Training on inclusive education

In the past two weeks, we had six days of training of volunteers. We travelled out of Ilorin to train NYSC corper volunteers. And we had two days of training with our National Volunteers.

It is always very inspirational to work with the volunteers. They are the ones on the ground, they are teaching and they get confronted with many challenges. I hope we managed to give them some tools to deal with all the challenges they experience.

One of the sessions we did in each training was on inclusive education. We discussed with our volunteers how you can make sure every child in your classroom gets the opportunity to learn. We discussed about differences between equality (treating everyone the same) and equity (creating the same result for everyone).

After some theory, we discussed some examples. Children can be disadvantaged in so many ways, there are slow learners who are seen as a burden by the teacher, girls who are ignored by the teacher, poor children with no money to buy whatever needed to go to school (sometimes including breakfast), children in a wheelchair or children who moved from another state to Kwara and can’t speak Yoruba.

One example was about a 15 year old girl who lost both her parents from AIDS. She has to care for two younger sisters and a younger brother, what is not easy to combine with going to school every day. Besides this, her classmates don’t want to sit next to her because they know her parents died from AIDS.

I found it interesting to see what suggestions people give to deal with this situation. Every group was saying you as a teacher have to sensitise the classmates (and maybe also their parents) about HIV and the fact that even if she would be HIV positive you will not get infected by sitting next to her in class. Many groups also said they will try to support her, council her, help her in planning her days or seek help from family or NGOs.
So far, so good. But, how about the suggestion: we have to test the four children and if they are HIV negative we have to share their status with the entire community. Maybe my idea of privacy about this kind of things is very European, but I am not convinced this is the best thing to do. By testing them, and only them, I think you stigmatise them again. Especially if you are fifteen years old, you are very likely to have classmates who are sexually active and might have gotten infected as well. So, even though we said in the beginning you don’t have to treat everyone in the same way to reach the same result for everyone, I think in this kind of cases you have to treat them all the same.

Looking at the very positive reactions we get from the school principals, it seems like our volunteers are learning a lot during all our trainings. I hope also this time they learned a bit about how to deal with all the different individuals in their classes. And no, it is not always easy. If you teach eighty or even more than hundred students at the same time, it is of course difficult to make sure everyone is carried along. But I am sure they will at least do their best to teach in a child centred way and to be aware of problems children might have and how to deal with it.

Volunteer's impact

This week, the sixth team of National Graduate Volunteers in Kwara is starting their service. Twenty people will be teaching mathematics and science subjects in schools in the rural areas of the state. Their impact is much bigger than you might think. Look at these examples from last year:

One of our volunteers has been teaching physics and chemistry in a rural secondary school. He says: ‘Before I was sent as a volunteer to this school, there was no qualified teacher for physics and chemistry. The teacher for these subjects only had a secondary school certificate. He did not teach practicals, I am not sure if he was able to do that himself. But the secret of chemistry and physics is that if you don’t pass the practicals, there is no way passing the subject’. Students are performing much better now. Before about 40% of the students passed the external exams in these subjects. Now about 90-95% passed. This is a great result, especially if you keep in mind that the equipment available for teaching practicals is very limited.



Soap making workshop

A group of volunteers have been teaching soap making to a big group of students in a girls school. One of the volunteers says: ‘Recently I was at the market and a girl started shouting at me; Aunty Aunty! I was looking who it was and asked her if she knew me, shouting like this. The girl said; yes you taught us how to make soap. And look, I went out to buy the materials and I produced soap and I sold it for fifty naira!’

These two examples are showing very direct impact the volunteers have on the students with who they work. But what do you think about this:

 

A volunteer is teaching in a very rural school. She says: ‘My school is facing a lot of challenges. It is very far out and teachers don’t want to go here. They are business minded people. I try to convince them that the children in the school are more important than business. They find it hard to understand that I volunteer. I work very hard but earn much less than they earn. I hope that I can inspire them to give priority to the students. Assisting others is a gift and hopefully our efforts will bring real changes’.

