progress in the classroom

February 15, 2009

This week has been another full week and there is never a dull moment around this house. You hardly ever find a time with no one in the house or lack of anything to do. There is always cooking and cleaning that is needed to do and I enjoy being a part of something that is so universal but done SO very differently.
On last Sunday I got up early to get ready to go out to outstations with Sr. Cecile in Tanhene. I am always so amazed when I get to meet these people because since there are not enough priests for the villages, these people have to have a lay service. And it’s not only just every once in a while, it’s every Sunday and most of the time a priest can only come out maybe once a month or even sometimes every two months. I just think of how fortunate we are to have the ability to have a priest celebrate every Sunday, and even for us lucky ones – every day. In my own time here, I’ve realized what a “gift” the mass is. And I mean a real gift – the Lord gives it to us not because we deserve it but because He wants us to share in HIS divinity. I only imagine how the Lord sees it when I take the mass for granted since, in remembering that God IS “God”, that He doesn’t NEED us –we’re mere humans- but He WANTS us to share in it because of His incredible love for us. God could’ve very well said –literally , “to hell with all of you – I really don’t need you”. But He didn’t…and doesn’t. I think – especially for myself- He wants me to see that He loves me SO much that He would come and be with me (by receiving Him in my own body) to allow me to share in all that He is – His divinity. If that’s not a gift…I’m not sure what really is?
After mass, we went to give communion to a blind man and a man who is home bound because of a serious pain in his legs. Both men were very excited to see/ hear sister Cecile and to be able to receive our Lord in the Eucharist. I’m overwhelmed with the generosity of Sister Cecile. You can tell that in her heart, she really loves these people. Some days I feel like I have been here for almost a month and a half and I have learnt nothing of how to love others. Some days you do things just out of obligation and not because you really love the other people you are doing it for. Although, even if you do not “feel” love for that person in your heart the act in which you do it is still the most important thing. I think I need to pray for more of a heart of service and love – to love those who live in such different circumstances than I do.
I was hoping that we would get back into Brikama early so that we wouldn’t miss the beginning of mass and thank the Lord we did. I am continually intrigued with the fashion around here. The women wear the most beautiful clothing and it’s so colorful! I wish I could wear some of the things they wear but seriously, it doesn’t look the same on a white person. I always say that to the sisters and the girls because they always remind me to make sure I bring some Gambian clothing home with me when I leave in July and I continually remind them I think it looks hilarious when a white person wears their traditional clothing. There are a few different items of clothing that I would like to have made for me though. The thing here is that you buy the material yourself and have a pattern that you like made by a tailor. It’s really different than home. So you can’t just go to a store and pick our your size, you actually have to go and get the material you like and get fitted with the many many styles that there are. It’s neat but very different. There are a few shops that have certain clothing already made, but it doesn’t guarantee that the ONE that is made is going to be your size or if you like the patterns. So hopefully when I come home I’ll have a few articles of clothing to remind me of my time here. I’m sure I’ll think the clothing back home is so plain, when I return. I’m not sure if I mentioned what the priest’s vestments look like, but I will again if I have. The priest wears tied dyed vestments. If I was anywhere else other than Africa I would’ve thought that the thought of a tie dyed vestment would look ridiculous, but the way they do it here it adds to color of the season. Since we’re in ordinary time right now, the priest wears a tie dyed green vestment to match the altar clothes and coverings for the tabernacle and stands. It’s really beautiful.
After mass, I was approached by a lady who really wants her son, Francis to go to Canada to study for college. She just wanted me to meet him and to maybe give him some ideas of good colleges and any other information that would be helpful. I guess I don’t realize how fortunate I am to have come from Canada. Almost EVERY person here wants to visit Canada, with the hope of -if they can finally get there, to stay or at least give them an opportunity to get an education and come back to work for a high paying European company. So, I said that I would love to help in any way I could. So this week I met up with Francis to give him some information and we had a good chat. Turns out he’s good friends with the girls in the hostile and he’s pretty active in the parish so I’m sure I’ll get to know him more and see what happens with the whole college thing.
