Hello, hello. Sorry it’s been a while, but electricity and internet continue to be in and out in Dogbo. As for the newest school drama, last week a first year boy grabbed his professor by the collar and then all the teachers decided to leave their classes in the middle of class and have a meeting. I didn’t go immediately when I was summoned because I was in the middle of a quiz. When I arrived 20 minutes later they had already drafted a letter to the administration declaring a 2 day strike against the students. Just as I walked up we began our group march to the administration building to present the letter in solidarity. We even “stood in the sun to show them our suffering!!” All I could do was roll my eyes and chuckle. As Peace Corps Volunteers, we are not allowed to go on strike, since its usually about pay and benefits we don’t receive (some fellow volunteers have been the only profs teaching at their schools for over 6 weeks due to strikes in the North). But, seeing as how I myself also think students at my school are out of control and the administration is not as strict as it should be, I decided to join in (and also just for amusement).
Even though I joined in, I did still feel torn about the situation. I definitely agree that something needs to be done, but I couldn’t help but see their behavior as totally juvenile. It reminded me of my own students striking against me just 2 weeks before. Granted it was much quieter and “official” in their eyes, but it offered no real solution or suggestion for improvement. It also lacks the self-reflection necessary to really confront such a problem. Unfortunately I didn’t (and still don’t) have any other option to present to these 30 professors at the time. It’s just part of a much bigger problem that I wouldn’t even know where to start, and nobody would have been willing to listen to.
I must admit that my general attitude towards life here has not been fantastic lately. My friend Dennis made a really interesting observation that our outlook as volunteers seems to come full circle during our time here. I think in a lot of ways he’s right. We arrive to find so much confusing, frustrating, and often non-sensical. But as time goes on we work so hard to become understanding of their culture and ways of life. We have no choice but to accept what we find and do our best to affect change within these systems. But now as the clock ticks on and we’ve become so comfortable here, it’s starting to become frustrating all over again. After accepting things and trying to work with them sometimes you just want to yell and say…”I know you do it that way, but that’s just ridiculous!!” Beninese people love to say “this is Africa” whenever anything goes wrong, they are resigned to accept it, and tell each other to do the same. As volunteers of course we know we’re here to affect change, if only so small, but all too often, the people themselves don’t even believe it’s possible, or worth it.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Ryan's visit!!
So, my great friend Ryan from Michigan State is quite the adventurer and ever since I applied he always promised, and I always knew, that he was coming to visit wherever I was headed. Well...after much waiting and lots of vaccinations, he finally made it! He arrived the 12th of February and then our adventures began... Unfortunately right after his arrival we were robbed (the emotional ramifications will no doubt come up in future blogs, but for right now, lets focus on the rest of the trip!). Luckily they just grabbed my phone and a bit of my money and by that time lots of people came running to help us and the guys fled. So, no real harm done, and we headed on to Dogbo the same day.
It was market day when we arrived, so I took him around and made him taste all the delicious snacks and he picked out tissue to have an outfit made. We spent the next few days just hanging out in Dogbo. He was able to come to class and geography club with me. We also had a big dinner with the other Yovos of Dogbo and perhaps one of the biggest highlights was the time we spent with some of my English colleagues. I invited all of them over, but really only my best friends showed up, which I preferred. I had told them before hand, only English!!! So they were so excited and we had a lot of fun just chatting for a bit and talking about the States. Other than that, we mostly just spent the days relaxing and doing what I do, going to the market, going on walks with Jasper, and saying hi to people. Oh! One other huge highlight was the buying, killing, and cooking of chickens for dinner. Ryan really wanted to say he'd killed a chicken for dinner, so I enlisted my student friend Winnie (the girl who watches Jasper) to help us. We went with her to buy the chickens and then we watched as her and her friends killed, cleaned, and cut them up. Ryan wanted to kill one, but at the moment of truth couldn't bring himself to do it, so we just laughed and watched and he took lots of pictures, haha. He was also so so impressed that Winnie is only 14 years old and prepared our entire meal all by herself without her mom around (her mom fries food on the corner nearby every afternoon and evening, so Winnie does the cooking). We had to go home to pack, but returned later to eat the full meal with the family, which was lots of fun and I'm glad I got to spend that time with them. And Ryan got to wear his new tissue (African fabric) suit to dinner!
