Here we go! At 630am, I was downstairs and ready to roll. Breakfast is included in our stay so I ate up. Being I am a silent, not good morning person, explanations had to be made to the group, but all was well as our drivers showed up on time and we headed to VICA, the school we will be at for two weeks training the teachers (Joo, Kristy and I), administrators (Martha) and librarians (Kathy). The first day was ethics and professionalism which they desperately needed. There is little accountability or self regulation at schools. Most use punishment of students (expulsion, caning, yelling) as ways to manage the class. Some teachers accept bribes for grades and others don't even come to class. There was a whole talk about sex (last trip) and role call (which takes a lot of time they say).
We focused on honesty, both within their professional life and within themselves. The team (Kathy, myself, Kristy, and Joo) worked with them as they looked at themselves as educators, then their role in the school (sharing out with each other when they felt okay to), and then their role within the community. The big question was, "Who are you in the world and who do you want to be?" Everyone was hungry for thinking and talking and shared with each other and with the group. We ran a powerpoint through a generator and they all watched careful and attempted everything we asked them, regardless of their trouble understandings us (which would get better as they got more used to the accents etc) and their limited literacy skills. Most have writing that looks like a 3rd grader, arduous, slow, and with weird formations in their letters. It could easily be misrepresented as a child's penmanship. The heart is so there though and they try so hard to get it all, to soak it in. I loved watching their hard work.
Their was much talk about not feeding them during the lunch hour. Many come from a long way and have no time to return home for lunch. As such, the soda and water we provided was it for them. We, on the other hand, we able to go to the church wherein Bendu, the cook hired by Pastor Gyanfi, would prepare us our food. I loved the rice and beans, of course and mostly that is what I ate. The food at the hotel was expensive so I ate a lunch and the breakfast and had my granola at night, even though I enjoyed the women so much I would come for a glass of wine and the conversation each night. It is always interesting to be a vegetarian in a developing country as rice and beans is "poor man's food." They dont know why I wont eat/dont like meat and find it not only uncommon but downright weird. It was nice on this trip to have someone else who is vegetarian. She was so generous with sharing quite often and I didnt have to worry about a stray meat piece! The water from which the fish come from is full of bacteria as many use the rivers/wetlands as both bathrooms and rubbish bins. They wash cars and clothes in the river while using it to both fish and clean dishes. So, even though I eat fish, I surely wouldnt in Liberia! This is a mindset my team hopes to change in the coming weeks. It was hard to know that the teachers and administrators wanted lunch (and needed lunch), and that we couldnt provide it as the price we were quoted was just too much per day. With 70 participants, the cost was nuts for everyday for 2 weeks.
This was one time I could clearly see that having support for education from those in the US could change the learning experience. As students, we need food to learn and to think. For a hundred dollars or so we could have fed them. But, most people donate to the areas that see quick, change: water wells and supplies for a clinic. Education takes time to infiltrate, time to percolate in order to see direct, tangible change and many dont understand how literacy is paramount to the success of a nation rebuilding. When those wells break or the clinic gets the medicine and no one can read for understanding, it all breaks down. Education must come first!
In Africa before, we fed children for a dollar a day, but here, I think there was some problem with what they wanted to charge us Americans and it didnt work out. On the last day though, we would be able to feed them due to an anonymous donor for about $2 a day. It was wonderful to serve them with plates piled high of potato greens, chicken and rice. Thy will be done!
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