Installation Meeting

            Today I had what Peace Corps calls an installation meeting. My program manager came down from the Addis office to conduct the meeting. Basically, the purpose of the meeting was to introduce Peace Corps and the work the organization does around the world. It allowed the staff at my school to understand my role at their school and the kind of support I need to make my work happen. The meeting didn’t get off to a good start. I had been told that getting a classroom would be no trouble at all but of course when the time came to get everything set up I didn’t have a room. We were told to hold the meeting in the library, but that room wasn’t suitable. The next room we tried the outlet wasn’t working. Finally, the third try worked. Next problem, most of the people from the education office that I had invited to the meeting did not show up. Once the room situation had been settled and I turned around to see who was there, I was met with just 5 faces. At this point I wanted to cry. My manager didn’t seem too worried about this but I still felt embarrassed. We waited, and waited, and waited. More people eventually came in. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 10am. Of course it didn’t start until past 11am. Throughout the meeting more staff from my school began showing up and the turn out ended up pretty good. Around 50 people were there by the end.  

            The meeting was an enormous help in allowing my school to understand what I am doing here. It helped even more that the meeting was mostly held in Amharic. Teachers and staff were able to ask my program manager questions about my work and Peace Corps in general. They discussed how to reduce the harassment that I get not only at the school but in the community at large. Overall, I was happy with how it turned out.

            The second part of the meeting was focused on the students. My director and the rest of the teachers gathered the older students (7^th and 8^th grade) in the field. I assumed they would just pick a few students for this brief meeting, however as I walked out to the field next to my manager, I was met with hundreds of students. They had gotten all the students from both grades together. I felt intimidated as I walked over to them. The students were sitting in a huge circle. We made our way towards the middle so everyone could see us. When the students finally quieted down and found a place to sit on the grass, my manager began introducing me. He explained that I am a volunteer and am here to help them improve their English. He went on to say that my name is Helena and not “ferenji,” “money,” “white,” or “China.” As I looked around at all the students and saw the majority of them interested in what my manager was saying and paying attention, the intimidation I had felt just minutes ago went away. What I was feeling is difficult for me to put into words.

Up to this point and the weeks leading up to this meeting, all the students had felt overwhelming. There’s only 1 of me and over 3,000 of them. I don’t speak their language and seem completely foreign to them. Some of them are very nice, but there are others that are really rude and at times that’s difficult to handle. It can make you question what you’re doing here. But as I was standing with all these students around me and saw how interested and focused they were I realized that they want to get to know me and no one had yet formally introduced me to them. And throughout the next 2 years, this is something I need to show them, that I am not so foreign to them and we can find ways to relate to one another and help one another. No one had told them what the foreigner was doing at their school. Just because they are children doesn’t mean they don’t need to know what is going on. This is their school and they have every right to question what I am doing and why I’m there. It’s a respect thing and in that moment I saw how a little respect goes a long way. When you treat children like they matter, like adults, they will respect you. At this point I no longer felt overwhelmed or nervous by their presence, but got a rush of excitement and exhilaration. This is the most excited I’ve felt since I’ve arrived at this school, to work with these students, to get to know them. And that’s exactly what I told them. I let them know that I now had a classroom and I hope that they come in and to talk to me. One student asked a question, wanting to know when I would be at the school. Another asked why I had never really spoken to any of them, that when they shout hello to me I just turn around and wave. I had never realized that this wasn’t really greeting them. In our culture waving at someone acknowledges that you saw them and we are okay with this simple greeting. Waving does not mean greeting someone here. They actually want me to talk back to them so I let him know that when he calls me by my name now, we can talk as much as he wants. This made them all smile and laugh. Another asked how I would be able to help all of them. I responded by letting him know that I would talk to anyone who came to talk to me. It seemed like a good answer in the moment and we will see how tomorrow goes, but hopefully my classroom doesn’t get swarmed by 500 7^th graders because I’m not sure how I will handle that.