Twenty minutes in the spotlight
I didn’t make it to school yesterday, but I definitely had fun today. This week is what’s known as “Fettre la Jeurnese” in Cameroon. Essentially, it’s a youth week; a time when there are any number of activities and programs specifically for the students.
To teach during a week such as this is almost a frivolous attempt. Since Akilah still had a ton of papers to grade and “bulletain” (grade books) to fill out, I offered to assist by teaching her classes today. It wasn’t until we arrived at the school that it would be almost difficult to keep the students in the classrooms since the campus was buzzing with excitement.
So what we did with her 5eM class was to take the last twenty minutes or so, and teach them a song. From the time we walked into the classroom, the students were just so jolly and bubbling with excitement, we figured we would use their enthusiastic energy for something that “quasi-creative.”
They were even more excited to learn that the teacher for the day would be “moi!” Here I go putting myself in front of twenty of the one hundred students. Guess it was good not everyone was there, don’t know what we would’ve done if all had been present.
The song? I opted for something very simple, very easy, but interesting enough to give them a laugh or two. Little did I know they would actually love it; and we’re talking capital “L” here. Who would’ve “thunk” that teaching Row your boat to a group of Cameroonian children would’ve caused so much excitement.
Teaching it was relatively easy, and they all seemed to be particularly enraptured by the “merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily” line. So much so they couldn’t wait to get to it again. Wow! This was excitingly easy, and makes me look forward to actually teaching a full lesson.
If you ever need an ego booster, go teach in a foreign land similar to this. Just the sound of my name brought cheers from the group. Who knew me saying, “My name is Mills,” would cause everyone to go into mass hysteria? Most certainly a modest person such as I would not expect such treatment. (smile.)
After finishing with 5eM, we headed to the library to grade papers and fill out the grade books. I assisted by taking a few of the stacks and grading them for her. It almost seemed as if I would never finish, for after finishing one class of about one hundred, there was another waiting for me. Phew! How do Cameroonian teachers deal? (Well first off, they don’t give as many tests or graded assignments.)
Once finishing those tasks, we had to head to the home of one of Akilah’s colleague’s who lives relatively close to the Lycée. Akilah had to run there briefly while I finished grading papers in the library. The walk took us all of ten minutes, and the story of what the couple does is kind of fascinating.
The husband is a minister, Rev. Theodor Yonkeu, and the wife is a teacher, of course. For some time now they’ve been adopting orphaned or imprisoned children and caring for them. In total they currently have about eight children; all of this on the salary of a teacher and the even lesser salary of a minister.
Most of what they do is directed through the church of which Rev. Yonkeu is the pastor, Mission du Plien Evangile. Hearing their story immediately made me think that this may be an organization that we could continue to have ties to even once we’re back in the U.S.
What made that notion even more convincing was that tomorrow they’re expecting a visit from an American doctor who tours the African continent to provide some assistance to groups similar to theirs, in what they do. Not only did that interest me, but the fact that the doctor is from Baltimore. How is it that I go 6,000 miles to run into someone from home? Not that I know this woman, but we come from the same city, and I’m sure she’ll find it just as ironic to have run into me once we’ve met.
The purpose of our visit to the Yonkeu’s was to review some information that described the organization in which the next day’s discussion would be focused. After about a half an hour there I noticed one of the children (who is actually in Akilah’s 5eM class) setting the table for a meal. I immediately looked at my watch thinking, “oh, we’ve gotta go.” But realizing it was almost three, I figured the meal was for us; and I was correct.
Twice in as many days, someone has fed us a nice meal, and this one was totally unexpected. We couldn’t eat two of the dishes, as they contained meat or fish, but were content with the koki cooked with boiled plantain, rice, salad and fruit salad. It was kind of weird eating the fruit salad as an appetizer, as I’m more accustomed to eating it as dessert, but we blended in as much as we could.
Just after we first arrived, Rev. Yonkeu began playing videotape for us. Since the house was very obviously Christian, I figured the tape would be similar; and it was. The first show was definitely a children’s show that was overly assertive in it’s message of doctrine (this is just my personal belief, as I believe that it’s not always necessary to repeatedly hit folks over the head with your message).
The second, though a Christian oriented movie, definitely had a slight secular flair to it. Guess that was needed to portray the intended message. The movie was Nigerian made, and very representative of films from that region. If you’re ever interested in seeing “overly-dramatic-movies” that have the appearance of being filmed with a minimal budget and “C” rated actors, try some of these films. I think I can go into the film business abroad after seeing this; I need to call my friend Darryl (filmmaker, writer, producer extraordinaire), maybe he’ll help.
In all we had a nice visit and had to head home before dark in order to finish grading papers before it became too late. The Rev. gave us a ride home, and it was very appreciated. Think this was only the second time I’ve ridden in someone’s personal car since arriving in Cameroon. Didn’t really succeed at completing things before too late, as we finished sometime after eleven, but at least it’s done.