As for me, I appreciate my high school education more than ever before and even more so my chance to attend University. We in Canada, as in many other places, are spoiled by the educational opportunities afforded to us. I hope to never hear a complaint about education in Canada from my own lips given the challenges to simply complete primary school with the ability to read in places like CAR.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Joe
Just wanted to write and let you all know that after two attempts "Joe" did not pass his exam. He is depressed and anxious about what this means for his future. We realize that he likely did not pass, truly, as all other avenues for failure were dealt with. We are left wondering what do to help Joe. He can try again next summer and if he studies hard this year and acquires a tutor, he may succeed. But the reality is that the odds are against him. However, I have never paid much attention to the odds and in Joe's case a little encouragement may go a long way.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Spoiling stero-types
I have spent the last three nights with a great couple from Missouri. They saw the ocean for the first time a few years ago on a trip to San Diego. They made the trip just to see the sun set over the ocean. I forget how spoiled I am to live surrounded by the ocean. Growing up surrounded by corn and soy bean fields must make the ocean look even more beautiful. Mind you, corn and soy bean fields have a charm of their own, but I must confess that I would choose the Island over Missouri if you gave me the choice.
I forget how the majority of the world stays in one place, never having the chance to venture outside of the state or province they grew up in. I am the first Canadian many people here have ever met. How unfortunate that I am a chameleon as I don’t sound a bit like a Canadian at the moment. I sound more like someone who grew up in a city around here. Hopefully there won’t be a whole new set of stereo-types formed about Canadians because of me.
One of the biggest stereo-types I had to break down was the idea that Africa is a country; everyone is the same and they are all backward. This is an idea I come across all over the place, including in popular media. I once saw a sign advertising an evening with Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian commander in charge of operations during the Rwandan genocide. They said he would be speaking about the country of Africa. Yikes! That is like talking about the country of Asia (which doesn’t exist). I think the ignorance regarding the continent of Africa comes from news media and movies that always refer to Africa rather than the individual countries of which they are reporting on. I have become more aware of making generalizations regarding ‘Africa’, instead referring to the particular country I am speaking about.
I am much more of a believer in cultural exchanges now than I ever was before seeing how many stereo-types we all carry around with us and how wrong so many of them are. In particular I have learned a lot more about the Amish, a group of which I have been particularly curious for quite some time. This is not a generalization of all Amish, but these are my observations of the settlement we were privileged to learn from.
-~900 homes in the settlement interspersed with non-Amish farms/homes.
-The settlement has about 13 schools up to grade 8. Most kids only go to school up to grade 8 and very few go on to public high school.
-Some kids go to public school but not if they can help it.
-Farming is all mechanized for the most part; they regularly apply chemicals and a fertilizer, milking is done in a parlour and the homes are as big and modern as any other.
-The major exception to modernity is that they do not use electricity from the state. They do use hydraulic equipment, generators, propane, battery power, etc. They do not accept any state subsidies. This must come from the strong commitment to a separation of church/state.
-Farming is not necessarily practiced in a sustainable way except that they use horse power. Horses are to the Amish as manioc is to the Central African. We did meet some growers trying no-till farming and another that is doing organic vegetable production. It is a hard road and I hope they succeed.
-They speak a wonderful blend of English and Low German and they have the thickest Indiana accents around.
-The do not have churches but meet in homes, up to 45 people at a time. They are kind, gentle and their children learn German first and English second so it was difficult to speak with the smaller children.
-Culturally they will run into difficulty as far as land is concerned. With so many children it is becoming harder to divide land amongst the kids. One family we met with has 42 acres, passed down from his grandfather and at least 4 boys to divide land amongst. This has led to a push towards vegetable production as you can produce more on a smaller acreage. It is also resulting in a lot more off farm jobs. We met several young Amish women working in the general store. Land is generally expensive or unavailable and the future of farming looks in jeopardy.
I met many kindred spirits here and if I have the privilege to return I will count myself doubly spoiled.
I forget how the majority of the world stays in one place, never having the chance to venture outside of the state or province they grew up in. I am the first Canadian many people here have ever met. How unfortunate that I am a chameleon as I don’t sound a bit like a Canadian at the moment. I sound more like someone who grew up in a city around here. Hopefully there won’t be a whole new set of stereo-types formed about Canadians because of me.
