Written May 18, 2009
Well after my in-service training (IST) I wanted to have 2 uninterrupted months at my site. Not leaving at all which would allow me to get into a routine and be able to plan projects. April and May though is the HOTTEST time in Burkina Faso with temperatures reaching 115-120º during the heat of the day. My house is like a brick sauna. Sometimes there is some wind. Needless to say I spent most of my days “chilling” under my hanger outside my porch. I have been able to make vast improvements to my house and get to know a lot more people in the community since the beginning of April.
On the weekends I have been able to go out to villages for events and activities that my host organization has organized. I found out when I got back from IST that ASUDEC (NGO I work with) will have to close its activities in my region. Due to the financial crisis world-wide they were unable to get funding for this years activities. Therefore, they will not be able to help rural communities en brouss. After June only 3 people will stay on at the offices here in Diebougou. No projects though are planed at all for after June; therefore animals will go unvaccinated and farmers will have no more sessions on proper techniques for farming. It is all quite sad.
Due to the fact that I am a volunteer none of ASUDEC’s financial problems will have an effect on my service. I have insisted that Lagou, my counterpart continue to be my counterpart even if he no longer works for ASUDEC. I will continue to work and conduct projects within my community because I do not need funding, my projects will be in the name of ASUDEC and in the form of technical assistance.
Please check out my photos from these last two months to see all of the activities that I went to en brouss. Events like Day of the Chicken, Dagara Tribe Cultural Fete, Threatre Group informing villages about Handicap peoples, and an Agricultural Formation I conducted with my Counterpart.
Besides all of that I really got into a routine over here and have enjoyed my schedule immensely. I teach 3 English Clubs a week and tutor a couple students independently to prepare them for the English section of their exams this coming June. Read my blog about the Educational system here in Burkina Faso so you can understand what these tests are.
In the first week I was back at site in April I dug up my courtyard and made two beds for planting moringa trees. In the spirit of Earthday and Environmentalism I planted over 100 moringa trees in my courtyard. I have also started a little portable garden. I had my neighbor kids pick up water bags that people throw around, that I then cut, filled them with dirt and planted moringa seeds. I did this with the kids. They planted them; I told them I would water them until the rainy season. Then they can take them to their families’ house and plant them there. Next month, June I plan to plant two more beds for moringa trees in my courtyard. They grow so fast that I will be living in a jungle soon, I cannot wait for the shade. Check out the photos to see how fast they grow.
Now a month later all of my neighbors and friends are jealous of my moringa trees and want to plant their own. I give my neighbors all of the leaves from the moringa after I dry them and plan to sensibilize them about moringa and hope to get them to start selling moringa powder in the marche after the raining season. The kids come over and help me weed and are so excited to have the trees, come June.
In April I bought some paint and painted the interior of my house and finally took photos to post them on the blog so you could get a feel for my house. I also commissioned to have an actual door made for my courtyard entrance. I had a straw door that was falling apart and was not good for security and the peeping toms of the neighborhood. I now have a proper door with latches and it has made life WONDERFUL. I finally have some PRIVACY. I used duck tape to cover all the holes in the door so kids could not peek in. That does not deter them from getting down on their hand and knees and looking through the door frame. They also think it is all right to sneak their hand through the straw wall and open the door on their own.
The kids are overwhelming. I do not mind them when they are in groups of 2 or 3 and they are calm but normally they come in groups of 10-15 and yell and shout and hit each other. I limit the amount of time they are allowed to be in my courtyard. Often times I felt like a babysitter before my courtyard door was built. To distract them I would give them cards or let them draw. They tried to eat the crayons though or break them on the cement. Once the door was put up I do not let them into my courtyard at all, unless they sneak in while I am carrying my water. They ask me for bon bons daily and bang on my door until someone yells at them. I tune them out most of the time. They move on after a while once they see me not responding to them. God bless my door.
