museums, merry go 'rounds and music

So I mentioned in my last post that I managed to take 16 kids to both the Zinsou Museum and to the Village de Paques (which is also known as the Village de Noel, in December), an amusement park. I won't say too much on the day and will let the pictures do the talking. The kids had a great time and want to know when the next outing is going to be. I'm not sure I would take the wee ones next time, or if I do, I'll invite the other parents along so that they can help manage the crew. The little girl twin peed all over the floor of the bathroom of the museum, and my shoes. oops.

First, they all got dressed, which I've never seen. I tried to take as many pictures of them as I could in that state. The bus/van was a half hour late, and Mathieu and I went to the house an hour early to make sure they were all ready... Tania's mom had dressed her in a fancy dress, which wasn't appropriate and she was really uncomfortable, so we got her into shorts and a tshirt and she was much better. She hasn't been feeling well lately, so the dress must've just been torture. But more on her later.

I didn't think we'd all fit in the bus, but it worked quite well. I guess when you don't have carseats to deal with, piling 3 little ones makes it easier to squeeze everyone in.





We drove around for a bit because a lot of these kids don't get out much beyond their school and the house. We took them to see the Stade de l'Amitié (a big stadium in Cotonou) and l'échangeur (the grand new overpass built a couple years ago). Little Boris, Diana's little brother, was able to spell "échangeur".

The Museum was more or less kid-friendly. The guy showing the kids the exhibit did it in a very "school" type way, which was very informative of him, but when you have a group ranging from ages 2 to 16, you shouldn't really be spending too much time on each item, asking questions and trying to drag the answers out of the group. The got to colour, which was nice.





From there it was off to the Village de Paques. The museum was free, the park was not. And there were 18 of us!! Still really cheap comparatively. Entry 200F ($0.50), $9 total. Then, a little something to drink, 200F each, another $9. Plus one for the driver, of course.



And a little something to eat, popcorn, 100F or $0.25 per bag, either salted or sweet.



Then everyone got to pick one ride, 500F or $1.25 for a total of $22.50. Most of the boys picked bumper cars, the girls picked the swings on the merry-go-round (so did I, and my stomach turned for hours afterwards), and the little kids were relegated to the cars-on-tracks, much to the dismay of the older ones... I let Mathieu make the executive decision of who was too young...







After that, the crew was getting restless and our time with the van was running out so we hit the road (we paid 18,000F or $45 for 5 hours with a driver - and he helped with the kids), but not before everyone scored a second or third MTN hat. MTN is a local cellphone company.

Everyone was really happy with getting a free foam visor... and we all wore them proudly for the group pic (the oldest guy is missing, dunno where he went) once we got back to the house. Of course, I didn't manage to get the group picture before half of them were out of their clothes already...



Maman was just beaming at me on our return. She was very happy that I was able to do something like this with them and thanked me.



The kids thanked me too, but I told them we had to record a message for my parents who sent me the money to take them out. I recorded them a few times, they're so funny. One time, they said, "Merci Monsieur et Madame Le Blanc!" LOL! I repeated my parents names and they said it properly the second time. Too funny. Then they started rapping in French and everyone piped in, even the girls. It's actually really good.

Goes to show, kids are kids - no matter how rich or how poor, they all have favourite artists and sing them obsessively.

Uphill both ways

So now I get it. We used to make fun of our parents and grandparents stories of how difficult it was for them to get to school, but they weren't kidding. I look at some of these kids here in Benin and I drive down the roads they walk on every day to get to and from school, sometimes walking 5km or over an hour to get to school and I wish we could all get together to give them a standing ovation. It's really hot outside. They go home at lunch (from noon til 3pm I think) and work (in the fields or with their mother at the fruit stand or home to do housework) and then go back to school.

Of course, there are kids here who get a ride to school in their parents Peugeot or on their motorbike. It's not rough for all, but for most...

School for the typical Canadian kid is not a priveledge, it's a huge pain in the ass. When I think of the effort my parents had to go through for me to get out of bed... forgive us for we know not what we have.

I imagine being 7 years old and walking to school, proud of the homework I finished the night before, only to get caught in the most torrential downpour during rainy season. No wonder a lot of kids decide to drop out rather than walk to school in the rain, in the mud, in the heat, surrounded by flies and mosquitoes. Uphill both ways.

Superstition ain't the way...

Maman, ma boss me dit que sa mère a eu 12 enfants!! Mais que seulement 4 ont survécu. Voilà la réalité africaine. Dans le fond, on voit les mêmes phénomènes. Ici, on disait aux mères, "N'entends-tu pas les enfants qui crient dans ton ventre pour sortir? Il faut continuer de les avoirs!!" Ensuite, les générations subséquentes en ont 4 ou 5, ma génération en ont 2 ou 3...

Superstition plays a big part of life here. At least for the older folk. Apparently, my boss' daughter was born bum first, but they never told my boss' mother who would've thought the baby was a witch and probably would've KILLED it. (her daughter is 13 now.)(Georges should come do his good works here instead!!!)