Monday was Sr. Odile’s birthday, so for supper Sr. Josephine was on supper duty and she made what we would call “shish kabob’s”. One of the sisters decorated the table with flowers from the yard and I love the flowers here…all sorts of colors and shapes and sizes and since it never snows here they have all these flowers year round. We all shared a bottle of red wine during supper and we had ice cream for dessert afterwards. I know for a fact that Sister Cecile loves it when people have birthday’s because she LOVES ice cream.
It was so cute because on Monday mornings we have an assembly at the school and we had told the kids earlier that it was Sr.’s birthday so they were all very excited to sing Happy Birthday to her when she came out for the assembly. August (our bus driver) even picked a flower at the house for one of the kids to give to her. When she came out of her office all the kids started singing Happy Birthday and I have to admit she had a huge smile on her face. Modoulamin (one of the little boys in my class) was picked to give her the flower and the look on his face when he gave her the flower was absolutely priceless. He’s got little puppy dog eyes and when he handed it to her he just kinda flopped his arm out like “here….here’s something THEY told me to give you.” EVERYONE was laughing because it was so cute! I wish I would’ve had it on camera.
I think Sr. Odile enjoyed her birthday celebration.
As much as I dislike running, I’ve been doing a lot more of it here than I thought I would be. I’ve always hated running long distances mostly because it’s so boring and seems so long but I have begun to enjoy it a lot more since I’ve been here. I usually start my run by going through the college campus (which is just across the highway from our house). I will sometimes run to the football field just behind the farthest building on campus and run laps around the field but most of the time I will run through the campus and then go down the streets of Brikama. I really enjoy it because you get to see a lot of the compounds and there are SO many people outside doing random things. The kids are usually playing football or running around and there are always tons of people walking in the streets. The only thing I don’t like is that it’s really sandy and there are tons of pot holes in the road so I have to look down at the ground the entire time so I don’t sprain an ankle. Every day it’s impossible to go running without a young girl or boy grabbing my hand and running with me. At least for about block or two. It’s straight out of a movie. I think people here are starting to get used to seeing me here. I’m one of the very few white people here and since everyone knows the sisters, I’m getting associated with them. It’s kinda nice because I’ve realized that people are starting to know who I am and now I always have a few places to stop and say hello on my way home when I walk.
I can say that I think we’ve made some progress in the classroom…..YES! Slowly every day I see small changes in the kids and I think that one day (probably the day before I leave) they might all be good on the same day…. Lord teach me patience….
I definitely shouldn’t say that I have a favorite student, but I do. And what I think is hilarious is that it is the student who is the trouble maker. His name is Saibou (pronounced “Say-Boo”) On the first few days of class he was the student who just wanted to try my patience. If I said, “Stop” he would go. If I said “sit” he would stand. And he had the most bazaar way of getting out of doing any work. I realized this lesson while we were still in the other class but it’s becoming more and more evident since we have moved because we have less students and I can concentrate on each of them individually. So, to get out of doing any work that was assigned in class he would say, “Miss Jennifa, my pencil cut.” (yes, that’s the exact way he says it.) So he would get up and sharpen it, sit down and honestly – this is not a joke- stick it in his mouth and bite the tip of his pencil off. Then he would say, “Miss Jennifa, my pencil cut.” When I realized what he was doing (which didn’t take long) I said, “ok…you can just sit there then.” All he wanted to do was to get out of doing work because he often times would say that he can’t write so to get out of having to TRY – even if he failed, he would rather just make up excuses. He realized after one class of sitting watching the other kids get praised for doing a good job in their work that he wanted to try, so the pencil issue has stopped as of now. Ha ha…oh the joys of kids. Saibou, as much as he gives me grief and sometimes a big head ache, has this funny way of making my heart melt. There was one incident where he was doing something wrong in the classroom and I stood at his desk trying to figure out why he would do what he had done and as I looked at him, he just looked back at me with the biggest puppy dog eyes with a HUGE innocent looking smile on his face. And what makes it even more adorable is that he has his two front teeth missing. Ha ha….I just laugh sitting here writing about it…
I am learning more and more about each student and I’m appreciating each of them individually. All of them have a lot of work to do before they move on to grade 2 but they’re working at it, which makes me proud.
