As my time as a Peace Corps Volunteer has gone on, my
perceptions of development have changed.
Handouts seem foolish and the lack of motivation from many people I have
worked with makes it evident that self-desire means everything to improving a
person or a community.
However not everyone lacks self-desire, there are people
that for one reason or another are forgotten either by their loved ones or
institutionally by our societies. These
two stories highlight this in two different ways, one about the barriers to education
opportunity and the other about how struggles at home can take away that
opportunity.
Aussi Winny – A chance to overcome the barriers to advanced
education
Winny is the top student in the highest grade at Qholaqhoe HS
and a smart and energetic young girl.
Together I helped her to apply to a sponsorship program called Africa’s Tomorrow which provides the
means for rural African females to attend college in the US. We spent hours working on application essays about
her family’s hardships, her aspirations to be a scientist, and how she could
impact Lesotho with a career as an engineer.
In short she was accepted as well was Mamoqebelo, a student from
neighboring Rehauhetsoe HS (nominated by my brilliant girlfriend Caitlin!). They were two of six from all of Africa and
the first ever from Lesotho! Without understatement,
a big achievement and a lot has already been overcome to complete a high school
education at the top of their class for both of them.
Winny and I at Qholaqhoe High School, a photo taken for her Africas Tomorrow Application
You can check out more about their sponsorship and their blurbs at the Africa’s Tomorrow Website:
With sponsorship comes the next step and biggest hurdle, the
TOEFL exam. The Test of English as a
Foreign Language is required of every student who desires to apply to a US university. The test costs over $200, isn’t offered in
Lesotho, and is almost universally given as a computerized test.
These girls are from rural Africa and aren’t exactly
computer literate, especially in terms of typing essays. Should it be required to be computer literate
to attend a US university? I can see the
argument that it should be because of how much we rely on technology at the
tertiary level in the US. However, I
also am more sympathetic to the counter.
We want to reduce poverty and we believe that education is a key aspect
to leadership and hence development. The
simple requirement of taking an exam on a computer cuts off a large sector of
rural society from having a fighting chance on this exam and promotes the
education gap between the world’s elite and developing communities. Rural African schools are obviously behind in
the standard of education and succeeding here is challenging, these girls don’t
need a free ride or even an even playing field, a hill to overcome instead of a
mountain would be just fine!
My opinions on computerized testing aside, these girls are
going to give it all they have and Caitlin and I the same in giving them as
many resources as possible to prepare.
We have acquired TOEFL prep books, downloaded typing software, and came
up with the best possible test date given preparing for this exam on top of
writing final high school COSC exams (October 5th in Durban it
is!). It’s not hopeless they can do it
and maybe with just enough support they can overcome the challenges set before
them and if so it will be all the more incredible!
Because this exam is not offered in Lesotho and the exam
itself is costly we are trying to assist them raise funds to travel and take
the exam. You can check out their
GoFundMe site here and donate or spread the word if you feel so inclined!
Abuti Neo – An inspiring but abandoned child
There is no shortage of students facing hardship at my
school. After all that is our identity,
Qholaqhoe HS provides education to the poor and underserved that can’t afford
to attend a boarding school. If a
student has both parents alive it is a minor miracle due to the destruction of
AIDS, TB, and general poverty. No one is
unaffected, everyone struggles, however, sometimes poverty picks people that
don’t deserve it to beat down the most.
This is the story about my relationship with a Form C
student named Neo, while there are others that may be in worse situations, it
is him that I have gotten to know because of his eagerness for school,
especially in the subjects of Maths and Science. He went to the national science fair in
Mokhotlong with me last year, he is super inquisitive and informed about life skills
and HIV topics, and spent hours trying to figure out the Maths and Science Club
challenge problem (How can four 9’s make 100?) before finally getting it before
anyone else!
Neo’s mother left him for South Africa some time ago and
never communicates or supports him. As
he is not a double orphan (lost both parents) he is not eligible for services
such as having his school fees paid for by the government. Being an abandoned child can be far worse
than being an orphan. Neo is 16 years
old and lives alone, only sometimes is his grandfather around. His grandmother for many years was able to
support him with pension checks she received from working at a hotel in Maseru,
however, in January for whatever reason they stopped coming.
Neo with a snow man we made last year (no snow yet this year!)
Neo is sponsored by a Peace Corps program TAP (tuition
assistance program) which provides half the school fees for 10 students
nominated by Peace Corps Volunteers and the funds come from returned PCVs. Neo has been sponsored in this program for
several years and took the sponsorship more seriously and gratefully than
others. I know his story in part because
of this program and in previous years it meant he could stay in school without
getting chased away for not paying fees.
This year though he is in Form C which means an added $75 exam fee on
top of the $150 school fees. A bad time
to lose the little assistance he had, with the prospects of an educationally
huge exam looming.
Over winter break we held classes for the Form C and E
students who have upcoming exams. Class
was informal and students were lackadaisical and unfocused yet it was still
valuable teaching time. I noticed that Neo
wasn’t attending frequently, which I knew was unusual as he had been excited
that I would be teaching his class over winter as I am not their normal
teacher. I asked him why and he acted
embarrassed and sorry and promised to come for the rest of the classes. I saw him a few days later on the way home
from school and asked him a bit more if he was okay. He said, “Sir, I don’t have any food and it
is hard to come to school when I have an empty stomach.” There is no school lunch over winter
break.
In my privileged world of grilled cheeses and hamburgers
from the hotel I can’t imagine having nothing to eat, much less going to bed
alone to think about it. I feel angry at
his mother for abandoning him, sad at human society for letting a child sleep
alone and hungry, and guilty for being comparatively so rich and unable to
comprehend!
There are students I have that are so unmotivated they dodge
my class for the forest and the only assignment they have submitted is a direct
copy from someone else’s notebook and there are students I have that show up at
my house at 8 pm to ask me about a maths problem they don’t understand. It is the later type of students that has
made being a Peace Corps teacher worthwhile and the group that both Winny and
Neo belong too. The chance to help students
that really want to learn even though they have all the cards stacked against
them is what keeps me motivated.
Neo is a bright student and this upcoming JC exam means so
much both to him and his chances of continuing in education. I will do what I can to support him until
then and hope for the best for what is to follow!
Today is the first day of the last semester of school!
1 month to COS conference, 2 months of teaching, and 4
months until I leave!
