Sneezes, Wheezes and Volunteers
June 11, 2009
Muhammed is on the mend from a chest cold and labored breathing. Laura Baraka had a fever for a few days but does not have malaria. Debora’s baby Ester has pneumonia but is on medication and doing well. Mdoe has mild anemia. Bariki just had a tooth pulled (he tried to wrestle the dentist, but lost). Thanks very much to volunteers Laura B (USA) , Vivian(USA) and Kate (AUS) who are holding down the fort during all this illness. We are short staffed while awaiting the arrival of our new lead nurse so they are doing a terrific job filling in.
Kate has done an incredible job getting the breakfast program to it’s most efficient state ever! Lauren (AUS) is a gifted teacher and she is helping so many young women really learn English, and not just ‘study’ it.
Laura S is our latest arrival and she’s having a blast coaching a girl’s soccer team and tutoring some of our former street boys in Science. The vols are off on a camping trip this weekend. Enjoy the break!
Our wonderful baker has flown home. We will miss you Marit! Thankfully she passed on her bread and yogurt making skills to The Baobab Family! William has translated the recipes into Kiswahili and has the orders for fresh milk under control! Debra has mastered bread making and bakes every other day! We will continue to enjoy her delicious additions to the menu!
My Ethical Dilemma
June 3, 2009
One of our former street boys, Emmanuel, is close to graduating Form 4 at a government run boys boarding school. If he passes his national exams he will go on to form 5 and 6. We don’t know his exact age, but he is about 19.
A few weeks ago, Ema called me in the morning. He said he’d been beaten by two teachers. I was stunned. I’ve never gotten a call like that from any of our guys. Ema is all over this blog. Although he did live on the street he is the kindest kid you could ever meet. He could not fight his way out of a paper bag. He’s honest and not a trouble maker at all. He is not cheeky or defiant.
The “Crime”. As part of normal chores, a group of students were asked to clean and prepare for an event. Some of the kids had changed out of their uniforms. Ema wore his but had sandals instead of school shoes. A door was locked and the boys needed to go in to the room to get chairs. A teacher came by and started yelling at them. Maybe they were being rowdy. He pulled Ema from the crowd randomly and took him to the teachers’ lounge where other teachers were present. Ema asked what he had done. The teacher beat him on the legs with a stick. He said to the teacher that he hadn’t committed an offense. The teacher got angry about Ema’s shoes and hit him again. Again, Ema asked to know his crime. The teacher asked Ema if he wanted to talk to the headmaster and Ema agreed. I was friends with the former headmaster so Ema probably assumed he would be treated fairly if he followed the chain of command. No. The headmaster beat him on the arm. As Ema was leaving he told the headmaster calmly that he had done wrong by beating an innocent person and the headmaster slapped him.
Ema called me minutes later crying. Exams were the next day and he was incredibly upset and worried. I asked if he needed a doctor- no. That night I managed to get the headmaster’s number. I called him and with the iciest, but nicest voice I could muster, told him in no uncertain terms that this was NOT over and that we would talk about him beating my son. He stammered, and minimized his involvement. He was clearly nervous. I set the date for June 5 when I have to be in that area anyway because it costs $30 to get there. When Ema came home for break I gave him a copy of the Tanzanian legislation about hitting in schools and asked him to brush up on it. Now with just two days to go he wants to let it drop. He doesn’t want to go on Friday and doesn’t want me to go. He says that his anger has passed.
Let me clarify- he is NOT hiding anything from me. He is afraid of my anger in the face of people who remain his authority figures. He is a gentle person and forgiving person and other people here agree that he should let it go. I have trouble hiding my shock at this. So I am torn at how to handle it.
Should I stay or should I go?
