An English Epidemic (Fighting The French On The Frontier)

Call me Hawkeye (no, not from MASH; no, not the Marvel superhero; the other one)! I had a very productive day and we cleared some significant hurdles along the way. Today was the first day at the camp that I did not teach the English lesson for level one. Teddy took over with a review of time. He did a great job differentiating the lesson, as the first third is a combined session for all ages. The younger students then split off with student leaders and Teddy extended the lesson for the more advanced crowd. This was one of many watersheds reached today in our goal for sustainability. While Teddy taught, Saint Fort and I began to hammer out the details for the future of the English program. We talked about goals, lesson plan templates, and a student leader training program. Shortly, we will be able to accommodate 150 young students with the help of three teachers and ten student leaders. The English Club continues to work on their life stories - we are at the middle with "My time in Mole camp."  The most exciting bit of the day came when we (Saint Fort, Juliette, Teddy, and I) met with the Camp Committee to discuss the future of the programs (English Club, Girls Empowerment Group, the Primary English Program, and the Secondary Conflict Management Curriculum). The members asked great questions and the three program leaders did a great job - I actually caught a bit of the French!
When I got to address the group, I was very honest and frank with them, easy to do when you have good news :)  Here are a few highlights from my talk:

1. Bryce, the State Department English Fellow, had come here for a few days and recognized the great need and potential of the site for an English program. In his wisdom, he let me come here and evaluate the community for some time before we collectively decided exactly what the program(s) would look like.
2. I came to the camp with very few concrete ideas. I wanted to evaluate the local talent (potential teachers and students, the camp officials, and the available resources). From there, I would also evaluate the level of commitment from the camp community, UNHCR, and my own efforts. Today was the second of those activities, assessing the camp climate and dedication to the project. The talent level is far greater than I could have hoped for. The teachers and student leaders are fantastic, the students are eager and ecstatic, and the community leaders are directly engaged (several participating in the classes!). 
3. Given that the talent is great and the prospective support is also very high, we believe there are several programs that would flourish here in the camp.
4. The English Club is the heart of the whole project - from it comes the teachers and the student leaders. It's strength fuels the other projects. We must feed it! We propose that the camp provide a dedicated space and dedicated internet access (at certain times) for the English programs, and ongoing support for the teachers and students. If so, I will donate $200 for new furniture (perhaps I get to help make it), I will request additional resources from the State Department (no promise, but perhaps expedited shipping of books and other resources) and UNHCR, and I will continue to send  electronic resources from the USA. 
5. The State Department has already made a very large contribution to the camp, as I am the first of my kind to work at this level in the educational system - typically I would work at a university or a language conference. Also, the work we do here together will end up helping other refugees in camps around the world.
6. I have brought nothing to the camp - what we are doing is from what I have found already here. This is the best news of all. There is a great attitude here and I am so happy that the politics in the camp are very healthy - no one is trying to stop or delay the project, everyone is doing their best to move forward.
7. If we continue to build these internal structures, there is no guarantee that external agencies will fund us, but it greatly increases the odds. 
8. Finally, this is a perfect closed system - everything we do inside magnifies. The best example is the hundreds of children who are speaking English now because their friends are coming back to their housing clusters from class. I hear it all over the camp - "Hello", "How are you?" I am from Bangui, Central African Republic."  I can't tell you how incredible it is to hear these things from six year old children! It is a wonderful epidemic.

The were very appreciative and humbled by the commitment my country had already made to them,and the opportunity to help other refugee groups in the future. In addition, they were also grateful to Moraine Valley CC for letting me come work with them. They had tougher questions too, and we worked on them pragmatically.The most surprising feedback though, was the fact that they unanimously agreed that English was so important to their futures, and that the "French" influence was negative and even counterproductive here and in their own country. They vowed, not only to continue on with English here, but to go back home and reignite the English movement there. This pleased me of course, but I didn't let on how much :)

 In the end, I was thrilled because we have created a high quality program that can be delivered at a very low cost. Any additional resources then exponentially expand the opportunities! We left the camp late; I was tired and in a strange, salubrious state. The ride home wasn't long, and the road and houses looked as if I had never seen them before. The smiles were warmer and the bumps in the road smaller. We got back to the compound and I shared a treat given to us earlier in the day by one of the camp teachers. It was fantastic, but I restrained myself a bit knowing I had a beef stew waiting for me in my room. I will sleep well tonight.

The day started with a good omen! We stopped at local school to pick something up and I got out and drifted over to this preschool. I was greeted enthusiastically and serenaded

Teddy took over the level one class today. I was so pleased that I neglected to tell him the Cavs lost last night

I love the grain and texture of the wood here. The furniture is well made and the tool marks are not sanded away. You have to spend a lot of money in America to buy attachments for your power tools to make it look like you used no power tools at all

She smiled at me while I negotiated with her father over school supplies at his shop. When all was said and done, she showed me her victory dance

Scholastique, one of the camp teachers, made us (the UNHCR staff) a wonderful lunch after a lesson on recipes the other day. It was a long day and we got back very late. It was a nice reward for a job well done 

The Third Triumvirate - Saint Fort, Juliette, and Teddy, making their proposals to the Camp Committee

She got to the Girls Empowerment Club meeting early and got a front row seat

This is what happens when you tell 45 young ladies they will get a free exercise book and pen :)

Juliette leading the group

Their motto

The traditional meal Scholastique prepared for us - Rice, cassava leaves, and a meat sauce. I found out today that what I have thought to be cassava leaves was really a cousin of spinach. So today I had the real thing finally. A post dedicated to cassava is coming

Dinner turned midnight snack - the beef stew Julienne left me

To recap - had a great day, got good affirmation and commitment to the future of our work, started a good epidemic, and found out I am fighting the French with allies!