Hello world,
I hope all is going well! So much is going on that I thought I’d update you all on life at site. As always, thank you for the packages and mail, they make my day!
This past weekend I celebrated the Muslim holiday of Tabaski in my village. A few days before the party, out of nowhere, there was suddenly a sheep tied to the mango tree in my courtyard. I thought it was just another random thing that happens in this country but then my little neighbor Nadja explained to me what was going on. She came over and pointed to the sheep and said in French, "We're gonna kill him and eat him tomorrow. And he is going to say 'ahhhh ahhh ahhh.'" She then started feeding the sheep some mango leaves, and I couldn't help but think it would be his last meal before he would be sacrificed.
This is the sheep that lived in my courtyard for a few days... and then we ate him.
The morning of Tabaski, I went to the mosque with my neighbors and then afterwards watched as they killed the sheep. It was really sad and I almost started crying, something which they found hysterical. However, I did eat the sheep and it was quite delicious, so I can't say that I really felt bad. We drank tea all day and visited different families in the village. My neighbor and I even got matching Tabaski dresses made!
I spent the day after Tabaski with the imam (Muslim priest) from my village and a Muslim missionary who lives in Banfora. He is Pakistani and his wife made us some delicious food!
As far as work goes, I went from having a relaxed schedule to a relatively hectic schedule in a matter of weeks. Mostly because I am now an English teacher at the new collège, the equivalent of junior high, in my village! There isn’t actually a school building yet, just a few abandoned rooms throughout the village. However, it’s better than the previous alternative in which the kids had to bike or walk 10k to another village to continue their schooling.
I teach 3 days a week to the sixième students, which is kind of like 7th grade. It’s their first encounter with English which is kind of exciting and it gives me an opportunity to get to know the older students and some of their challenges. It’s surprisingly not as easy as one might think to teach your native language. Since I learned English in a natural way, I don’t know a lot of the rules, I just know when something sounds wrong. Luckily, the director has given me a lot of materials and I’ve devised a pretty interesting syllabus, incorporating debate into the class as well to hone the critical thinking skills which are so often ignored in the Burkinabé education system. I’ve also included a unit on children’s and women’s rights and we might do some Model UN! The kids are really motivated and it’s awesome to hear them correctly pronounce funny-sounding English phrases. Any English teaching materials (songs, books, flash cards, etc.) would be greatly appreciated!
Other than that, I’m still continuing my girls club for the primary school girls once a week and I’m thinking about replicating the same club for the sixième girls in my English class. We’ve recently covered HIV/AIDS and yesterday the midwife came in from the health center to talk about the dangers of early pregnancy and about the different contraceptives that are available in Jula. It took about half an hour just for the girls to say on their own what sex was. In this culture, people don’t talk about sex out of shame. However, this leads to some serious problems later on when girls get pregnant and don’t know what happened. Many girls in my village get married young and therefore have children young and in all cases it cuts their education short. The girls were able to submit questions anonymously which helped them to open up a lot and I gave American goodies (chocolate chip cookies) to the girls who answered the really tough questions. I think the girls learned a lot from the session and I’m hoping it might make a difference.
In this picture, the midwife is showing the girls the different kinds of contraceptives available and explaining in Jula.
In non-work-related news, I have a puppy! His name is Benji and he was given to me by one of the men who works at the CSPS. He’s great company but he is also a handful right now. He would appreciate anything in future packages as well!
It’s harvesting season which means most of the village is out in the fields harvesting corn, rice, and cotton. I was able to go to the fields and harvest rice with my neighbors which was a pretty fun time. I'd love to put more pictures up of all of this stuff in the blog but the Internet is just too slow so check out my Facebook!
Thank you for all of your support!
Peace,
Marlow
