HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1979-09-13, Page 25al
i r' te enc
WRVS: s I!To e, Margie Whyte, a teacher to
Guelph is a graduate of SD11,S and the
daughter .of Margaret Whyte of Huilet
Twp. and the late WA,- Whyte).
BY MARGIE WHYTE
1 have :spent a most unique summer 'in
Gambia,, West Africa, as .one of seven:
Canadian: teachers sponsored by the
Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF) to
work along with the Gambian Teachers'
Union (GTU .to instruct at a three week
in-service and pre -service training etniise
for :unqualified teachers. Each summer the
CTF sends about 60 delegates representing
all the provincial teacher federations to
aobut: 12 developing countries to assist
with teacher training programs there.
Our team, which • included teachers from
B.C., Alberta, Ontario and P.E.T. arrived
in The. Gambia early in July to stay five
weeks. The GTU organized an orientation
program at which we became acquainted.
v ith government officials, visited several
ehools and attended graduation cere-
monies at the one and only teacher training
college,
it ne eaambian government is. struggling
to over come the 10% literacy rate of their
people. The current educational system
incledes'primary school (6 years), followed
by secondary -technical school (4 years) or
highschool (6 years). About 40% of the
Gambian children ;attend primary school:
with only about 7% (mostly boys) ;getting
some form of secondary education, The.
only post -secondary institution in Africa's
smallest country is the three-year teacher
training program at Tundum. Since" com-
pletion. of this program is not a mandatory
requirement in order to become a teacher,
60% of the teachers. are unqualified, some
ofwhich may not have even completed.
their highschool courses. These un-
qualified teachers, however, must attend
three-week pre -service -training;: (before
first teaching year) and in• service 'training,
(after first teaching year) courses during.
the summer vacation in July and August. It
is these courses that we Canadian teachers
along with our Gambian co -tutors ' help to.
co-ordinate and conduct.
For the math program, in which' I was
involved, we stressed both content (metric,
system graphing 'etc.) and methodology
(teaching and testing techniques). Each •
stud ent had the opportunity to present •a
sample lesson' to his/her counterparts,
with everyone being involved in• construe:
tive criticism.
The three weeks went far too;. quickly,
and I only hope thatour brief contribution
was felt as worthwhile. We Canadians,' for
sure, gained: so much both personally and
professionally, just by living and working':
in another culture. Experience certainly is
the best teacher!
While in Banjul, Gambia's capital city,
our team of seven shared two flats.
(apartments) that were temporarily , vac
ated . by 'Gambian teachers on school
holidays, We were spoiled by having our
own Gambian. cook who' prepared
us
delicious rice dishes..(r. (rice being their staple
food),, ground nut stew„ •dernoda and,
benachin. We enjoyed lets :of fresh fruit
and vegetables pineapple, mango, ban-
ana, cassava. okra, peppers, onions, egg
plant and bitter tomato, etc. Gambians eat.
very hot and spicy food dishes but our cook
very kindly took it easy on the hot peppers!
The Gambia is the most northerly
English speaking West African country. It
is spread over 15 to 25 km on either side of
the Gambia river, for a length of 500 km;
from. its estuary. The half -million people
form :a melting pot of numerous African
ethnic groups, Because of the .many.
dialects, English is used as the official
language of instruction in the schools.
The Gambia has become more widely
known through the book (and TV series)
entitled' ROOTS, J'uffure, a small village in
The Gambia, is the homeland of Kunta,
Kinte, the great great grandfather of plea
Haley,
We had great fun visiting the colourful
and alive open-air markets. We were
expected to bargain for their native crafts,
which include ebony and mahogany wood
carvings, batik cloth designs, gold & silver
filigree jeweler,, straw & leather handi-
crafts and tie-dyed materials and articles of.
clothing.
