Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The Harvest

Well, harvesting corn is no small task, let me assure you. I spent four hours with a group of girls on a corn stack, ripping the corn of the stalks and then stripping them of their husk. Our stack barley looked different after four hours! It is grueling work, but the girls sang a lot and taught me songs, which made the time pass a wee bit faster. The headmaster came and yelled at our group for working too slow and gave us to two additional corn stacks to do. I left at noon and it looked like it was going to be a long afternoon for my workmates. We probably will have to work in the fields tomorrow as well as there were still a whole lot of corn stacks to do when I left.

Some students stayed at the school to clean the classrooms and yard. They sweep and mop the classrooms each day, wash the chalkboards, and sweep the courtyard as well...all on a rotational basis. Imagine students in the states having to do that.

A particular low point was when the girls starting shouting "madam, Madam, look at your pants!" I yelped when I saw the giant black spider cheerfully crawling up my pants and we all beat it off and murdered it on the spot. I am glad that we will finish up this nasty business soon.

I think this is a good learning opportunity for students. At the very least it will inspire them to stay in school and study hard for their exams so they can escape the drudgery of farm life.

Must go as a line is forming behind me to get on this computer.

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