November 1st 2010

Nunku

Well, I went to Nunku on Friday for the Women’s Forum training. There were around 70 women and we made a start by learning the letter sounds. We did various phonic activities and some games where they had to say objects or names that start with certain sounds. We also did some spoken English learning; things like saying to a partner ‘my name is… and I like eating…’ and then learning how to repeat to the class ‘her name is… and she likes eating…’ etc. It all took just under 3 hours. I think they were getting something out of it. It bought them all exercise books and pens to start writing vocabulary in, but I think that might be quite challenging for them, particularly seeing as there were no desks, which made writing inconvenient. I think that next week I’ll try some handwriting sheets. We’ll see – watch this space!

Schools

I continued with the training at the Provost’s school, Jekre-Ama last week and wrapped up the current training on phonics. What I’d to see now is the teachers actually putting it into place in the classrooms. This will take some more confidence and practise and monitoring from me though. All sorts of organisations run huge teacher training workshops with teachers, but working with this small group and knowing how much work it will take for them to implement things well in school, I can see that close monitoring and support is required; something I’m not the big workshops will actually follow-up the training with. It’s not that the teachers don’t have the capacity or the good intentions, it’s just that these ideas, techniques and way of thinking that we are so used to in the UK educational system are so new to them. Anyone who has left Primary school in the UK has been exposed to so many varied learning methods, training in problem solving, developed lateral thinking skills and resources. We know that children learn in different ways. We know what an exciting classroom looks like. You don’t have to be a trained teacher to know this stuff. Anyway, I’m sure they’ll pick up, because their enthusiasm will drive them along. It’s just hard on my part trying to adapt my presentations to make sure I’m being understood.

Kaduna

This weekend I went to Kaduna – hurrah! Kaduna’s a great place, primarily because you can get all sorts of food, including cheeseburgers and hummus! I meant to leave on Saturday morning, but when I went to the bank to withdraw some money for the visit, the ATMs weren’t working and the bank was shut. So I popped in to see my friend Maryam and her 3 kids. She works in the day-care class at Jekre-Ama and we’ve become pretty friendly. She’s really keen to get her children well-educated, and they were at home doing their homework. They’re 7, 5, and 2. Well, I finally got my money, got on the road, and got into Kaduna by about 6:30pm. It took ages, because I got a lift by a colleague from the college part of the way, and then the public car that I got kept stopping to pick up passengers. Kaduna was quite smoggy, because the hamartan season is just starting. I was met by Jenny and Simon, a couple of VSOs from the UK who have been here for a few months. They came to visit me when they first arrived as part of their in-country training. They met me and we went straight to a restaurant where we had burgers and beers. We were also joined by Edele, who is Irish and working at an International school in Kaduna. On Sunday, we went and sat in Gamje park and ate Schwarmas. We also played Lord of the Rings Top Trumps and cards, all of which I won (I like to think of myself as one of life’s natural winners, as not much skill was involved). We’d just dealt the Top Trump cards, and were approached by a young guy who had been sitting at a neighbouring table. He asked if he could have his picture taken with us, so he pulled up a chair and asked to hold some of our cards so that it would look as though he was joining in. I guess it’s just another bizarre but harmless phenomenon of being white here. Later, back at the house, we were joined by Heather and Richard, another couple from the UK. Richard is about to head back to the UK. We had dinner and went out for a beer. On Monday, I set off for the long journey home. I guess it takes about 5 hours, and by the time I got home I was famished, so ate the flat bread, hummus, cheese and olives that I treated myself to in Kaduna. K-town was great, and it was great to hang out with other volunteers and have a good old laugh. We even downloaded Anne Widdecombe dancing on Strictly Come Dancing from You Tube, which was another highlight!

Pumpkin Head I carved for Jenny and Simon (see how his ears are made out of his eyes)!

Right, well I’m off to write a few emails and check what I need to prepare for the rest of my week. There’s a gender workshop in Abuja for volunteers next week. I’ve been to one before, but I’m not convinced what difference they expect us to make in this area. This society has its own way of viewing the relationship between men and women and the model that we’ve had in UK culture won’t necessarily translate here. Sure, we can do things to support women’s education and encourage people to challenge stereotypes of both the sexes, but long-term change will really come from within the culture. Gender inequality comes from both sides, but in regards to feminism, that has to be led by the women themselves. Who knows when that will happen: so many men say that Africa man is a certain way and won’t change. But there are many who want equal relationships and an educated wife, and many women who want and have that too. It’s not as simple as the society being full of women with no rights: many educated self-sustained girls are so used to relying on men for money, favours and status that they don’t know how much damage they do to those who want equality and respect. Anyway, I’ll get back to reading The Female Eunuch and will get back to you once I’ve disrupted the debate next week on the role of international NGOs in how a society runs…

Tashi with Bec's card for Beter Leven