tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481330296993313463.post2614023406202026986..comments2023-08-24T04:41:49.148-04:00Comments on na me dis o!: out of touchMohamad A. Chakakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638876792245979534noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481330296993313463.post-69089340965551531252011-06-01T10:58:54.466-04:002011-06-01T10:58:54.466-04:00i cringed at more than one point as i typed this j...i cringed at more than one point as i typed this journal entry out and posted it. it's harsh (though perhaps not entirely unwarranted) and has a tinge of self-righteousness to it. maybe more than a tinge.<br /><br />the harsh parts are obviously about my APCD. especially the part about him being out dated and out of touch. but i really was taken aback by his response to my grievance.<br /><br />my comments, in the next paragraph, are what strike me as being self-righteous now. a lot of almost naive development talk. "rural, uneducated, unemployed masses..." and "the development issues we face." <br /><br />what masses was i talking about? and who's we?<br /><br />i was upset and frustrated, no doubt. about the way my school was falling apart in front of me. and about the tepid response from colleagues, administrators and PC higher-ups. <br /><br />i suppose that for many, it was just one case of a miss-managed school. from their perspective – a lifetime of govt teaching, a nation full of teacher training colleges, a int'l org working on so many fronts, etc. – it didn't mean the same thing it meant to me.<br /><br />teaching at this GTTC was my primary project. my raison d'etre for being a PCV in cameroon. without something to do at school, i was left with no structure. i already had very little of it, with meager teaching hours and few students. or even worse, being trapped in a broken structure.<br /><br />the prospects were either suffocating, where the significance of my year plus in wum/cameroon and my work as a volunteer/teacher would fall apart with the school. or liberating, where i'd be free to do any work i really wanted to do in wum.<br /><br />all this insight is in hindsight, of course. while i had glimpses of the latter prospect – liberation to work, and to teach. i don't think i really took advantage of that. <br /><br />things ultimately got worse at school. and a couple of accidents took me away from wum. we'll see how it unfolds in the next several months at post...Mohamad A. Chakakihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06638876792245979534noreply@blogger.com