We attended a fantastic International,
Year of the Child parade and celebration in
Banjul.. School, children came dressed in
native costumes and treated the audience
and President Jawara to native singing,.
dancing and drumming,
Gambia's weather during our ;five week
visit was rather hotand rainy. Temper-
atures ranged front 27° to 35c C. Rain
showers were numerous but brief, so that
we had lots of sun too!
Ground -nuts, more commonly known to
us as peanuts, are Gambia's` major export.
We toured through a large peanut factory,
and it was interesting to note that other
Peanut products include peanut oil, cattle
cake, soap -'and chip -board: Although
Gambia's economy is . almost entirely
agricultural, fishing and tourism have
developed rapidly in the 1970's.
Islam is the principal religion with 90%
of the Gambian people being Moslems.
While we were there,. they were celebrat-
ing Ramadan, a month of fasting whereby
they must refrain from eating, drinkingi.
etc. during daylight hours.
The Gambia has enjoyed a high degree
of stability since independence; in 1965:
being-fhe"only.° former, - British West Africa.
territory not to have:experienced a military
coup and one of the few African countries
to have no political prisoners.
• . CHEERFUL:
The Gambians are a lively and cheerful'
lot! Although they`do not have all the
technology and comforts
of life that we in,
the western world tend to take for granted,.
we could certainly learn from them how to
appreciate the more;basic things. ;in: life.
Friendliness, .kindness andg ood will
indeed' do entinate from. these .beautiful
people of this developing! nation.
Ou"r project officially ended August 10,
and so with three weeks before Canadian;
schools would open, 1" teak the opportunity i
to visit friends :itt Sierra Leone who had
previously participated in the Canadian
f;`rossroads'.International cultural exchange
,program. in Ontario. 1"m now convince4.
that living with native families is by far the
best and most 'interesting way to learn
about another's culture I especially will
remember ntv humble attempts at eating
nee and cassava teat stew it.. my fingers.
The five children with whom 1 was, sharing;
this particular meal ;made it look so easy,
but yours: truly -came out looking rather
sheepish. '1 here sure is a knack te. "eating',
with one's fingers gracefully.
While in Freetown, I also visited with the
CTF team of five Canadian teachers, and,
together we attended a performance' by
the Sierra Leonean National Dance Troupe.
T can now understand why they have won
numerous world-wide awards. Excellent ,
drumming, unique costumes and acrobatic
stunts °made for a most entertaining..
evening,
Tie;dying k also an art which the Sierra
1.coneans, as do the Gambians,.,;perfe(t♦
Tablecloths, bed sheets, pillow cases,
T-shirts and wrap around skirts were the
most common articles to be tie-dyed'.
Following my visits in The Gambia and
Sierra Leone, 1 made England niy last port
of call, where 1,_iust had to meet: my two
year oldEnglish god-daughter,Her moth-
er and.l had met in Australia in 1972 and
toured together for seven" months,: As you
can likely gather, travelling has added a
great dimension to my life. There are Tots'
of beautiful people out there, and we are all
basically the saniie deep -down!
It's back to teaching for me in Guelph
and beiing.ltterntitional Year of the Child, 1
look forward to the cross -Canada `IYC Day.
on •Wednesday, October 24, when develop-
. mein education is to replace all regular
curriculum. Don't miss the special tele-
vision production onk1YC planned for the
eveniing, of October .22!:
Development education is Certainly be -
corning more prominent and relevant in,
today's world.•There are many Canadian
agencies that co-ordinate cultural ex-
changes . in developing nations. I` in
particular, will gladly distribute upon
request,' information brochures on the two
short-term programs :mentioned above that
I have participatedin:
•- - i}C.anadia Crossroads"°lnternational -
persons of any occupation; teachers and
students included, minimum age. is 19.
2) Project Overseas, sponsored by the,
Canadian Teachers'' Federation, for per-,.
sons with a minimum of five .years
teaching experience. " Thus, for further
information contact Margie 'Whyte, Willow.
