Home again

The bus pulls into Toma late, around 10pm. I'm greeted perhaps the only streetlight in town, lighting up the intersection where I'm to jump off. 'Jumping off' is a highly technical maneuver that requires grabbing ones baggage, yelling at the driver to stop and clambering over people, bags, and animals toward the exit at the same time. Failure to do one of any of these three holds up the process significantly, much to the consternation of the other passengers.

I get off next to one of three 'bars' in town that I frequent and there are a few people that watch me awkwardly grab all my bags and boxes and start the walk up the hill to CAFT. During the day there would be much yelling of “Nasaarha!” by kids playing in the street but apparently they've gone to sleep or are otherwise occupied. My counter part, Frere Prosper, meets me about half way with his moto and relieves me of some of the heavier luggage. I'm forbidden from riding a moto by Peace Corps so I have to continue the last few minutes on foot, happy that I'm carrying less!

I walk into CAFT and am overwhelmed by the absolute mass of foliage outlined by the moonlight. There seems to be plants everywhere! Tall grasses spring out from the road around me as leaves blot out the light overhead. For a minute my home of the past year seems foreign to me, until I round the corner into our compound. And there it is! I'm taken back to the first time I pulled up to my house, almost exactly a year ago. I'm glad to be home.

I dump my backs on the veranda and start searching for my keys. I know they are in here somewhere... emerging triumphantly from my backpack I dust away the cobwebs over my door and turn the key. The door opens and I flick on the light. I'm not sure what to expect. After being gone for 2 months would there be inches of dust everywhere? Insects?

After preparing myself for the worst I look around and am pleasantly surprised. There is a fine layer of dirt, grime, dust and lizard poop everywhere, but besides that the place seems relatively clean! I grab the broom and get to work, I want to get the worst of it out of here and then go to sleep. I can deal with the rest in the morning.

I make my away around the room, making small piles of mess everywhere I go. I've got about half the room done when I round the corner of my bed and AH! LIZARD SATAN SPAWN FROM HELL!!! I almost jump out of my skin as I see what appears to be a giant lizard starting at me from the floor. I pull up the broom defensively, readying myself for a fight. The lizard doesn't seem to be moving at all though. In fact it doesn't seem to be alive. A couple seconds later I realize that this poor soul must have slipped into my room under the door, then died. The heat in my room had long since dehydrated him into a larger, crispier, bone-dry version of his former self. I shudder.

I put him, along with the other unwelcome guest (a scorpion, which I dispatch of with the broom) out onto the porch. The small jump I get out of Prosper when he seems them is worth it. Even after I poke it with the broom and explain to him that it's dead he eyes it somewhat wearily.

The next days are spent sweeping, dusting, mopping (by hand) and washing my room and (almost) everything in it. I feel really good when I'm done. Time to start year two!

Training

Sorry for the radio silence. (insert lame excuse involving 'busy')

I've been working at training for the new volunteers off and on (mostly on) for the past six weeks. It has been really interesting to see how, in some aspects, it is so different working on the other side of training. It feels like all I can write about is training because that has been my life.

So at the risk of sounding incredibly boring I'll give you an overview of training (or stage) from the perspective of a PCV facilitator (PCVF).

Stage has four sessions a day, two in the morning of two hours each with a thirty minute break in the middle and two in the afternoon of ninety minutes with a fifteen minute break in the middle. There are a few distinct types of sessions: language, cross culture, security, medical, and technical. Which are for the most part pretty self explanatory except technical.

As a PCVF I facilitate passing on the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to be successful in our sector (secondary education). I work along side several other PCVFs as well as some host country technical trainers. We have anywhere from 2 to 6 of these sessions a week which cover a wide range of teaching-related topics.

Because teaching IT is so different from other teaching experiences the IT trainees break off from the main group for many technical sessions and hold sessions of their own. We've covered things like computer repair and maintenance, OS configurations for teaching, challenges of IT teaching in Burkina Faso, classroom management and educational software. I spend the vast majority of my time planning, preparing and facilitating these sessions.

Currently the PCTs are gone visiting their sites. They are going to be back on Tuesday just in time to start preparation for a five week 'model school' program. Model school is going to be a big change in gear as I'll be spending most of my time observing PCTs teaching and giving them feedback on how to improve lessons and teaching techniques.

So that, in a nut shell, is what I've been doing for the past month and a half, and what I'll continue to do for the next month. I should be back up to (more) regular updates after that.

Pictures!

After many months of broken promises to upload pictures I have finally done it! You can find them here.

