Check Out The Real Situation

This post is sort of continuing on from the last one about the problems i experienced whilst in Nigeria. One of the most common and obvious problem was gender discrimination. There are cultural norms that indicate women and children should be in the kitchen and do all the housework that needs to be done. This was evident in my host home as the daughter of the house often 'worked' from 6am till night cooking, cleaning, sweeping and the rest. She also wasn't allowed out the house freely and if she did go out she would have to be back at home before dark. I often asked her, "doesn't it bother you that you cant stay out a late as the men" or "don't you get sick of working all day everyday when you could be going out and having fun?". She often answered by saying its no problem or its normal. For her, there was nothing strange about the situation. It upset me greatly that men had such control over women, but, for the locals it was just a cultural norm. The overall biggest problem for me was the lack of opportunities. This could be in the form of lack of healthcare, lack of education, lack of opportunity to progress with talents or lack of social mobility. In the area i was situated in, it seemed that there were no opportunities for anything that i described above. For example, if there was an exceptional footballer or singer, how would they be able to progress their talents? with lack of money and lack of support it seems it would be near impossible to make it. Lack of education is an extremely big issue due to it being a viscous cycle. If the children of this generation are inadequacy educated then they will in turn they will not have the knowledge to provide the future generations sufficient education. As for social mobility, it seems like its set in stone in the sense that if your parents are on low to no incomes and are living in poverty, there is an extremely high chance that you will be in that situation when your their age. This is also becoming a serious issue in western countries such as England and America as the rich are getting richer and the poor and getting poorer. The social mobility cycle is gradually having a stronger grip on the world as a whole. I think one thing the western world struggles to deliver when working in aid to third world countries is that third world countries don't just need money given to them, they need to be taught and educated in order for their community to learn off each other. This is something we tried to incorporate in our work as it was community led development rather than volunteer led development. Community led development, from our experience was extremely difficult as it was hard to mobilise the community and to get them to actively address problems in their society. Many of us felt our work over 3 months could have been done in half the time if the community actively participated more. Lack of communication was also a major issue and on some occasions we had to travel 30 minutes just to get some people in the community to talk to one another when they only lived 5 minute walk from one another. So it was often frustrating, but we were very pleased with the work we completed and feel our 3 months was a success. I will now post a couple of pictures showing what we achieved in the community.

 

 

Above: Me after hard work in the sun shifting sand for the floors
Below: Cementing the classroom floor in Bendeghe

Having to entertain this many children, what else can you do but do the ookie cookie!

Here is my famous speech about how to use a condom! the stick seemed to do the job!

After the 'Famous' talk the children wouldnt stop asking questions so we spent some extra time with them

After finishing a school library we had a big group photo with all the teachers and many of the children! it was such a pleasure interacting with the kids as they were always so happy!

I Will Beat You!!!

 The title 'I will beat you' refers to what i used to hear everyday by elders addressing their children.

When i was out in Nigeria, so many things touched me and made me seriously think about how global situations are, as well as local situations. Is it ok for things to be like this? should the westerners be going to help out? why cant things here operate like they do in the UK? and why cant things operate in the UK like they do here? ill explain.....issues such as how children are treated, gender inequality, and from what i experienced a form of slavery were the immediate problems. These are issues I've experienced first hand and are issues that really affected me out there so that's why I'm talking about them and I'm not saying Nigeria is a bad place, its far from it and i will come onto the positive about ways of life in my next update. My experience with children is that they have to work extremely hard and show strict respect to their elders as that is the cultural norm but there is a kink in this system. Its great that children show respect to their elders but the parents seem to abuse this and from what i experienced they are shouted at, beaten and so on just so the parents can be 'respected'. However, there's a thin line between respect and fear and i think the latter is much more evident with the way children feel about their elders. Working in schools, we often saw kids getting beaten by canes and shouted at fiercely. Petrified, sad and vulnerable are words that come to mind and the team and I often struggled to bear witness to the violence and just sit there and do nothing. We decided this needed to be addressed so we made it a priority to organise a teachers conference which would address important issues in the education system. This event was by far the biggest impact we had in Nigeria and we were able to express our opinions about children rights to teachers which made them realise that the systems in place were wrong and needed to change. It was refreshing to see that elders listened to us and respected our views. Now here comes a big report i wrote, but please read it, as it is an outline of what we achieved in improving children's rights and the education system in Ikom and Nigeria.

