Highways

The Cameroonian ‘highways’ are quite an interesting experience. Of course, many highways are covered in potholes. Between Kumbo and Bamenda they broke down four bridges last year. They are still trying to build them up again. Now that the rainy season is coming, we know that in a few months it will be almost impossible to go to Bamenda. I heard stories that the taxi takes you to the bridge, then people carry passengers and luggage through the water and a new taxi waits at the other side. How this will really work with four bridges in a row is not yet very clear to me, but maybe I will experience it soon!

Officially we are supposed to drive on the right side of the road. But in reality, we drive on the best side. That means the left, the middle and sometimes even next to the road. Sometimes the best part of the road is simply besides the road.

Another interesting thing is that it is totally acceptable to stop on the highway to talk to your friend who you see in the car coming from the other direction. Or to turn around on the highway if you miss an exit. I did that some time ago when I missed the exit in the dark. There was a taxi behind me who followed me and also missed the exit, and also turned around. Nothing strange!

Cows passing

Did you ever try to cross (as a pedestrian) a Dutch highway? No? Well, here it is very normal. There are zebra crossings on the highway. But of course nobody uses them and crosses anywhere. Even cows are passing the high ways. Some time ago I ended up pushing our car uphill as we needed to stop on the steepest point because of cows and the car couldn’t continue anymore.

Regarding this, it is not too surprising that you use your horn all the time. To pedestrians who may be crossing, to other cars who may change lanes because of the potholes, may just stop or turn around. I have to admit that this horning is less here than it was in Nigeria, where you horn also to people who are not there, but may be there at some point.

Soon I will be in the Netherlands and enjoy our Dutch roads. It is always a bit strange to keep my own side, to drive straight instead slaloming around potholes. And I tend to horn to every car that should give me priority, or every bicycle I want to take over.

Do you dare to enter my car in June?

Children's dreams

The differences between the Netherlands and Cameroon are obviously very big. But, children are the same all over the world! I don’t know any child who is not happy with a balloon. And like in the Netherlands, children in Cameroon also have dreams about their future.

Last week I visited a school. In class 6 (around 12 years old) I asked the children what they want to be when they grow up.

Fabiola wants to be a teacher. She wants to give knowledge to the people. Noel wants to be a doctor: ‘I will help people from dying and sickness’. Faith has even bigger plans: ‘I want to be a pastor to preach to people that they are not going to church and to make people now thanking God who gives us much things. I will preach to them and they will sing and enjoy that the Lord is good’.

It is nice to see the dreams of these children. But, what makes me sad is to read these stories. The language is so terrible that sometimes you can only guess what the children are writing. It is also sad to realize that most of them will not be able to live their dreams.

Many of them have gone through a primary school where they hardly learnt how to read and write. Some of them will not be able to go to secondary, for many tertiary education is too far because their parents don’t have money to pay their school (or they don’t want to spend on it). And even if they are able to go to school, they are still not sure of a job after they graduated.

For many graduates, there is no job. Most people work in agriculture. During Youth Day, the President even told young people to go and farm. On the one hand, it is good to encourage young people to work in agriculture. On the other hand, isn’t it sad that so many young people struggle to go through university and can only grow corn afterwards?

I believe that creating opportunities for young people starts in primary education. What you see right now is that we have a vicious circle; in primary schools they say pupils don’t perform because the teachers are not capable. The teacher training colleges say they can’t help that as the students they get from secondary are not performing enough to study well. In secondary school they say they get pupils in school who can’t read or write and that is because of primary. We need to break that cycle somewhere, and breaking it in primary education seems logic to me.

I don’t have the illusion I will solve the problems of all young people in Cameroon. But if Faith really becomes a pastor or Noel becomes a doctor, I hope they look back at their time in primary school and think; thanks to Knowledge for Children we had access to books. And that they will buy books for their own children so they also get the opportunity to read!

Faith wants to be a pastor

Esly's little Cameroon Quiz

Cameroon flag -
Youth Day 2016

How much do you know about Cameroon? 

1)   The Cameroonian flag has three colours; red, green and yellow. Why?

a. The flag was based on the flag of Ghana, the first country in West Africa to get independence.

b. The three colours represent; green for vegetation, red for independence and yellow for the sunshine. The star symbolises unity.

c. The three colours represent three religions; Christianity (red), Islam (green) and indigenous believes (yellow).

2)   What is the background of the name Cameroon?

a. The first British to arrive in Cameroon was Mr. John Cameron (in 1467). He named the country after himself. Over time, this changed into Cameroon.

b. The highest mountain of Central Africa was always called Mount Cameroon by the local people. The country was named after this mountain.

c. Portuguese sailors reached the country in 1472. They saw so many shrimps in the river that they called it Rio dos Camarões (Shrimp River). Over time, Camarões became Cameroon.

