deplorable school

11/11/2002:
we had another boring staff meeting. completely useless. not even humorous this time. our administration, it seems to me, is as much at fault as we teachers are for the deplorable state of the school. and Auntie takes the brunt of that blame. she's got to go! i'm convinced of that. my talk with my APCD reaffirmed it. i don't know what to say about the VP, DS and the Bursar.

we have nothing at that school that indicates it even is one. a functional one, at least. at 3:30pm one could pass through our "campus" (3 or 4 rooms and as many offices) and think the place has been empty for months. it's a shame.

i asked the DS and SG [dean of students and secretary general] for tape this morning. not "can i use your tape?" but "do you have tape?" that being the only way to phrase such inquiries at our school, if they're to be phrased at all.

they both, of course, said no.

i shook my head in affirmation. of course you don't have tape. "how about gum [glue]?"

ummm... "no."

right, of course not.

then we all exchanged glances and chuckled. of course.

we all laughed. them a little embarrassed, i think. me... well, i just laughed. not really at them. but maybe just a little. in pity. but mostly i laughed because... well, what's one to do in that situation? laugh or cry. take your pick.

sometime he go broke corn, give you

10/26/2002:
Ali came over yesterday. brought me names of the girls in school for the EDDI scholarships, insha'Allah. he stayed a while. there was a brief – very brief – moment when i was unsure what to talk about. i brought up the topic of the dead/dying chickens... that's all it took. 1 hour and 45 minutes later, with Ali talking and my occasional "na true - for sure - na so it be - that is it," we prayed dhuhur [midday prayer] and he left.

what did we discuss? everything! Ali was dropping knowledge. imparting wisdom. seriously. he get sense ya! and a way with words. can turn a phrase like nobody's business. pragmatic. unbiased. witty. honest/forthright. progressive. we/he talked about farmer-grazier conflicts, court-case corruption, endless/useless bribing, fulani-native relations, the Ardu [local Fulani chief] and his people, Ukpwa land issues...

Ali is open and honest. tells it like it is. he'll break down the issues but not leave it at that... he gives his opinion on solutions. what he would've done. simple but direct solutions. and i think that makes all the difference... someone who has the insight into problems but proposed solutions, as well. practical solutions. with compromise and understanding. gotta respect someone like that.

two things he said that i'm not trying to forget and thus practice, insha'Allah:

1. power is with the majority, not the leader. it is with the people. (this was in reference to going to leaders to work out farmer-grazier conflicts instead of working them out as neighbors... with the people... i think???) a wise leader follows his people as much as they follow him.
   
2. and strength is in family/community. nowhere else. a man with no family is without true allies. and often without strength.
   

let me end with a memorable quote, on the amicable solution to farmer-grazier issues based on working them out as neighbors – without involving the higher-ups. "you know, sometime he go broke corn, give you." [i.e. the farmer will share his corn with the grazier]. and that classic Ali laugh and wink.

holy father in cameroon

BBC News | Africa | Pope visit raises Cameroon Hopes

Sky News | Vatican Plays Down Pope's Condom Comments

Articles of Faith | Quel chapeau! Cameroon welcomes Pope

NCT | Pope: Cameroon a model of interreligious tolerance

Encounter with Representatives of the Muslim Community of Cameroon, at the Apostolic Nunciature in Yaounde (March 19, 2009). Apostolic Voyage of the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, to Cameroon and Angola (March 17-13, 2009).

My Dear Friends,

Grateful for this opportunity to meet representatives of the Muslim community in Cameroon, I express my heartfelt thanks to Mr Amadou Bello for his kind words of greeting extended to me on your behalf. Our encounter is a vivid sign of the desire we share with all people of good will - in Cameroon, throughout Africa and across the globe - to seek opportunities to exchange ideas about how religion makes an essential contribution to our understanding of culture and the world, and to the peaceful coexistence of all the members of the human family. Initiatives in Cameroon, such as the Association Camerounaise pour le Dialogue Interreligieux, illustrate how such dialogue enhances mutual understanding and assists in the building up of a stable and just political order.

Cameroon is home to thousands of Christians and Muslims, who often live, work and worship in the same neighborhood. Both believe in one, merciful God who on the last day will judge mankind (cf. Lumen Gentium, 16). Together they bear witness to the fundamental values of family, social responsibility, obedience to God’s law and loving concern for the sick and suffering. By patterning their lives on these virtues and teaching them to the young, Christians and Muslims not only show how they foster the full development of the human person, but also how they forge bonds of solidarity with one’s neighbors and advance the common good.

My friends, I believe a particularly urgent task of religion today is to unveil the vast potential of human reason, which is itself God’s gift and which is elevated by revelation and faith. Belief in the one God, far from stunting our capacity to understand ourselves and the world, broadens it. Far from setting us against the world, it commits us to it. We are called to help others see the subtle traces and mysterious presence of God in the world which he has marvelously created and continually sustains with his ineffable and all-embracing love. Although his infinite glory can never be directly grasped by our finite minds in this life, we nonetheless catch glimpses of it in the beauty that surrounds us. When men and women allow the magnificent order of the world and the splendor of human dignity to illumine their minds, they discover that what is "reasonable" extends far beyond what mathematics can calculate, logic can deduce and scientific experimentation can demonstrate; it includes the goodness and innate attractiveness of upright and ethical living made known to us in the very language of creation.

This insight prompts us to seek all that is right and just, to step outside the restricted sphere of our own self-interest and act for the good of others. Genuine religion thus widens the horizon of human understanding and stands at the base of any authentically human culture. It rejects all forms of violence and totalitarianism: not only on principles of faith, but also of right reason. Indeed, religion and reason mutually reinforce one another since religion is purified and structured by reason, and reason’s full potential is unleashed by revelation and faith.

