Small Small in Salone

Small Small.  A Krio word that is used for everything.  Whether you are telling an Okada (motorcycle taxi) Driver that you are near your destination or you are talking about the portion of food you would like.  But to me it also means small steps.

As I am preparing for the first day of school tomorrow, I have struggled with taking small steps.  Education is done completely different here.  The teaching pedagogy is old school.  The teacher lectures, the students copy, and a test is given.  This goes for all grade levels.  As I have my first day of teaching class 3 tomorrow, I have struggled with finding a balance of the methods used here and the way I have been taught how to teach.  I cannot simply come into the classroom and expect the students to be able to work in a group because students do not know how to work in a group in a classroom setting.  I have to remind myself to go small small.

I have already uncovered many differences between the way education is done here and the way I have been taught.  One example is that students are only assessed with an exam two times over the term.  There are three terms in a school year.  Their report card grade at the end of the term only takes into account two exams.  The students are then ranked depending on how well they have done on these two tests. Their rank in the class is also displayed on the report card.

School starts tomorrow and there is not a teacher teaching class one yet and there might not be a teacher for class six.  The two teachers who taught these classes last year have not sent in the letter to confirm whether or not they are returning for the school year.  To me, this is not a minor problem.  But here, no one seams to worry about it.

Well, aside from school, I am slowly getting adjusted.  I somehow managed to attract about every Salone man at the airport who all wanted to help me find my ride from the airport.  Since then, I have managed to get several offers of marriage and many offers to be "friends".  I got a phone here but I do not know my phone number.  I intend to keep it that way so that I cannot give it out to random men who ask for my number.

After arriving from the airport, I stayed in Freetown for about five days at Sweet Mother's Guest House near Lumley Beach in Freetown.  I spent much of my time with my Professor and George, her fiance.  Our Guest House was close to the coast so I spent some time walking along the beach.  Behind the sand littered with broken shoes, plastic bags, empty food containers, there is so much beauty.

Lumley Beach, Freetown

One afternoon while my professor was working, George took me to the market area in Freetown.  I wanted to buy a map and a Krio book so we went to a little shop where he knew the owner.  I was able to get both from the shop but did not have enough money with me.  The owner of the shop knew George so he said I could take both and pay him later.  How did he know I would actually pay him later?  That is something that would never happen in the U.S.

My professor, George, and our driver Sylo made the trip up to Kabala from Freetown last Wednesday.  Lets just say that the drive to Kabala is not the most pleasant.  The road is okay until you reach Makeni.  From there, it is one huge pothole after another.  The road is especially bad during rainy season.  It was quite the sight to see several Okada drivers attempting to cross the street.

Okada Driver attempting to Cross

Since arriving, we have stayed at the guest house at the CES office.  I am not sure what that stands for but it is the CRC offices in Kabala.  We hope to rent a different house, closer to the center of Kabala.  The main problem is that there is no water.  Once we figure out how to get water to the house, then we hope to move there in a week or two.

Living here, you come to appreciate the little things.  Showering with a bucket and cold water is ten times better when you have a little burner to heat water on to have a warm bucket bath!  I have decided to treat myself to a warm bucket bath on Sundays.  You also appreciate lights so much more when you have to work under candle light each night after about 6:30pm.  The guest house has a generator that we sometimes turn on for an hour, but our new house will not have a generator.

The view from the guest house in Kabala

 Much of my time here in Kabala has been spent getting prepared for the school year.  But one afternoon we got the privilege to go see one of the students from the JSS (Junior Secondary School a.k.a middle school) awarded a scholarship for a letter she wrote.  Apparently, formal letter writing is a big deal here.  They will pay for her school tuition and she gets money for books and school supplies.

The girl on the far left is from Kabala Primary School

As I have now spent about a week and a half here, I have been thinking seriously about the issue of poverty.  I have heard many people say already "Oh it is because of poverty."  That has been a challenge that I have thought much about.  Looking through my eyes, I keep asking myself how much of what I am observing is poverty, and how much is just a different way of life.  Is showering with cold water poverty or is that just a different way of life?  As I continue to live here, I think many of these questions will be uncovered slowly.

Thank you again for your prayers and for your investment in this journey with me.  I truly appreciate it.  There is so much more that I could have written about and that I wish you could understand from the other side.  God has truly been walking alongside me in this journey.