Troisième Partie

I woke up at 7:20 in order to get ready for my exciting day of interacting with local students. Full of hope, I merrily ate my bread with butter, which Jake thoughtfully suggested we place next to the hot water such that it was soft and creamy. When we arrived at school at 8:30, we saw a lot of students still sitting around in the courtyard. They turned out to be OUR students who had been waiting for computer lessons. After the principal turned the computers on, he proceeded to instruct the students how to open the Encarta Encyclopedia program. I should mention at this point that we had six very nice computers for 13 students, and there was a range of skill levels represented. The mice didn’t work very well on the wooden tabletops, which didn’t help the students without much computer experience. While in the US the teacher might have been encouraged to gently aid the student, the principal was rather brusque and didn’t seem to have patience with a few that just hadn’t mastered the unique coordination that comes with working on a computer for awhile. Jake took charge as usual and was in the middle of teaching them how to open a file when the power went out – quelle surprise! As we waited, we asked the students in Wolof how many times they had used a computer – responses ranged from months to never. To pass the time, we played a game in which the student gave a Wolof word, we guessed the French meaning and gave the English denotation.

At the end of class, the principal returned and thanked us for our help. Since the power was out, we couldn’t teach more computer classes, and since the school was on the French system, no classes were held on Wednesday afternoons. To boot, Thursday was All Saint’s Day and the whole village shut down save for the weekly market and we left Friday after breakfast. We exchanged contact information and wandered into town, wondering how to pass the time in Samba Dia. Tessah had came to school with her sister, so we just walked around for awhile before adjourning to the clinic for discussion and lunch. Evidently, the women didn’t require their help for much. Jake made ataaya for us after lunch and we just chilled some more. Hannah came by and we went off to explore a little clearing wherein we found several cute donkeys.

That night, we were trying to figure out a way to celebrate Halloween in Samba Dia after dinner. Tessah, Amelia, Hannah, Jake, and I were on the way to the village when we saw Jen riding in the back of a horsecart with her host mom to the clinic – never a good sign! She assured us that she was not in imminent danger and just needed some rest in a room with a fan. Still, the fête must go on and we bought some mango-flavored candies at a boutique before purchasing Fanta, Coca-Cola, and beer at a liquor store named (in the I-couldn’t-make-this-up category) “Jesus, Joseph, and Mary.” We sat under a little hut for awhile talking about holiday traditions and favorite TV shows. I was truly tired that night and was looking forward to making the most of my last day in Samba Dia.