Where the Fog Resides

Today was a pretty emotional day. I was given the chance to travel with Caroline, a lady from Switzerland who also is living with the Jackson’s at the moment. Today I traveled with her to a village where I was able to sit in on a literacy class. This class had four different languages present and it basically was the final class for future teachers who will be teaching adults in their village how to read and write. This class was being held in an old classroom.

This is a definition of a classroom in Cameroon:

It consists of an old run down room with red dirt all over the walls, holes in the roof, a chalkboard that has permanent marks all over it, making it difficult to read what is being written, and dusty desks that have a tiny slit of wood to sit on.

The people in this class were in their final class so the day was dedicated to the students practicing being the teachers, they each would go through their curriculum and pretending as if they were with a class of adults learning to read and write for the first time. This really was an amazing opportunity being around so many different languages. They all had their similarities and they all had their differences. After each future teacher got to experience being in charge, Caroline gave the final words about how to approach teaching adults.

The students were then given their supplies to take on the world of teaching: a handful of chalk and card stock to write their future students names.

And that was my day.

To many that may seem like a very non-emotional day…but let me give you an idea of what was going through my head during all of this.

If this was considered to be a “classroom” in the United States, it would be shut down immediately. This room was probably dirtier than a horse stable in the US and here we are learning how to be teachers. Young Cameroonian children sit in this so called “classroom” everyday.

Meanwhile in the United States we have our so called “low end” schools where the Government is throwing money at to create programs to bring up literacy levels and raise up the school averages. The US is full of selfish kids who get up and complain about going to school...they go with a bad attitude and use their macbooks in the computer lab, they use their new interactive machine in the classroom, they throw stuff in their decorated lockers, eat their junk food and drink their sodas for lunch, sit in class watching the clock pass by, and then hitch a ride from the school bus and go home. They go home and play their video games, go shopping at the mall, or spend the night texting with their friends on their new iphone..

MEANWHILE IN AFRICA

A kid gets up early in the morning, they walk miles to school, they spend the day in a classroom that is barely functional, they have no laptops, they have no interactive system, they have no cell phones, and they barely have a clean set of clothes to wear. These children go to school with the high hopes of really making something of themselves. They dedicate themselves to their studies and they work hard for perfection, and then they walk home miles and work on school work and play OUTSIDE.

SOMEONE TELL ME, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

Here we have a kid in the US taking absolutely everything for granted, they have everything at the tip of their hands and they just walk around like they deserve everything. They act like everyone should bow down to them…while here in Cameroon they have to look at a chalk board that is barely visible anymore!!!!

Somebody please tell me, why, why does the brat in the US have everything while the kid in Africa has nothing and has to go to school in a room that is at the standard of a portable bathroom in the States..somebody please tell me why this is currently happening?

Another thing…

The future teachers today got chalk and cardstock. In order to teach they have to go find a chalkboard to write on….they have to go find it because there is not enough money to buy the teachers little chalkboards…..

CAN SOMEONE IN THE STATES PLEASE GET UP AND STOP READING THIS BLOG AND GO TO TARGET TO BUY IN BULK CHALKBOARDS THAT ARE PROBABLY SITTING IN THE DOLLAR BIN RIGHT NOW!!!!

What is wrong with this picture? Something that is so easy to buy in the US is what the people of Cameroon need most.

I came home and cried to be completely honest, and as you can see I am still very fired up by this. If only the kids in the US could see what the kids in Cameroon have to go through daily…the kids in the US would not even last a day….

What do I do about this??

If I was to donate money to the schools; they use it for other services.

What do I want to do?

I want to go in every school in Cameroon and put up new chalkboards, I want to supply the future teachers in Cameroon with mini chalkboards so that they can use them to teach people in their villages how to read and write, I want to supply a lifetime amount of paper for kids to write their homework in, I want to give every kid a calculator for math, I want to give every kid a good hearty meal, I want to give every kid a great big desk to put their books in, I want to give every kid a backpack to put everything in, I want to give every kid a pair of new shoes, and clean clothes, I want to give every Cameroonian kid a great big hug and give them hope for a future.

Why was I blessed to go to school in the States? Why me? Why did these children get the short end of the stick? What did they do??? Why??? I just do not understand….I do not understand it one bit. 

Dear Lord, I pray for the children of Cameroon. I pray for the children around the world who are faced with similar learning situations. I pray that you would just carry them under your wing Lord. I pray that they all will continue to be faithful to their studies and to you. I pray that they would give all of their strength into learning, no matter the circumstances. I pray for the children in the States Lord, I pray that they would treasure their education and their freedom. 

I pray for the future teachers for adults. I pray that learning to read and write would be a task easily acquired. I pray to give them the determination Lord. I thank you so much for blessing me with my education. Please Lord, show me if there is something you want me to do about this Lord, please use me according to your plan.