what happens now

the semester has now come to a close. but what happens now? the rains have started to fall and it amazes me to have been here for almost a year. a year that i can heard believe has passed. so many stories and lessons. there is the good and bad. frustration and reward. even that longing that we can connect to that keeps the drive in us alive. thus, i will share a bit with you of what has been and hopefully what will be.

when i arrived, hardly any words were spoken. for one, hardly any words could be understood. my french was terrible. their french was barely adequate. it was simply a struggle. further, i was not the playful and somewhat touchy volunteer that my predecessor was. thus, it took time to get introduced into the surrounding compound and its families.

part of this was accomplished by my wonderful volunteer neighbor, Lauren (who lives only an hours bike ride down the road). between her amazing french and well-established moore, i was able to go beyond introductions with a few in village. then, school started and the kids came to know my name. they came to slowly understand my french (after multiple repetitions). within a few days, i was approached by a junior high school student from one of my classes. he introduced himself and mentioned how he would like to have a few extra exercises. i was thrilled! there was a hunger to understand here, i thought. i would probably been closer to correct if i had realized it was to get a good grade.

in any case, i began by giving out exercises in class then handing a few extra out to neighborhood kids. soon, they would find their way into my courtyard to spend an hour with me, talking about how to distinguish different types of symmetry. in time, i would turn on the light and spread out mats. i don't suppose there was ever a tutoring agreement setup but it fell into place naturally. (of which, i can think my predecessor for having given the solar panel to power the light) soon it was a crowd of fifteen kids coming regularly and staying till later and later, reaching almost midnight routinely.

after the older kids, there came the smaller kids. at first it was just pointing and laughing to try to get me to understand they wanted the light on the outside of the courtyard. the older kids would translate. then, as the year progressed, i was able to get them to start knocking at my door to ask, instead of just screaming into my one of my two windows. after a few more months, they would ask politely, in proper french, for me to turn on the light outside maybe two to three times a week. now, it is pretty much standard. they come, giggle, ask nicely, then clap and cheer as i turn on the light. in return, i have granted them (and showed trust in them) to use the mats outside the courtyard, even to play with my deck of cards until later.

often the children on the back of the house are merely playing games. they like to run and scream. they even sing songs in way that mirrors studying. it's normally along the same melody but the subjects trace through their lessons. they will sing of brushing their teeth or doing math. it's as if Sesame Street had been recreated in my backyard, spontaneously. people always ask if the noise bothers or frustrates me (and it is noisy. Kristy always ends up telling me she can hear them a bit too well when she calls and i am inside). of course it is hard to adjust to at first but the roar of rain on my tin roof is far strong, yet i sleep through it. (actually, i woke this morning with my ears still ringing from all the banging from the rain). in the end, the sound of them playing reminds me of the hope that resides on this continent.

so often, i look out at their parents who are busy grinding millet or replacing mud walls and feel saddened. i see the disconnect between the lives of the adults and the children. there is so little interaction other than orders. kids take care of kids. older taking care of younger. it is marriage that separates adults from children and often at young ages like 14, the girls become 'adults'. such happened to my laundry girl. one night she was taken on a moto to a new village to be married and that was it. she should have been in school. i had hoped my money would go towards such.

thus, at night time, i find myself amongst a handful of students. those students then have taught me more than anyone here. in so many ways, i have felt the students this first year. my aim now is to become a greater teach in the second. thus, as summer is starting, i have collected together math books for each grade, the physics curriculum and english materials. with these, we are starting a summer school. i know that my predecessor had worked with the kids over the summer as well but i am looking to expand that program.

in short, we are building a student run school. well, no real building is involved. instead, this weekend is my first meeting to discuss plans with those same kids that came to my courtyard each night. they will be the teachers and helpers in each class. (all of them passed onto the next grade except one. he actually got a really good grade in my class but did horribly in biology. thus, i was unaware he was struggling) i will then act as the principle or head teacher, a role which i actually hope diminishes. the point is to give my helpers all the material they need to teach their peers, while showing them how they can pull more from the books and their own logical deductions. thus, allowing them to step beyond their need for my guidance before the following summer.

so far, they are all truly excited about becoming helpers. i promised them, in return, to continue helping them in classes that currently have no helpers as of yet (such as physics/chemistry).

in all of this, i have sat down and asked myself what are the major challenges of kicking off this program. my first thought, as i'm sure most will think, was of money. but that was easily resolved. my school was willing to give chalk and one set of resources books. in all reality, this is enough to run the summer school. anything else is really a luxury. instead, i find that i worry most over motivation.