After our escapades in Dogbo we headed North to Burkina Faso and Mali! Our destination was Dogon Valley in Southern Mali. The Dogon people have lived among the cliffs of the plateau since the 14th century. They used to literally live on the cliffs, but now there are many villages scattered on the desert floor next to them and also on top of the plateau. We went on a trekking trip, which basically means we backpacked our away along the edge of the plateau staying at different villages along the way. We departed for the Dogon region from the town of Bankass by horsecart. After about 2.5 hrs moving through the semi-desert with strong winds, hot hot sun, and sands blowing like crazy we reached a village at the base of the plateau. We had lunch there and then waited out the afternoon heat until about 4 or so. We then climbed up to see ancient ruins of a village that once existed on the cliff side. It's actually a UNESCO site now, so they have paid the villagers to repair many of the huts and graineries to their original condition. While they have repaired the huts, it was still amazing to hear that these mud bricks have been standing for centuries. The cliff hangs over the location of the village, so no rain was able to reach the houses and slowly wash away the mud.
After we climbed back down we trekked on flat sand to the next village and our shelter for the night. They have a developed system of guides and "campements" which are basically little "authentic" hotels. They prepare all your food and you get a little hut for the night. The most awesome part is that you get to sleep on the flat roofs under the stars. The first night on the bottom of the plateau the wind was crazy and we were basically eating sand though, haha, so I had to descend and sleep inside.
The next morning we trekked flat across the sand again and after a 6 hour rest to escape the sun, we climbed up the plateau! It was such an awesome hike and exactly what I had hoped for. The Dogon people have been there so long and are so accustomed to going up and down themselves that they have laid out paths of rocks all the way up. There are some places where you have to climb over crevices in the rock hundreds of feet deep with wooden ladders that they have resting from one side to another. It was intense, but awesome!
Our climb up would definitely be rated as difficult, but once we reached the top of the plateau it was such a different world. In valleys on the top they cultivate lush green gardens with tons of vegetables and herbs. You'll be hiking up all this rock and suddenly come into flat valley and see people watering their plants with calabashes filled with water. It must be tedious work, and they do it twice a day, but seeing how green they were made it seem so worth it.
On our third day we made the hike down and took a horse cart back out into Bankass and from there began our long journey back to Cotonou, Benin. Dogon Valley was absolutely amazing, but unfortunately the 3 days of bush taxi to arrive in Mali and the 3 days back were incredibly exhausting and of course trying at times. Luckily, we met up with some Burkina and Benin PCVs on the way down which made it easier and more enjoyable. It was fun to have more people to talk to, but more people also means more people to fill up a mini bus so we could leave sooner. And since we were on a tight schedule to make Ryan's flight on Saturday night, we couldn't afford to wait another day for any taxi to fill.
Despite some setbacks and annoyances along the way, overall it was a great adventure. I had lots of fun with Ryan and he most definitely got the intense experience he was looking for! haha...I also have returned to Benin much more thankful for many things here. One thing is the existence of taxi motos that are everywhere and can get you somewhere cheap and fast. Ouagadougou (the capital of Burkina Faso) had no such thing and made getting around the city difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Even our inter-city taxi system is much busier and thus I'm not used to waiting 6 hours for a taxi to fill up and go. Another thing to love about Benin is its food! Food up north was much less spicy and street snacks were much more difficult to come by. A bag of water is also half the price here! (not surprising since Mali is practically desert, but still).
I know there are 5,000 more details to give, but unfortunately I've got to be getting back to post. After getting halfway there yesterday afternoon I realized that my keys were in the office and I had to come back :-(. I just want to be with my puppy, but atleast you've all now gotten a few blog updates! Continue reading below to hear about school...
It was market day when we arrived, so I took him around and made him taste all the delicious snacks and he picked out tissue to have an outfit made. We spent the next few days just hanging out in Dogbo. He was able to come to class and geography club with me. We also had a big dinner with the other Yovos of Dogbo and perhaps one of the biggest highlights was the time we spent with some of my English colleagues. I invited all of them over, but really only my best friends showed up, which I preferred. I had told them before hand, only English!!! So they were so excited and we had a lot of fun just chatting for a bit and talking about the States. Other than that, we mostly just spent the days relaxing and doing what I do, going to the market, going on walks with Jasper, and saying hi to people. Oh! One other huge highlight was the buying, killing, and cooking of chickens for dinner. Ryan really wanted to say he'd killed a chicken for dinner, so I enlisted my student friend Winnie (the girl who watches Jasper) to help us. We went with her to buy the chickens and then we watched as her and her friends killed, cleaned, and cut them up. Ryan wanted to kill one, but at the moment of truth couldn't bring himself to do it, so we just laughed and watched and he took lots of pictures, haha. He was also so so impressed that Winnie is only 14 years old and prepared our entire meal all by herself without her mom around (her mom fries food on the corner nearby every afternoon and evening, so Winnie does the cooking). We had to go home to pack, but returned later to eat the full meal with the family, which was lots of fun and I'm glad I got to spend that time with them. And Ryan got to wear his new tissue (African fabric) suit to dinner!
