張亦盈
2013年以前,她對外面的世界一無所知。世界很大,她卻未曾有過機(jī)會(huì)出去看看。
初見周子硯,一個(gè)纖細(xì)高挑的女孩。平劉海、丸子頭,面上時(shí)刻掛著親和的笑容。
大學(xué)畢業(yè)之后,她成為了溫州市第六幼兒園的一名幼教老師,每天幼兒園和家兩點(diǎn)一線的生活,讓她漸漸萌生了“走出去”看看的想法。
過去幾年的時(shí)光,她去過很多地方,也混混沌沌地完成了很多旅行計(jì)劃。她說,是時(shí)候去做些“值得去做”的事情了。于是,她選擇以支教的形式來到了非洲坦桑尼亞。當(dāng)一雙雙會(huì)笑的眼睛、一張張害羞的面容出現(xiàn)在眼前時(shí),她感覺自己觸碰到了詩和遠(yuǎn)方。
初到非洲面臨艱苦環(huán)境
一直以來,周子硯的心中有兩個(gè)夢想:游學(xué)與支教。2016年的寒假,她孤身一人前往澳大利亞完成了自己的游學(xué)之夢。回到家后,她想,是時(shí)候把自己的支教夢想提上行程了。
提到非洲,很多人立刻會(huì)聯(lián)想到貧窮,饑餓,戰(zhàn)亂以及疾病,腦海中霎時(shí)浮現(xiàn)出一幅幅慘淡而又凄苦的畫面。
“非洲是我心中的一片凈土,我一定要親眼去看看。”帶著這樣的愿景,一個(gè)人,一只20寸的皮箱,一臺(tái)小音箱,歷時(shí)20小時(shí),周子硯踏上了非洲支教的旅途。
盡管出國前,對非洲的生活環(huán)境已經(jīng)做足了心理準(zhǔn)備,但當(dāng)落地桑給巴爾時(shí),周子硯還是感到微微的詫異?!跋袷巧鲜兰o(jì)80年代的中國,所有設(shè)施都非常的簡陋。”桑給巴爾機(jī)場里沒有行李運(yùn)輸帶,所有的行李都是經(jīng)過一臺(tái)破舊的稱重器進(jìn)行磅秤,然后由空服人員拉到一旁。來接機(jī)的小哥叫做阿布,當(dāng)?shù)厝?,開著一輛破舊的面包車,吱呀吱呀地往機(jī)場門口一停,車尾揚(yáng)起漫天的黃沙……
住宿地點(diǎn)是由當(dāng)?shù)氐囊粋€(gè)國際志愿者協(xié)會(huì)提供的,20平方米的小房間里,地上放著5張破舊的床墊,“可以看見床墊里面的棉花都已經(jīng)跑出來了?!敝茏映幟枋龅?,房間里蚊子特別多,時(shí)常晚上會(huì)被蚊子叮到睡不著覺,“每天都要在床上灑滿各種防蚊水,這樣才能勉強(qiáng)入睡?!?/p>
除了艱苦的住宿條件,吃也成為了一個(gè)問題。桑給巴爾市場上的食物種類偏少,加上飲食的不適應(yīng),周子硯和她的支教伙伴們經(jīng)常不吃早餐。同行的一名支教大學(xué)生帶了幾袋旺旺雪餅,每天早上一人吃一小塊,“不敢多吃,生怕吃完了,接下來的日子就沒東西吃了?!?/p>
吸引孩子靠了音樂舞蹈
每天早晨5時(shí)30分,周子硯便開始起床洗漱,6時(shí)40分準(zhǔn)時(shí)搭乘校車去她支教的學(xué)校。這是一座當(dāng)?shù)氐墓k學(xué)校,由幼兒園、小學(xué)、初中三個(gè)年級(jí)段組成。早上的例行晨會(huì),校長與孩子們對新老師表示了熱烈歡迎。
周子硯的第一堂課,教學(xué)對象是幼兒階段的學(xué)生。起初,孩子們對新老師的到來還不能很好的適應(yīng),整個(gè)課堂顯得鬧哄哄的。怎樣才能讓孩子們快速地適應(yīng)自己的課堂,周子硯想到了一個(gè)好方法。第二天,她帶上自己的小音箱來到教室中央,放起一首《Walking Walking》的英文歌曲,“音樂響起的一瞬間,所有孩子的目光都集中到我身上?!苯淌依镒兊檬职察o,孩子們的眼神中閃著光,目不轉(zhuǎn)睛地注視著她。
這一天,周子硯帶著她的學(xué)生們,在操場上放著《Walking Walking》的歌曲,做起了“小火車”的音律互動(dòng),吸引了全校師生的目光。
中午11時(shí)30分是學(xué)校的休息時(shí)間。一天,周子硯同往常一樣,準(zhǔn)備返回自己的辦公室休息。這時(shí)候,走廊里突然躥出一個(gè)小女孩。周子硯認(rèn)得她是學(xué)校初中學(xué)段的一名學(xué)生,女孩羞澀地低著頭,拉著周子硯的手詢問她,能不能在課后給他們班再多加一節(jié)舞蹈課,周子硯欣然答應(yīng)了。從小學(xué)習(xí)舞蹈的她,有著良好的舞蹈功底,舞蹈課上,她帶著孩子們跳起了傣族的孔雀舞。孩子們學(xué)得很認(rèn)真,“他們知道將手比劃成孔雀頭的樣子,一板一眼地跟著我一起跳?!彼f,這些孩子的一舉一動(dòng),都帶給她滿滿的幸福感。
愛上星空還有張張笑臉
現(xiàn)在,提及非洲,周子硯有了自己的見解:這里的孩子沒有印刷的練習(xí)本,都是老師用橫線、畫圖一本本畫出來,讓孩子們涂色、描紅;孩子們的書包都是來自中日韓的二手書包;他們分到的糖果零食都會(huì)吃得干干凈凈,最后舔完手指舔桌子。
但即便是這樣,他們不管校車多么擁擠,一定要站起來給老師讓座;不管有多害羞,碰到老師也會(huì)主動(dòng)打招呼;盡管身高不夠,下課也要跳起來幫老師擦黑板。
來到這里,她才明白有一種藍(lán)叫桑給巴爾,像掉進(jìn)了濾鏡的世界。藍(lán)到極致的天,紅得發(fā)燙的晚霞,像珍珠一樣白的沙灘。她說,這里的無拘無束,讓她想要放聲狂叫和撒腿奔跑!