I therefore encourage you, my dear Muslim friends, to imbue society with the values that emerge from this perspective and elevate human culture, as we work together to build a civilization of love. May the enthusiastic cooperation of Muslims, Catholics and other Christians in Cameroon be a beacon to other African nations of the enormous potential of an interreligious commitment to peace, justice and the common good!

With these sentiments, I once again express my gratitude for this auspicious occasion to meet you during my visit to Cameroon. I thank Almighty God for the blessings he has bestowed upon you and your fellow citizens, and I pray that the links that bind Christians and Muslims in their profound reverence for the one God will continue to grow stronger, so that they will reflect more clearly the wisdom of the Almighty, who enlightens the hearts of all mankind.

trust faith

2/19/2002:
a few scattered thoughts before i go to bed...

-Ibrahim took shahada [converted] at the mosque tonight after maghrib [sunset prayer]... he got some change from a couple brothers, and he’s getting a book from me.

-it’s easy to get lost in thought during those long walks home under a hot sun. i wander through memories in my mind and my heart wanders a little further back home. home-home, that is.

-i’m having issues with lack of structure. WHY?!

-hard work is a gift, hardly working a curse.

-la imana liman la amanata lahu = “there is no faith in someone people have no faith (trust) in.” -Hadith

con artist

10/9/2001:
this young man introduced himself to me yesterday (quite bluntly, i may add): “Mark,” he said as he pointed at himself, “i’m an artist.” “of course,” i thought, “aren’t we all?” anywho... he’s Francophone. says he works in Bamenda. also says he’s been around and that he has an “American babe.”

right... so he came around again today (as promised) to show me his work. “Jesus on the cross” on a T-shirt. nice image actually. quite cubist. cheap T-shirt. was trying to sell it for 5000cfa. instead i brought a bracelet and necklace off him for 2000cfa.

he wanted to sell anything and i wanted him to leave. so we really didn’t bargain. i’m an artist, too... art of tasreef [over-spending] is what i’m working on. but as the jewlery i bought was/is totally not worth 2000cfa i guess Mark’s the better artist for now... con artist.

i let him know, not in so many words, that i was too busy to entertain him so he left right after the transaction. it rained, heavily, shortly thereafter. maybe he got wet??? cruel to think so. maybe i’m bitter??? just was not interested in humoring him any longer. i'm sure he won't be the last "artist" i meet here.

oh... got my 1st bill today! from SNEC [water company] for 2,210cfa. thats approximately 1 bracelet, 1 necklace, a door-to-door ride from home to work and one of those long, rolled-up groundnut things! but who's counting???

no longer at ease

also 9/19/2001:
as for No Longer at Ease. it's set a little further back in modern Nigerian history. GB is still there but on its way out. the novel is a sequel to Things Fall Apart in that the protagonist is Okwonko’s grandchild. and the theme is the same. a man with all that it takes to succeed in this society tragically loses everything (“all that promise...”) b/c of a character flaw... a stubbornness, an all too impulsive tendency to do things his own way, and go against his own chi (see the theme of chi here), if you will.

what was interesting in the book was the little connections it had with Anthills of the Savannah actually. Achebe alludes to more than a few details in this latter book (Anthills, 1987) from the former (No Longer, 1960). i happened to read them out of chronological order but it made no difference, really. he names children the same very symbolic names, he repeats sayings almost to the t, etc. it’s cool. i like it.

No Longer at Ease is told in a flash back. it begins in court. the scene of Obi Okwnoko’s downfall and ends there. in the middle it recounts the story of his life as it builds up to the climactic moment where Obi is arrested for corruption... the very thing he sets out against in his country’s system.

again, the ending here left a little to be desired. it wrapped up too quickly. i was surprised there wasn’t more to say. even the characters, Achebe’s strong-suit usually, were somewhat underdeveloped. i suppose like all sequels it’s tough to top the original.

i’m in the midst of lesson prep and SOW development now... not sure what or when i’ll pick up next in terms of literature. i’ve got my eyes on The White Man of God.

farmers and graziers in wum

also 9/10/2001:
last note... and this just happend. i sat down to talk with a pastor and a colleague of his at a local NGO. they approached me about a project (oxen farming with local women) and, specifically, to help get funding from US organizations. sounded like an interesting project. with an interesting background.

a few local issues surfaced. mainly farmer-grazier conflict. came up again and again. not sure if they’re on a side in that matter but i get a feeling it’s with what they called the “natives,” farmers that is. there are religious/ethnic issues underlying all this. graziers are Muslim Fulani (i think they call them Akus here). farmers are Christian and local.

i also walked into Heifer Project International’s office today. they do work along the same lines as this local farmers group. much more funding though. and they’ll be getting the new Agroforestry PCV here in Wum.

anyhow... i let the 2 men know i’d read and comment on their proposal. also that i’m reluctant to commit and not even sure what kind of help i could be. still it is all very interesting. especially the local farmer-grazier issue that surfaced.

it even has its local government drama. bribes, damage to farms, harming cattle and shootings! i’m looking to accompany Omaru on one of his cattle drive days and meet his brother, the Chief Fulani. also want to talk to the Heifer Project supervisor here in Wum. about this issue in particular and their work here in general. hope this all plays out well...

oh... i found No Longer at Ease in the school (well, actually the Dean of Studies’ library). it’s about bribes in local government, too. timely. actually it’s more-or-less the sequel to Things Fall Apart. the protagonist is Okwonko’s grandson. and i think the main theme is the same but in a more modern context. will elaborate on this when i finish.