First couple of months at Sahel Academy

First Couple Months at Sahel Academy

My (Christine) first week at Sahel (Oct. 1^st) was spent shadowing the teacher who I was to replace.

It also happened to be the school Spirit Week and the week before 1^st quarter break, so it was not a typical week teaching-wise. There was a special theme for each day: superhero day, pirate day, hobo day, and school colours day.

My favorite day was hobo day when each student was asked to bring in a can of food. NO, not for the local foodbank as might be expected in Canada. The cans were to be added to a large pot of onions and pasta for lunch that day! The cooks along with the director’s wife sure know how to make something good out of a mish-mash of canned vegetables and meats! It was delicious! This idea probably wouldn’t fly in school cafeterias in Canada! There was costume judging each day. Wow! Many kids went all out dressing-up. We’ve got a lot of great creativity at the school!

The week ended with a pep rally for the softball tournament that weekend. The boys’ team is the “Sahel Suns” and the girls’ team is “Sahel

Comets”. My class prepared a cheer and the elementary students decorated the sidewalk with chalk “banners”.

The weekend softball tournament was held at the Rec Centre located at the American school and embassy.

That seems to be the spot where many families hang out on the weekends. There’s a pool, a tennis court, beach volleyball nets, a baseball diamond, an air-conditioned lounge and a small restaurant.

Classes started back up again on October 15. I have

13 students in grades 5 and 6 from Korea, India, New Zealand, Australia, Nigeria, and the USA. Many of the students have spent most of their lives in Africa.One girl had most of her schooling in Italian while her parents were working in Italy.

My students are really enjoying the Biology unit on rainforest animals. They also have devoured the book “Where the Red Fern Grows”, which is about a boy and his adventures in the Ozark Mountains with his two ‘coon hunting hounds. My students all love animals! We

found the molted skin of a snake one day. It was in perfect condition! They also came across a chameleon one day. Very exciting! We found a screened cage in the storeroom and the kids spent each

recess collecting grasshoppers for the chameleon. Unfortunately, it didn’t live more than a day (it must have been sick). A few weeks later, the younger class found another chameleon (more feisty than the first) which we kept for a few days before setting it free before the weekend.

The next picture was taken at the birthday party for a boy in my class. The entire class was invited! It was a Hawaiian beach theme.

One day after school, the entire Christian community was invited to the house of our librarian for a special baptism service in her pool. Six individuals made a personal and public commitment to follow Jesus. The youngest was a 5 year old who read her own lovely testimony in French (she goes to a French school). The oldest was a young Romanian man. I felt very proud that one of my students, Mariah, made the choice to be baptized.

The school organizes a fair number of fun days for the students and the English-speaking community. The kids and their parents enjoy these days since there aren’t a lot of activities for kids outside of school in the city of Niamey (besides going to the American Rec Centre or going on family excursions to the dunes or animal park nearby). The high school students organized a pancake breakfast, garage sale and sports day for the community one Saturday. I helped judge the Lego space vehicle building competition! The students’ council also put on a Fall Festival evening which included a variety of fun games such as throwing wet sponges at a teacher’s face, bobbing for apples, beanbag tossing, roasting hotdogs and even camel rides! I couldn’t pass off this opportunity to go for a short camel ride.

Driving in Niamey:

Tim could tell you more about his experiences learning to drive in Niamey. I’ll tell you what I know from my experiences as a passenger. Although I do have an International Drivers License, I don’t plan on driving regularly in Niamey. You’ll understand why as you read further!

First of all, don’t expect that all cars (even those of expats) will have functioning seatbelts. If you are lucky enough, the car may have air conditioning. If not, you will certainly want to roll down the windows to get a bit

of air circulation (although the wind won’t cool you off much). Be prepared to eat a bit of dust and breathe exhaust fumes along the way.

On the right here is a road sign I pass on occasion, a no-entry sign which says "danger de mort" (Danger of death!). Well that should keep me out of there!

Niamey has a fair number of round-about intersections. You may enter the circle when your light is green. Once you are inside the circle, the right of way goes to those who are entering on your right. We witnessed what happens when you violate this traffic rule. A traffic police officer will signal you to pull over. You will be expected to show all your papers, and maybe even pay a fine on the spot. We were lucky to have been given a verbal warning only.

Stoplights. They are located very high or off to the side and often several metres before the intersection, so I often don’t even notice them. There is no assurance that the stoplights are functioning properly since many of them are broken or only have one bulb working. If you miss the green light, drivers behind you will be certain to remind you to go with a friendly “honk”.

Pedestrians and bicyclists have no right of way here. You put yourself at risk when you walk on the road. In fact, our first day in Niamey, we came across a crowd looking at a collision scene between a bicyclist and a truck. The bicycle was totally contorted under the front of a truck. We had no idea where the bicyclist was. Since then, we have witnessed a number of near accidents and seen several bad accident scenes.

Our street is a VERY wide sandy road with no sidewalk. There is room for 2-3 lanes of traffic. Yet, cars invariably choose to drive in the middle of the road or as close to you as possible! I realize they are only trying to avoid the “washboards”, the deep sandy spots, and the holes, but sometimes I feel like they are purposely trying to drive over my feet! Main roads may have sidewalks, but usually the “sidewalk” consists of dirt, gravel or patches of uneven and broken cement. Watch your footing! Garbage is thrown everywhere. Black plastic bags get blown around and often hang in trees and one weeds or bushes. (Some African countries have actually banned cheap plastic bags that end up littering the countryside.) You also share the sidewalk/ road with wandering goats, chickens, dogs, and the occasional donkey.

Tim and I left Toronto thinking we had also left behind traffic congestion. Not so. The Niger River runs through Niamey. Most of the city is on the northeast side (our apartment, Tim’s work, the embassies and hotels, markets…), but the city has begun to extend to the southwest on the other side of the river (my school, the French international church, the university…). There is only ONE 2-lane bridge for this city of close to 700 000! Cars, large trucks, taxis, donkey-carts laden with wood, and sometimes camels all share this bridge! We see camels on the road almost every day! Camels are used as beasts of burden to carry bulky loads of straw bales and large woven mats used in the construction of traditional houses.

We had heard before arriving that traffic was horrible crossing the bridge during “rush hours”. That’s one reason we chose to live closer to Tim’s work so he wouldn’t have to contend with this mess each morning. I carpool to school each morning and avoid the congestion. Sometimes it’s pretty busy in the late afternoon. Our first Sunday morning we experienced the worst congestion we had seen so far! A large truck was broken down, allowing only 1 lane of traffic to pass it. Ten hours later, it was still stuck! Taxis were butting in, horns were honking, motorcycles and bicyclists were weaving around the cars, and some crazy drivers were trying to squeeze through and make a 3^rd lane! Add to that mess donkey carts and the extreme heat! Recently, I saw a stalled car being pushed by the passengers in the car and 2 policeman who were trying to clear up the traffic mess. The largest hotel in the city is also located next to the bridge. When VIPs come to town, traffic gets really back-logged as security is tightened and the police make way for the important vehicle convoy. Recently, Tim and I drove to the airport to pick up an SP visitor from the UK. On our way to the airport, we noticed a crowd forming near one of the major round-abouts. It looked like a possible demonstration. When we drove home, we realized that it was actually a welcoming party for some famous African movie producer. There were police directing traffic at every intersection from the airport all the way across the city to the other end along embassy row. Essentially, all red lights could be ignored since the police were giving traffic coming from the airport the right of way. I felt like royalty as we passed by all the crowds. It was smooth sailing all the way home!