周子硯說,在這里她聽到最多的就是“jambo”和“Karibu”,在斯瓦希里語里是“你好”和“歡迎”的意思。沒有了高樓環(huán)繞,回歸了白墻和平房。這里更多的是一張張安靜的笑容,少了幾分都市的喧囂。雖然防蚊水不離身,防蚊乳時(shí)刻搽,但是在桑島多了抬頭可以看到滿天的星空,蔚藍(lán)到讓她玩命看的印度洋,以及那些路過就能印刻在心中的風(fēng)景。
關(guān)于支教,周子硯表示接下來她會(huì)有更多的安排,“我希望我走的每一條路都是因?yàn)闊釔郏檬щS緣,我覺得,能讓我變得更好的永遠(yuǎn)是自己?!?/p>
(本文圖片由羅典攝影)
Zhou Ziyan never got a chance to really see the world until 2013. The tall and slim girl from Wenzhou became a teacher at the Wenzhou No. 6 Kindergarten after graduation from college. She traveled abroad to counteract the vapidity of daily routines. The overseas experiences opened her eyes and she decided to do something meaningful. So she made a decision to be a volunteer teacher in Africa.endprint
Zhou finished her study tour in Australia in the winter break of 2016. Back to her daily routines in Wenzhou, she set about making preparations for a bigger plan. “Africa is the Pure Land in my heart, and I must see it with my own two eyes,” said the girl.
After 20 hours on the plane, Zhou Ziyan landed in Zanzibar. “It felt like time traveling back to the 1980s of China,” she recalled, “I was a little shocked when I saw the shabby weighing machine on the conveyer belt.”
A rickety minibus took her to the boarding place arranged by an international volunteer association. “It was a room with nothing but five well-worn mattresses and robust mosquitoes, and I had to survive the nights with a lot of repellent.” Food supply turned out to be a big problem. “Acclimatization took quite a while; for quite a long time we had to go without breakfast and relied on the rice crackers we brought from home.”
The daily routines of Zhou Ziyan and the other volunteers started at 5:30 in the morning. The school bus arrived at the boarding place at 6:40. She worked at a public school that provided education for preschool kids, elementary and junior middle school students. Her first class with the mischievous children turned out to be quite messy. The next day she brought the loudspeaker box she brought from home into the classroom. When the music of Walking Walking started, everyone quieted down, eyes shining with curiosity and excitement. She then brought the kids to the playground. The musical start drew the attention from the whole school. At that moment, she knew the ball was rolling, and things kept getting easier from that day.
School-age children in many places in Africa have to live with serious scarcity of education resources. The schoolbags used by the students in the school Zhou Ziyan worked with were secondhand donations from China, Japan and South Korea. Candies and snacks are a luxury. Life is hard for most of the people there. However, at the opposite extreme of such a tough life is the politeness and innocence of the children who would offer the seat to the teacher on a crowded bus and clean the blackboard on tiptoes after class.
In Tanzania, Zhang found her heart filled with happiness every day. “I saw a color called ‘Zanzibar blue – the innocent, gorgeous color I had never seen anywhere else. I couldnt get enough of the scarlet sunset glow and the sand beach that is as white and glossy as pearls. And the cosmic freedom I felt during my stay in Africa was beyond description.”
In the local Swahili language, a Bantu language that is extensively spoken in the African Great Lakes region and the de facto national and official language of Tanzania, ‘jambo means ‘hello and ‘karibu stands for ‘welcome. “In Zanzibar, you hear the two words all day long,” Zhou Ziyan shared affectionately. In the archipelago where about half the population lives below the poverty line and there are no skyscrapers, Zhou Ziyan saw the best of a world she had never seen before.
“I am where I am because of nothing but passion. It is all about love without measure, and I believe I am the only one to make myself a better person,” said Zhou. She has more plans for being a volunteer teacher in overseas missions.endprint