I hope the new team of National Volunteers will be able to have at least as much impact as the previous team. Because all together, we can bring change!

Sounds of a Sunday

The sounds of a Sunday morning are different all over the world. This is what happens in Ilorin:

At 5AM the mosque is calling for prayer. This happens every day. There are two mosques within hearing distance of my bedroom. They both call for prayer, just after each other. Recently, they became louder, sometimes we can hear the entire prayer. Unfortunately it is all in Arabic.

Then, around 6 the first church starts. No bells like in the Netherlands, but the drums of the church and the enthusiastic singing and praying of the people are loud enough. I can’t understand every word, but I can easily recognise Amen and Hallelujah. On a Sunday morning, this all goes on till the afternoon, or even longer. There are a lot of churches close to my house, so you can always hear one.

Next is the family of the security guard who wake up. He plays his radio very loud, their little girl is crying (her name is Obedience, I can think about only one name which would suit her less than this; Patience). He might talk on the phone. The dog might bark.

Outside the gate, life also starts. You hear some goats, maybe a dog. A lady is passing selling groundnuts: ‘buuuuuy groundnuts!’  I can’t see her but I know she carries her business for the day on her head. Her change might be in the corners of her wrapper skirt.

In our house, life on Sunday starts later than in the rest of the street. But, you can still hear the sounds. In case there is light, you hear the fridge turning on. Power might be too low, so it also clicks off again. This can go on for hours. I can hear Stacey trying to make tea. As our stove is sometimes a bit problematic I hear the clicks of the stove when you try to light it without success.

As soon as you go out, you can hear the children: ‘Oyibo!’ and the other neighbours: ‘Happy Sunday!’. Maybe this is something we should try in the Netherlands, wish everyone you meet a Happy Sunday. I am sure you will enjoy your day much more!

Adventures on the road

Travelling in Nigeria is always an experience. Long distances or just within the city, you never know what will happen. The quality of roads, cars and driver is a guarantee for adventure. But, many more things can happen. Let me give you two examples from last week.

I spent last week in Abuja, the capital city. Contrary to Ilorin, Abuja has an expat scene. So after going out, we were invited to an expat party. (Yes, at a swimming pool). We as VSO volunteers do obviously not have our own transport. So the ride offered by some other people was very welcome. We were one person more than seats in the car, so one girl offered to sit in the trunk of the car. You see many Nigerians doing the same.

But of course, a car full of white people gets some attention from the police at various road blocks so in the end we got stopped. To sum up the long discussion in a few sentences, our driver got accused of treating his wife as an animal, putting her in the trunk. Some policemen were pretty relaxed and were making jokes with us. Others were more stressed and one of them jumped in our car and told the driver to go. In the end, people from the other cars, working in embassies and the marine, came and told the police we were together. The girl had to sit in the car, but putting four people on the backseat, or two in front, is no problem. So in the end we made it to the party.

This situation was a bit scary, especially as the VSO driver with who I came from Ilorin said at some point; if I see these people with guns and no uniform I feel safe, I know what they are doing. If I see police I feel unsafe because you never know if they are really police and what they want.

 

Second example is totally different. Nothing scary, but pretty annoying. Travelling back from Abuja to Ilorin takes 7-8 hours. At the moment we leave the car park in Abuja, the woman next to me (who claimed the seat in the middle of the car) told us we have to pray. This is nothing special in Nigeria, so she started praying out loud that the road to Ilorin was covered with the bloooood of Jeeeeeesuuuuus. This took about five minutes. But then, when we really left Abuja, she started talking about God. For 7 hours. The two ladies in the back were Muslims and she was telling that she did respect Muslims, but well, they don’t know the love of Jeeeeesuuuuus. I tried to sleep, but her voice was too loud. The lady at her other side tried to read her book, the two ladies in the back were just talking to each other. And she was just talking. I had a hard time not asking her if her husband was very happy every time she travels to Abuja so he has some rest for a few days.

I thought it was just me getting annoyed, but after she dropped the other passenger and the driver said; we have a headache! She is just talking talking talking! And so loud! And only about herself and her relationship to Jesus…  For seven hours, can you imagine! (Yes I can, I was sitting right next to her, remember?).

