Saturday, April 3, 2010

Going for Weekend-Happy Easter

Hello all!
Again sorry for the long delays in our updates but in case you have forgotten…we live in West Africa where things never go quite as smoothly as you might wish.


We have been keeping ourselves busy over here. School has been quite a bit less productive as school days keep getting canceled for various events: the president’s visit, a teacher’s meeting, outdoor work days, holidays, the white guys are the only ones who showed up again days…there are various reasons that school just cannot possibly happen. But these days are not just disruptive in and of themselves but are compounded by the fact that when they occur, there is at least one or two days that students will “go for weekend” and just not show up. When there is no school, students who live far from the town will go home to re-supply money and food from home. Other students just don’t come. So for an example, if there is a holiday on a Monday, the students will not come on Tuesday because they went for a weekend or they are recovering from all the resting they did on the holiday. Wednesday is market day so every week, at best 1/2 the students at the school will show up. Maybe Thursday the teacher’s will decide to stay home or maybe have a impromtu meeting so school will be canceled again and everyone will “go for weekend until Monday…or Tuesday…..but then there is market day and the cycle continues. In the past three weeks there were very few days that we stayed at school for the whole day. We taught our classes but with 7 students in a class and no other teachers, there is only so much motivation to continue for the whole day.

Several University students came to hold tutorial sessions for the 9th and 12th graders who are preparing for national exams. I was pretty busy writing new lesson plans for tutoring sessions which included Saturday morning physics reviews….JOY. The students, who came from all the high schools in Tappita really enjoyed the sessions and so there has been some discussion in continuing them.

The girls group has broken ground for ther community garden. We wrote a letter requesting some help from the UNMIL troops in Tappita and on Saturday they came and promised to donate seeds and technical assistance and brought us delicious snacks: apples (a rare treat for the girls) imported oranges, guava juice, rice, beans, and cookies. The girls were thrilled. I hope that they keep up their ambitious good works. I have been going to the field with them for the past two Saturdays. It feels good toiling and sweating beside them. It is truly a cross-cultural experience. They are always so worried about me and if I really can do so much hard work with the hoe. I teach them about white skin and the need for sunscreen when there is not a shady tree in sight. We work and sing and talk and for awhile we can truly feel the differences fall away. We are hoping to plant tomatoes, cassava, peanuts, cucumbers, cabbage, watermelon, and moringa. I took some pictures and will post them when I can.

Jon and I attended a wedding at the Catholic church this past Saturday. The celebration was more western and less involved then the three day guinean wedding marathons that we used to go to. So this time, instead of spending our whole weekend and a few very late nights sitting, dancing, and feeling odd, we spent a wonderful day enjoying the event. The mass was very traditional, but with some fun African twists with the music and dress. The priest’s homily was really nice and made me think about our wedding. He spoke about how people should be whole human beings when they come into a relationship and not just be looking for the other person to make them whole.

We were honored with a surprise visit from out country director and the acting African regional director on Sunday afternoon. We sat and chatted. We had a small lunch and they gifted up some american food…including oreos!!! Double stuffed! YUM. Woe Woe likes them too! Earlier in the week we also had a vist from some other staff who came for lunch but ended up staying for dinner because PK's cooking is so amazing. So basically the whole staff of Peace corps Liberia were at our house last week!

I guess that pretty much brings us up to date. We are really enjoying ourselves here in Tappita. 5 of our friends came this weekend to spend Easter weekend with us. It's been great catching up and enjoying each other's company.

Just a quick update while there is some internet. I'll post some photos when I can!

Be Well,
Kim and Jon