One big accomplishment of my last two months was reading War and Peace in less than 3 weeks. I read some days for 4-5 hours at a time. At night I become quite creative in the kitchen with the help from my family and friends’ care packages. Check photos for some of these creations. When the sun goes down I lock up my courtyard and work out on my patio under the stars for an hour from 7pm-8pm every night. After working out I normally watch half of a film and cross stich. Yes, cross stich. My sister sent me a pattern and I just thought why not. I limit my DVD watching to the night and spend my days preparing English lessons, reading, or writing in my journal.
Another project I work on is consulting with local “businesses” about their management practices. I am presently helping two of my friends with their bookkeeping skills. My one friend Mariam sells Zoom Kum and the other, Amillion, sells water sasays. I sit with them for hours at a time watching them work and with difficulty try to help them a little. I am also helping an English Club participant, my friend Eric, who speaks AMAZING ENGLISH, come up with a business plan for a hotel and restaurant close to the river Bougouriba 10 km from Diebougou. I like these small scale, grass roots activities because I know that they will make a difference in these peoples lives.
It is crazy to think that I have been here for over a half of a year. Time flies by and I have some fun things planned for the next month. June will be my travel and vacation month. I will be meeting my parents in the UK for 3 weeks at the end of June and visiting relatives and seeing sights. I will just be overwhelmed by it all. Before this trip abroad, Michael B. will be coming to Burkina Faso to experience the country and I have some fun activities planned for his stay. After I get back to Burkina in the beginning of July I will be in the thralls of the rainy season and I really cannot wait.
We have had some rain here and there and in fact last week I got caught in a CRAZY STORM on my way home from English club. It was so bad I had to stop biking because I could not see a couple feet in front of me and then wind and rain were making me swerve; also wearing glasses in the rain does not help either. Needless to say I felt like I was in the movie Twister when I finally got back to my house and I looked like a lesser version of Kate Winslet at the end of Titanic all wet and soaked through.
Small Pleasures: Before I go I want to tell you about some small joys that I get day to day. One of them came when I found ICE in Diebougou. I was shocked and amazed and now buy sasays of ice every afternoon during the heat. The richer Burkinabe families in Diebougou normally have refrigerators and they make and sell ice to people. I normally have one of my neighbour kids run and get me ice and then I reward them with candy. It has been a delight beyond imagination.
The second joy is this amazing peppermint soap my dear friend Rebez sent me for the heat. It is great to use each night before I go to bed and it feels so refreshing when I dump the remaining water at the bottom of my wash bucket on top of my head.
My final small pleasure is getting clothes made. I have had over 9 things made since the beginning of April. It takes my tailor a couple times to get it to what I like but I am working with it. I find ideas in magazines and then I go to town sketching in my sketch-book and use crayons for color. It gives me joy to think about how much money I am saving and that I will have this crazy ward-robe when I get back to the states, hopefully!!!
Well until next time when I will be feeling like a fish out of water in a developed country, the UK!!! Keep the letters and emails coming I do respond, just give me time!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Le Sentimental Education
The education system here has confused me for months and I hope I am able to explain it to you all. There are still some facets that totally elude me still.
Education in Burkina favors males, and those in urban areas with access to secondary schools. Literacy rates stand at 12.8% for people 15 years old and above (almost 13% of 14 million people is NOT A LOT). For women this is 8.1%, for men 18.5%. Since 94% of the population of Burkina Faso lives en brouss in remote villages. Only about 1/3 of seven year olds attend primary school in the country and it is even fewer in rural areas. About 10% of the population makes it to secondary school (junior high and high school).
The educational system is based on the French model. Therefore mastery of French largely determines one’s success because all instruction is in French. Since young children starting school have no French background, they do not understand or learn well. Imagine if in the United States if after speaking English with your parents at home if you are 6 years old and all of a sudden have to go to school where the only language that is spoken/taught is Chinese.
