life on the hill

I had two nice blog entries lined up for you today...unfortunately, one of them has humorously gone missing -- I must have saved it to the wrong place -- so you will all have to wait, fittingly, to hear about my SAGA OF THE CHAIRS.

Also...scope out my new address, located on the right hand side of this here webpage. I took out the little tip about addressing me as Sister, because who knew I'd be sharing a post office box with four nuns?

And now...a blog entry.

June to September. A whole New England season has come and gone!

I don’t really know what to expect from the season changes here. I know that the rain is going to stop making appearances sooner or later…no one here really seems sure when, the season has been so sporadic and unpredictable. The green grass and green leaves will eventually disappear and all will be red and brown again! It’s hard to imagine.

My life on the hill out here in Kongoussi has been flipped all around! The girls have arrived and classes have started and I’m working on finding my niche in this place for a second time.

So…what is my living sitch?

It’s not a village, because there aren’t families or houses. It’s not really part of the town because it’s so removed on its little hill. It’s not like the summer camp situation I know and love…it’s a school for sure, and it doesn’t have the same flavor of American culture. …and it’s not like college because the girls are under age 18 (some of them well under).

But it IS like a village, because it’s so small and intimate and there really has to be a community going on. And it IS in Kongoussi, connected to the town. There are some pretty dorm-like dynamics as one might expect from a group of girls living together at a school, and it’s also kind of like summer camp, with all the singing and laughing and girls everywhere in groups.

But even though I live right next to a bunch of giggly sixteen year old girls who demand that I teach them how to say “fart” in English, I’m not a camp counselor…I don’t have to check up on them or keep them occupied. And despite my proximity and living arrangement, I’m not an SA (or RA for those non-Mount Holyoke goers), I’m a neighbor…but I’m not REALLY a neighbor because it’s not a neighborhood and I’m a pretty cool age-gap away from them all, and also a girl like them and also a nasara novelty. And I’m not a teacher, so what am I doing here on their campus? I’m applying some of my life lessons of years passed and suspend a need for definition so that I can understand this as it is and not try to fit it into a mold that doesn’t necessarily work.

The feeling of having too much free time, not having anything to do…it’s a veritable Peace Corps guarantee but it hasn’t yet really occurred for me. I feel like I always have somewhere to go, someone to talk to, some group to find and causer with…often I feel like I’m missing out on something when I take time in my room or in my kitchen. There are places to go in town, errands to run, spots to hang out, marché ladies and shop owners to talk to, organizations I could introduce myself to, Justin’s clubs that I could attend, tipsy dolo drinkers who will seemingly always insist that I stop under the trees. Here at the school there are the girls who cook and love me, the (now quite busy) Sisters, Sister Elizabeth especially who always has time for me and always lets me accompany her to do whatever task she’s running about doing at a given moment, and my twenty 3eme neighbors as well as 180 other students I can be around, if only just to break the ice and say hi. There are classes to attend in a school building that is literally a 30 second walk from my front door, teachers to observe and to talk to…

…I also feel as though the undefined and unstructured nature of the GEE program is being interpreted a lot differently here. Madame la Directrice of the college included me in the before-school teacher meeting and introduced me quite eloquently and correctly to the student body on the first day as a Peace Corps volunteer who is here to work for girls’ education in a broad sense, who will be getting to know the school for the first trimester before starting any groups or clubs, who is here like Robert was but not to be an informatique like him.

I feel as though I’ve been given a key to the school grounds, like I can go anywhere and observe anything and help out if I can but just hang back if I want. I feel so structured in my non-structure, it’s a little intimidating, especially since (as fellow boarding school GEE volunteer Rachel put it) this school is so high functioning already. Theatre presentations on social issues, honor roll and rewards for good marks, built in study hours, seemingly motivated teachers, an organized library, lots and lots of loud and proud young ladies…what do I do? Where do I start?

I guess I’ve got the trimester to figure that out. And really I’m pretty proud to be able to test run this new GEE direction. I do have a lot of girl scout camp counselor/director, sexual health educator, tutor, peer mentor, all-girls school attend-er experience to draw from, and if I can make any sort of contribution to a program that is already sustainable…well that’ll be pretty cool. …and fortunately I have a pretty good small-victories perspective, so I can get satisfaction out of the handshakes, smiles, finger snaps, and every day conversations too.