So, you say you want a revolution?

I hope the holidays are treating you well. I'm here in Ouagadougou, awaiting the much delayed (four days!) arrival of a friend from home.Even transportation here doesn't get delayed that long. Hundreds of flights into and out of Paris have been cancelled due to the wrath of the snow gods--if only Burkina could be so lucky.

We'll probably do the x-mas thing here. Eat things and drink drinks. Then run around the country a bit. See if we can't catch sight of a few elephants or feed a chicken to a crocodile before he flies back out after the new year.

As many of you know, I've been working for the larger part of my service here on starting a library at my school, to provide my students with some of the basic educational resources that my school lacks--workbooks, novels, maps, and textbooks. Lucky for us, our school already has a well-outfitted room for the occasion: Sturdy metal bookcases that close and lock are installed in the walls, where we can store the books, and allow students access to them during the day.

In light of this, I've been searching for resources to fill in some of this room's empty space. Without novels, for example, the students get little exposure to the french language--they lack, in large part, that most basic of educational needs: literacy. At the end of middle school and high school, these students have to take a national exam that will qualify them for higher paying jobs and allow them to continue their education. This test is given yearly, and since my school opened in 2000, less than 15 out of 150 or more students in the highest class have obained a passing note. Meaning that each year, less than 10% of the students eligible to take this exam actually pass, and earn the right to pursue higher education and better jobs.

Unfortunately, statistics like this are commonplace in Burkina Faso, and it's my job to try--in whatever way I can--to improve them. With books and access to study tools, my students will be better prepared for these exams. They can, with motivation, attain a better grasp on the french language and improve their capacity to learn.

So, alongside the school's faculty and teachers, I've researched the prices for a set of books and materials that will be a good foundation to start the library at my school. I hope that before the end of this school year, we can obtain these resources and put them to use. I plan to use my knowledge and experience to start this project off on the right path, so that it will be sustainable, so that it will grow, and so that it will continue to provide for my students' hungry minds even after I am gone.

In total, the resources we need will cost a little over two thousand dollars. Peace Corps has set up a website for me where I can receive donations for the project quickly and easily. When the amount is obtained, the funds will be released, and the library will begin. If you'd like to make a donation, however small, please visit the site below. There is a button on the right side of the screen which will allow you to do so:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=686-137

The resources obtained through this project are, of course, a minimum. We would be overjoyed to recieve more resources to stuff the shelves of our library--french novels, workbooks, reference books. Even comic books or magazines. Things that kids are excited to look at and read about that set their curiosities alight. If you'd like to aid the project in this way, please contact me directly via email. We can certainly arrange it. Also, please feel free to forward this information to others. Though, please assure yourself that they have not already recieved it. I know I hate spam as much as anyone. (Though, fried up with a few onions and tomatoes and thrown on top of spaghetti, it can be rather tasty.)

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all. See you soon.

Trimester Summary 2.1

WARNING: The content of the following post contains no humor, no tearjerking, and nothing at all out of the ordinary. Consider it a nod to how life on the third rock from the sun can be pretty much the same anywhere. Consider yourself warned.

The end of another trimester. The beginning of the school year is fun. Kids are excited to be back, interested in learning something new, but three months go by, and that all becomes mundane. Teachers and students lose motivation, lose interest. Need change. Students start to cause trouble, sleep in class, ignore their lessons…the break is coming up and it occupies their thoughts. Teachers want to get through material, but get fed up grading tests, writing lessons, teaching uninterested students.

Teaching, I realize, requires much more than having your material down. You’ve got to be able to explain it in simple words, convey complex ideas, and illustrate their importance. Make sure kids CARE about what they’re learning.

Often, I’ll try to play a game to revive zoning-out minds. Or I’ll switch to speaking English to see if anyone’s paying attention. Snap them to it. But what happens when students start expecting these games? Start asking for them in lieu of class? The tactful teacher uses these tools in moderation, keeping student minds sprite and ready, but it’s a subtle art. And I find, as the trimester moves along, that I become less capable, less forgiving, more short-fused. And I start looking for diversion to take my mind off of this monotony, to not take my frustration with uninterested students back out on them. To not create a vicious cycle.

I found myself having a drink and eating a whole chicken with a staff member of my school yesterday evening. Two faculty members from the primary school inspection in town came by and sat down with us. “The end of the trimester is great,” one said. “It makes me feel reborn, renewed.” We all chuckled for the truth in it.

Happy holidays to everyone.