Road' Senior .'Public" School, 125 Willow
Road, Guelph Ontario. Applications for the
summer 1980 programs .must be submitted
earl this aum
y tu, so don't delay if you're
interested!
After arriving in Canada w'
The story. o theIndochinese
f :refugee
movement is -
eme is front-page news'. around the
world. But . :.
u most Canadians are like John.
Dunlop, an Immigration Officer in
the
i
Qntar, o Region of Employment andim-
• migration Canada, who admits that,. the
only things s
I knew
w aboa
ut the'indochih`
es
e
refugees wereWhat •1 read in th'papers.
Until;duty called,
that is, and he was
assigned to travel .to, Hong Kong accent
panying a deportee who was. to, be turned
over to the. authorities there.
The Journey began in o
ionto on August
st
10 and ended back in
the same city nine
days later, In betweenthese -
y se dates, Dunlop
s ent the qof several p equivalentevetal days in the
air, but he was also able to spend a full da'
y
with Immigration Officer Scott Mullin as he
,
visited one of Kong's populous
� f.Hgmost pul s
refugee .camps, Kai Tai West,
Some'of the impressions Dunlop gained
p.
of Hong'Kongand environs were purely
P. y
physical, such as his thoughts about the
weath er: "It was like a.sauna bath most of
the time," he says, "with temperatures of
110'' -1150 F and humidity that was the
next best thing to rain."
To illustrate this point, he explains that
Immigration Officer Mullin carried two
towels' with himt all a I tithesin; his
= one
hand for Moppin -
up perspiration at that
moment, and one in his briefcase, either in
'reserve or used, depending on the time of
day,
Of the camps, Dunlop says: "It's a
;deplorable situation to be confronted with,
thousands of people with no place to go,"
But despite this, he says, the conditions
in the Hong Kong camps are remarkably
good♦ The camp compounds are clean and
the peeple well fed. Sanintry faciit
ies,
although crude are also Uniformly mid,
B � Uniformly .
Aft of these points, Dunlop says, tire in
direct contrast tO conditions that are saan
did
exist in' the refugee eats p Malaysia. s of
1
g ..._,unlep's impression of the people living
in the camps was also'g good, although.'e.
Y. B �_ h
was surprised to find- that so few of them
knew anything about their prospective
homeland, He remembers watching, With
tome 'amusement, Scott Mullin's vain
e
E►FORTi . Q.NTM 10:1, THU;RSDA1 t SEPTEMBER 11, 1St
The IPM:
then and
now
FROM, HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
The .International Plowing Match and Farm
rn
Machinery Show has come a long way 'since ' its
u:
h rnble-be ronin s ' in
g 1919...The 1925 Inter-
national Plowing
Match, pictured above, was
held at the:. Ontario Hospital Farm near
Brockville, Leeds County it. featured plowing,
competitions with horses and only a handful of
attempts to communicate some idea, of
Canada's vastness to a.disbelieving ref-
ugee who simply could not comprehend
such size..
o re -rn ers the hurried attempts
Heals memo u pts
toexplain to theuzzled head of one faile
.w samples seven by the urine camp es of all,
fam:mem
Y (q
il bers (required for the medical
) could exa ination co d not: be collected' in one
m
bottle,
But, perhaps
the most vivid, memory
John Dunlop has of the people in the camps
it P P
is of the muscular young man who took.
time out from the. labourer's job he
had
foundout id the camp,topresent himself
forimmigration interview on two
o an g
Consecutive days,
He sat.i i front of Scott ullin dripping
Irl r ° ° .M � ,(�Png
wet froth his.exertions, his clothes sticking 8
t ibodyin '.. , as he
ohs the heat t and humidity,
explained that he would work hard in
Canada, and that he would do any kind of
work,.,if only he were allowedto go there,
The Melbourne Age is publishing what
they describe as an "instant book" on
Indochinese refugees for .syndication 'in
several countries, including Britain, United
States and Canada,
Jennifer Byrne, Washington correspon-
dent for the metropolitanolitan Australian tieas-
Pa er, flew. to Toronto Aug. 23 to research
and. write a.chapter of the book on.
