). See the movie

Snow at Hald

Nen is saying:

5 January 2008 !! We have snow 50 cm. It's so nice and interesting for me.And so cool.

Infield

Infield in Madagascar:

Some weeks we’ve had to put up with the frustration of not having ANY ways to communicate with the rest of the world. Not only once have we experienced that what we planned never happened. We have had to realize that what you don’t plan – that’s what you’re suddenly thrown into! In short – Malagasy culture is very different to the Norwegian one, in many ways… It’s interesting and fun to experience, but sometimes it gets a bit tiring.

So when the time for In-field came, I was ready for a break.

To be able to have a conversation in my mother tongue without having to concentrate to understand every sentence was like a dream. We rented a car with a great driver. He took us all the way to Toamasina on the East Coast. We had some relaxing days there by the beach. Slept in a bungalow. Swam in the pool. Snorkled on the coral reef. Had Bible study. Counselling. Evaluation on our personal growth so far. Enjoying the company of Agnar, our teacher from Hald.

Bible study in the shade

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Infield in Cameroon:

Our ”Infield-course” was next on our schedule. It was GREAT to see them again. A reunion with Norwegian chocolate and cards from my family made my day!

The first couple of days did Inger johanne have some work for us to do. Or, not work. It was more talking about our experiences so far. It was nice! She helped us set some goals for our stay abroad. Talk more French was number one on my list!
We visited our work-places also.

At the kindergarten. It was hard to get attention that day!

We took off to Mballang (a cabin 1 hour north) for a one-night stay. It was beautiful. Sitting outside with a bonfire, the black sky covered with stars. Amazing!

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We wish you a merry Christmas....

Ola is teaching English at Ebenezera School in Antananarivo, Madagascar. This is the first time they sing the song, - I was really impressed! Agnar

Brasiliansk pølse med brød

Something interesting for Norwegians is the way we, Brazilians, are used to prepare hot-dog. The main differences are: sliced salsiches, corn in the sauce and sticks-potatoes on the top.

At 9th of November, me and Cirene were at Avaldsnes Skolen to make "brasiliansk pølse med brød" (Brazilian hot-dog) with some children. They enjoyed the idea of slicing salsiches, frying onion, eating hot-dog with sticks-potatoes.

Afterwards, we have heard that some of the children decided to assume theirs kitchens at home and prepare the dish to the family.

After preparing the food, we went to the classroom. Some students presented posters with informations about countries that they have been studying. So, we could see the presentation about Guatemala - with typical food - and Brazil.

Read more and see pictures at Edson's blog

The Norwegians like bread and milk

The Norwegian like bread and milk. I dont like much the food but I live here and I have to used it because its part of the learning the culture. We had breakfast bread with something, "matpack" fro lunch, at four o clock dinner, thats the real meal. The norwegian like to eat just little bread for the lunch and different kind of food in Dinner. I used to eat three times a day in Madagascar and we have rice so I missed that. my hostfamily try to make me happy so they baugth rice for me and meat. they things that I realy like in norway are the Ice cream, Cake, and milk they are rich on that. Every meeting that I attend we always have Cake and coffee but I dont drink coffee so I just took the Cake. Me and Birger went to Melhus to attend a meeting so we ate much Cake. anywhere I go in Norway I found the cake and Coffee.

I work with the church, kinder garden, barn gospel, Baby massage, choire " join Us" and I take part of the comfirmant leaders.

In the kinder, they kids dont speak english so I tried to used body languge. I am learning Norwegian form the kids. The first word that I get from them is like "Hallo på do" it means like hallo toilet. they like me verymuch and I realy like to work with them every thursday even its realy hard. one girl in kinder she like me and I awlays get a gift from her. The name of that kinder is "Liavoll".


We had malagsy exhebition in orkdal menighthus for four day, It was succesful and I missed my home when I saw everything form Madagascar. In orkdal we have many people who ahve been in Madagascar so they brougth many things from Madagascar.

The exhebition visited by the student and the people who live in Orkdal. we show them too one dance from Madagascar " Mamgaliba", we danced five times a day during the exhebition, it was very hard but It nice to show the norwegian about madagascar about the life there even they think that Madagascar are one of the poor country.