3)   How many languages are spoken in Cameroon?

a.  Two; French and English

b.  More than 200

c.  More than 500

4)   In 1996 a new Constitution was accepted. According this Constitution, the President could be elected for maximum two terms of seven years. Since when is Paul Biya (1933) the president of Cameroon?

a.  1982

b.  1995

c.  2008

5)   Cameroon is often called Africa in Miniature because it has mountains, deserts, rain forest, savanna and coastland. What is true?

a. Cameroon is more or less five times as big as the Netherlands. The population is about twenty million (compared to seventeen million for the Netherlands)

b. The highest point of Cameroon is more than 5000m above sea level.

c. Cameroon is home to one of the top-five wettest places on earth with an annual rainfall of more than 10,000mm (more than ten times the annual rainfall of the Netherlands)

See the answers below!


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The flag between 1961 and 1972

1b. The flag has three colours (green to symbolise the vegetation, red for independence and yellow for sunshine). The first flag had two stars to represent the British and French parts of Cameroon. In 1972 Cameroon became a unitary state and the second star was removed from the flag.

2c. When the Portuguese arrived in Cameroon, they entered the Wouri River. This was home to the Cameroon Ghost Shrimp. Until today, Cameroonian prawns are famous.

3b. It is unclear how many ethno-linguistic groups Cameroon really has. Some sources talk about 230, others about 275 or even more than 300. What is clear is that the diversity is huge. Cameroon has two official languages; French and English. These are also used in education.

4a. The current president Paul Biya is in charge since 1982. In 2008 an amendment to the constitution was accepted to allow the president to run for unlimited re-elections. At this moment, discussions are already on about Biya running for a next term again.

5c. Debundscha, on the foot of mount Cameroon has an annual rainfall of over 10,000 mm. This is one of the five wettest places on earth.

Mount Cameroon has a height of 4095 meter. Cameroon has a surface of +/- 475.500sq km. The Netherlands is +/- 41.500, what makes Cameroon more than eleven times bigger than the Netherlands. The population of Cameroon is around twenty million so the density is much less than in the Netherlands. 

Applicants

Since I came to Knowledge for Children, I have recruited a couple of staff and interns. Every time it is an interesting and often painful procedure. Cameroonian graduates often have a lot of factual knowledge, but their skills are quite limited in most cases. I call these people victims of the Cameroonian education system.

Part of the problem is the system, which only trains people to reproduce what the teachers say and not to think for themselves. In the Netherlands, I believe factual information is only a small part of our education. It is often seen as more important to know where to find the facts and how to use them. Here it is the opposite.

But, often also the people don’t really understand what is important. For example, we received a request of a student to do an internship in project management which should focus on Monitoring and Evaluation. In the period he wanted to come, we were very busy training teachers and there was no time for serious M&E. So I told him we couldn’t offer him an internship as the only position available was someone to support in logistics (put up flipchart sheets, registration). He wanted to do that and said; that is also project work! (Yes, but it has nothing to do with project management and even less with M&E). If people do like this, it is not too strange they don’t have the skills needed.

I have done this for almost two years. But still I am surprised every time we recruit. Some of the most interesting cases:

• An applicant who was so boring that my colleagues and I, who did the interview, almost fell asleep. When we asked his strongest point he said; ‘I am really a motivational speaker’.
• A drunk person coming for the interview, talking for minutes without answering any question.
• We were looking for a Program Manager and said a driving license would be an advantage. Then I got a call; ‘Madam I hear you recruit a driver, how can I apply?’ So I said; ‘Sorry we don’t recruit a driver’. And he managed to get angry; ‘Yes Madam, you need a driver!’
• Someone studied oil and gas management. When we asked her motivation for this she said; ‘I have always been very interested in the oil mafia in Nigeria! You know, these people who kidnap Europeans and so’.
• But the worst case was someone who applied as a teacher trainer. He said he had worked in the Teacher Training College Kumbo. When we interviewed him, my colleague asked what he was teaching in this college. Then our applicant managed to call the subject my colleague was teaching himself! He tried saving himself by saying this was long ago, but in the last few years he taught something else. However, he called the subject one of our freelance trainers teaches…

Reading Competition

Stand up if your group has the right answer!

How do you encourage children to read? How do you encourage teachers to teach reading (instead of repeating)? It is not so easy to do this, but one of the strategies we use as Knowledge for Children is that we organise a Reading Competition. And it seems like it works, as pupils and teachers are really passionate and eager to win.

So, what does this Reading Competition look like? First, every school is organising a competition within their school, to select the best readers for level one (class 1-2), level two (class 3-4) and level three (class 5-6). Currently, we are busy with our zonal finals. That means the schools gather in eleven different venues to select the best school of a zone. This will lead to eleven finalists who will compete in the big Knowledge for Children Finals in Kumbo, on the fourth of March.

Answering the questions

So, what does it look like, a Reading Competition? Every school is represented by three pupils (one for each level). In some activities, they work as a team. For example, they get a word with mixed letters; glaf. The children have to work together to find the word flag. Or, we give a very long word and they should form the longest word they can make. Or we give them sentences in mixed order and they have to construct a real sentence. Also, they have to do individual assignments. For example, they read a word and construct a sentence with it. Pupils also read a text and answer questions (reading comprehension).