 

Big advantage of this trip, I was extra happy to arrive in Ilorin. Not only that we made it safely again, but also because I could finally escape the preaching lady!

Cotonou, c'est aussi chez moi!

The Lonely Planet for West Africa summarises what each country in West Africa is famous for. According to Lonely Planet, Benin is mainly famous for Voodoo, slavery, the kings of Dahomey and Angelique Kidjo. Nigeria on the other hand, is famous for corruption, email scams and writers. This gives you a very different first impression of the two countries. And believe me, it is true!


View from my hotel room

I visited Cotonou for the first time in three years. It was amazing. It is really weird to realize the big differences between two neighbouring countries. Simply the atmosphere is incomparable. It’s hard to define the difference, but I can really feel it when I am there.

And of course I loved seeing my friends again. It is amazing how the little baby who was just born last time I saw him, goes to school now and speaks better French than me. I loved eating pizza at the beach, enjoyed a great buffet with loads of Lebanese food and shopped in the new hyper marché. Of course, Cotonou is the economic centre of the country and I should not be surprised I can find more western products and food than in Ilorin. But still, it was great!

 

It was interesting to see how Cotonou is developing. In some areas, so many new building arose that I hardly recognised it. New roads and fly overs are making the traffic easier. Power is much more reliable than it was some years ago. My friends told me there are still power cuts, but they last only a few hours and are not on daily base. Compare that to Nigeria where we often have no power for a day or more. (And keep in mind that Nigeria exports power to neighbouring countries).

It seems like the government in Benin is doing a quite good job, while in Nigeria things seems to slow down. For example, a company has been assigned to repair the road between and Ilorin and Abuja several times. So far, nothing has happened.


With my good friend Armand

I think I understand what the problem is. When I crossed the border between Nigeria and Benin, at the Benin side the most heard words were: Bon Arrivee! Welcome in Benin! Only one official tried to get money from me.




Travelling back to Nigeria, the officials stamping my passport at the border were ok, but as soon as we passed the border, problems start. Here people don’t say Welcome in Nigeria, they say; what do you have for me? And the poor taxi driver had to pay. All the time. Within 500 meter he got stopped probably 10 times, not by officials but by normal people. They have a kind of a golf club with nails in it and if you don’t stop they destroy your tires. So, what can you do? Telling them you just paid 10m before (what the guy saw of course), doesn’t help, you have to pay. The police sees it and the only thing they say is; ‘Anything for us?’ so you have to pay again.

When I was living in Benin in 2006 I never expected to go to Benin to be in a ‘normal’ and ‘developed’ country. Or that I would go to Cotonou because of the variety of food. Or the great condition of the roads… But now… Spending months in Ilorin changes everything! So, hopefully again in September. It feels like home. Because, well, Cotonou, c’est aussi chez moi!



Pizza at the beach

This is Nigeria - about traffic and visa

Travelling to Abuja should take 7-8 hours. We left Ilorin at 6.30 so we would be in Abuja in time and I could go to the embassy of Benin Republic to apply for visa. But well, this is Nigeria! So, no, I didn’t manage…

Just outside Ilorin, our driver started to drive in a weird way, stepping on the brake all the time. After 3 hours he stopped to ‘repair something on the brake’. It took him 15 minutes or so and all passengers were ok with it. Our halfway stop took one hour instead on 30 minutes as a mechanic had to ‘repair something on the brake’. People started complaining a bit, but not too much. Then, we drove 30 minutes and the driver stopped again. Then it turned out the car was really broken and we could not continue.

This is Nigeria, so of course people try to fix it (failed), try to fix it again (failed) and try to fix it again (failed). After 3 hours, the passengers told the driver he had to arrange us another car to travel. To shorten the few hours of waiting and discussion into a few sentences; the driver arranged us another car, and offered the driver half of the money. What the driver agreed with. But, he had to pick the money in Abuja but the new driver has no permission to enter Abuja so he could not go there. The bus company said they will arrange something to solve this and then switched off their phones. So we ended up paying extra to the new driver, to be dropped somewhere outside Abuja. In the end, we made it to the hotel at 8 instead of 3. In case we forgot it, this is Nigeria!

