Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

1/25/2009

I mentioned in a previous blog that my middle school burned down. Well, it’s sad but true. It happened a few days before New Years. As it is was told to me, some kids were playing with matches… And I am sure you can guess the rest. The school was not yet state-sponsored, meaning it lacked a proper building. The two classrooms for grades 5 and 6 (these grades do not really correlate with American grade levels) are housed in a separate structure than grades 4 and 3. Actually, the classroom for grade 3 hasn’t even been built yet; that’s next year. The structures are made of wooden posts and straw roofs and walls. This year three mud walls were constructed for the chalkboards in the classrooms in question. In both classrooms combined there were about 50 wooden benches/desks. So you can imagine the havoc fire would do to a school built primarily of wood and straw. Everything was destroyed except for parts of the mud walls. I found about this four or five days after it happened. My counterpart told me and was shocked that no one had bothered to mention to me previously, especially since I hold all my club there so I kind of, sort of work there. I was told that maybe the reason no one said anything was due to shame, but I have no idea if this was the case. My counterpart told me also that the beginning of the second trimester would be delayed in order to reconstruct the building. He told me that rebuilding the walls and roof wasn’t such a big deal as the materials are pretty cheap, especially this time of year. The concern rested the desks. Desks or more accurately the wood for desks is not only hard to find but also very expensive. This poor school already has a hard enough time raising money to fund its normal expenses let alone the additional sum of rebuilding 50 new desks. But, they persevere and somehow manage to find a way. And the while my counterpart is telling me this I can’t stop smiling and even snicker a little – like what else can go wrong.

Friday, January 16th my village received a very special visit from the only female government minister. Oddly enough, she happens to come from my area of Togo, which is a testament to her strength and ambition since I live in one of the least female-friendly areas of Togo. She found out that the school burned down, so she went out and bought enough tin to build a roof. The 16th was the day she came to my village to present her gifts and see the school. My village went crazy. Of course, all my work got canceled for the afternoon. School was let out. The village ladies all brought out their Tchouk (local beer) and Soja (soy cheese) to sell. A whole ceremony was organized for the Minister’s arrival including speeches, singing, dancing, drums, marching and more speeches. It was actually really nice to see not only a Togolese person being generous, but a government official at that. She not brought the tin for the school, but brought soccer balls, and notebooks and calendars and chalk. I thought well maybe it was a good thing the school burned down because they never would have received this otherwise. The Minister even gave 20,000 francs CFA (about $40) to the community, but didn’t stipulate what it was to be used for, so of course people wanted it to drink. I think the Prefet was even called in the mediate that situation. I made an appearance at this ceremony as it would have been rude not to come, but I thankfully for one of the times got to hang back in the crowd, blend in and be apart of the masses.

So last Tuesday I went to the school to say hello, to see how things were going. The students were rebuilding the mud walls. I asked my school director when they were going to put up the roof. He said probably not until next year. Next year?! Why, I asked. Because the Minister only bought the tin, she didn’t buy any of the nails or braces or the wood for the beams/rafters nor did she pay for the labor it will cost to put the roof on. My director informed that all of these things cost and cost a lot, and the school still doesn’t have all the desks replaced yet. So, students are squished together on these benches three and four to a bench instead of the normal two and are expected to continue to learn. I guess, at least, they not sitting on the dirt floor.

I feel terrible laughing about all this, but it is just to a point of absurdity and ridiculousness. This poor school can’t seem to catch a brake, and the person I feel the most for is my counterpart who works tirelessly not just with one school but both the middle and primary schools and he works with the village development committee not to mention with me – Peace Corps.