A Week and a World Away
on Lynn Sellwood (The Gambia), 15/May/2011 09:47, 34 days ago
I had been invited to the CCM (the Co-ordinating Committee Meeting) which is the meeting of all the senior personnel of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education and associated donors and other partners. The meeting takes up five days and moves from one region to the next in succession.Inside the CCM meeting room The format is as follows: the first two days are for presentations on key issues or updates on existing projects, the next day is for 15 schools in the region to be visited by small groups of four or five people under a sort of mini inspection regime, the fourth day is the feedback from the visits with Head teachers attending and the final day is for any other business.Ida, Oustace and GibrilIt is a logistical nightmare to get all the people to a regional office by vehicles, house them and feed them because we are talking about approximately 100 people! I asked Marcus, Lucy and Ellie if I could stay with them rather than be billeted in accommodation which might fall below even my (now) lower expectations.All four Not only did they say yes (in exchange for me bringing provisions not available in Mansa Konko) Ellie moved out of her house and shared with Lucy so I could have some privacy!The VSO houses in Mansa Konko are very simple and the town is very small and quiet despite it being a regional centre. So, for the first time I had to use only a pit latrine.The pit! I have used one on a couple of occasions but never consistently for a week. The idea is to squat and hope that you can aim from front and back. I failed on all counts....squatting and aiming! I certainly felt my advancing years when rising! The shower is just the jerry can of water which was too heavy for me to lift. How local women do it I don’t know. Not only do they carry it but many carry it on their heads.The Shower Anyhow with water in the bucket and standing in the yard with just the four walls was how I kept myself fresh. Imagine, if you dare, the addition of the head torch at night for the showering and the latrine performance. There was a certain fleeting happiness in doing these things and looking atthe sky and watching the stars while totally naked because it was too hot to wear clothes. It was only the skittering of lizards which brought me back from my reveries.So, the CCM. The VSO folks traditionally take the minutes and act as the secretariat for the meeting.The Secretariat Not easy because Gambians love to talk and discuss. It all gets a little heated at times but soon dissolves into very good humour. The meeting is attended by The Minister of Education, Fatou Lamin Faye, (yes, a woman), who stays for the whole time and she is accompanied by the Permanent Secretary who chairs the meeting; a handsome, charming and able man called Baboucarr Bouy.I had been asked to present two updates on the work of SQAD (Standards and Quality Directorate). I finally got on at about 6.30 on the second day. It went so well that I was commended by everyone and am now on first name terms with the PS!!! On the final day I was asked to do an impromptu presentation on something called PPM (Participatory Performance Monitoring) which essentially formalises the link between the community and the school in order to drive up learner achievements. Currently most schools in The Gambia have very few community links because most adults are not literate in English. It looks like I am going to heavily involved in rolling out the scheme on a national basis.......Exciting!School Staff and CCM teamThe School visit I went on was fascinating. We went to a very remote school called Medina Angalleh which when translated means English School. A small primary school with just over 200 pupils and where the staff have their own quarters on the site because it is so remote. They were in a sorry state, the accommodation was dilapidated, and there was no water supply of any kind in the school. Teachers and pupils had to walk into the village to get water to service washing and drinking purposes. However, they were making progress in teaching and learning with next to no resources. In our report to the Minister the next day we highlighted the problems and they were immediately allocated onto the staff accommodation programme and will have new quarters before September. The head was delighted after being so nervous about our visit and subsequent feedback.CCM days are long. Getting to the office was done with me on the back of Lucy’s motorbike.So proud of myself! She ably negotiated rutted sandy roads. The only problem was the getting on or off! Can't raise the leg like I used to! We routinely started with communal breakfast at 8.30, (my favourite was sardine and coleslaw in a tapalapa,)Coffee before breakfast a break for lunch (lots of rice and a sliver of meat or fish)and prayers at 2.00, yoghurt served at 5.00 and close of play at 8.00 followed by the evening meal, my favourite was spam fritter sandwich and onions. The only fruit was a share of Ellie’s mango sorbet....yummy!Mango sorbet We often left at that point to go home and had a couple of beers and watched episodes of Dinner Ladies using Marcus’ wonderful projector. A shower by moonlight and off to bed under the mosquito net........Just a few returns!I saw for the first time a cashew nut tree close up! I didn’t realise that each nut grew separately, no wonder they are expensive. I couldn’t resist taking a photo.Cashew nut and the fruitSo now I have loads of work to do. I am proof reading a colleague’s book about teaching pedagogies and am already cited in the acknowledgments so I have to get it right. I am delivering some Appraisal training to another friend’s business and I have been put on a working group to consider the forward strategy for VSO in The Gambia. All good!!!PS Just finished Edith Wharton’s "Age of Innocence"....another brilliant read.