She also told me of a neighbour who has an 18 year old girl. When her teeth started to come in as a baby, she had just one on the top gum. Also a sign that the child is a witch. The child's father, an educated investment banker, would have killed the child had he seen it, so for weeks, when he came home for lunch my boss would take the child and pretend that she was baby-sitting it, and when he came home at night, she would do the same... until the baby had another tooth come in on the bottom. Can you imagine?

I asked, do they just do this for girls? Nope, boys too. No one's immune when it comes to curses and witchcraft. And this was 15 years ago.


Went to Porto Novo today to talk to government officials. More with less, more with less... The electricity went out 5-6 times during my visit, even in the Minister's office. Someone needs to start giving these people solar panels, it hasn't rained since I got here and won't til March.

They're very "Mexican" here... everything is "Yes, yes, of course, tomorrow I'll get that to you." Mañana, mañana...

Going out of town overnight to do some sight seeing. Forget the name of the place, but I'm excited to go! Will take pictures and report back. Poor Ludvert will be crushed. We were supposed to hang out tomorrow during the day and do some shopping. He sent me 4 txts today. :rolleyes: YOUTH!!

Fun Facts: Student to Teacher ratio... and Student Success

Taken from the 10-year education action plan of the Ministry of Primary and Kindergarten Education (Plan Décennal du Développement du Secteur de l'Éducation du Bénin, Ministère de l'Éducation Maternel et Primaire, octobre 2006)

En 2005, le ratio élèves/maître est passé à 50.

On average, in 2005, in every region of the country, for every teacher, there was 50 students. The AVERAGE. A teacher might have 100 students, might have 20. That teacher may or may not be qualified. That teacher may or may not have a teacher's aid to support them. That teacher may or may not show up for class on any given day. Huh. (And there are many, many, MANY children who aren't even in school.)

In Ontario, we have policies to decrease class sizes (from 35 or 30 to less than 25 or 20 for the younger kids) so that each student can receive individual attention. In Benin, they have to do more with less, and are therefore trying to adapt their pedagogy to maximize the teacher with as many students as possible.

Le problème des écoles en sous effectif d’élèves (classes de moins de 40 élèves/classe) (29%) est plus prégnant que celui des écoles réellement surchargées (au-delà de 70 élèves/classe) (10%) soulignant le caractère perfectible des modes d’organisation scolaire et la sous-utilisation du jumelage des classes, faute de pédagogie adaptée.

The problem of schools with classes with under 40 students (29%) is more important than the problem of classes with over 70 students (10%), underlining the notion that there is room for perfecting the modes of organization in schools and the under-utilization of combined classes (grades 4-5-6 for example), since there is no adapted pedagogy. (forgive my awful translation here.)

At first this shocked me: smaller classes are better! Individualized attention!! Recruit more teachers! Pay them fairly! Get 'er done! Invest! Invest!!

Which is all fine and good, except one must be realistic (thanks to Jenny for pointing this out to me!) ... in Benin, one must do more with less.

Everywhere, we should be trying to do more with less -- being inventive is what got our Canadian society to the comfort level we now know. Going from small rural schools to computerized distance schools where teachers and learning can be shared. It's to the point now, in Northern Ontario, some schools share a principal, and the principal will discipline students via videoconferencing. Use what you got to do what you can.

In Benin, the issues are far more basic. In the Plan Décennal, they state some of the conditions for student success that we all know:
- students succeed better when each student has his or her own book
- students succeed better when the teacher receives training on a regular basis

and logically, we know that, "La qualité des infrastructures, des équipements, la disponibilité des supports didactiques ont également un effet net sur le taux de réussite" (the quality of infrastructure, of the equipment, the availability of didactic support will also have a net effect on the success rate).

Except it also states:
- students succeed better when there is electricity present in the school
- students succeed better when the classes are constructed with concrete walls (as opposed to being open-air)

I had to give my head a shake, didn't you?

Another major aspect that seems to influence student success is the proximity of the school to the school board. I wonder if we can draw the same conclusion in Ontario. Makes sense! The closer you are to the school board, the easier it is to get face time with pedagogical counselors, board directors, and the clearer the messages are.

Benin is developing policies to improve education in their country, but as in Ontario, you can develop as many policies as you want, but if the inspectors and pedagogical counselors are not trained in monitoring, evaluating, and supporting the teachers in the implementation of policies, or if no one monitors the implementation at all (or only monitors it half-assed), then you can never know if your policy is 1) being properly implemented in every school, or 2) successful until it either fails miserably or you notice great gains in student standardized-test results (and hope that it's remarkable enough that you can credit the appropriate policy change).

More fun facts from the Plan Décennal:
- more than half of all children who go to school leave before grade 6 (talk about a drop-out rate!!)
- half the teachers are not qualified (and they still need many more)
- great progress has been recorded in girls' education (yay!)

Alright - I have to get to bed. I'll end this entry on that high note. More girls in school! More girls in school!!!