Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Phew!

I have been pretty excited about the woman’s literacy program I’ve been organizing for the village. It was just about to kick off when a situation almost caused me to have a heart-attack yesterday.. I went to the school with the woman teacher, Samira, and Nadia to talk to the principal (who also lives at the school) about using a classroom for an informational meeting this Sunday as well as for ongoing weekly classes. While I had already gotten permission to use the school from his boss in the city of Ouarzazate BTW, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce Samira to the principal, explain that were starting next week, having a meeting at the school this weekend, etc... I thought this would be polite and professional and wanted to confirm everything was a go. I knew it would also be important to show the principal respect, in this way, to get on his good side.




The principal said that we could use the school for the meeting this weekend, but not for the weekly classes; which I had already confirmed with his superior who said that it would be not a problem as long as it wasn't during school hours. I thought my heart was gonna stop! Not only has every woman in the village age 14 to near death been asking about the literacy classes since I got returned, I had assured Samira that I had everything in line. Furthermore, I had already gave her the teacher’s manuals to start reviewing and explained that I wanted to do periodic testing to measure the learning of the women and everything. We the principal told me that we wouldn’t be able to use the school for our weekly classes, panic and crushing disappointment came to me and I felt rather embarrassed in front of Simira and Nadia. The women were already confused and uncomfortable about having to translate my protests about how I had permission from the Delegation of Education in Ouarzazate.



Finally, I asked the principal what had changed so that we were no longer able to hold our weekly classes at the school. He explained that the only available classroom didn't have tables and chairs……Relief immediately came over me. I explained to him this was fine, we just need a room. I said we could start off on the floor for now and I would see what I could do about the desks and chairs later; we really wanted to start and now. He laughed; I guess he found this amusing. I honestly can't tell what his impression is of me; but I wouldn't be shocked to learn that he doesn't take me seriously. (We will see about that! Hmu the president of the Ait Toumert community development association used to think I was a little nutty and probably incapable of being any help to Ait Toumert, and now we are allies; we got the village running water together). As the principal turned to go into his house (a room next to the school) I turned to Nadia and Samira and said hemdullah! And the three of us slowly started to exhale. It felt like we had all been holding our breath during the tense discussion with the principal; confronted with the possibility that we were going to have to explain to everyone that the literacy program wasn't gonna happen after all. This shared hemdullah was such a comforting feeling, a good moment for me. It’s rare that the people in my village and I experience strongly felt, common emotions like that. Because this was so important to us and we had already invested so much time into the planning process, it was pure relief that washed over the three of us when we realized we would be getting the use of a room after all. Even sharing “knowing looks” is something that I rarely get to do here. This commonly felt relief, followed by shared laughter (the type that would follow this type of scare), was a nice feeling. Such a positive excitement, and I got to share it! Moments like this do a lot to combat the lonesomeness that can start to whisper defeatism in my ears at times. We get to use the school! I'm gonna meet Nadia on Saturday to scrub out the classroom and I have a plastic mat I can place on the floor for now. So there you are.  Bellow are pics that I took during the meeting:
This is just Nadia and I discussing how well the meeting went! We're pleased!