Building Students by Building Couches
“You have taught us a lot, you know,” one of my students told me while I made both of us tea.
“Oh really?” I responded.
“Yeah. Like you built your own couch!”
It was true. When I loved in, I had only had grimy couches in my place and was convinced a U couch would be perfect so I asked around and finagled a way to get free wooden pallets. I bought a bucket of varnish, mattresses, and material for cushions and sanded away for months until I had a couch that perfectly fit my living room. “We were all watching you everyday sitting on your porch sanding and measuring,” he continued. As I remembered the students popping their heads out of the dining hall to watch me like l was insane.
“We kind of thought you were crazy.” I laughed and nodded. “But then we realized that if you want something to get done, you find a way. That taught us about facing challenges in life.”
Flattered and a little shocked, I reflected that my job is so unique because I’m never “off.” Even the little things I do affect my students and can teach them something. Even something as mundane as building a couch.
Buried in my pages of calculations.
Chapwa! (That's "Finished!" in Bemba)
