Appointment with the Chief

The night remained cool while we slept, and I even wrapped a shawl around me for warmth. It reminded me of the world back home where there are top sheets and blankets to cuddle with. This morning, Sema brought the brown ground nut/soy/corn/spices soup for breakfast. She gave us new sets of clean sheets as she took ours with our dirty laundry to wash today. I spent the morning finishing New Moon; I had dragged out finishing the book as long as possible, though now I still have 2 weeks without knowing what happens… *sigh* The morning stayed relatively cool with plenty of breezes but by 11am the sun was out in full force. The only development of the morning is a persistent wasp who has decided to make a home and nest under our table in the front room. This could be a problem. I watched other loudly buzzing insects swirl around the air as if they were drunk, bashing themselves into the walls of the compound with a thud I could clearly hear. Mutant bugs.

Samuel stopped by briefly to say hello, and agreed to be interviewed. I need to make a schedule and stick to it. Hans never did show up last night and I think Sema is too busy to be interviewed, which leaves me left to track down 8 more men and 7 more women to be interviewed. I plan to interview Richard this afternoon after we visit the chief, but all in all I only have 4 women and 4 men that have agreed to be interviewed… I may need Mama’s help recruiting volunteers for this one. Focus groups almost seem impossible, and my laziness is kicking in. I really don’t feel like conducting focus groups anymore. *sigh* I wonder what that will matter in my final paper.

We ate a plate of cassava fries for lunch, and then I took a nap since there was nothing else to do. We visited the chief, very briefly and I stated my case about the library needing volunteers to keep it open and accessible to the community. He liked the idea and said it would bring it to the board, and we should be able to start organizing volunteers on Monday… I think. It’s really up to them, I just hope we can see the start of it before we leave. I took another nap until almost 4pm, when we walked to the library to wait for any JSS kids who wanted a tutoring session. There were about 10 kids that showed up, late though because of some intermittent rain. They seemed very interested when Samantha read them a story about a mouse living in a teacup who was friends with a frog. That type of book is really designed for pre-schoolers or kindergarteners in the States. But these kids were in their early teens, and clinging to every word. We asked them what were the parts of a story—giving them a hint of beginning, middle, and… waiting for them to answer. This was a challenge. They didn’t understand. Their English was…ok… ok enough for them to understand the question. They clearly just had no idea that stories had a beginning, middle, and end. They also didn’t know what a character was, so we tried to simplify that as much as possible, but it was all too clear the kids hadn’t been taught about this. We asked them to write a quick story with a beginning, middle, and end, and to tell us who the characters were, once we explained what one was. They nodded yes, and rather than doing what was asked, they began picking story books off the shelves and read aloud to themselves. A few of them returned to us to summarize what they read. Well, it could have been worse. But again, today was more sad than discouraging regarding how much the children didn’t know, but could clearly comprehend once it was explained.

After the schoolyard, we interviewed Richard, who was waiting patiently, with 2 empty chairs for me and Samantha. The interview was quick and went very well—Richard volunteered more information than the other interviewees, including a particular piece about a travelling preacher who visited two years ago. The preacher “quoted the bible” and interpreted it for the community that any method of contraceptive (condom, birth control, family planning, and “pulling out”) is killing an unborn child and that would make you a murderer, sending you to hell for eternal damnation for killing a child. He also discouraged masturbation, which is no surprise… that’s probably reckless endangerment of an unborn child. Definitely frowned upon by the Big Guy Upstairs.

We walked back to our compound, and Samantha crouched down with her arms wide trying to catch a baby goat. I reminded her that she would probably get fleas, again, and that I didn’t have a camera to document her little furry friend. She decided to wait until tomorrow to cuddle with farm animals. Kosi came by around 6:30pm to read more of Twilight. With nothing to do, and not really wanting to read the other books I brought along, I sat and listened to the sounds of the compound. Unfortunately, little Kofi was being punished, beaten with something, and his screaming and the sound of the beating was disturbing and unbearable. Soon it ceased, and Mama brought dinner—rice with canned peas mixed in, and the red sauce. In the middle of dinner, just before 7pm, the electricity went out. I attached my book light to the top of Twilight so Kosi could still read, and positioned a flashlight so we could see what we were eating. The flashlight burned out soon. Good thing I brought two! I wonder if my laptop will have enough battery to watch New Moon… I’ll stop typing to conserve energy. Tomorrow, Market Day, which is great because we’re almost out of t.p. and desperately low on water, again. Goodnight!