The Tiberi Times: West African Edition - Headlines

Lightning Strikes Computer Lab, Students Scared but Unhurt
Tiberi guesses that the fuse is blown
Tuesday April 27th, 2010

After foolishly attempting to hold a computer class during a heavy downpour a bolt of lightning struck the computer building Tuesday…[more]

Administration Confirms: The Fuse is Blown
Officials say fuse should be replaced ‘soon’
Thursday April 29th, 2010

School officials confirmed reports Thursday that a fuse had been blown during Tuesday’s rainstorm and say it will be replaced ‘soon.’ Tiberi says he’s worried that the computers won’t be back online in time for finals, the 10th and 11th of May… [more]

Biking by ‘le Claire de Lune’
Tiberi allegedly bikes to neighbor’s village by moonlight
Friday April 30th, 2010

Allegedly describing the alleged journey as ‘scary’ at times and ‘beautiful’ at others, sources allege that Tiberi boasts of eating ‘the best chicken of his life’ in a late night trip to Yaba… [more]

No Power
Electricity not restored to computer lab
Tuesday May 4th, 2010

So far this week students have had to spend their time reviewing written notes in lieu of typing practice for the final. Students are beginning to wonder if there even will be a final, asking “are we going to have a final?” School administrators repeated their claims that the fuse will be replaced ‘soon’ but admitted to setbacks because they ‘forgot to call the repair guy’… [more]

Rain on the Bus: Better or Worse than Dust?
Tiberi’s travels to nearby Tougon during a rainstorm
Friday May 7th, 2010

Mr. Tiberi maybe a trip up to Tougon on Friday, despite rain-storm like conditions. He describes the trip as being ‘okay’ but added that he didn’t like ‘dirty water’ dripping from the ceiling. Upon arriving in Tougon Tiberi says he was ‘dismayed’ to see so much ‘dirty water’ on the ground. Luckily Tougon residents Tyler and Jessi came to the rescue with bikes… [more]

8th Annual West African Wrestling Competition Held in Tougon: Hailed a Success
Tiberi attends event with neighbors Jessi and Tyler
Saturday May 8th, 2010

Bringing competitors from across francophone west Africa, the event was ‘really cool’ says Tiberi but soon moved into praises of Tougon residents Jessi and Tyler LeClear Vachta, ‘they saved Oreos for me,’ he says, ‘OREOS!’ then stared dreamily at a dark colored rock on the ground… [more]


No Computers for Computer Literacy Final
Mixed Reactions from Students
Monday May 10th, 2010

Officials confirmed that finals given today were ‘written’ finals on ‘paper.’ Students generally had mixed reactions though Mr. Tiberi could not be reached for comment as he is reportedly proctoring tests all day. When asked when the fuse would be replaced officials set the timeframe to ‘soon’… [more]

Finals Are Over
Student celebrate as teachers left to correct mountains of tests
Tuesday Math 11th, 2010

CAFT students left school Tuesday with a collective sigh of relieve which was perhaps rivaled in magnitude by the collective groan of the professors. “I have a lot of tests to grade,” exclaims one professor while another adds, “It’s not easy.” … [more]

Gauss

Legend has it when the famous mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss was in primary school his (mean, lazy, etc…) math teacher gave the class the assignment of adding up the first 100 positive integers. So 1+2+3+4+…+97+98+99+100=? He then sat back at his desk with a (mean, lazy etc…) look on his face while the students toiled away, doomed for the next few minutes to tides of elementary addition. Well all of his students except for Gauss. After a couple minutes Gauss approached his (mean, lazy, etc…) teacher with the correct answer, 5050. How’d he do it!?

There are several theories about how he might have conceptualized his addition shortcut, but I’ll explain the most common here. The brilliant young Gauss saw that 100+1=101, and 99+2=101, and 98+3=101. Little Gauss had discovered a pattern! By looking at the middle two numbers (50+51=101) he reasoned that there were 50 such pairs with sum of 101, thus the simple multiplication 101*50=5050 yields the desired summation.

Ever since hearing this story in grade school myself it has always fascinated me and I’ve been filled with admiration for Gauss ever since. Now why did I tell you the story of the (mean, lazy, etc…) math teacher and Gauss?

One of my students’ favorite activities behind talking and messing around on computers is asking for bonus points. They ask for bonus points if I give them a test, they ask for them if I don’t give them a test, they ask for them if it’s too hot, or it rains, or if it’s a day that ends in ‘i' (so luckily I get a break on Dimanche). After initially curbing to such demands I’ve learned to turn a deaf ear to them. That is until recently.

In my youngest class there were 10 minutes left in the class and I didn’t really have anything prepared. Usually I’d teach them a few words in English or we’d sing a song. It was the last period of the day – a real scorcher of one too. I was ready to be done. Suddenly something clicked. I got up and walked to the front of the class.

