Give Me Five Birr??

After being on vacation for so long we’ve transferred back into work perfectly. The only thing that’s been difficult at school is getting used to lower attendance. Just like in the States when work slows down between Christmas and New Years, students tend to stop showing up between Genna (Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas) and Timket (Epiphany). Many people leave town to visit their families or their families are making the journey to Gondar. Whatever the case, work and school seem to be on the back burner even as we approach final exams for the first semester. During the last two weeks, we regularly find about 15-20 students in our final classes of the afternoon session, a far cry from the 65-70 students that should be there. This being the case the students that do show up have been incredibly well mannered and as eager as always. Final exams are the Monday following Timket, which is in 9 days. Most of our classes haven’t completed Unit 6 yet (the final Unit before finals) and we still need time to prepare for finals. I smell a time crunch coming….

This week we dove into the chapter in our exercise books about HIV/AIDS. I find this material interesting, not simply for the educational value for the students, but because I like learning what the students know and don’t know about HIV. We’ve regularly had students in different sections contend that you can get HIV by drinking after someone with HIV or getting your hair cut by a barber who has previously cut the hair of someone who has HIV. It’s shocking to me that some students know so little about HIV but it’s all around them. We haven’t asked the question yet but I’m sure some of these young people know or knew someone with HIV. It’s also very possible that HIV in one way or another has directly affected a lot of our students. It’s such an important issue that it’s in their English textbook. Throughout all my years of school I never had one specific lesson in any class devoted solely to the topic of HIV. I chose to write a term paper about HIV/AIDS for an African history class. When my family was in South Africa years ago we visited an AIDS clinic and I was stunned. There were babies, toddlers, young adults and elderly people there. HIV affects people young and old; age has no bearing. It’s important that we talk about this subject with these young people.

After finishing a great day on Wednesday I was walking out of school over to our car. I felt good about the day. The lesson plan was great and the students took to it brilliantly. Classes were lively. As I strolled down the sidewalk one of my students came jogging after me yelling, “Max, Max!”. I stopped and greeted her. She stood there for a half second before asking me, “give me five birr?”. I’m your teacher. You’re my student. No student would dare ask any other teacher at Fasiledes for money. It’s something that is just inescapable here. We’ve been teaching here for over four months and some of our students still look at us as rich Westerners who are willing and able to hand out money. I really thought I was safe from all of that at my place of work. It turns out I’m not. It was really disheartening but something that you have to deal with here. Here, I am always going to be the rich Westerner and as much as I think I’ve assimilated someone is always willing to bring me back down to Earth.