Read More at Rock's blog

Muang May

Skolen i Thailand er obligatorisk fra 1 – 9 klasse, de starter når de er 5 år. (usikker) Foreldrene må betale en terminavgift, som går til skolen. De betaler ikke lærerlønn. Denne avgiften varierer i forhold til statusen på skolen. Hvis det er en med høy status stiger prisen og kravene for å komme inn. Skoleuniform og annet skoleutstyr må foreldre betale utenom. Det er også vanlig (press) at elevene skal ha med lommepenger hver dag, for å kjøpe godterier osv.

Det er høyt kunnskapspress i Thailand, og det gis karakter til alle fra de går i barnehagen, altså i treårsalderen. De har også tentamener og eksamener fra starten av. En i slutten av hver termin. Disse må de bestå for å kunne gå videre. Hvis ikke, må de gå om igjen. De som går om igjen blir stemplet som treige og etter hvert dumme. Her fins ingen diagnoser som dysleksi. I skolen finner du ikke elever med noe slags handikap. Disse barna går aldri på skole.


På Muang May, skolen vi jobbet på var det 300 elever og 18 lærere. Det betyr liten oppfølging på hver elev. Undervisning er lagt opp til at alle skal lære det samme, de skal svare i plenum og alle skal være like. Selv om presset er stort, så trenger ikke lærerne å ta seg av en elev som henger etter. Lærerne underviser og så får de som vil/klarer det plukke det opp. Teorier og setninger og ord skal pugges og huskes, de har en kjapp hukommelse. Men de forstår ikke nødvendigvis det de pugger.

Respekten til lærerne på skolen er stor. Elevene bøyer seg for lærerne, (dette viser stor respekt). Det er ingen som snakker imot eller stygt til lærerne.

Les mer og se flere bilder på Hege's blogg

Le Concert

Eline and Helene have some new experieces: 



It’s Sunday, and I had a long day head of me. At 07.00 o’clock were we going to meet the choir, but Helene and I thought that African time was African time so we decided to wake up 06.30 with plenty of time. But we were wrong! A friend knocked on the door 10 minutes after I woke up and asked if we were ready, the bus were going to leave at 0700. What happened to African time when we needed it!?

We managed to jump in the bus quite surprised that the Norwegian girls were one of the last! We drove out to Dang were a church performance was first and a concert was second on our schedule for the day.


A 5 ½ hours long church service seemed even longer when you sat on a wooden bench squeezed together. I had no feelings in my butt and back, but a lot of good music was played and we were served lunch afterwards! I guess 1 ½ hour service at home is going to be nothing when I come back. ;)
It's lunch time and we're eating somthing we weren't sure what was..

After church, waiting and preparation was next on our schedule. Helene and I were given a “pagne” (kjole) and before we knew what to do next, Haoua, a girl in the choir, took us with her to get ready. We ended up in a small “apartment” consisting of 2 rooms were we were supposed to take a shower! Two white confused girls who didn’t quite knew what to do, ended up taking a “shower” using a bucket, soap and water. Haoua helped us get dressed before we rushed back to where the concert was held.

At 6’oclock, when the concert was supposed to start, that’s when we started too warm up. My conclusion was that Helene and I wearing the same clothes as everyone else would help us not stick out as much. I was wrong again! As we walked in, someone yelled out: “Nazara, nazara” (white people) and “Dance bien” (dancing well), not sure if it was irony or a compliment.
Sing and shine
Four weeks ago, when I was given the list of 14 songs for the
concert, I for sure, thought that I would just be watching. No way would I ever learn all those songs and some of them were even in tribe language!

I must say that out of 14 songs, I did quite well remember the text and moves. Of course, there is some miming here and there, but I had so much fun! Norwegian audience is totally different from what I saw this day. People were dancing and singing with us, some even came up on the stage joining in!

The concert was done about ten o’clock, we cleaned, pressed everyone in a small bus and were home around 23.30. I was deadly tired in my feet and back, but it was all worth it!

Read more at Eline's blog
Read more at Helene's blog