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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1976-06-02, Page 10John Rutledge writes about Volunteer pleasant pace with room for game with the roomies, wtifiag GSTS, P.M.B. 2010, Mashi via Katsina, Kaclund State, Nigeria , West Africa. Greetings to cherished friends back in Brussels. Although I am many miles from the little village, all Brusselites are very much in .my thoughts. I receive The Post irregularly thanks to the, International Mail Service but when it does get through the news of small town Canada brightens_ the spirits. I've enclosed a post report which I wrote for. CUSO in hopes it will give you some insight into the realities of a third world country. When people ask, me where I'm from I answer Brussels and they think Belgium but then I clue them in. John Rutledge CUSO Experience Canadian University Service Overseas, CUSO," is a development organization trying to help less fortunate countries in , their struggle towards a more fulfilling lifestyle for their citizens. CUSO provides manpower to fill positions that these countries have a shortage of personnel for. I am presently teaching technical drawing in a secondary school near Mashi village of Northern Nigeria in West Africa. The following collection of words or lineS with spaces between them is some of the reflections of one CUSO's experience. Mash; village is nestled in a slight valley half way' between Katsina and Daura on a single lane hardtop road. The village houses some two thou_ sand Nigerians in traditional flat roofed adobe houses or circular adobe block dwellings with conical. thatched roofs. Each household consists of several dwellings in an • 'enclosure surrounded by an adobe or woven grass •or corn' stalk fence. The Muslim religion permits a man to have more than': one wife if he desires and can afford to. Each wife has a separate sleeping quarter. Daily jiving is done outdoors in this enclosure. Most cooking is done outside over small wood fires in metal or clay earthenware pots. For ' cookery, the women use the calabash gourd bowls, locally crafted wooden spoons, and metal knives and spoons all available in the weekly market. Within the household enclosure there may also be large circular granaries woven like huge baskets from savanna grass.' These huge grain baskets are topped with conical thatched roofs which protect the stores of millet or maize. A emit-ion sight is to see women pounding maize or millet with a large wooden pestle in a huge wooden Mortar. Then by passing the pounded grain from calabash to calabash in the wind the chaff is separated front the useable grain. Market Merchants bring their goods to a weekly Market in Mashi. These wares are spread out on woven grasS mats on the ground under low thatached booths. Cloth merchants hang the colourful Afridart cottons in the shade of trees, F.a.rrnets sell rice, corn, millet, groundnuts (peanuts), guinea: corn, and local grains heaped in huge woven grass baskets tit be sold in "measures" depending on the aniount in an enamel bowl that the biiyet needs, Bush catt, le, sheep and goats are slaughtered in the morning Under an open sided shed The carcass is ea into itidistihguishable hunks, nothing 10. THE BRUSSELS POST,' being discarded. One can buy any part of the animal' from the stomach of a cow to it's fore legs and hooves to the head of a goat. There is no refrigeration in this market so the "cuts" of meat are spread out on corn' stalk mats in the sun or the shade of a tree. Craftsmen braid rope, carve designs in gourds producing the calabash bowls, paint designs on corn stalk mats, Weave colourful grass baskets, grass pot covers, and grass floor mats. Some ply cotton thread for the weavers by 'holding a bobbin of thread in the toes of each foot and one in the crotch then by a twist of the fingers they wrap.3 ply thread in a skein about their elbow and wrist; a process using only 'the desteritY of the body. Leather. workers craft leather sheathed knives embossed in traditional African motifs, goat skin tote bags, sandals • and good luck amuletS for body , adornment. Mottled 'rust coloured agate stones are strung and sold as necklaces by travelling traders. All the used clothing which comes from more fortunate countries are hung on clothes lines and sold very cheaply. Coconut, guava, green ripe oranges, lemons, limes, bananas, pawpaws and pineapples when in their season are to be bargained for. Local gardeners transport to market by donkey their produce of. massive yams, sweet potatoes, spicy hot peppers, pear shaped tomatoes, cooking and spring onions. Salt is available in solid blocks. Cakes of solid molasses sugar can be bought and ground into a powder for table use. In walled enclosures to the rear of the market goats, sheep, long horned humped 'back' cattle, and horse's are 'auctioned in their respective sections. Bargaining Amongst this hodge-podge of stalls and low booths crowd the local people of Mashi milling about bargaining for their weekly needs in a slight haze of sirred up laterite dust. All items are bargained for by the merchant quoting a. high price which is refuted by the buyer demanding a lower price. A time consuming "palaver" begins until a "last price" is agreed upon -by both. Bargaining for satisfactory "last prices" on your weekly supplies is a challenge which sets the pace for the Mood of Niashi's weekly market. The village is set in semi-desert savanna topography of hard reddish tan laterite soil, granite rock outcroppings eroded by exfoliation into stark shapes, sparse patches of long savanna grass, and stunted African trees. Baobab and dumpaInt are two trees common ,to the savanna, There are no property divisions such as• line fences only open bush country scattered with the villages df the Fulani and Hausa tribes; Their crops and garden .plots. Daily sights are 'women , going to the wells balancing huge ball-shaped earthenware water jugs on their heads and young boys herding cattle, lambs, and goats which wanter everywhere to find sparse graling. Using a hoe consisting of a round wooden handle with a metal blade affixed perpendicular to this handle;• farmers with bent hacks till their crops by hand. Viewing the local sights and life One cannot avoid feeling a Sense Of timelessness. Schools' Amongst the 'daily life of the Mashi area the Government Secondary Technical School (6STS) of plastered concrete block