Ndungu

Ndungu means hot pepper sauce in Tshiluba.

That's the only word I know in Tshiluba.

Yum.

Education in Congo

So I'm starting to have some semi-informed opinions about education here in Congo.

 

I am sure that there are many people who are committed to ensuring that Congolese children have the skills they need for a successful future.  Teachers who get up every morning and do what they need to do to get themselves to their classroom and face 75 children who have traveled too many kilometers on an empty belly to be there.  And they do the best they can, even though they may not get paid for months and months.  But this is also a place where school is supposed to be free, and parents pay 75 percent of school fees that come in through the school director and climb their way up to the Ministry of Education in Kinshasa--with a little going to everyone up the chain along the way.  It's a place where the vast majority of the students experience corporal punishment by their teachers, and other kinds of violence by their peers. There are too too many students in 4th grade who cannot read a single sentence. Many schools have no benches and tables, so students sit on bricks.  Going back to my post where the students were carrying bricks to their new school site. The director had a budget for building materials, but decided to ask the families to contribute instead.  He has a budget line for labor too, but I'll bet you can guess who will be building their own school.

 

There are many glimmers of light in all of this, but mostly it feels overwhelming.

 

From the office of the provincial education director.  EPS - education primaire et secondaire. INC - initiation a la nouvelle citoyennete. (I'm still trying to find out what the new citizenship is.) "Never betray school" taking from Kabila Senior's "Never betray Congo".

Radio Diku Dietu

This was a great visit too.  Community radio stations rock!  This one covers the entire province, even the very rural areas, and broadcasts in Tshiluba, French, and English. Diku Deitu means 'our household' and its linked to the Catholic church.  They do a all kinds of programming, and community service messages too.  They have a lot of good impact with very little infrastructure.

The sound technician

The broadcaster, who was quiet and polite.. until he got on the air and he was larger than life!!

Patrick and his friends

This was, by far, one of our best visits.  We connected with Handicap International, who is doing a project helping connect teachers with people who are blind. Because transportation is difficult, the students assemble at one of their homes, and the teachers join them. Ones of the benefits--other than the learning going on which is impressive itself--is that the community members come to watch, and realize that blind people are really smart!

Here the students are using their peg boards to learn their braille letters. They learn them in four sets of ten letters, as the different vowel sounds have their own letters--totaling 40.

When they are ready, students move on to writing on their metal 'tablets'.  Here's the thing. When you write braille, you do it from the back, so you have to write it mirror and backwards, so when you flip it over, it reads left to right.  It's intense!

We were so proud of everyone writing their names!

 

Next, we went to visit Gregoire and his two students, Patrick and Clemence.  Patrick is about 6 or 7, and Clemence is 8.  Honestly, they were both so tiny that I thought they were 4. There is huge stigma around disabilities in DRC, like in many places, and it's not unusual to have children who are hidden in the house and barely fed.  While Clemence was very shy and was having a hard time remembering her letters, Patrick is a spunky guy.  They used to have their lessons outside, but because Patrick is so entertaining, other kids would come and watch and they couldn't get any work done.  So, they moved inside the house where it's quite dark (which only mattered to us!). I'm hopeful that he will encourage her to come out of her shell, as he has that kind of contagious energy!  Gregoire, their teacher, didn't go blind until he was in his 20s and has committed his life to helping others who can't see.  He has such a lovely way about him.  He's patient and encouraging, but doesn't pity these kids.  He works them hard!  At one point, Patrick was asked if he was tired because he rested his chin on his board, and he replied, "If I was tired, I would tell you that my hand hurts."  We laughed really hard :)

Clemence is working on memorizing the alphabet before she learns the braille letters for each of the words, but she's really good at filling up her board with pegs.. very quickly!  I sure hope this project grows and grows.

Ladies

I love this picture. These ladies were coming back from their fields.  They didn't know I took their picture.  The one on the left is asking for a ride, and looks irritated. The middle on is happy.  The one on the right looks shy. They are so elegant and strong and beautiful.

Schools

As far as I could tell, the schools were made out of what the houses were made of.

Mostly mud brick, some with metal roofing and some with thatch.

 

Some were completely falling down,

and others closer to the city were made of cement and in good shape. 

I did see at least one school in every village, though.

As we got close to Kananga, we saw about a hundred students

carrying bricks on their heads to the cite where their new school was to be built. 

I've never seen that before!

On the road from Mbuji Mayi to Kananga

Today, we spent 8 hours in the car to travel 116 miles between Mbuji Mayi and Kananga.  That means we traveled an average of 14.5 miles per hour.  It's true, I'm not fibbing, and I'm not including the time for stops.  The good news is that it's not rainy season, so we didn't get stuck--and no one barfed.  Yes, the roads were really THAT bad, and yes, the whole team has taken their motrin and headed to bed (it's 8pm).

 

There were some really cool things to see along the way.. for those of you who know rural Africa, we had the windows down and it smelled just right: the green grass, the cooking fires, and the dust.  Here are the sights:

It was urban to start..

.. and we were reminded that we are still in diamond country,

with the diamond comptoirs pretty far out from town as well

 

 

and then things got more rural..

Wow, five people on a motorcycle!

I hope that little guy on the back is tied on tight!

 



One of the things that struck me was the number of little kids that were left alone

 while the mothers went out to tend to the fields.

Sometimes a five-year-old was in charge of keeping kids out of the road.

I also thought a lot about the poverty, and then about the rhythm of life and how things weren't stressful here in the way that they are in the cities.  There is no 'being on time' it seemed.  And, food didn't seem scarce, there were very nice looking goats, lots of very fast chickens, and fat pigs.  The papaya trees were full of fruit, as I'm sure the mango trees are in another season.  People were selling things here and there: manioc, peanuts, veggies..

acacia!

One of the things that I noticed, but that the very cool Congolese men on my team said,

was that the men were sitting around doing nothing.  All day. 

The women were going to the fields, cooking, washing clothes, selling stuff..

and this is what the guys were doing. Hmmmmm

This is the lady that we bought bananas from (1/3 of the price of those in Kin). 

 

And this is how people charge their cell phones.. a panel connected to a car battery

 

 

Finally, the white building is the government HQ for the town of Tshilundu. 

The hut to the right is the police post, and notice the flag in the front. 

Are you feeling the robust government presence?