i mentioned above at being thrilled to see a "hunger to understand" which was only partly correct. i have seen the kids striving to understand the material for the class in order to pass the tests. they will repeat phrases over and over into the night until they have it set in stone in the minds. yet, that rigid way of filing informations passes just by education. they can repeat almost anything i have said in class but can hardly ever put it into their own words. if i ask them to give me the definition in their own words, i get silence. they have no framework for how life and school combine. thoughts and wonder to do not make the jump into their daily lessons. i will watch them figure out how to solve a problem like getting water from a well with a broken bucket but that same critical thinking is left outside the school door.

thus, my greatest challenge is to bridge that gap amongst my helpers. if they can see how important it is to think critically to express these ideas to another person (and have them understand), then by all means the program will be a success. for once, the students will not be learning how to think from a white stranger but from their older brother or neighbor. they can reach places i can never go. i will always be the outsider even though the lessons apply to us all.

so that my challenge, to keep the helpers motivated to solve the problems they will have to face (and answer) in their classrooms and to show them how far they've grown once they have. i guess you could say that is the beauty and reward of being a teacher.

a few random notes:

last night it rather flooded. since it was the first major storm of the year, ten goats drowned and now their is a big pow-wow. they'll be eating the goats tonight and thanking the heavens for the rain.

a small boy passed me recently and asked if i wanted meat. he then showed me a rat half his size (about the size of a large cat). i thought i had seen big rats before but suddenly i realized why people like to eat them here. there's more meat on them than on a chicken. it was partially rotted so i didn't buy it. plus he wanted 1500 cfa ($3) for it. talk about an expense rat!

my leaking roof turned into a total gain. i have put nails around leaking points so the water would collect and drip off at the nail. then, placed buckets beneath them. no big deal. the positive, i had run out of water in the house but had forgotten to get some before they closed the pump for the night. but, turns out the fresh rain water was nice and cold. thank heaven for my filter!

i had an end of the year party for my top students. i gave them fantas (a very rare treat here) and made them crepes with chocolate custard. they just sat their stunned. they had never had chocolate nor even heard the word dessert (same in french by the way). when i explained it was made with milk, they seemed even more worried. what was the weird white guy trying to feed them. i finally pulled out my computer and watched part of Kongfu Panda and they relaxed. they enjoyed the food but i think were still a little culture shocked. i could not imagine how these kids would be if they reached their goal of going to America. could they survive without someone there to help them adjust? i've decided that i'll be at least a resource for those kids when i return back home. if they do make it stateside, then at least they will have a familiar voice to call and ask questions.

Bruce is an ornery old man. i think perhaps the kids pulled out his quills and really scared him before i got him. he is always frightened even though i only even come with food. he often will not eat it in my presences. maybe i'm just running a retiring home for the guy. who knows. i even had to cut up the hand-sized lizard we killed for him (via slingshot) before he'd eat it (though he munches down the baby ones whole).

my slingshotting abilities are improving. i put a rock through my quaker oats can from across my courtyard the other day. i didn't want to say anything but i'm kind of a big deal.

my birthday was fantastic. i video chatted with the fam. i talked to Kristy. i made a lemon cake. i bought a new phone (old one died on the way to Ouaga). i even had a breakfast of BACON and eggs! there was even a game night at the AO's house that we all went to. i haven't laughed that much in country. good times. my only regret, i didn't get around to updating my blog and running errands at the post. (don't worry C&B, C&T, Kelly, Erin, Tyler and Grandpa, i've got letters for you all though the post was closed due to Ascension Day. will try again after posting this).

my wonderful neighbor gave me a Tasty Tom (tomato paste brand here) tshirt. it rocked my face off!

my hair has gotten horribly long (check the pics). i'm seriously contemplating cutting it off when Kris gets here. after all, the heat is killing me! so much hair!

my neighbor had a rod go through his palm and out his wrist. his whole had swelled up to double its size. it looked like a mickey mouse glove. freaky. i gave him ibuprofen that i had brought from home when he ran out but really could not do anything for him. when he finally pierced his hand and let the swelling down, there was about a millimeter of dead skin that stayed behind as a tough looking shell. interesting and creepy.

i am trying to figure what i will do after the Peace Corps. if you have any ideas whatsoever, email them to me. if you don't know my email, leave a comment and i will send it to you.