“Do you want +3 bonus points?”

Suddenly everyone was paying attention. Three bonus points! That’s almost unheard of.

“I’m going to write a math question on the board and if just one person can solve it, I’ll give you all plus three bonus points.”

Most kids were very excited at this so some of the others were a little more concerned.

“What kind of math problem,” they asked.

After replying that it was simple addition, they were in agreement and I started writing. When I had written the question in its entirety and explained the three dots meant EVERYTHING in between their excitement died down a little bit, but most went immediately to work.

I went back to my desk to play the role of the (evil, lazy, etc…) math teacher hoping but not at all expecting a young Gauss to be seated in my class.

Soon the air was awash with answers. It’s 1,000,000. No it’s 345. No it’s 5,000,000. After a few minutes the whistle blew, indicating the class was over. I sighed inwardly, no Gausses in my class today. Suddenly a little voice floated across the air.

I’ve got it sir. It’s “cinq mille cinquante“ (5050)

My heart skipped a beat. Could it be?

Turns out that “cinq mille cinq cent” (5500) sounds an awful lot like “cinq mille cinquante“ (5050) in a room full of noisy children and my kid wasn’t the next Gauss. Still damn close though. In fact despite the fact that this was one of the youngest kids in the youngest class in the school none of the other kids in the other classes even got close. I was already thinking of doing an advanced math class next year and after this I’m really excited to do so.

A year ago today...

The new stage (training group) gets here in just over a month. It’s mind boggling to think of how much I’ve learned in the past ten months. Walking off that plane I immediately became dependent – on my host family, on Peace Corps staff, and on the PCVs that were our trainers. The PCV trainers amazed me with their French, local language and knowledge of Burkina and its people and now I’m going to be one of those trainers! I’ll be working for six weeks with one of the biggest trainee group Burkina has ever seen. There are close to ninety of them (compared to our thirty two). I’m really excited.

To anyone reading this that is going to be IT I would recommend doing a sweep of your house and neighbors houses to find old sticks of PC100 and PC133 RAM. Almost everyone here came to a lab where they are running on 128MB or, if they are lucky, 256MB. One more stick of RAM can go a long way to maintaining your sanity as your students don’t really get (despite countless reiterations) that computers with 128MB of RAM are slow and end up opening thirty or so copies of whatever program you are trying to get them to open – which of course puts that computer out of commission for almost the whole class.

And to everyone coming over I would recommend getting an awesome sun hat. I wasn’t really much of a hat guy back in the states but my hat, along with my laptop and camera are my most used and appreciated items that I brought with me from America-land. You can literally feel the sun sapping away your energy here and having mobile shade-generation capabilities is a big plus. Currently the number of volunteers who have electricity is trending upward and I think we passed the 50% mark recently.

If you find yourself with extra room (ha!) your future malnourished trainee self (everyone loses weight during training) will be extremely grateful for any snacks you can tuck away in your bag. Anything that won’t melt or explode is good but protein especially (jerky!). If you don’t have room there are always those flat rate shipping boxes! My stash of cliff bars was just about all that kept me going for a week or two there. Training isn’t a cake walk. Get ready.

First Rain

The sunburned, parched land aches for rain. From the puffs of dust that dance in the air after every step to the wilted and nearly dormant plants it can be seen everywhere. It’s in the eyes of the half crazed chickens as they dash from shade patch to shade patch, mouths open panting. It’s in the desperate flight of flies, attacking anything that sweats, fighting for a little moisture. It’s in the dry, hot air, literally sucking the moisture out of every breath. It’s everywhere. And yet we can do nothing more but to wait.

The sun blazes its way across the clear, faded blue sky marking the passing of each day. There hasn’t been a cloud able to stand up to its bright, strong rays in months. And then a telltale breeze flickers through my hair so softly I’m sure I must be imagining things. And yet it comes again, stronger this time and this time with a touch of ozone. My eyes dart up the horizon seeing a looming wall of dark, strong clouds. I rub my eyes and look again, almost surprised to see its still there.

Minutes pass and the wind is coming in gusts, carrying with it the overpowering scent of clean, beautiful wet rain. I stand up and step outside – not wanting to miss what might be the first rain drop I’ve seen in half a year. And I’m not disappointed.

The first drop strikes the skin of my shoulder, stabbing me with a pinprick of coldness. Then another, and another and they are dropping fast and furious around me. I’m soaking now. The ground itself is dancing and alive as it absorbs its fill then starts to form small puddles. Fighting down the urge to shiver I smile. The first rains have come to Toma.