After our escapades in Dogbo we headed North to Burkina Faso and Mali! Our destination was Dogon Valley in Southern Mali. The Dogon people have lived among the cliffs of the plateau since the 14th century. They used to literally live on the cliffs, but now there are many villages scattered on the desert floor next to them and also on top of the plateau. We went on a trekking trip, which basically means we backpacked our away along the edge of the plateau staying at different villages along the way. We departed for the Dogon region from the town of Bankass by horsecart. After about 2.5 hrs moving through the semi-desert with strong winds, hot hot sun, and sands blowing like crazy we reached a village at the base of the plateau. We had lunch there and then waited out the afternoon heat until about 4 or so. We then climbed up to see ancient ruins of a village that once existed on the cliff side. It's actually a UNESCO site now, so they have paid the villagers to repair many of the huts and graineries to their original condition. While they have repaired the huts, it was still amazing to hear that these mud bricks have been standing for centuries. The cliff hangs over the location of the village, so no rain was able to reach the houses and slowly wash away the mud.
After we climbed back down we trekked on flat sand to the next village and our shelter for the night. They have a developed system of guides and "campements" which are basically little "authentic" hotels. They prepare all your food and you get a little hut for the night. The most awesome part is that you get to sleep on the flat roofs under the stars. The first night on the bottom of the plateau the wind was crazy and we were basically eating sand though, haha, so I had to descend and sleep inside.
The next morning we trekked flat across the sand again and after a 6 hour rest to escape the sun, we climbed up the plateau! It was such an awesome hike and exactly what I had hoped for. The Dogon people have been there so long and are so accustomed to going up and down themselves that they have laid out paths of rocks all the way up. There are some places where you have to climb over crevices in the rock hundreds of feet deep with wooden ladders that they have resting from one side to another. It was intense, but awesome!
Our climb up would definitely be rated as difficult, but once we reached the top of the plateau it was such a different world. In valleys on the top they cultivate lush green gardens with tons of vegetables and herbs. You'll be hiking up all this rock and suddenly come into flat valley and see people watering their plants with calabashes filled with water. It must be tedious work, and they do it twice a day, but seeing how green they were made it seem so worth it.
On our third day we made the hike down and took a horse cart back out into Bankass and from there began our long journey back to Cotonou, Benin. Dogon Valley was absolutely amazing, but unfortunately the 3 days of bush taxi to arrive in Mali and the 3 days back were incredibly exhausting and of course trying at times. Luckily, we met up with some Burkina and Benin PCVs on the way down which made it easier and more enjoyable. It was fun to have more people to talk to, but more people also means more people to fill up a mini bus so we could leave sooner. And since we were on a tight schedule to make Ryan's flight on Saturday night, we couldn't afford to wait another day for any taxi to fill.
Despite some setbacks and annoyances along the way, overall it was a great adventure. I had lots of fun with Ryan and he most definitely got the intense experience he was looking for! haha...I also have returned to Benin much more thankful for many things here. One thing is the existence of taxi motos that are everywhere and can get you somewhere cheap and fast. Ouagadougou (the capital of Burkina Faso) had no such thing and made getting around the city difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Even our inter-city taxi system is much busier and thus I'm not used to waiting 6 hours for a taxi to fill up and go. Another thing to love about Benin is its food! Food up north was much less spicy and street snacks were much more difficult to come by. A bag of water is also half the price here! (not surprising since Mali is practically desert, but still).
I know there are 5,000 more details to give, but unfortunately I've got to be getting back to post. After getting halfway there yesterday afternoon I realized that my keys were in the office and I had to come back :-(. I just want to be with my puppy, but atleast you've all now gotten a few blog updates! Continue reading below to hear about school...
goings on at school...