buildings struggles' to JUNE 20 1876 provide an education which will enable its students 'to pass exams based on technically advanced countries' syllabus passed down by the West African Examination Council, WAEC. From 1959.1971 the school taught craftwork until it commenced its life of GSTS. The 1974/75 academic year, Mashi students had for the first time completed five forms of secondary education and sat for their WAEC exams in Katsina. This year students will write their, school certificate exams right at. Mashi school. GSTS Mashi is a young and growing, school of about 560 boys age , from 13 to 25 ,years. The boys are crowded into concrete block dormitories. The staff numbers 22' including 2 from England, 2 from PalciStan, another Canadian and myself; the, balance being Nigerian. • The classrooms open to the air with windows down each side of the rooms provide a' good cross ventilation to lessen the effects of the tropical heat. Academic subjects are • English, Mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, Islamic and Christian religious knowledge. In the technical field there . is a woodwork, metalwork' and electrical labs; the first two are well equipped with the later having next to no equipment so that only , electrical theory is taught. Technical drawing is my department which consists of two classrooms roughly connected to drawing lab.s Presently there are only enough drawing boards for one class when two are scheduled simultaneously. The drawing instruments are of inferior quality and suffer through use. The deskS available are the standard academic classroom size only big enough for the pupil to set his drawing board and T-square on with the scales and set squares usually resting :in' the student's lap or on the floor. The drawing table space is not suffiCient for proper manipulation of the instruments. Similar 'situations are common in most Nigerian classrooms and schools. Nigeria is a land of manytribes and tongues the major ones being Hausa ; Fulani, Yoruba; Tiy, Idorna and lbo. The Nigerian government has adopted the English language as the tongue for government administration and education. In doing' this Nigeria hopes to bring it's internal diversity into a patriotic union. Not stressed Here in. Northern Nigeria English language is taught, at the primary level but not 'stressed resulting in students seldom beginning to apply English until they've entered the first form of secondary school. English, the educational language of Nigeria, is for all tudents here a second language s , This. is detrimental to the majority of results as students aro,expected to achieve secondary level standards in 5 farms using the English tongue when he only commenced applying. English in the first of these five forms. A lack of, or improper planning of, teaching aidS and facilities coupled with the difficulty the students face utilizing a second language,challenge teachers, myself incuded, to improvise and cope' with what is available order to give the students an education towards decent opportunities' Which third world countries like Nigeria Strive to provide their' citizens. Life for forme iii'. Northern Nigeria is riot bound to"the pressure of the rat race" known in the WeSteitt World but is one of a personal thoughts, I share a letters, to distant friends roomy house with another volunteer from' Canada and one from England. Our young Nigerian houseboy lessens our daily chores by keeping our house clean and by washing and ironing our clothes. Once in the early morning before the intensity of the African sun' then again in, the late day when the sun is lOw on the horizon our houseboy waters our small garden which provides us with some refreshing fresh vegetables year-round. . Our cooking is done on a propane gas stove. We chill our boiled and filtered water in a kerosene refrigerator. Our water Must be boiled and filtered for health reasons. The much needed water supply is trucked daily from Katsina which is 25 miles away. Tanks behind each house raised on concrete stilts enables running water by the hydrost atic method. Electrical power from a generator provides the school community with power between 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. One soon adapts to 'these hours although it does mean a forced bedtime of 11:00 p.m. Little relaxation There is little established recreation which is of abundance in the western world. Relaxation usually is curled up with an interesting book, 'a heated card family , or of course planning next day's lessons. Weekly we. visit Katsina lot supplies not .available in Masi While in Katsina we visit other' expatriates quaffing beet out of litre bottles while relathi in the shade trees of the oh cotirtyard of the' Katsina Club, The situations in' Nigeria.yap from citizens whe still live to adobe houses much the same way as their ancestors have foT hundreds of years to the citizen` who have attained a univerk education adopting a western my of life., One can see the opei sewer lack of sanitation in tie, crowded inner cities then a fe blocks down the street sprawlill luxury hotel designed of international standards; Shopping is 'done by the loci people in markets similar to one I described in Mashi. Thosa who have adopted a western style: shop in small department storeii similar to those in westere worlds. Here in a third world ist wide gap between the ancieel, ways of the bush people and the` Western ways of the people with paying jobs. Seeing the diversity that exists within' Nigeria is 'a' shocking and, somewhat bewilderink experience for me but one thatl, hope will give me a sin understanding of some of ow.' world's complexity. QUALITY SERVICE CRAPTMANSHIP Open Every Weekday Your Guarantee for Over 35 Years of CEMETERY LETTERING Box 158, WINGHAM. JOHN MALL1CK Directors and Adjustera OrRobt.Archiliald,R.R.4, Seaforth Ken Carnoehan, R.RA, Seaforth Lavern Godkin i R.R.41,Walten Ross Leonhardt, R.R.1, Bornholm John MeEwing, R.R.1, Myth , Stanley McIlwain,R.S,2, Goderith Donald MeXerther, Win. Pepper, Itrucefield J.N.Treiwtirtha,Box 661, Clinton BRUSSELS STOCKYARDS LTD. EVERY FRIDAY At 12 Noon. Phone 887-6461 Agents: James keys; R.R.11 Sestferth, Wm. Leiper, LondeSboro Stev" ICILEtt, Seat° McKILLOP MUTUAL FIRE, INSURANCE COMPANY Eitablished 1876 HEAD OFFICE: Seatorth, Ontario Mrs, Margaret Sharp. Sec.,Treas.,Phorie 527.0400 It. 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