One of the biggest stereo-types I had to break down was the idea that Africa is a country; everyone is the same and they are all backward. This is an idea I come across all over the place, including in popular media. I once saw a sign advertising an evening with Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian commander in charge of operations during the Rwandan genocide. They said he would be speaking about the country of Africa. Yikes! That is like talking about the country of Asia (which doesn’t exist). I think the ignorance regarding the continent of Africa comes from news media and movies that always refer to Africa rather than the individual countries of which they are reporting on. I have become more aware of making generalizations regarding ‘Africa’, instead referring to the particular country I am speaking about.
I am much more of a believer in cultural exchanges now than I ever was before seeing how many stereo-types we all carry around with us and how wrong so many of them are. In particular I have learned a lot more about the Amish, a group of which I have been particularly curious for quite some time. This is not a generalization of all Amish, but these are my observations of the settlement we were privileged to learn from.
-~900 homes in the settlement interspersed with non-Amish farms/homes.
-The settlement has about 13 schools up to grade 8. Most kids only go to school up to grade 8 and very few go on to public high school.
-Some kids go to public school but not if they can help it.
-Farming is all mechanized for the most part; they regularly apply chemicals and a fertilizer, milking is done in a parlour and the homes are as big and modern as any other.
-The major exception to modernity is that they do not use electricity from the state. They do use hydraulic equipment, generators, propane, battery power, etc. They do not accept any state subsidies. This must come from the strong commitment to a separation of church/state.
-Farming is not necessarily practiced in a sustainable way except that they use horse power. Horses are to the Amish as manioc is to the Central African. We did meet some growers trying no-till farming and another that is doing organic vegetable production. It is a hard road and I hope they succeed.
-They speak a wonderful blend of English and Low German and they have the thickest Indiana accents around.
-The do not have churches but meet in homes, up to 45 people at a time. They are kind, gentle and their children learn German first and English second so it was difficult to speak with the smaller children.
-Culturally they will run into difficulty as far as land is concerned. With so many children it is becoming harder to divide land amongst the kids. One family we met with has 42 acres, passed down from his grandfather and at least 4 boys to divide land amongst. This has led to a push towards vegetable production as you can produce more on a smaller acreage. It is also resulting in a lot more off farm jobs. We met several young Amish women working in the general store. Land is generally expensive or unavailable and the future of farming looks in jeopardy.
I met many kindred spirits here and if I have the privilege to return I will count myself doubly spoiled.
Education up-date
Just wanted to let everyone know that Joe wrote his BAC exams and he will hear the results on the radio on July 23 (or so they say). If he doesn't pass but gets close,he will have a chance to try again later in the summer. We are hoping and praying he passes. Really hoping he passes. If you would like to know what we decided regarding paying fees for the BAC, you are welcome to email me to find out.
www.spoiledfornormal.gmail.com
www.spoiledfornormal.gmail.com
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Spoiled for a “Normal” Education
Many of you know that we have been helping Joe*, a member of my Central African family, through school. In English terms, we started helping him in grade ten and he just completed grade twelve. Due to the incredibly poor level of education in this country, we moved Joe from a public school in Berberati to a private school in Bangui, the nation’s capital. This was no small task as, while he had a good family support system in Berberati, he did not know a soul in Bangui. It is like taking a kid from the backwoods of Mississippi and plunking him down in New York City with a small budget to fend for himself. His first year in Bangui was a little rough, but got decidedly better as he learned what it took to live in Bangui (thus we increased his budget), Joe learned to live by a budget (something very few people here or elsewhere know how to do), and he made friends with those who could help tutor him. Students who were fortunate enough to have had several years in a private school were far better off than those coming from public school where you may have one teacher for eighty students and no text books. Imagine doing grade ten, eleven and twelve math without a textbook. Impossible!