Global Xchange Teaching Conference:

Addressing Schooling Issues To Achieve A Better Future For The Youths

After working in the local communities (Bendeghe, Ajassor and Ikom) for nearly 3 months a reoccurring issue was seen by the teams. Children were being beaten for little to no reason at all and many school children were being sent home from school for not having the right resources or not being able to afford the school fees. Another incident occurred when the Global Xchange programme supervisor Renalda saw a friend of the family being beaten with a cane so bad that she needed hospital treatment to treat the wounds on her hands. Renalda then took the matter to the school and discussed who is meant to pay for the hospital fees if the family can’t. The school agreed to pay the hospital fees for this case but having experienced this, there was increased concern as to what would happen to all the other school children being beaten. With the help of Ikom Ministry of Education, the Global Xchange team arranged a teacher’s conference with teachers from both private and public schools concerning issues that the team felt needed to be addressed. Team education of Global Xchange were responsible for conducting the conference and they decided to further the conference beyond children rights and discuss how to manage schools effectively and the effect of exam malpractice.

By 10:00am, over 140 teachers were in the hall of Government secondary school in Ikom ready to learn. The number of attendees overwhelmed the volunteers as they were expecting 60 or less to arrive. Firstly, an introduction to the purpose of education was facilitated by Miss. Grace of the Ministry of Education, where she opened with the following statement: “We must take what we learn today and pass it down to teachers, parents and anyone who comes in contact with children because we need to nurture them for the future”. Laura from Global Xchange discussed volunteering and why it is important to be a volunteer. Laura and the teachers determined that volunteering is about passion, building on your own skills, helping others, sharing knowledge and most importantly giving your time in any aspect of life, whether work or personal life. Laura then explained that “teaching shouldn’t be considered a normal job, it’s a way of life and should be done from the good of your hearts and a want to give children the best opportunities and education they can possibly have.” The teachers were inspired and focused from the opening topic and the talk set a good starting point for the day to continue.

Examination malpractice was next on the agenda, facilitated by Stevie from team education and the session aimed to address the current problems with examination malpractices in Nigeria. An extract from the European Journal of Educational studies regarding examination malpractices in Nigeria stated: “Till date, examinations still remain the best tool for an objective assessment and evaluation of what teachers have achieved after a period of schooling. Hence, any action undermines examinations poses a great treat to the validity and reliability of examination results and certification. Unfortunately, the process of examination in Nigeria secondary schools has become a ‘contemporary shame’. This is because of the phenomenon of examination malpractice that has become endemic in the educational system.” Questions such as who is responsible for exam malpractice and strategies to prevent it were asked to the teachers in order for them to think about problems within their own school and how to address them. Feedback from the teachers showed that they believe the government, teachers themselves and students were all responsible. Exam malpractice is an extremely impacting issue that needs to be eradicated in order for students to have correct qualifications, the opportunity to achieve them and for teachers to conduct exams correctly. It was then concluded, that to eradicate exam malpractice there needs to be a multidimensional approach that is collaborative, involving all stakeholders in the education sector, if not, such effort will end up being an exercise in futility.

Childs rights was the basis for the teachers conference as many of the volunteers saw children being treated badly and getting beaten and they felt they had to do something about it. Mamun, a U.K. volunteer explained the feeling by saying: “us, who have come overseas, were quite shocked when we arrived in Nigeria to see children being beaten or ‘flogged’, having no respect shown to them and often treated like they are worthless”. The real concern is whether youth are being treated as a foundation for the future. Having spent 3 months working in small communities there is much talk of youth as the future but there has been no evidence that they practice what they preach or feel strong enough to make a change. A study from the UN convention of child’s rights explained, “Nigeria ratified the convention on the rights of the child on April 16^th 1991. The rights were domesticated by the child’s rights act 2003. To date, 13 states are still left to pass the act- Cross River is among those who have passed the act. But then the question is, even in the states where the bill has been passed, to what extent are the child’s rights protected and enforced?”. It’s clear from the time spend here, the answer is no. When Mamun explained this statement it was clear that many of the teachers weren’t aware of the rights children have. The law also implies that the child should not be subject to physical, mental/emotional injury, torture, abuse, inhuman or degrading treatment. This subject was the most eye-opening of the day and brought out the most response and emotions from the teachers. It was refreshing to see that most of them were very supportive of finding a better way for children to be treated and educated. An inspirational talk from Akin (programme supervisor) was given to explain to the teachers there’s only one way forward and we all need to nurture children and be role models to succeed. Nigeria, as a nation, needs to concentrate on the future of these children, because they are leaders of tomorrow. If proper attention is given to these children, it will largely influence the socio-economic political future of this country positively for the coming generation. We need, no we must recognise the dignity of these children and have a consciousness of the fact that they are too citizens protected by the law of the law.

