Exposure
Well Akilah still needs to meet with her groups in 5eM so I’ve agreed to review some of yesterday’s lesson with them. Besides, there’s only a half hour of class remaining by the time they all return from gym, so it won’t hurt. The students came straggling in, but as some of them saw it was me at the door, they began shuttling across the grass to get to the room.
After 5eM, I picked Akilah up from the library and headed to 6eM. Today’s lesson with them is on animals and their classes. Out of the number of times I’ve been to this class, this was my first time teaching them. When they heard I would be today’s instructor, they gave a round of cheers. The lesson was pretty easy to get through, especially since Akilah had given me an animal poster to use. I just kind of glanced through the textbook and picked various animals off of the poster to teach. It was pretty good.
Following that we took a walk up to the Anglophone section of the school to speak with one of the classes there. We found a Form2 (probably equivalent of 6th grade in the states) class that was on break, so we spoke with them. When a few of the students heard we wanted to talk with them, they hurried into the classroom, and the next thing I know between the students herding into the class, and the cadence the class prefect played on the desk, we had a full class of beaming students.
From what I’ve been able to tell, the Anglophone and Francophone systems are very different. They’re in the same school, but the students in this area seem a bit more behaved and their knowledge of our topic (African-Americans) was a little deeper than the 2nde students in the Francophone section; that’s a bit mystifying.
The students were interested in the topic, and were not as shy as their Francophone counterparts in asking questions. When I showed my Black Enterprise magazine, one student even asked if I were willing to sell it. Maybe there’s a different type of thirst for knowledge here, that’s all I can figure out. When we finished they thanked us, and ran right back out to finish playing for the remainder of their break. Whoever works on maintaining their discipline has done a marvelous job.
Later as I was walking around the campus to find Akilah (I stopped to take photos from the back of the school), one of the Anglophone students, Fatimah, came to ask me if we could help her get a pen pal I the states. Wow, once again, one of these students taking the initiative to do something. Out of my two months here not one Francophone student has inquired about corresponding with someone in another country. I told her to ask Miss Clarke, and it should be no problem.
Akilah did a little work to coordinate some of the final details of the Batié visit with the English club. The closer it gets to the students coming, the less cooperation she gets from people. We were to call Becky today, but after waiting in the office of the secretary for a little while, Akilah went to the principal’s office to ask a question and only to find out the phone lines were not working.
If that’s the case, why did the secretary let us sit in her office for almost fifteen or twenty minutes and not mention it? When Akilah returned from the principal’s she mentioned it to the woman who just responded, “yes, we’ve been having problems with them all day.” Wouldn’t that make someone say that there may be a problem with the phone lines? Maybe I’m just being too much like a person who’s considerate of other’s, but it would appear as though she should’ve mentioned that. We were in her office specifically to wait for a call.
We ended up making about a total of three trips to a cabine on the main road. The first was to tell Becky to call the school. The second two were to catch her before she did since the school phone wasn’t working. We were not lucky enough to catch her. Exhausted from several trips up the inclined road, we decided to head over to Nicolene’s for lunch.
For these next two weeks or so, I’m going to take photos everywhere, be the typical tourist. There are so many things here that I want to make sure folks at home get to see; even though photos won’t really do the description any justice. I’ve been snapping hilly scenes, and trying to get as many pictures as possible of women carrying items that women in the states would balk at, on their heads. These are scenes that have gotta be captured on film.
We arrived at Nicoline’s in no time; she lives even closer to the school than what Akilah explained. There was a house full of children when we arrived. Akilah had previously said there are always children at her house; can’t remember if it’s because it’s a daycare type place or what.
Nicolene had each of the children come out and salute (greet) us; some were scarred and other’s smiley. After meeting about eight or more, Akilah figured I should take a picture of them all. We tried to take one of our hostess, but she refused to until she was able to change her clothes.
After a few moments of being there Nicolene had someone run to get Charlie (pronounced sharlie). This young lady has captured Akilah’s respect; she is her Bamoun teacher (of sorts). When she entered the house, Charlie beamed with a smile at the sight of Akilah. The greeted each other in Bamoun and talked a brief moment in French.
While we waited for lunch, Charlie taught Akilah some other words. I was impressed as I watched on, because she worked slowly and enunciated each word so Akilah could catch on easily. What was even more astonishing was the fact that I later found out this young lady is still in primary school. She won’t be entering 6eM until next year. How is it that this bright star can be more patient and understanding in her teaching than any adult? It was astonishing to watch her teach.
After our lunch of french fries, plaintain and papaya and snapping a few photos of Nicolene and Akilah, we headed home for the evening. Naturally, on the walk to the main road, I had to snap a few more photos. I think I’ve taken about seven rolls of film at this point. I’m gonna wait until I get home before developing any of them. It’s probably cheaper here, but I want the free offers you get for film or double prints.