Had a bit of a wobble yesterday. Got one toabab and cadauex too many shouted at me in the street. The last one was from a group of teenagers, at which point I lost my rag a bit and replied No! Ntoo mu Aminata le ti. My name is Aminata (my African name), inMandinka. It feels so disrespectful to be have people shout 'white' at you in the street. Earlier on as I cycled through Dianna village on my bike I had young kids shout taobab and then another shout Aminata, Kortanta (Are you at peace?). That last one really cheered me up, as this little boy had remembered my name and was greeting me. I was so touched by that.
So I had a good cry last night and though there was no point in doing any of this. But afterwards of course I felt much better and once again I feel recharged and keen to crack on with the assessment. I have just recruited another person to the planning team who will come along to the next meeting on Sunday. I'm pleased as he is a Fula, and that is the one ethinc group I didn't have represented in the team. We now have Mandinka, Jola, Jola-Karon, Serer and Fula. Perfect!
Apart from being singled out by my the colour of my skin in the street with the toabab thing (I know they don't mean it nastily, really I do, but it still feels bad), the other problem I was having yesterday was frustration at not being able to speak the language, which made me feel a bit lonely and isolated. I have decided to make a concerted effort today with study, but not on my own, with one of Hawa's family who she says is goood at explaining Mandinka.
There is a problem with low attendance from adults to the English language classes at Dianna English Language School. I see Hawa Touré is putting a considerable amount of effort in to lesson preparation, but despite having plenty of students who have paid up the registration fee, they aren't regularly attending class. I would love to hear from other similar schools to find out from their experience what works and how they get good attendance. Possible factors include the time of year, with people preparing the land for the rainy season, or not having money to pay for class fees, or having other jobs to do, or not wearing a watch and being distracted by another activity...
I think the needs assessment will provide useful information for the school.
Teachers from a local school have been striking this week, which has affected sheduling of English classes and caused some confusion unfortunately.
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Chin up, you're doing great! and learning so much in such a short space of time. Languages always take a while to 'get' and there's always that period of utter frustration when you can't make yourself understood..good to read all the updates. Well Done! : )
ReplyDeleteChristina. Your Mum gave me your website details (I work at RNID). I have spent time in Senegal (2 weeks taking 3 * 11 year olds there) when I used to work for World Vision. It is a very beautiful country, and full of so many experiences. I remember the most simple of tasks take ages and the food and travel very simple by our standards. I wonder if you are able to hook up with people from other charities when things seem tough? I met some wonderful folk at World Vision and the Peace Corps who made the harder times feel better. Either way well done for what you are doing and do keep going with your blog. It is great to read. Best wishes Helen
ReplyDeleteGlad you doing ok Christina. Just a quick comment cos will have to take time later to read your latest blogs. ( such a lovely day here that in the garden all day and so just catching up back inside).The printer I have although new is a few years old and speaking to a friend, he suggested that it would be a better idea to send that to recylcling here and gift you a new printer. I have seen a new one on the tesco website which is the latest model of the one I have already, so we would like to make this a donation to the project. Would this be good? Am concious don't want to send out a printer which is then difficult to find cartridges for or difficult to maintain. Let me know if it would be better for your project if we send it as a gift or send the money so you can spend it as you want. Best wishes and hope your meets go well over next few days..
ReplyDeleteBest wishes
Helen