Teaching

Photo by Anette Bengtsson

Yesterday, I finally took my Language Survey English B distance course exam, that I have been postponing for nearly a year. I should have passed this course in January 2006, but I missed it because I fell of my horse and had a major concussion. Since then, I have embarked on the same course three times, and was about to drop off again when my mother's cancer was rediscovered a few days ago. I knew something had to go, but my father advised me not to drop the course. "You need to finish it," he said. "If you don't do it now, you never will."

It wasn't until the day before the exam, when I actually got the time to sit down and study, that I realized how glad I was to be finishing it off. I'm too tired after my concussion to have a million balls rolling at the same time. Now all that remains before the course B is closed in my book is to finish a 2500-word long essay about the Impacts of a Global Language. We only had six topics to choose from and last year I made the mistake of picking the one about Language Death, which proved to be too deep a subject for my battered brain to focus on. I think Globalism suits me much better! The essay deadline is on Sunday (and I have only just started) but after that, there are just a few finishing touches left and I'm done!

My grandmother asked me a few weeks ago, "So are you graduating this summer?" Ah, no, far from it, but at least I will have put an end to two years of language studies that I have done by distance while working as a volunteer in Niger. Though I am slightly tempted to get started with one of the C courses, I will not embark on any language journey this year, because I'll be moving out of the country and settling in Niger, which is a big step considering the fact that I have been such a free bird these past few years (splitting my year in two and spending half a year on each continent). I may want to pick up the teaching thread later on in my life, but the thing is that I don't need a full education to teach in Niger. Everything you say and do is an inspiration to others, and just taking time with the children gives the adults something to think about.

Teaching them to ride has been one of my greatest experiences in Niger, because horseback riding is something for the rich only and most kids never get to sit on own at all, much less learn to ride.

Life in Niger is full of developing opportunities and you don't need to be an educated teacher to expend the children's world view and teach them something valuable about life. That's a responsibility we all share, actually.


Greetings, Ishtar

Horses in place!

I forgot to tell you that on Wednesday this week, Ibrahim and Sani had put up the horse fence (that my father had designed), so on Thursday, Anette and I moved them over. Arwen and Sahara are now definitively the most spoiled horses of Zinder as free ranging horses is something unheard of in this country. In town, horses are tied to a post and only get to move their legs when they are taken out (unfortunately for them if they happen to be a race horse, then they only get to walk to the race track, gallop for the their life and then walk back to the post again). In the villages, horses may be allowed to "roam" the countryside but will have two of their feet tied together to prevent them from getting far... Arwen was the only horse (at least that I know of!) who used to be let loose in Josef and Renate's garden and people often commented on it. I couldn't leave her over night however as she had the habit of opening the water tap when she was thirsty (obviously, water straight for the tap is nicer than the one in your bucket!) but never closing it after herself... :-)

In their new enclosure, Arwen and Sahara can now trot around as much as they want, buck and play and roll themselves in the sand. And for my sake, it means not having to stress over acquiring two restless horses, because they are quite content just being together (that as well is an unusual thing in Niger: horses actually being kept together!).


The fun part is that I now have the horses close by, and a bunch of happy kids as well. First of all, there is Maurice's family who lives on the same compound. The kids are all proud to have horses at the other end of the garden, and even the smallest one know their names. They are also aware that Arwen is a great race horse! When I go out in the evening, one of them will always accompany me and we stand and talk for a long while (I have always enjoyed being with people and animals, and of course, the combination is a special treat!). Today, Anette and I went over and gave the horses a shower, and then we let the boys ride. We (or should I say I as Anette took over the responsibility of documenting) ended up letting all the kids of our street ride and that was a lot of fun, even though it took a lot of time! I came up a few rules and in the end, my riding school turned out to be a "friendship school" where you weren't allowed to sit up on the horse if you weren't being nice to your peers. You often find groups of children quickly becoming a mob in this country, but this group was well organised and I was really proud of them.

Now, that being said, Anette and I later went out by ourselves and enjoyed the Zinderien scenery... I hear many people talk about how they love the desert, but I will always be a savannah sort of person... Just give me some sunshine, a horse and a track and I will enjoy every moment of it...


Ishtar