Though Joe has technically graduated grade twelve, for which we are very proud indeed, the largest hurdle remains; the baccalaureate certificate. We don’t really have an equivalent to this in Canada, but in the French system it is the evidence that you graduated and are fit to go on to University or to look for a job. It involves taking a very large exam in one of many different ‘series’ depending on which courses you focused on in high school. The series you choose to write determines to some extent what you will go on to study in University. I admit that I do not fully comprehend the system, but I trust that the Central Africans do, even though it is a French imposition.
There are ‘technically’ no fees to write the BAC as I understand it, but nothing ‘technically’ works in this country, so ‘informally’ there are very large fees to write the BAC. It is generally understood that the time of year for writing final exams is the time of year that officials in the Ministry of Education get their ‘Christmas bonuses’ if you catch what I am saying. Even though Joe has gone to a private school in which corruption in minimized, the BAC exams are administered by the State. In order to ensure that your exam is properly marked there is a very large few required, unless of course you happen to have family members in the ministry. At first I thought that this was some way of ‘buying’ your diploma, that regardless of how well you did or didn’t do on the exam you were passed. What I have come to discover is paying a BAC fee doesn’t guarantee you will pass; it only guarantees it will be marked. Of course this is all second hand information from students and parents because you can’t ask ministry officials to tell you the truth, they will only tell you what should happen, but doesn’t.
So we are left in a quandary. Many people have helped Joe get to this final stage of his education and it would be such a shame for him to not receive what he has worked so hard for. If he doesn’t get his BAC this year he can try again next year and the year after that until he finally succeeds, but I worry that each progressing year it gets harder and harder to remember calculus, chemistry and physics. I had a hard enough time during my classes. I would not have been able to right a test on it one year later.
Greasing palms, Christmas bonuses in July, slipping something under the table, it is all just another way of saying CORRUPTION. And I of all people know about corruption, the way it keeps economies going while at the same time keeps them from ever functioning properly. And it is always the ones at the bottom who suffer from it the most. Central African Republic has been labeled worse that a failed state, a “phantom state” by the International Crisis Group, and the more time I spend in Bangui the more I understand why. So given that it is a failed state, that even if we wanted to go through proper channels to avoid corruption, the proper channels don’t exist, I am left wondering what to do. The July bonus for a BAC is around $400 USD. I would love to hear people’s thoughts on this so please comment here or write to me at spoiledfornormal@gmail.com
*I have changed the names of people in order to protect their privacy. I will use the same name throughout so please write me if you want to know who they really are. If I know you, I will tell you.
Though Joe has technically graduated grade twelve, for which we are very proud indeed, the largest hurdle remains; the baccalaureate certificate. We don’t really have an equivalent to this in Canada, but in the French system it is the evidence that you graduated and are fit to go on to University or to look for a job. It involves taking a very large exam in one of many different ‘series’ depending on which courses you focused on in high school. The series you choose to write determines to some extent what you will go on to study in University. I admit that I do not fully comprehend the system, but I trust that the Central Africans do, even though it is a French imposition.
There are ‘technically’ no fees to write the BAC as I understand it, but nothing ‘technically’ works in this country, so ‘informally’ there are very large fees to write the BAC. It is generally understood that the time of year for writing final exams is the time of year that officials in the Ministry of Education get their ‘Christmas bonuses’ if you catch what I am saying. Even though Joe has gone to a private school in which corruption in minimized, the BAC exams are administered by the State. In order to ensure that your exam is properly marked there is a very large few required, unless of course you happen to have family members in the ministry. At first I thought that this was some way of ‘buying’ your diploma, that regardless of how well you did or didn’t do on the exam you were passed. What I have come to discover is paying a BAC fee doesn’t guarantee you will pass; it only guarantees it will be marked. Of course this is all second hand information from students and parents because you can’t ask ministry officials to tell you the truth, they will only tell you what should happen, but doesn’t.
So we are left in a quandary. Many people have helped Joe get to this final stage of his education and it would be such a shame for him to not receive what he has worked so hard for. If he doesn’t get his BAC this year he can try again next year and the year after that until he finally succeeds, but I worry that each progressing year it gets harder and harder to remember calculus, chemistry and physics. I had a hard enough time during my classes. I would not have been able to right a test on it one year later.
