Restarting

I was feeling very down here in Mayo Darle. One of my friends here, whose post is in a cool university town, always tells me how he wishes he was in Mayo Darle. I asked him recently, for like the fifth time, why. And he said because it’s small, you have so much opportunity to do something, you just have to find a need and fill it. I thought, ok, but how do I find a need I can fill? And then, one popped up right in front of my eyes. (Of course, it had been there all along.)
I did some calculations, and determined that in my four classes combined, I teach 80% boys, 20% girls. The school operates by the French system. Classes start at the equivalent of 6th grade, which is called 6eme, and then count down instead of up. 5eme is 7th grade, 4eme is 8th, 3eme, is like freshman year, then there is Seconde, Premiere, and Terminale. I teach 6eme – 64% boys, 4eme – 94%, 3eme – 75%, Terminale, science section – 100% cute boys.
Last year, we had 3 pregnancies within the female student population. This year, we have had two. It’s an open secret that the paternity for a few of these can be attributed to certain teachers and administrators. So in a conservative society, with a sizeable Muslim population, of course parents aren’t going to send their daughters to school. Especially since most of the parents have gotten along fine without formal government education.
Then I thought, ok it’s not fair by my standards, but is it really a problem for Cameroon? If it works for them, I have no right trying to change it. But unwanted pregnancy is not good, nor are STDs. Additionally, their current mode of life is not sustainable. No one can stop the spread of communication technology. I believe this is one of the most domineering characteristics of humanity. Mayo-Darle is inevitably more and more exposed to the outside world. As that increases, as people see more different things, their desires change, they’re motivations and priorities start to change, and gradually everything starts to shift. Five years ago Mayo Darle had no electricity, no reliable cellphone coverage, and no internet. People charged their cellphones using generators at the call boxes. (Little stands that sell phone credit, where you can also make and receive calls. Like a payphone stand, operated by a real person, using cellphones.) Now we have a town generator that runs 5 hours a day, full cellphone coverage (only for one company, MTN, of South Africa) and USB key internet through that same provider.
People say here that development is not happening and never will. If they keep having so many children and not educating people, they may be right. They might find themselves with cellphones and Internet, but little food on their plates and no clean water. They might never escape the poverty bubble before their population becomes too big and resources too scarce, and something scary happens.
Educating both genders lowers birthrates, reduces infant mortality, boosts economies, increases nutrition and literacy levels, and ensures higher levels of education in future generations.
Two weeks ago, Gwendoline, the other English teacher and my best friend in village, approached me with a similar inspiration. We decided the first step was to organize a group for girls at the school, to address their problems and questions, build their self-confidence, make them role models and ambassadors between the school and the community. (Sneakily promote condoms).
So we talked to the other female teachers, we talked to the Proviseur (Principle), I talked to the Sous-Prefet (the head political guy of MD). We got all the big men’s hearty approval. We laid it on thick. On Thursday, then (the 19th), we, the 5 female teachers, called all the girls together after school, to get the final and most important approval.
As educated women, some of them will be leaders, probably all of them in some way or another. I saw that a little in this meeting. Their faces looked different. The expressions weren’t the same as they are in class with all the boys. They were attentive. They stood up, spoke and asked questions. Personalities peeked out. They made each other laugh and murmured in agreement to some of the things we said. There were about 70 of them. The whole classroom was filled. I felt like something really good was happening. And it wasn’t even hard to do. Just a bunch of people in the same room communicating.