The final topic discussed was effective school management, with specific detail on the SBMC (school based management committee). Informing the teachers that it is a system designed to enable head teachers to manage their schools more effectively had the teachers confused and wondering how it works. Every head teacher in Nigeria is or should be part of the SBMC and not many of them at the conference knew this. Most importantly, the SBMC is voluntary, so there was emphasis that the teachers should give their time to attend in order for the school to be managed more efficiently. Another issue that has been seen too often is children being sent home because they do not bring their school fees. Certain case studies were presented to inform teachers of problems that occur because children can’t afford sufficient fees. The team explained that it’s not fair or right that children get sent home because every individual is different and many families can’t afford the fees. Thus, it should be reviewed individually rather than generic for the whole school.

The day was concluded with a thank you message from the programme supervisors along with assurance that there will be support from the next team (Youth Action) to continue work on children’s rights and to make sure children and teachers get the best opportunities, facilities and support they can. With over 140 teachers present, it far surpassed the expectations that the team had before they conducted the conference. Team education were extremely overwhelmed with the support and responsiveness from the teachers and they left with a high sense of fulfillment that they started a movement and had a real positive effect on the community. The young volunteers couldn’t quite believe the achievement that had been made and in retrospect, it may have been their biggest accomplishment since arriving in Cross River State.

Joe Pound,

Global Xchange, VSO 

Story of my life.....Well 3 months of it!

Ok, so here's another update about my time in Nigeria! Im gonna kinda throw everything in this update, just like one of those hearty soups you get on a cold winters afternoon with the rice, potatoes, carrots, tomato, chicken etc (sidetracked). This kinda feels like it's one of those....Once upon a time type stories but anyway back to the subject! So maybe a month in to the programme,  the dad of the house, Mr. Mbeh Williams said lets go for a drive...we ended up at the police station and me and Mamun were told to wait in the car. An hour went by before he returned and we swiftly set off again not knowing what we had just been there for. So I plucked up the courage and asked, Sooo, what was going on there? he replied by telling me that the police have his cousin in for murder and the police wanted N50,000 (£200) to release him (WHATTTT!). Mr. Williams refused to pay and he said they would settle it later. It seems that authority in Nigeria is kinda contradictory to its name as they are not shown any respect and don't seem to have any power. Another thing that was quite interesting was the way people believed in Juju and native doctors (basically witchcraft). I had so many interesting conversations with locals and the discussions about witchcraft were very insightful. Basically, many of the locals believe if you go to a native doctor they can give you the ability to disappear when fighting, be non penetrable from a bullet, get stabbed and not have a scratch on you or curse someone with evil spirits so they will die maybe in a car crash for instance and you can have all these powers for exchange of a year taken off your life from the devil. When I asked many people if they believed it, the common response was its not if they believe it or not, its real! so its clear that witchcraft is still very much prominent and real in Nigeria. One of my host sisters Immaculeta traveled to the capitol on public transport in a mini bus and the bus drivers told her that they have N1,000,000 (£4,000) in the boot of the bus but its cursed and now she knows about the money being cursed she is cured too, so the only way for her and the money to get healed is if she pays N25,000 (£100) so they can buy healing oil to heal her and once the money is healed they will give her a third of it. She was so scared she was cursed that she agreed to give money. They pulled over to a cash machine to get money out, then they said, "now that you've used the cash machine your bank account in now cursed, so you need to give us all your bank details so we can heal it" luckily she had no money in the bank. But when she got home she transferred the N25,000 into their banks and guess what.....they didn't give her the money they promised. Now, looking at this from a western point of view its kind of like What! why would she do that, that is crazy! (which i was like), but people out there are so scared of evil spirits its unbelievable, so she was scared out of her mind.

