It has been requested that I write a bit more about little Moustapha (I’d been spelling it wrong before), and I’m happy to oblige. As you know, Moustapha (age 4) does not speak French, yet he continues to talk to me in Wolof as though I understand what he’s saying. That being said, he has picked up on a word or two. “Asseyez-toi” means “sit down” in French. My host family has used this with me many a times, usually in the context of sitting down for meals. Moustapha has astutely figured out that whenever they say this to me, I go where they want me to go. I don’t think he has grasped the whole meaning though because he says it in reference to everything, even when I’m already sitting. It’s pretty cute. He also loves being held, but I don’t think that happens much as kids get older in this culture. He knows I’m willing to pick him up, so whenever I come home I’m cheerfully greeted by “Maggie, Maggie!” with his adorable little arms outstretched.
I've been trying to upload pictures, but it's just not working. I'll get them up eventually.
Yesterday we learned about the Senegalese school system. Here are some statistics: In 1970, only 27% of Senegalese kids were in school. That number jumped to 54% in 1993 and all the way to 95% in 2011. Now that’s excellent. Universal education is something that every country should strive for. That being said, there’s a real problem. In primary schools in Senegal, the teacher to student ratio is 1 to 180. For every 1 teacher, there are 180 students. Because of a bunch of IMF and World Bank stuff that I don’t really know the details on, there is very little money going to education. 40% of Senegal’s national budget goes to education, but 90% of that is for teacher salaries, leaving only 10% for training, curriculum, books, schools, supplies, CHILDREN! Most of the teachers in the poorest communities are what are considered “voluntary”. They are usually university students who are pulled in to teach these classes of 180 in “temporary shelters” they call schools. It’s just unbelievable.
The professor lecturing on Senegalese schools told us about something that they call “re-birthing”. He gave us the personal example of his son. When his son was 6 years old or so, he was not doing well in school and they threatened to kick him out. His father went to the mayor (or someone in the town with power, I didn’t quite pick up on the exact title) to ask for his son to be re-born. He slipped the mayor 10,000 CFA, and like that his son was four years younger and could start school from the beginning again. To this day on all of his papers and documentation, though he was actually born in 1989, it says he was born in 1993. And naturally, with 4 years on all of the other kids, he’s done just fine in school.
We went to visit a school called “Ecole de la Rue” (Street School) yesterday. It was created 33 years ago by a man fresh out of university who still teaches there today. Ecole de la Rue is not recognized by the state and is therefore not funded or supported. It is in a “shanty town” in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Dakar. Visiting that school and that neighborhood was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. It was incredibly emotional, and I’d be more than happy to talk about it in person when I come home, but I’m not sure it will translate well written down.
There's some political unrest right now. In short, the current president is trying to run for a third time, but it's technically unconstitutional to do so. It will be decided today or tomorrow if he can run again, so there are some protests and demonstrations around. I'm not sure if I'll have internet much in the next couple of days, but I should be perfectly safe!
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