By the end of the day, we know which pupils are the best readers for their own level and which schools perform best in each zone. Of course the winning school will come to the finals in Kumbo.

It is quite interesting to me to see the difference among schools and also among pupils. We see quite some children who score no points at all, schools that end up with 35 points while the winner has 150 points etc.

What strikes me often is that many pupils can read, but don’t really understand. That gets clear with the text they need to read, but also when pupils need to read words and construct a sentence with that word. For example, I saw pupils (class 6) reading the word ‘direct’ and constructing the sentence; ‘We have many directs in our house’. (Interesting for me; ‘Our cat is eating a very big banana’. I was laughing but according to my colleague cats here eat a lot of bananas).

Read!

For many schools, this Reading Competition seems to be a wakeup call. Often, all children pass the exams (as fraud is very common), but here they are really comparing themselves to other schools. We tell the teachers; if a pupils performs well we congratulate the child, if a pupil performs poor we blame the teacher. Teachers feel really bad if their pupils loose. So hopefully they will take it more seriously! At least, the schools can now see that they are behind similar schools. Winning schools want to make sure they win again next year.

I believe teachers will really try to teach better now. However, yesterday, a very smart little girl of class 2 won a prize in her level. When my colleague asked her where she learnt to write, she said; I taught myself. So my colleague asked about her teacher and she said; we have many children in our class, but only very few can read and write. So it is not because of my teacher because then all of us should be able to do it!

Dust!

In the rainy season, we all complain about mud. Mud makes it difficult to travel, potholes fill with water and you can’t see any more how deep they are. Now, it is the dry season and we complain about dust.

In the Netherlands, people always talk about the weather. Here we all talk about the dust. It is very normal to meet someone and ask; how are you? How are you managing the dust? Half of Kumbo is coughing and complaining about catarrh.

Dust is really everywhere. Dust enters the house, if you touch a curtain you start coughing. Dust covers the floor, the tables, every time you touch something your color changes. If you buy something people first clean it but before you reach home it is covered in dust again.

People here say the dust gives free powder to women so we look more beautiful. I always say I feel more like a traditional warrior with it, you can draw patterns on your face! Your shoes are immediately covered and people go around with towels to clean them before entering an important office. Bike guys wear hats that cover their entire heads, women put a wrapper around their heads and clothes, we try everything to protect ourselves from dust.

The dust is the biggest problem when we travel. If you happen to have a truck in front of you, you can’t see anything because of the dust. When you drive you can’t open the windows because of the dust, but the sun shines so the car becomes like an oven. The ventilation of the car also brings in clouds of dust. So we try to leave very early before the sun really shines. In some parts the dust is so thick that we need our four-wheel drive to be able to climb the hills in it, or we just start sliding like in the mud.

My own road is manageable from my house down to the market. A small stream passes so people water the road every day; they take buckets of water from the stream and throw it on the road (yes, causing mud that makes you slip). But in places where no stream passes, or where no people live right beside the roads, the dust wins all battles. The only thing we can do is to wait for rain, and mud…

Reading Tests

January is traditionally our time for Reading Tests. We as Knowledge for Children conduct these tests to monitor the impact of our programs. We have a standardized test which we use to see how many words a child can read in a minute. The test starts with two-letter words and gets more and more difficult.

We do this because fraud with exams is common practise what makes it difficult to measure any impact based on exams. We see pupils in class six who read only five words in our test, but that school has a 100% score in the exams… So we need our own tools. We have not yet started analysing, so I can’t say anything yet about the results compared to previous years.

Our testing is unannounced and we do random sampling in the classes. If we announce our test the school is very likely to send the dull pupils home for a day and have only smart ones in class. Also teachers complain about the pupils we test; ‘if you make us do the sampling you will see that they can read!’ They want us to only look at the smartest children in class so it looks like all pupils can read well.

Some things are always remarkable when we do the testing. We see for example pupils who read the word ‘up’ as ‘youp’ or even ‘youpee’. They obviously recognise some letters, and know their names. But they are not able to read and don’t know the sounds of the letters. (Try reading simple words while only using the letter names… You will get confused!) Something similar happens to pupils who can read the sounds like i …. s…. but are unable to bring these two sounds together to form ‘is’.

These children at least recognise letters or sounds. In various cases you see children in class 2 (we test in class 2-4-6) who are not even making it that far. The first word in our test this year was ‘to’. I had one child who started reading and said ‘to’. So I was very happy! Until the child read the second word (‘at’) as fifty-four, ‘is’ as eighty-seven and ‘he’ as sixteen. Obviously he just guessed something and didn’t even see we were giving him words, not numbers.

Sometimes it is really discouraging to see that pupils can’t even differentiate a word from a number. But we also meet children who do so well and teachers who really try to do their very best. It is for these people that we will continue!