The cane

Hello everyone!

Almost six weeks have gone by since we started our internship in Ewuas.. how crazy! Six weeks where we have gotten to know these people, who live in a world completely different from ours; six weeks where we tried to understand all the subtleties of Maasai culture, and try to grasp the meaning of everything that isn't said out loud; six weeks where I got to think more about my future as an International Development student, realizing that the reality of an NGO isn't always as glorious and exciting as it seemed in my courses and readings. Unfortunately, being alone in this and not having a supervisor to guide us, I think that for our first six weeks we have lacked a clear direction in which to go, which has somehow encouraged us to take it easy, thus leading to the lack of clear "accomplishment" that I have mentioned in my previous posts. It is very easy here to get carried in the wave of "Kenyan time", where it feels like doing one thing in a day is a great accomplishment. After having talked about it, and realizing that we shared the same fear of coming back to Canada with the feeling that we had spent a summer not doing much, Alana and I made a clear plan for the weeks to come, in order to get on with our research and help as much as we could in the community. Our research consists of evaluating the impact that Africa SOMA has had in the community, and the ways in which it can be held accountable to the people it is supposed to help. In addition to this, we'd like to spend one or two afternoons per week helping out at the clinic, if they need our help of course. Hopefully we'll be efficient!
On Monday we went to school as usual to teach, pretty early because I was teaching the first period. Halfway through my class, Alana came to the door to tell me that I needed to come right away to the staffroom, where all the teachers were sitting, even though technically classes had started. When I arrived in the staffroom, the teachers explained to me that on Friday, a student from one of the classes we're teaching had tried to beat up his teacher, who had told him to get out of class because he never did any of the homework. The teacher had defended herself as best she could, and thankfully she didn't seem to have any bruises or marks when I saw her. I was really shocked at the thought that a student could be angry enough to start beating his teacher; this really is something that I never even thought could be possible. The teachers explained that discipline - or rather the lack thereof - was a serious problem in the school (this being an extreme case of course) and that since the headmaster hadn't taken any serious measures following this event, they would not teach for the whole week as a sign of protest. Right at that moment, we heard cries coming from the schoolyard, and as we looked through the window, we saw father who had come to school to grab his 7 or 8 year-old daughter and was beating her violently with a stick, in front of the whole school. Alana and I were so shocked we both felt like crying, and to make matters worst, the teachers all started laughing, probably because of our reaction to the scene that was taking place. I couldn't believe a father would do such a thing to his child, in front of everyone; I couldn't believe teachers could look at that, and then all find the situation terribly funny. And then I understood. I understood how it's possible that an angry teenager reacts with violence towards the figure of authority. If these children get beaten in school, not only have they understood that the cane comes out when they do something bad, but they also have learned that when a teacher (or parent) is angry or not satisfied, he or she will turn to violence. Naturally, this banalizes violence, especially when teachers laugh at the sight of a child being hit. Of course this doesn't excuse at all what the student has done to his teacher. However, I believe it may explain (only partly, of course) the origin of his behaviour.
After having talked about this traumatizing morning with Alana, I realized however that in our society, there is also a problem with authority in schools and at home, although it has reached the other extreme. Whether at home, in school or in summer camps, where I have spent a lot of time, children in Canada (and probably other countries, but I will only speak of what I know) no longer take figures of authority seriously, and that is unfortunate. Possibly because of a growing emphasis on the independence and self-esteem of the child, we have gradually been losing the respect that used to be given to elders and to adults in general. This can become problematic because adults, whether they are teachers, counsellors, parents or grandparents, carry the knowledge and experience that must be transmitted to children, and if kids don't take this seriously and don't feel the need to respect their elders, the knowledge, experience and set of values that are so important in a child's education will be transmitted with more difficulty, or not transmitted at all.
So is there a solution? Is there a middle ground between beating up a child violently and letting a student be arrogant and not listen to his teacher? Hopefully, yes. Although seeing the way they use discipline here has been one of the greatest challenges for me up to now, I am aware that the situation at home isn't perfect either. And this is good, I believe, because situations like these ones, where I am confronted with a cultural aspect that shocks me and goes completely against my values, push me to think about my own society, with its good and bad aspects, and encourages me to think critically.

So, needless to say Monday was quite eventful, especially compared to the rest of the past week, which had been pretty calm. Today students from a university in Utrecht, Netherlands, are coming to spend a week at camp, so it should be interesting to meet these new people and see how they will experience life in Maasailand.

I hope everyone is doing well, and although I haven't been getting many letters or emails, I'm sure you all think of me very regularly, right? Haha! :)
Love!!
Julia xxxxxx