Hello all.
Posting a quick update mostly on school and teaching adventures but of course I
have to get doggie update in there! Missing everyone but keep an eye out for a
visit home from me soon!
Tonka
Tonka goes
out almost every day ‘en brousse’ with one of my students. She has turned into
a pretty good hunter, as my student comes back with stories of the animals
Tonka traps and kills with him. His family has invited me over for dinner to
eat the animals that Tonka has killed, but I am still not sure my stomach can
handle rat or squirrel more than once! When she isn’t with my students, she
enjoys chasing sheep and goats all over my village! She is not terrible fond of
cows and will bark inessentially until the cow moves. Most Guineans are
unexplainably scared of dogs, but slowly people are starting to warm up to
Tonka.
School
In early
May, we took the ‘Brevat Blac’ or the practice test for the big national exam
that my tenth graders have to pass. Unfortunately, not one of my 15 students
earned enough points to pass. I was definitely discouraged but I rallied
quickly and we spent the rest of the school year in review mode! No one has
passed this test in my village for the past four years so I am working really
hard to give these kids the best chance possible! Unfortunately, I can’t say
the same thing about the other teachers at my school. Sometimes certain
teachers don’t show up for 3 to 4 weeks and student encouragement is not an
applied technique at the schools here. I am often a witness to teachers
insulting their students. I do my best to ensure my students that they are, in
fact, NOT stupid and that everyone has the possibility to finish school and do
what they want with their lives. My biggest challenge is my three girls in my
10th grade. The teachers often ask the girls why they bother coming
to school or why they haven’t found their husbands yet. The French teacher
consistently tells one of my girls (Lamarana) that she knows absolutely
nothing. I was proud to hear that Lamarana stood up to him the other day and
told him that she is intelligent and she does work hard and she does know
things!
I have spent
the past week in Labé while my kids took the actual national exam or the
‘Brevat Noir’. I got together with most of my kids several times for review
sessions in math, physics and random chemistry information. Some of my students
called me every day after each subject; some days seemed easier than others! I
was proud of the work my kids had put in all year and I was confident as they
went into the math portion of the exam on June 1st. However, quickly
after the test was finished I discovered that my kids had been previously given
the exact exam question in the required review session the night before. My
principal had required all my students to go to the school the evening before,
but had not mentioned anything to me. I was only aware because my kids called
me to ask why I wasn’t giving the review session. Of course, I realized the
reason the next morning after the exam. Needless to say, I felt frustrated and
rather betrayed by my principal who knows how hard I have been working AGAINST
cheating this whole year. Unfortunately, corruption is a wildly out of control
problem in this country. The teacher that gave the review session the evening
before was able to pay money in order to gain access to the test questions. I
plan to meet with my kids back in the village to discuss the situation and hear
their thoughts and feelings on what happened.
Transportation
My
transportation continues to be a frustrating adventure. When school is in
session, I am confined to Noussy through Wednesday afternoon. If I need to get
into the city, my choices are to wait on the side of the road for a car to pass
or I take my bike the 18 kilometers to Labe. The bike trip is challenging, as
the trip from Noussy to Labe is essentially straight up a mountain. I often
take the waiting for the car on the side of the road option. Just the other
day, I waited four hours for a taxi to pass through. I then waited another
three hours for the driver to pick up about 50 large bags of charcoal. I
finally made it Labe after almost 8 hours and I only live 18 kilometers away!
But such is life in the middle of a village in Africa!
As always, I
am doing well! Now that school is
officially out of session, I have more free time. I plan to dedicate that time
to improving my Pular and continuing my integration into my community! Also, my
wonderful parents have agreed to bring me home for a visit in late August, so
if you are around I would some to see you!