I was lucky enough to get a letter from my mom and dad on Wednesday of this week and then on Friday I got a package from them! I was excited because my mom sent me a few books that I’ve been wanting to read and a few things from Hawaii. They have been on vacation in Hawaii for the past month and a bit so it was sent all the way from Hawaii. I think they sent it at the end of January (28th I think) and I just got it, so it took about just over 2 weeks. That’s not too bad! I also got a card from my Aunty Carol and Uncle Bernie and Eric! Thank you! I was so glad to see that you were thinking of me to send me a Valentine’s day card!
On Friday the Brikama Parish held a concert at St. Teresa’s parish hall in Serrekunda. I had been told about it but just like many things have been around here, I wasn’t prepared for what I actually witnessed. First of all, I spent part of the afternoon taking a nap and when I woke up I assisted in the cutting up and preparing of the meal for the concert. Today I realized some of the “raw” talents I’m picking up. Most of us know that if we want pork, or steak, or ground beef to cook for supper all we have to do is go to the super market and buy it and cook it. The hardest thing you have to do it get to the super market to actually buy it! But here, you buy the meat and cut it or grind it all yourself. I think because I’ve been watching all the girls and the women just dive right into cleaning raw meat it was just second nature for me to just do it too. I realized that I even surprised myself because I was sitting there thinking, “wow, I’ve come a long way from being totally grossed out from watching my mom take chicken skin off of the chicken.” HAHA…I know, laugh but please don’t laugh too hard….just remember that this is all a learning experience for me. So, here I was sitting taking all of this in. The pig they had brought in must have been just cleaned before it was brought to the sisters so the head was on the counter just beside us and we were cutting up the meat into small pieces (bone, meat, fat and all). We were just preparing the food because they were going to bring it all to Serrekunda to grill it when the concert started.
Sister Catherine and the others members of the choir left with the bus to go early for the concert and we only went later in the evening. Event like this in the Gambia only begin at around 9:00 in the evening. I was shocked to hear that it was so late! Usually something like that in Canada would start at 7:00pm and be done by maybe 10pm. But here, they start late and end early in the morning (around 6:00am). Sr. odile and I were the only ones who went from the house – well a few of the girls joined us too. But Fatima and Betty were singing in the choir. We arrived in Serrekunda late (around 10:00pm) and they weren’t even close to starting. I’m sure it didn’t start until close to 11:00pm. That is Gambian time for you. When the choir first came in they make an entrance from the back of the hall and when I saw them I just began to smile. They were all dressed in African looking costumes. The men wore a dress made of woven African cloth over one shoulder with paint on their faces and the women wore a skirt with a top (the same material) with one set of beads over their one shoulder and another set over the other. It looked like a big X from the front. The women had painted faces and none of the men or women wore shoes. The came in singing a beautiful African song stepping to the music. I definitely felt like I was in Africa. The concert was awesome and I was smiling the entire time because it was another time when I realized that I’m in Africa and there is no where else I would be sitting with these people listening to their music like this. They had an intermission where the “Balantas” danced their traditional dances. I’m not sure if I have explained this yet but in Africa the people are divided into tribes and even though the country is developing you still see the differences in each culture. The people mix and are mostly accepting of others tribes so most times unless you know the characteristics of each tribe you wouldn’t know who is from what tribe when you walked down the road. Each tribe has their own set of traditions and customs (just like the Native American’s would in Canada or the US) and one thing that distinctly separates each tribe is the way the they dance. The Balantas are known for their creative dancing and I witnessed a little bit of it on Friday night. For the intermission there were two men dressed in African style Balantas dress, which was a wrap that went to about their knees made of woven fabric and white tank top looking shirt. They had beads wrapped on their bodies as well as fur