An Update from the Bush

Waahh my life has been filling up and feeling ever so busy lately. But first, I hope this finds you all well at home. It’s summer already! School is out or nearly out. Gosh, has time been flying there like it has been here?

So, as I said last weekend, one of my smartest girls is pregnant. She’s 17, and she and this boy in her class have been kindy touchy feely lately, or at least they were four months ago. And now she’s pregnant. I was so upset I couldn’t function for a couple days. There are a very few number of girls in school (most of whom I think they keep only because someone to do the sweeping). Of the few that are in school, there are far fewer that are smart and hard-working. And now I’ve lost one of those girls because she’s not going to be able to continue going to school with a baby. One of my counterparts was explaining the pregnancy rules to me, and he said that there is some woman who’s a higher-up in the education department, and she’s rather revolutionary and recently changed the rules. If you’re pregnant and married, they will now let you continue to attend school. Wow, how generous. So, as soon as this girl starts to show, she’s supposed to be kicked out. Any day now… Oh, and my last smart 8th grade girl just got married off, so she’s done with school. These girls are like 14 and their parents are marrying them off to 30+ year-old men. GAH!

While we’re on the topic of women, my principal and disciplinarian will often kick girls out of my class for not sweeping. Well, I’d had it, and so I went to them very calmly the other day (even though I was ready to burst), and said, “So I noticed you kicked Soaudou and Binta out of class.” Principal: “Yes, they didn’t sweep.” Me: “Right, but I noticed that you didn’t kick out any of the boys, and they didn’t sweep.” Principal: “I’ve told you that’s not how we do it here.” Me: “It’s not fair the girls do all the work and the boys do nothing. They need to share the work.” Principal: “The boys do other work.” Me: “Really? What? I’ve never seen them do any work.” Principal: “They make the fence surrounding our schoolyard and cultivate the land in it.” Me: “What fence are you talking about? We have no fence. There are no crops being cultivated in our schoolyard.” Principal: “Well, they’re going to start this soon. And anyway, you’re only saying this because you’re a girl.” UM HELLO?!?! You’re damn right I’m saying it because I’m a girl. I told him I’d be making the sweeping charts for my classes next year, and I will not teach anyone who doesn’t help with work around the classroom. He said, “We’ll see.” GRRR!

While we’re on the subject of my principal and disciplinarian… an example of corruption in Guinea. They knew I was going to Dabola to do some work for the group I’ve started working with on the computers (this is a couple weeks ago). They asked if I could type some stuff up for them. I said sure if I had time. Then they said I could make photocopies of it afterwards, and I said, “We’ll see.” So, they send a kid over to my hut with a sheet and a note that says, “Make 150 photocopies of this.” There was nothing to type. So I stopped by school on my way to Dabola and asked for photocopy money. Now, they’ve collected 5000GF from each 10th grader (a dollar, which is a LOT of money here, especially for a 10th grader). My principal has walked into my classrooms and started yelling at my kids about how he has to go to Dabola all the time for their Brevet admin stuff, and he has to pay for the gas, so they all better pay up: 5000GF. So they did. But, surprise surprise, they had no money for photocopies. The collected over $150, and now all of it’s missing. And then they had the gall to ask me, the white girl, to pay for it. I said no way and left.

And one more corruption story before I cut off my rambling. My neighbor Bailo was like, “Madame, if I got ahold of this years math Brevet questions and gave them to you, you’d spend like a week doing them for us on the chalkboard right? Until we had them all memorized?” “Um, no, Bailo, that’s called cheating.” “Well, what would you do if I got ahold of the questions and gave them to you?” “Burn them.” Bailo gasped in horror. Cheating is frequent and completely accepted in the schools here. It’s infuriating. But corruption and cheating, it’s so engrained in the culture. Bailo and his friends who were hanging out when we were discussing this, none of them view that as cheating.

Okay, last story because I almost peed my pants watching this scene and I want to share it. On Thursday afternoon we got a nice, big storm, and while it was trickling off, I was sitting outside with Salematou and Saidou. Guineans are incredibly afraid of the cold. They act like it’s going to kill them. And by cold I mean mid-high 70s. Anyway, it was 75 degrees, and this little kid is wearing this winter jacket — one of those jackets with the faux fur lining around the hood. The jacket is zipped all the way up so and the hood is on, so just their eyes and nose are visible, and it’s also a little bit too small, kind of reminded me off Ralphie’s little brother in his snowsuit in “A Christmas Story” when he can’t move his arms. In any case, this little kid goes steaming, rocking back and forth from side to side because he can’t move his arms, by in front of us, all bundled up in this jacket, but wearing shorts. That’s it. I couldn’t stop laughing, and even Salematou and Saidou were chuckling a little bit.

I don’t know the next time I’ll be updating… maybe Thursday? Maybe not until after the 22nd. In any case, the big math competition is June 20 — so keep Bissikrima in your thoughts that day Take care, all. Miss you!