 

My visa application had to wait till next day. But I had to give training first, so could only make it after the training. And this is Nigeria, so…

‘A visa? Now? At this time? It is already 4!’ The simple fact that the embassy should be open till 5, doesn’t change anything, there is no way to get a visa ‘at this time’.  It took quite some time to find the embassy in, the address mentioned online is not the address of the embassy and the phone numbers don’t work (no, they just closed the lines so you can’t call them, this is Nigeria). But now that I made it, it seems like I can’t apply for the visa.

I explain the security guy that I live in Ilorin (Ilorin!? Really? Why?) and that there is no way to get to Abuja in the morning from there. So in the end, he gave me two forms to fill in and bring the next morning (At 8, ok, what time does the embassy open? At 8.30... I think…).  

Visa is ready

So next morning I arrived at the embassy at 8.20. The same security guy tells me no-one arrived yet and that it might be late before anyone arrives (remember, this is Nigeria!). But I can leave all my documents with him and call him later that day to see if my visa is done. As I did not really have other options, I had to give training at 9 again, I decided to do it like this. And well, apparently this is a normal procedure (it’s Nigeria in the end) and at 4 I could pick up my passport, with my multi-entry visa for Benin!

Interesting fact; they also stamped a visa in my passport which they cancelled. I expect some questions at the border! Hopefully the story that Jean Claude van Damme is my uncle (don’t I look like him?) will do the trick again.

But now, finally, I can make it. I plan to travel to Benin in a few weeks. If nothing happens in between, in the end, this is Nigeria!  

Pray pray pray

Gifts from the Netherlands!

'Happy belated birthday!’ My birthday was on a Saturday this year, so most of my colleagues see me only on Monday again. They heard it was my birthday. So, like, in the Netherlands, they congratulate me. But, different from the Netherlands, one of my colleagues immediately adds; ‘Let’s pray for her!’ So I find myself in an office of the Ministry of Education with two colleagues praying for ‘Sister Esly’ who is so far away from home but is at home now in Ilorin.

God makes so many extra hours in Nigeria. I really doubt if He has time to pay attention to the birthday of an Oyibo. And even if He has, maybe He should better focus on some of the real problems in this country.

Food

But well, anyways, it’s been my first birthday where people pray for me. Also on Saturday, during my actual birthday party, my Nigerian friends prayed for me. Every time I love the fact that my Muslim colleagues pray happily along with the Christian prayer (and that goes the other way around as well). Everyone says Amen at the same time, Muslim or Christian, doesn’t matter. I can only hope the rest of this country, or even better, the rest of the world, will take this as an example of how two religions can live together.

 

Something else happening at the moment is my planned trip to Benin. I really want to go there in July, just for a few days. But I found out that it is not as easy as it seems. There is an embassy in Abuja and I also managed to find out that I need a visa. But I can find a lot of different phone numbers online and none of them work. So I can only hope (or go the Nigerian way and pray!) the embassy will be open Wednesday afternoon so I can apply for my visa.

If it works out, I will be visiting Cotonou soon again. I’m very curious how it changed since the last time I was there (2010). That time many things changed since 2008 so I am really looking forward to see what happened since. And of course, I’m looking forward to see my friends again (and to enjoy a luxury hotel with 24 hours power, hot water, AC, TV, a swimming pool and a restaurant where you can eat other things than rice and chicken).

 

Birthday gift from my housemate Stacey... Very true!

But, before I can go to Benin we will have training in Abuja next week with the partners and then the last training with the volunteers in Kwara. And then we have to start thinking about next year’s program. We started recruiting NGOs who want to take a National Volunteer next year, so I hope we will manage to form two separate groups of 10-15 volunteers, one with teachers and one with people working in NGOs. So, let’s do it the Nigerian way and pray it will work out!