A Success Story

My group's COS conference is coming up next week. We've got a bunch of paperwork to fill out and things to do before our first session. For one of our assignments Peace Corps wants us to write a success story from our service. This can be anything from work to community integration. I chose a story from school and I thought I would share on my blog. 

Enjoy!

From Butajira Ethiopia

A Peace Corps success story

Helena Chevallier, G9 education 2013-2015

One of my fondest memories from my Peace Corps service has been the progress I have made with my grades 5 & 6 English club. This club was by far the most unorganized, in terms of logistics. My first year I had tried to get this club started but was having a difficult time getting the English teacher to help me. I tried again my second year but it was the same situation.

When I started getting random students from grades 5 and 6 coming to my classroom during their free time I took the initiative and told those students about English club. I thought, “To hell with it. If the teachers aren’t going to help, I’m just going to do it myself.” I explained to the students when they should come back and on what days. These students are not formerly registered, like the ones for my grades 7 & 8 club. (I had a teacher to help me facilitate that one in the beginning of the school year making it “organized”). Even though this club (grades 5 & 6) was much less organized, it had been the highlight of each week. I had the same eight students that came week in and week out. They were always so eager and excited for club. Much more than the club I run for the older students. These younger students were always on time and ready to go. When I first started my service I would have thought having only eight students was a huge failure. Over time though I’ve learned that it’s not the numbers that matter. I had eight students that loved my club and that was enough.

I'm not going to lie. I definitely had days when I felt unmotivated and really uninterested in doing club. Dreading the walk, I somehow always made my way to the school though. Whenever I started sessions with this club in particular my mood always lifted. These eight students were always able to turn a bad day upside down. So why do I consider this group of students to be my “success”? It’s hard to explain, but I’m going to try.

The English level of most of these students is quite low and with my limited Amharic skills it could be quite difficult sometimes, but they were always so patient. And that in turn allowed me to be patient. They really did their best to listen to what I said and we learned to all work together so that everyone understood their tasks. In my last couple of months I gave them activities where they had to be more creative. With the language barrier this was not a simple task. But I took my time explaining the lessons and activities to them. When I would first give them a task that they were not used to they would look at me like I was crazy and they had no idea what I was asking them to do.

I've thought of this a lot and I think it's because the things I asked them to do, no one had ever asked of them before. For example, on one of our last meetings I had them imagine their lives after 10 years. I asked them specific questions about what they saw for their futures and asked them to draw the life they saw for themselves. To understand this concept I really had to break it down and go through this one step at a time. But as I saw them process their assignment and what I was telling them to do, I could tell this was something they had never thought of before. And when it finally clicked in their minds, what it was that I wanted them to do, they got to it immediately and came up with some great drawings. Seeing that "aha" moment on their faces is what did it for me. They were so excited to use the markers, make their drawings, and then describe it to the class. They were so happy. That's what made this club so successful for me. In the beginning they were very unsure of me. Over the months we had together though, they became much more comfortable. All of them always came to our meetings on time and ready to go, no matter how much they didn’t understand or how long it took them to understand. That never stopped them from coming to our sessions.

I allowed and gave the students the time they needed to understand and I was patient with them. I let them think about what I was saying and made sure they were always all on the same page and in the end I realized the students really appreciated that. If they didn’t they wouldn’t have kept coming. I don’t think they are often given that one on one attention. Not like what I give them. That’s what made this club difficult at first. They didn’t understand what I was doing. I spent time with them individually and if they didn’t understand I didn’t let them shrug it off. I sat with them at their level and made sure they got it. I think they appreciated that and that’s what made this club so successful. Seeing them happy made me so happy. They just wanted to spend time with me and learn with me.

These students showed me that if you give kids the little push and attention that they need, they can do so much with it. They will always be an important part of my time in Ethiopia and the memories I made with them will stay with me forever.