I wish i kept a diary now because I'm trying to think about everything off the top of my head haha! So anyway, when i was out there i was without alot of comforts such as chocolate, music, a cozy bed, a warm shower, clean water and my own food but after about mid way point of the programme it felt like i was at home and i could easily do without that stuff. I started to really love the food (especially pounded yam mmmm) and I didnt mind about having home comforts because i had my team and when i was at home all i wanted to do was see the children and spent time with them so i had everything i wanted right in front of me. I really think its important to adapt to different surroundings and wherever you are whatever you doing really embrace what your experiencing. My favorite pastimes were no doubt with the children and i had so many good times with them, but also, sometimes we would go cocoa farming (serious manual labor) and afterwards bathe in the near by stream. This for me, was such an incredible experience being at one with nature and just taking time to reflect on the wonders of life. Another of my favorite pastimes was visiting villages. We lived in Ikom which is a small town and surrounding it are so many different unique villages. Anytime i got the opportunity i would ask someone to take me to the village. We would walk down the street greeting everyone passing by and if we knew someone we would go and sit in one of their shacks have a cook up, share stories and then head home. It was beautiful sharing experiences with the locals and it was so beyond my belief how inviting they were to someone they never met. I met so many wonderful locals and all these people were some of the most beautiful people i've met in the world. Their hospitality, their humor, their passion, everything about them was incredible. Beauty gets attention but personality gets the heart and the locals certainly had my heart. To be continued

World AIDS Day

So first of all im back in England and havnt had much of a chance to update the blog due to everything being so busy, but hopefully now ill get it up to date so i can start to write about the London phase which starts in 2 days.

World AIDS Day falls on December the 1st every year and the day gave us an opportunity to educate people and create awareness of the virus. Our work for World AIDS Day was spread over 2 days and begun on November the 30th where us (Global Xchange) and other NGO's around the area were divided into 6 groups of 6 in order to visit and talk to 6 secondary schools in Ikom. I wrote a article on the two days which has been published in a few places across the internet so ill attach that in a minute but first, ill tell you something that i had to keep out of the article. Midway through speaking to about 50 14-16year olds I was asked by a teacher if we could give a talk about condoms (i don't know why they picked me?!). So one of the guys casually took out a condom from his wallet and handed it to me to do the rest. After telling them how to open it i paused and realised i needed some sort of firm object of a reasonable length to aid my demonstration. I was given a stick, but hey, it's not about what you demonstrate with it's how you demonstrate that matters (no pun intended). So i carried on my inspirational speech holding a stick with a condom on it and it turned out to be quite a success and the children were very responsive and curious (good thing or bad thing?). When i later told the rest of the team i was told that talking about condom use is illegal in schools because they only want to promote 'abstinence' but lets be realistic for a second, the kids who i spoke to need to know how to use a condom becuase they are the ones who are starting to have sex now and need the information. So i will stand firm with my stick in my hand with the condom on the end and continue to promote the use of condoms. Anyway, kinda got caried away there......here's the article, hope you enjoy.

As World AIDS day approached, NGO’s involving Global Xchange wanted to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS and surrounding topics such as discrimination and HIV counseling and testing. On Wednesday 30^th November, the NGO’s decided to visit 6 secondary schools in Ikom to give the children a greater understanding of HIV/AID’S and to also allow them to ask any questions they have surrounding the topic.
As the talk began, it was incredible to see how engaged the children were. For 45 minutes the facilitators covered the following topics: what is HIV/AID’s, myths of HIV, modes of transmission, discrimination and how to live healthy with the virus. The session was designed to allow for discussion and for the children to feedback their knowledge. The response was amazing and the children really showed that they were knowledgeable on the subject. When the talk was complete, a 10 minute question and answer session followed. The response was exceptional and the children were very open with the questions they asked. We could have stayed another hour answering questions but the time was up. As the session ended, there was a real sense of achievement from both the children and volunteers and it was evident that having a short talk, can go a long way to a better understanding.

 

The following day, Thursday 1^st December marked Worlds AIDS Day, which gave the volunteers another opportunity to create awareness. However, this time the local NGO’s would participate in a rally across Ikom. By 10am, around 150 volunteers were gathered at the local government wearing white tops and blue jeans with a ribbon on their chests to symbolize the day. A truck with music playing led the rally with the volunteers dancing behind holding banners, handing out leaflets and condoms and using a megaphone to connect with the community. The locals response was very overwhelming with lots of questions being asked and appreciation for the distribution of condoms and information leaflets. After marching around town for 3 hours, the volunteers arrived at Abuja motor park to unveil a painting to raise awareness of AIDS.

In the evening, youth xchange held a concert at Ikom Town to give locals an opportunity to be involved. The evening involved music, dancing, a drama and snippets of information regarding HIV and AID’S. the evening bought out many of the community including small children and adults and everyone was enjoying the good atmosphere. Finally, the event came to a close and through 3 different events the volunteers were able to connect with many parts of the community and have a real impact in a short period of time.