Greasing palms, Christmas bonuses in July, slipping something under the table, it is all just another way of saying CORRUPTION. And I of all people know about corruption, the way it keeps economies going while at the same time keeps them from ever functioning properly. And it is always the ones at the bottom who suffer from it the most. Central African Republic has been labeled worse that a failed state, a “phantom state” by the International Crisis Group, and the more time I spend in Bangui the more I understand why. So given that it is a failed state, that even if we wanted to go through proper channels to avoid corruption, the proper channels don’t exist, I am left wondering what to do. The July bonus for a BAC is around $400 USD. I would love to hear people’s thoughts on this so please comment here or write to me at spoiledfornormal@gmail.com
*I have changed the names of people in order to protect their privacy. I will use the same name throughout so please write me if you want to know who they really are. If I know you, I will tell you.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Spoiled for good gear
Though I had to leave my job at Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC) to continue on the grad school adventure, I certainly haven’t left MEC behind. As my luxury item on this trip I brought my new GSI insulated coffee press and mug. While I haven’t found any A1 coffee yet, the local Robusta variety still makes a decent cup in the morning. It’s a luxury item because I could make cowboy coffee, the old boil in the pot variety, but I was spoiled for good coffee long ago.
Stay tuned for more SfN gear tips.
Stay tuned for more SfN gear tips.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Are you spoiled for normal?
I would like to open up the Spoiled for Normal blog to those with their own stories of being spoiled for normal. Email me your post (not your life story) about your own Spoiled for normal moments and I will post them for others to read, be inspired and find courage.
Send them to spoiledfornormal@gmail.com
Go on living life outside the box!
Send them to spoiledfornormal@gmail.com
Go on living life outside the box!
Home decorating at home and abroad
I remember attending a church in Florida and feeling completely out of place when having lunch at the pastor’s house the discussion around the table centred on draperies and furnishings, where to buy them, colours and so on. I felt like I would never fit in to such a crowd and that remained one of the reasons we moved on to find another church. There was nothing wrong with this particular church but it was small and I knew I would find a hard time fitting in. Much to my surprise, every church was pretty much the same and I began to realise how not normal I was. Granted I had been living at ECHO for a few months already, but even more so I think my dislike of home decorating comes from the fact that my family never put much emphasis on it. We moved in, hung up a few pictures and we were ‘home’. I can’t ever remember my mom picking out paint or tile or new furniture until I was well into my twenties.
Since venturing out into the adult world I have discovered that most of my peers value what the interior of their homes looks like. They go to great pains to pick out the perfect colour of paint, the right couch, bathroom fixtures and on and on. What I realize is that I enjoy going to their homes, they are beautiful, everything matches and they have a certain amount of pride over the way their homes look. I, on the other hand, enjoy my eclectic, thrown together, pieces gathered from other people’s homes look. I hope people from the home decorating side don’t feel uncomfortable in my home, but I honestly love my random apartment.
These aren’t random thoughts; rather my first few days in Kampala have been met with discussions of paint colours and the refinishing of furniture. The expat homes in Kampala are huge, multi-roomed, with very large living areas and windows. The interiors have imported furniture, window coverings and paint colours beyond the standard white we have in Gamboula. One couple I met on Wednesday took great pains to pick out the colours for the home they were renting. They narrowed the choices down to 13 different colours for all the various rooms in their house.
I am often surprised at how narrow minded I can be. I have this false idea that all people who choose to live in developing countries are just like me. Thank God they are not; how arrogant of me, really. We are who we are, and no matter that you live thousands of miles from what was home, we take our likes and dislikes with us. No matter where I live I will not spend my time and money on interior decorating. I believe I am the exception in this (spoiled for normal) and I apologize for those who enter my home and find eclectic chaos rather than matching earth tones of paint. Perhaps it is because we are too poor to buy paint, but I would like to think it is because this is who I am. I am learning to look interested while ooing and awing over tile choices and paint chips. Somehow I find it hard to find people who want to discuss the latest conflict analysis or favourite mango varieties.
So please don’t take this as an anti-decorating diatribe. Keep the economy going; buy paint, ship furniture, match your pillow shams to your window treatments. Just don’t roll your eyes the next time I bring up how tasty the Glenn mango is and pretend to look interested in the root causes of conflict in CAR.
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