As for my students on strike, the administration took their time dealing with the problem since classes technically weren't in session when their strike and series of shananagans happened (it was grade calculating time). I unfortunately did not attend (nor was I invited) to the meeting my counterpart had with admin to discuss their punishments, but he later explained it all to me. Unfortunately none of the punishments are directed just at the troublemakers, but rather the entire group of 45 must endure them. I feel really horrible about that, but of course there is nothing I can do. And so here they are- 1- The first week classes resume (this week), the class will not spend anytime in class, but will spend 8-12 and 3-7 everyday doing physical labor around the school yard. 2- The first schoolwide flag raising ceremony after the break (which was yesterday), the class must spend the entire ceremony kneeling on the rocky ground to show their shame to the rest of the school. 3- The class' conduct grade for both semesters of the school year is 10. The conduct grade is averaged in with all other subjects and counts as a subject in itself. It usually begins at 18 and sometimes is lowered to 16 or 15 for troublesome classes. A 10 is basically unheard of. 4- The entire set of upper-level classes also has a larger conduct grade they share, and this grade for all other upper-level classes will be lowered as well. 5- All parents were informed that if their students cause further problems this year they will be expelled. Unfortunately the school doesn't actually have the power to do that, but hopefully the parents and students don't know that? I think there was another thing or two, but I can't remember right now. Overall, I know these are really harsh punishments but I wish they were actually targeting the troublesome students.
As for me, my counterpart informed me how lucky we are that the students blocked the class and refused to enter the day of the strike. Apparently later in the week they attacked their philosophy teacher with some sort of itchy/stinging powder blown all over his arms. He had to leave immediately and go pour oil over it to sooth it. The powder comes from a local plant, and while for me that sounds annoying and bad enough, for them it is also seen as a voodoo spiritual attack. My administration decided to immediately remove me from this class for my own security and safety, but my counterpart will continue with them. During the strike they were calling for him to leave and me to stay, so admin and my counterpart are in agreement that he must stay to teach the students a lesson and not give them what they want. Furthermore, he explained to me that its better now, because "its black on black now". He comes from Ouidah, the birthplace of Voodoo in Benin, and he informed me that he is not afraid of them and knows how to protect himself.
Not only does the voodoo leave much of this out of my realm of comprehension, but my Peace Corps boss (who is also Beninese) also enlightened me to the fact that this is likely a highly politically charged situation. She said that some other teachers probably encouraged the students to act in this way in order to get my counterpart fired. When she told me that, it made so much sense based on comments he had been making. So really all of this has just been way over my head, which is probably why admin didn't really talk to me that much about it. Well...I'm happy to leave them behind and focus on my first years and helping my other colleagues!
In geography club news- When I was home over xmas I found $1 globes at Target and had my friend Ryan fly them over from the states. He got here a few weeks ago and when he came to the club with me we handed them out. The kids were so excited!! Stupid Target though, about 5 of the globes were totally smashed up inside the boxes, even though the boxes themselves never got smashed and looked fine. I know they were only $1, but I flew them around the world and the kids who opened them were so sad :-(. Luckily I have just enough extra so that everyone can get a good one! With Ryan we did the US and they were so excited to see US money. This week will be Egypt and next week Mexico!
As for me, my counterpart informed me how lucky we are that the students blocked the class and refused to enter the day of the strike. Apparently later in the week they attacked their philosophy teacher with some sort of itchy/stinging powder blown all over his arms. He had to leave immediately and go pour oil over it to sooth it. The powder comes from a local plant, and while for me that sounds annoying and bad enough, for them it is also seen as a voodoo spiritual attack. My administration decided to immediately remove me from this class for my own security and safety, but my counterpart will continue with them. During the strike they were calling for him to leave and me to stay, so admin and my counterpart are in agreement that he must stay to teach the students a lesson and not give them what they want. Furthermore, he explained to me that its better now, because "its black on black now". He comes from Ouidah, the birthplace of Voodoo in Benin, and he informed me that he is not afraid of them and knows how to protect himself.
Not only does the voodoo leave much of this out of my realm of comprehension, but my Peace Corps boss (who is also Beninese) also enlightened me to the fact that this is likely a highly politically charged situation. She said that some other teachers probably encouraged the students to act in this way in order to get my counterpart fired. When she told me that, it made so much sense based on comments he had been making. So really all of this has just been way over my head, which is probably why admin didn't really talk to me that much about it. Well...I'm happy to leave them behind and focus on my first years and helping my other colleagues!
In geography club news- When I was home over xmas I found $1 globes at Target and had my friend Ryan fly them over from the states. He got here a few weeks ago and when he came to the club with me we handed them out. The kids were so excited!! Stupid Target though, about 5 of the globes were totally smashed up inside the boxes, even though the boxes themselves never got smashed and looked fine. I know they were only $1, but I flew them around the world and the kids who opened them were so sad :-(. Luckily I have just enough extra so that everyone can get a good one! With Ryan we did the US and they were so excited to see US money. This week will be Egypt and next week Mexico!
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