Much of the primary school education is solely on the learning and understanding of the French language. Parents do not enforce studying and many children cannot even study at home because there are no lights to study by at night. Most kids repeat years because they are not able to pass their exams due to the lack of preparation, absence, and that they do not study outside of school. After 3 times of repeating a year a student is no longer allowed to continue their education.
Elementary School lasts six years; secondary school has seven years. Here is a rough diagram of the grade levels for a Burkinabe student.
Primary Education
Cours preparatoire 1
Cours preparatoire 2
Cours elementaire 1
Cours elementaire 2
Cours moyen 1
Cours moyen 2
CEP Exam
Some things to note though about the CEP exam: A Burkinabe is not eligible to take the exam if they do not have a birth certificate. Many Burkinabe do not know their birthdays or ages, more prevalent in the older generations, even friends my own age. Here Birth Certificates cost 700 CFA ($1.50) the first 5 years of a child’s life. After that they increase in price to 2000 CFA ($4.50). Many Burkinabe do not know about a birth certificate or they do not have the money or the means to get one in village.
Classes can be extremely large. In primary school there can be 40+ students and when they get up to secondary school they could be in the upwards of 100 students in a classroom. Imagine trying to learn a high school lesson with another 100 kids, distracting much?
On top of that there is also an age limit for taking the CEP Exam, a person cannot take the exam after the age of 16.
After you take your CEP Exam and you pass you can continue on to Secondary schooling. The government pays the school fees for primary education but after that a student and the family are responsible to pay for a student to go on to secondary school.
Even after taking the CEP Exam a secondary school might be 80km away from their village. Most secondary schools are in larger cities and most families can only afford to send one child onto secondary school. The student will be shipped off during the school year to live with relatives near a secondary school. Since there are very few secondary schools there is not enough space to accommodate students wanting to go to secondary school. As I mentioned before a student has to buy everything. Example Prices are below next to the year.
“Junior High” / Secondary School Levels:
Sixieme (15,000-18,000)
Cinquieme
Quatrieme
Troisieme (24,000 – 100,000)
BEPC Exam
The BEPC Exam means that a Burkinabe has passed almost the equivalent of junior high for the United States. Many of my BEPC students (troisieme) range in ages from 16-26 years old. If you have a BEPC you can become a primary school teacher and lower level government agents (Functionaries).
After a student takes the BEPC they have the option again to continue to go to school for another 3 years and then take the BAC. There are two tracks a student can take for their BAC. A technical BAC for those that want to do engineering for example or computers, and then there is a general BAC. The BAC is accepted internationally and in the states it would be if a student took International Baccalaureate (IB) credits in high school.
“High School”/ Continuation of Secondary Levels:
2 e
1 ere
Terminal
BAC (General or Technique)
Those Burkinabe that take the BAC and pass are very respected and normally become functionaires and work for the government or go to University. The normal age for a student taking the BAC exam (somewhat equivalent but harder then a high school degree) range from 21-36 years old.
The exams given are 95% memorization and there is not much individual thought or creative analysis in the students work. The students are also beholden to outside sources for books and study materials. Which means that they have to search and pay for their own study materials. Most of these things can only be bought in Ouaga or Bobo.
Burkinabe that have taken the BEPC or the BAC are highly respected and there are “rights” because they have taken the exam. Persons with University degrees are revered but most people with University degrees stay in the larger cities and do not head back to live in the villages because there are no jobs for them there.
Quite a daunting thing to overcome and allow for your country to become developed I would say and I have not even talked about the importance of Girls’ Education. I will save that topic for a future blog, maybe for August when I conduct my girls’ camp!!!
Education in Burkina favors males, and those in urban areas with access to secondary schools. Literacy rates stand at 12.8% for people 15 years old and above (almost 13% of 14 million people is NOT A LOT). For women this is 8.1%, for men 18.5%. Since 94% of the population of Burkina Faso lives en brouss in remote villages. Only about 1/3 of seven year olds attend primary school in the country and it is even fewer in rural areas. About 10% of the population makes it to secondary school (junior high and high school).
