So school officially starts tomorrow after our nice long holiday
break! Yay! Hopefully in a month or so we will be able to move into
our 2 new school buildings.  

Just thought I would share what I wrote for my most recent Volunteer
Reporting Form.  Its kind of long but I thought some of the
information they ask for might be interesting for you all to read too!

Community Integration
I feel well integrated into my community.  I am able to communicate
well with almost anyone in Krio and have learned to greet and form
simple sentences in Mandingo and Limba which are the dominant tribes
in Fadugu.  Everyone is very friendly and always happy to have me come
and keep time with them.  I feel as though this last term, especially
during the holiday period when I had more time, I became closer with
people in my community and really feel as though I belong and am a
member of the community.

One thing I have learned about integrating is that people really
appreciate the efforts you make and your presence and involvement in
the community.  I realized this through my language learning and by
attending more local events and gatherings.  While I am not able to
say too much in either Limba or Mandingo people enjoy what I am able
to say and are glad I have taken the effort just to learn the small
things like the greetings.  Additionally I have learned that people
really respect and enjoy my presence at events and gatherings.
Whether it is for a wedding, burial, football match or religious
holiday, people notice your presence and are appreciative of you
making time to come celebrate, commiserate, or cheer with them.  At
first I wasn't sure if it was appropriate for me to go to these events
but eventually I realized I was more than welcome at these events and
that attending would help me to become more a part of the community. I
think it would be helpful to mention in training that it is mostly
okay for volunteers to attend any gathering at their site and that the
community will appreciate seeing the volunteer taking part and
learning how things are done here.

Challenges Faced
One of the main challenges I have faced as a teacher is dealing with
false promotions in school.  It is incredibly frustrating to see the
majority of students being promoted to the next form when I know they
did not deserve the promotion and are not up to the level they should
be.  It is challenging because I know it is only detrimental to their
education and also makes teaching more difficult because it is hard to
teach when half the class is struggling with the subject material and
the other half is suffering because the material is not challenging
enough for them.
It is also a challenge for me because I discussed it with the exam
committee this third term and everyone agreed that we should be strict
and only promote students that have really performed well.  However,
when report cards were distributed I noticed that almost all the
students were promoted and that some grades had been inflated on the
report cards.  I have struggled with how to address this problem as I
don't want to create problems with other staff/teachers by insinuating
that the process was dishonest but I also dont want students to be
able to reach Form 3 without being able to compose a simple letter or
solving simple arithmetic problems.
This is one challenge I would like to really work on this academic year.

Peace Corps Goal 2: Sharing information about the American people to
peoples served
I primarily share information about the American people through
informal talks and discussions with my friends and neighbors.  I enjoy
sitting and keeping time with them and discussing the differences and
similarities between our cultures and countries.  It is a nice way for
me to hear their own thoughts and opinions and also to dispel any
incorrect, preconceived notions they have about America and the way
people live there.  Just sitting down and answering any questions they
have about America seems to be the most effective and enjoyable way to
share information.

Furthermore, I hosted my family in the beginning of August.  Seeing my
family gave my community an opportunity to know other Americans
besides myself and fellow volunteers.  It was nice for the community
to meet my family and have the opportunity to talk with them and hear
about what they do in the United States.  I think seeing my family
helped people here to realize that Americans come in all shapes and
sizes.  My family also brought some gifts such as sweets and books for
the youth which will further help the youth to learn our culture while
reading and looking at the pictures.

Finally, I have been participating in the World Wise Schools program
and have been giving my students letters from students in America.  I
think this helps them learn about America from a fellow students
perspective and leads them to ask questions about what school and life
are like in America.

Success Story
This past term I began work on addressing girls education and
empowerment.  I realized that girls are often overlooked or denied
many of the opportunities boys have.  I decided that in order to
effect change I would organize a Girls Club at my school.  The club
would meet once a week and discuss different women's issues and womens
health as well as organize events and activities.
Before starting the club I discussed the idea with my principal and
other school authorities.  After getting their approval we had a mass
meeting for any girls interested in joining the club.  Forty-one girls
attended the meeting but I was only looking for 15-20 to be a part of
the club.  At this meeting I gave information about what the club
would be doing and when and where we would be meeting as well as what
would be expected of the girls.  I decided that since such a large
number came to the mass meeting we would require that any girl still
interested in joining would need to write an application letter to
become a member of the club.  Eventually we received 17 letters and of
the 17, 15 girls were present at our first official meeting.  We held
elections to choose the Executive Board of the club and then discussed
with the girls what activities they would like to do and which topics
they would like to discuss first.  The girls decided they would like
to put on a play for the community and we started our weekly sessions
with talks about family planning and teenage pregnancy.
The club, in my view, was a success.  The girls were active members
and almost all girls contributed to the weekly conversation.
Additionally, the girls were very excited about having the opportunity
to perform for the community and worked very hard to get the play
ready.  I think through these activities the girls learned invaluable
life skills.  Aside from just learning about family planning, the
girls learned to take responsibility for their own activities and
learned leadership and communication skills.  Through the election the
girls learned how to peacefully and fairly vote for leaders and the
Executive Board members learned how to be leaders among their peers.
Additionally, through the classroom discussions in which everyone was
given an opportunity to talk and through their work on the play, the
girls learned how to communicate clearly and effectively. Furthermore,
the club helped the girls form a network on which they can trust and
rely on.  I am happy with the work the girls did last term and am very
excited to continue working with them this school year.  I think they
are not only gaining knowledge in our weekly discussions but are
learning important life skills such as communication, decision-making,
and leadership.

Lessons Learned
One lesson I learned is the importance of communication and checking
later to make sure the message you wanted to share was conveyed
clearly.  I have slowly been learning this lesson since arriving in
Sierra Leone because it is very easy to fall in the trap of saying
something and having someone agree simply because they didn't clearly
understand you or because they have a strong desire to please you.  I
have learned that it is important to follow up conversations with
questions to check their comprehension of what we discussed.  Also, it
is important to follow conversations about future plans and ideas with
questions on how best to implement them to ensure people aren't
agreeing just to pacify you but rather are agreeing with the intent of
working on the issue at hand.

One thing I have learned about myself is how truly Western my morals
and values are.  It has been a somewhat difficult process for me to
look at people's actions and behaviors without imposing my traditional
Western judgments.  I think I have learned to be more accepting of and
less judgmental towards some of these cultural differences.  For
example, while I do not agree with the use of corporal punishment in
the home and would like to encourage parents to adopt different
punishment techniques, I try not to judge or view people negatively
that do use corporal punishment because I know it is a part of the
culture they have grown up with and most do not know any better
punishment techniques.