That's in response to Jackie's email. I am alive everyone.
Julie sent me a text this week asking where I was, so I guess I have been absent. I've been in my village and at the time of that particular text I was sweating in a classroom. The room had walls made out of corn stalks.
I was there to attend a middle school club meeting. I just wanted to see if they would be interested in planting some trees, but they were holding board elections.
The heat had me dozing, but I jerked to attention when I realized someone had just nominated me for the position of secretary.
I could not and did not want to be secretary, but it did start me wondering why anyone would want that position.
When I was in school kids ran for club office positions because it would look good on their college applications. The president of my school's Key Club was also our valedictorian and went to Dartmouth (or was it Cornell?). I was not a member of Key Club and ended up at a state school. You see the connection, right?
I don't know what motivates these kids. There's no Dartmouth to aim for, and anyone sitting for an exam this year will probably fail anyway because the teachers were on strike most of the year.
Heck, school's over in a month and they just met for the first time, hence the elections. Students here get a bad deal.
.... enough depressing stuff. I'll write more later about the witch doctors, family battles, etc... Right now I'm going to get some chicken.
P.S. I made my pitch for the tree nursery and could see the kids mulling it over. If I were in their position I would have voted it down (it's 110 degrees in the SHADE for God's sake), but my cause got a real boost when a teacher stood up and announced anyone who plants a tree "gets to go to Heaven."
Yup, that's a direct quote. Not to be outdone, another teacher announced planting one tree saves 1,000 lives.
So we're doing a tree nursery.
P.P.S. A roach just crawled out of my drink cup and onto my face. Gross.