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A Bit of Life in Lesotho: Tupa Trouble By Zoé Schroeder, Current Education PCV in Lesotho (2012-14) zoeschroeder@gmail.com As I wait for school to start (originally opening on Jan. 14 th and now Jan. 28 th ), I am encountering the many “ups and downs” that Peace Corps has prepared me for. This has to do with the 3 month time period when you first arrive at site and you might experience loneliness, missing home, too much attention from your community, not enough attention from your community and daily frustrations at mundane tasks that suddenly become difficult. For your reading pleasure, I will break down one of my daily frustrations. Enter ‘tupa’. It is not a person, but one heck of an annoying piece of wood. That is right. Piece. Of. Wood. Here’s the scene: My community relies on a well to get all of their water. It is located close to my house so I consider myself lucky. But, of course, it is broken. There is a part missing that applies pressure when you pump so that water is pushed up. It broke off about 2 years ago (or so my neighbors tell me) and has never been fixed. Therefore, the people of Tabola have replaced it with a large piece of wood that you place beneath the lever so that it can apply the necessary pressure. Everyone calls it “tupa” of “the stick” in Sesotho. Up until about a week ago, the tupa and I had no problems. I pumped my water and carried it home like a good Masotho. Yet, one day I arrived and discovered no tupa. No tupa, no water. I stared blankly at the pump for a couple minutes and I am sure people were watching and laughing, as they always do. I eventually made my way to the nearest house to ask where it was, and saw another tupa on the ground. In broken Sesotho, some English and a lot of hand gestures, I got the impression that most people have their own tupa. She let me borrow hers and I successfully pumped my water for the day. I was suddenly worried about where I was going to find my own tupa. You might say “find the nearest tree,” but that would not be helpful because I cannot see a single tree in my site for miles. Luckily, my host family has their own tupa which they usually leave at the pump for others to use if need be. But as of late, the tupa has been used too much and has worn out. The wood has smoothened out so that it does not grip the lever well and slips easily. Also, there is less water now that we are in mid-summer so you have to pump a lot harder and faster than usual. After about 10 minutes of heavy pumping, putting the tupa back 30 times already and I have yet to see a trickle of water fill my 20 liter bucket, I am ready to throw the tupa into the bush in South Africa. Although I struggle with the tupa to this day, this story has a happy ending. I get so angry at the pump I have to tell myself to calm down. I knew I would not have the modern conveniences here that I am used to in the US. So why be mad The past 3 or 4 times I have been at the pump, something truly remarkable has happened. Someone has come out to help me. The other day, it was a boy who could not have been much older than 8. While I am ready to burst into tears at the situation, my neighbors take on the tupa with such patience. When it falls, they calmly put it back. They might laugh at me and my crazy American ways every day, but they see me as part of their community. The fact that I actually go to the tap myself and pump my own water is a sign that I really am serious about living here, with them. So they help me out just like they would help out anyone in Tabola. It is a very generous act and I am always touched when it happens. I can only hope that after my Peace Corps service I will have the patience of an African. Photo taken by Zoé Schroeder on Jan 14 th 2013 in Tabola, Lesotho. iEARN International Conference The 20th Annual iEARN International Conference and 17th Annual Youth Summit 2013 will be held in Doha, Qatar from July 1st to July 6th, 2013. All global educators are welcome! We invite you to join hundreds of educators, students, administrators and partner organizations who come together annually from 50-70 countries at the iEARN Conference and Youth Summit to share how they are using technology to build global understanding and enhance teaching and learning! Make global connections, share best practices in online collaborative project-based learning. Have a project to share Theme of Conference The theme of the conference will focus on the use of technologies in education to reach out, learn and build a better world together. The conference will cover topics such as environment, cultural diversity and the use of Information and Communication Technologies in the classroom. Educators and students will be able to attend plenary sessions, deliver or attend a variety of workshops to further develop their knowledge and skills, share experiences, discover innovative ways to use ICTs, and connect with their peers across the world. ROTA & iEARN-Qatar Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) is the official representative of the iEARN program in Qatar. iEARN-Qatar provides opportunities for students and teachers to collaborate through the network with other iEARN communities around the world. Educators have the opportunity to join the ROTA Knowledge Network and benefit from professional development to further develop their professional skills and implement meaningful online projects supporting their teaching. Since its launch in 2008, the program has reached 99 schools, 411 teachers have been trained and 1,442 students have actively participated in projects. Register at: http://www.iearn2013. org/ 6 Global Education News, Spring 2013 www.peacecorpsconnect.org
Assisting Students in Cameroon with Education By Pavla Zakova-Laney, RPCV Cameroon 1996-1999 Ever since I was a young teenager growing up in the former Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic), I have wanted to help others. After I moved to the United States and met a Peace Corps volunteer who was going to Mauritania in 1989, I became very interested in joining the Peace Corps. However, at that time I could hardly speak or understand English and I was far from being an American citizen. I had left Czechoslovakia in 1986. I was ready in 1994 when I finished classes at Wellesley College as a Davis Scholar and was sworn in as an American citizen on July 21 st . It was then that I applied to join the Peace Corps and was accepted. I was invited to serve as a science teacher in Cameroon. I never thought I could teach because I used to be extremely shy and thought I was stupid and ugly. My heart sank, but then I realized that unless I tried I would never know if I could do it and maybe I would enjoy it. I loved it! I taught biology at a secondary school in the Northwest Region of Cameroon from 1996 to 1999. I found out that many students did not have even very basic things such as pens, pencils, exercise books, textbooks, money for school fees, uniforms, shoes and other essentials, so I began to personally assist them as much as possible. I soon realized that I could not take care of the many needs of hundreds of eager and grateful students. There was no science laboratory or equipment for teaching biology, no water or electricity, so I took many students on excursions. First to a waterfall, about 25 minutes from school, then to a tea factory and tea plantations in a neighboring village, a beautiful Lake Oku, Bamendjing reservoir and, during my last year, I took my class of 34 students all the way down to the Atlantic Ocean, Limbe botanical garden, Wildlife Center, an oil refinery and of course to Douala, the largest seaport in Cameroon. It was at the time when the Mount Cameroon was erupting. My students were so happy and it made me very happy, too. I d i d n o t want to leave the students but my husband had been waiting for me for three years (I had met him during my internship in Oregon in 1995 and we were married in 1998 in Tatum, Cameroon), so I joined him in Albany, Oregon in November 1999. He suggested that I should start a nonprofit group so that we could continue to assist more students. That was all I could think of after I returned from Cameroon. I went back in May 2000 with 18 boxes of various donations and in September we finally got our Tax exempt status. Now Educare-Africa is a 501 (c) (3) charitable nonprofit organization dedicated to improving living and learning conditions of students in Cameroon. I am a full-time volunteer president and executive director working from our home. Once a year I travel to Cameroon to assist the students and schools personally. Anyone interested could check out the blog for more information, photographs and video clips from my annual trips: http://educareafrica.blogspot. com/ . I am looking for another volunteer who is interested in working with me in whatever way he/she could so that we could assist more outstanding needy students. If you feel inspired, please, email me at: pavlazl@comcast.net . Pavla Zakova-Laney. www.peacecorpsconnect.org Global Education News, Spring 2013 7
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