that wrapped around their ankles and then they had these interesting looking head pieces. If I can even try to explain it, it reminds me of something off of the Flinstones. Haha…I’m not sure exactly how to explain it but it had sticks or bones or something coming out of it. There were two young girls who danced as well and they wore something very similar to the men although they didn’t have the fur on their ankles. And instead of the head piece, they each had their hair plaited and there were seashells tied along each plait. I guess it’s a tradition to plait your hair and then tie things like seashells or candies, etc. in your hair. The way that they danced is almost unexplainable because you really have to be here to witness it. It’s not even dancing (well what we would call dancing), it’s more like stepping with BIG body movements. I know for a fact that the Kareninka’s (Sr. Catherine’s tribe) dance by making HUGE steps with their feet and legs really really fast. Would you think that would be dancing? No…I didn’t either, but somehow they make it look really cool. If I did it, Boy….would I get laughed at. The intermission was sure a sight to see and I wish that we would’ve stayed longer because apparently after the entire concert the Balantas danced again but it was even better since the men got on each others shoulders and danced. I wish I would’ve had the opportunity to see it, maybe next time. One thing I was really surprised at and I was actually quite confused with at first was that because the concert was a Benefit for the church they had a basket up at the front of the stage where you could go up and give money as a donation. I didn’t realize it at first but I always saw people getting up and dancing to the front of the hall but I couldn’t see them throw money into a basket so I was wondering what they were all doing. I was just hoping that it wasn’t that people were going up to dance row by row because I would’ve hightailed it out of there right quick. I enjoy dancing, but I’m sure my “American” style of dancing would’ve had it’s own show besides the concert. People already stare at me for having white skin never mind how I would dance. But to my relief, Sister Odile informed me that people could go up and give whenever they wanted and they didn’t have to dance, it’s just that people like to dance here. So for every song I saw some of the same people go up many times to give a donation. The choir dedicated a song to the sisters, since Sr. Catherine is the head of the choir and they are very involved in the church, so Sr. Odile even went up and when she got out of the row…she started dancing and everyone started clapping! I was laughing and laughing! She’s a good dancer! Everyone here is, since they basically learn to dance on their mother’s backs while they’re very young. It was really good to see.
Both Sr and I were very tired and by around 12:30 the concert finished and we were ready to head home and go to bed. All of the others stayed for the dance that was happening afterward. I would’ve liked to have seen it all but I think I would’ve spent most of the night in a corner sleeping since I was so tired. I guess they dance up until the week hours of the morning. We got up for mass at 7:30 yesterday morning and just as we were all walking out of the church from finishing mass the bus pulled up. All you could hear was drums and singing. I think the bus rocked the whole way home from the people bouncing in it. They piled off the bus still dancing and singing. I just smiled watching all the excitement. They didn’t look tired at all, but I’m sure when they got home they all went straight to bed. I on the other hand, walked home and then washed clothes for the week. As much as I appreciate the lesson I’m learning in washing clothes…I don’t really look forward to it. The girls still all snicker, and they sure don’t try to hide it. Yesterday I started washing my clothes and just as Edwina sat down to help me I said, “nope…you get out of here. You always laugh at me and I would rather wash my clothes in peace than have you help and laugh at me.” I was laughing as I said it and she was laughing too, but I wouldn’t let her get near my buckets. Edwina has been the one to help me wash since I’ve gotten here and every time….EVERY time she laughs the entire time and says, “ah…boy…this girl cannot wash.” I knew she wanted to help but I was going to teach her a lesson. So she sat on a bench a little ways away looking at how I was washing and she knew not to say a word or even hint at a laugh, otherwise I would’ve chased after her. Haha…it was really funny and as some of the girls were witnessing this they were all laughing. I washed my clothes in peace this week….