The Descent

15 Feb 2010
Hello everyone

February was a pretty hectic month for both Tim and I. School is now near the end of the second trimester so everyone is super busy. The kids have been something this past month, and I’m not sure what that something is.
Most of the family knows that I had a rough month teaching in Feb. The kids were just being horrible. They were not respecting me or the other students in the class. Many of them were being super disruptive during class. They refused to listen to anything that I said during class etc… Well I found out what my limit was one morning and I literally walked out of class and had to go take a break. I went to the teacher’s room to just take a moment to try and collect myself and the kids followed me there. They were demanding forgiveness for upsetting me. Oh it was so not what I needed. I finally had to explain to them that I am an American and right now I am so frustrated with the class that they just need to give me time to sit and calm down. That worked, thank god. After that, the other teacher sitting in the room greeted me and asked me how my day was going. So the wrong question to ask… I told him exactly how my day was going. By the end of my venting session I was looking into the face of one terrified Burkinabé. His only comment was ‘Wow, you Americans like to talk about your feelings.’ After that I went and talked with the Vice Principal of the school and laid out everything that had been going on in front of him. I told him there is no way I can continue to teach here with them acting like this. Having kids laugh at you for punishing them is not a helpful way to manage a classroom. I do give props to the man he completely understood everything I told him and my feelings on it. He told me that Peter, the volunteer before us, had many of the same problems, but the second year is much easier. He told me that he would go and talk to my two classes.
The day kept on getting worse after school too. I stopped by Tim’s room and told him that I need to get away for site. Luckily we had planned a trip to Ouaga that weekend. He was supportive of my need to go to Ouaga. After that I went to the marché. That was where things hit bottom. My best friend in village was being absolutely obnoxious. She wouldn’t lay off on how Tim and I are going to need to take her to the States with us because it would look good if we were friends and I didn’t do that. She continued on how we need to obtain the visa and passport for her and buy the plane tickets. I tried to tell her its not possible blah blah blah. We are volunteers thus we do not earn a salary. She was not satisfied with any of those answers. Then she invited me to a fete that was going on that weekend. I politely declined saying that Tim and I were going to Ouaga. She demanded to know why. I explained that I really need to have a nice long conversation with my family and it was easier to do that in Ouaga. Well was the wrong answer because then she started telling me that I was such a baby and needed my mother to suck on boob… I tried to tell her to stop, but she wouldn’t listen and then the other veggie ladies started to join in and I finally had to just walk away.
On the way home I started to lose it. Once I turned the corner that lead to our house I just started crying. I cried for over three hours that day it was horrible. Tim and Surreal were super helpful and supportive.
Unfortunately, the story doesn’t stop here either. That afternoon, I went back to school to “help” Tim and to just get away from our neighborhood kids. Well Tim had finally hit his limit too. His kids are also super disrespectful and refuse to listen to him. He walked 3 kids over to the Vice Principal’s office and had a chat. One kid did run away on the walk over to the office.
Thank god Tim and I left for Ouaga the next morning. We were both very much in need of a break. Tim participated in a softball tournament that weekend. The PC team did really well. They almost one a trophy! Check out the pictures
The break from village was really nice. After that, I did much better dealing my classes.