As time goes by...

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.