Literacy!

I have been putting this blog post off for a while with the excuse that I shouldn't give you a play by play of my work until I really get somewhere. As of two weeks ago, the women in my commune who were interested in taking literacy classes had their first class. I was not present for these classes because of my trip to Senegal, which is another blog post. From the lists I compiled, there are 224 women in 9 different classes- 7 villages, but one village has 3 quartiers (french for neighborhoods). Here is a short description of all of the activities I completed in order to get the classes going.

October

1. I held a meeting with the Mayor and General Secretary to discuss projects to complete in my village. They discussed doing literacy classes, and I told them I would be interested in doing this as a project. They invited me to a meeting that Friday with the dugutigis (village chiefs) and some of the teachers.

2. Attended the meeting with the dugutigis of the village and discussed the literacy classes. Six women came to the meeting to tell me they wanted to begin studying. They said women interested in studying would be coming the following Friday to begin classes.

3. Friday I had a meeting with a group of about 30 women, where I told them we could begin enrolling students into the classes, but that I could not begin work until after December when I completed IST.

4. The women began sending lists of interested students to the Mayor's office.

5. Yaya visited my site and held a meeting with the interested women to discuss how we would coordinate classes, when classes could begin, etc.

6. I held a meeting with the dugutigis to discuss the salary of the teachers for the literacy centers. They responded the following week that they would be paying each teacher 12,500 each month and agreed to pay two teachers per month. 12,500 is the equivalent of $25 USD. A teacher in the school earns 50,000 ($100 USD) per month, but considering the amount of studying the teachers must complete, this is a very positive situation for the literacy teachers.

January

7. I held a meeting with the teachers to discuss teacher training, such as where they would be staying, food, per diem, transportation, etc.

8. I completed a request for funding, which was approved. I picked up the money in Sikasso at the end of January and returned to my site.

9. January 30th we begin a 10 day teacher training. Four women prepared food for the students each day for lunch, provided per diem and transportation allowances, and bought books and pens for the teachers in training. During the training, the blackboards and books were picked up and taken to each village.

10. On January 12th we had our first day of class. Each village has agreed to study Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 9a-1p from February until the end of June.

The total cost of this program was 700,000 CFA or $1,400. The formation, or teacher training, was an interesting experience. Five women showed up who could neither read nor write. When I called my boss for advice on how to deal with this situation, he reassured me that I should not worry about this because people will often send their own friends or family members to these formations because they want the per diem, the food, etc. even if they know they cannot complete the activities expected of them. Our regional coordinator also said I should consider that more people came who could read than could not and that in itself is a success here. We sent them home and they sent four new teachers for us. Two of the new teachers are men. Prior to this, the program consisted of women only, with the exception of my homologue who is helping me with language and logistical issues or contacting people in different villages. I am hesitant about including men because men and women never interact in Mali. One of the male teachers was constantly berating the female teachers, taking over when they did mock teaching lessons, and sat in the very back of the room as far away from us as possible. As one point I asked the trainer who the teacher was (during mock teaching lessons) at that moment because this male teacher was taking over. He took the hint that I was growing tired of the interruptions caused by this teacher and asked him to sit down. He will be a constant struggle for me, but I am glad I have my homologue to help me with these situations.

The classes will continue until the end of June when rainy season begins. During rainy season, people work morning, noon, and night to harvest their field so the women cannot studying then. For now though, they will study four days a week. The three others days are market days in different villages. We cannot study then because the women need to be able to go to the market to sell goods and make money Every day I will bike to a different village to sit in on the classes, provide support for the teachers, and help the students as needed. Hot season is going to be here very soon and I am not looking forward to the bike rides under the sun, but it should be very rewarding to watch the women learn to read.