The educational system is based on the French model. Therefore mastery of French largely determines one’s success because all instruction is in French. Since young children starting school have no French background, they do not understand or learn well. Imagine if in the United States if after speaking English with your parents at home if you are 6 years old and all of a sudden have to go to school where the only language that is spoken/taught is Chinese.
Much of the primary school education is solely on the learning and understanding of the French language. Parents do not enforce studying and many children cannot even study at home because there are no lights to study by at night. Most kids repeat years because they are not able to pass their exams due to the lack of preparation, absence, and that they do not study outside of school. After 3 times of repeating a year a student is no longer allowed to continue their education.
Elementary School lasts six years; secondary school has seven years. Here is a rough diagram of the grade levels for a Burkinabe student.
Primary Education
Cours preparatoire 1
Cours preparatoire 2
Cours elementaire 1
Cours elementaire 2
Cours moyen 1
Cours moyen 2
CEP Exam
Some things to note though about the CEP exam: A Burkinabe is not eligible to take the exam if they do not have a birth certificate. Many Burkinabe do not know their birthdays or ages, more prevalent in the older generations, even friends my own age. Here Birth Certificates cost 700 CFA ($1.50) the first 5 years of a child’s life. After that they increase in price to 2000 CFA ($4.50). Many Burkinabe do not know about a birth certificate or they do not have the money or the means to get one in village.
Classes can be extremely large. In primary school there can be 40+ students and when they get up to secondary school they could be in the upwards of 100 students in a classroom. Imagine trying to learn a high school lesson with another 100 kids, distracting much?
On top of that there is also an age limit for taking the CEP Exam, a person cannot take the exam after the age of 16.
After you take your CEP Exam and you pass you can continue on to Secondary schooling. The government pays the school fees for primary education but after that a student and the family are responsible to pay for a student to go on to secondary school.
Even after taking the CEP Exam a secondary school might be 80km away from their village. Most secondary schools are in larger cities and most families can only afford to send one child onto secondary school. The student will be shipped off during the school year to live with relatives near a secondary school. Since there are very few secondary schools there is not enough space to accommodate students wanting to go to secondary school. As I mentioned before a student has to buy everything. Example Prices are below next to the year.
“Junior High” / Secondary School Levels:
Sixieme (15,000-18,000)
Cinquieme
Quatrieme
Troisieme (24,000 – 100,000)
BEPC Exam
The BEPC Exam means that a Burkinabe has passed almost the equivalent of junior high for the United States. Many of my BEPC students (troisieme) range in ages from 16-26 years old. If you have a BEPC you can become a primary school teacher and lower level government agents (Functionaries).
After a student takes the BEPC they have the option again to continue to go to school for another 3 years and then take the BAC. There are two tracks a student can take for their BAC. A technical BAC for those that want to do engineering for example or computers, and then there is a general BAC. The BAC is accepted internationally and in the states it would be if a student took International Baccalaureate (IB) credits in high school.
“High School”/ Continuation of Secondary Levels:
2 e
1 ere
Terminal
BAC (General or Technique)
Those Burkinabe that take the BAC and pass are very respected and normally become functionaires and work for the government or go to University. The normal age for a student taking the BAC exam (somewhat equivalent but harder then a high school degree) range from 21-36 years old.
The exams given are 95% memorization and there is not much individual thought or creative analysis in the students work. The students are also beholden to outside sources for books and study materials. Which means that they have to search and pay for their own study materials. Most of these things can only be bought in Ouaga or Bobo.
Burkinabe that have taken the BEPC or the BAC are highly respected and there are “rights” because they have taken the exam. Persons with University degrees are revered but most people with University degrees stay in the larger cities and do not head back to live in the villages because there are no jobs for them there.
Quite a daunting thing to overcome and allow for your country to become developed I would say and I have not even talked about the importance of Girls’ Education. I will save that topic for a future blog, maybe for August when I conduct my girls’ camp!!!
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