Canada's coniniitment to the refugee
problem, the cultural shock initially ex•
-
vericnced and the ex ericnces and obser-
ations of those refugees who have been in
Canada for more that a year
addition interviewing refu ee
7n ad i to to . g
families, the writer visited the Immigrant
Settletttent unit at the Toronto Central,
Canada Employments Centre ,'where she
talked to counsellor Aussie Allen. -She also
dropped by the Department's exhibit at the
'CNE to talk to staff about public views on
the refugee question that they heard in the
course of their dirties.
The book is scheduled to come out:.
sm5o etim inSeptember,. .
a �.,.;,.,.
NOT JVST A 1vIATTER;'O1'
INTERPRETATION
Some of the busiest people' involved in
•
the Indochineserefugee program are the
interpreters employed by Immigration
Settlement: Their duties involve more than
straight.,translation.. Interpreters'are an.
integral fart of any welcomingcommittee
at the:air. ort and after. the refugees"
P ge .
initial orientation, before being channeled
to Ontario Welcome Houseand other
a>encies in Toronto and g
throughout the
� .
province,
Mo F u Won • is one of five full time
interpreters now on staff at the Toronto
office' of Immigration ration Settlement, Theyall
S
es and three of them can
speak k Chmc ea .cospeak
Vietnamese as well. Mo Kei, 'herself, is
multi-lingual. •She was born in .Laos,
althotrgh the family moved . to Vietnam
when she was very young, She can't speak
Laotian but she is able to understand the
• gist of what someone is saying. Fluent in
Vietimntcsee, both Mandarin and 'Canton-
ese, French and English. she is wellequipped to handle almost any translating,
job required, •
Just before the fall of South Vietnam itt
1975, Mo Kei came to • Montreal' as a -
student itt order to "Learn English. She was
only 15 at the time and, no doubt, her
' cxlier'tenc.es grappling with both a strange
g g p w
inn iia a and culture,. cciu [cd with the
separation from her family .rind an unfani-
iliar t:ii'nintc,, have made her 'esPecially
empathetic to the plight of the more recent
refugees, . .
'Ma 'Kei realizes hose fortunate she was
that she didn't have. to suffer the terrible
exper°icncesshe hears about each day from
the new airrivalS. Pori example, the extend -
td family of" 26, where all but six drowned,
is a
tragically e rnmat1 lace story
. "Oncc
Victnani fell, a relative si,u„cored her
So
she could' remain in Can..da, Shortly'
thereafter, herarents and then n brother,
P ,
were able to join: her .
After spending twoyears itt pari
p lir s
studying fashion design, Mo Kei Cache 'to”
Toronto in 178. When she heard h card about the
deed for translators, she add hit.
mediately. Site; along with the other
interpreters, feels Ilei' work is much ntot"e
than lust a "nub' each time she speaks to a
refugee and realizes how grateful they are
to have someone" who not only understands
their language, but also their anxieties.
Single mothers; in particular, are initially
overwhelined
by all thathas happened
.
Manyof them have no 'Idea. what
;ea,what has
happened to their husbands,
On busy'days, an interpreter can see as
many as 30 or 40peo le,..but the •average'is'
P P g ,.
twenty.. The first day• orientation session
includes. a .description of how the transit
system works, what government. services
, there. are,, the iinporta ace of a Social
Insurance Number, how to look for
accommodation, sign up for . classes or
search for a job. They are also told about
the various agencies, Chinese and Viet-
namese associations and Ontario Welcome
House, all of whom are available .to assist
the new immigrant.
After their. horrendous experiences,.
most refugees are able to Cope with almost
anything but they " do confess some
trepidation. about facing a Canadian win-
ter. Most of them have ;heard tales about
our Arctic climate, eight months of snow
and ice a foot thick. Many of them seem
unaward that all buildings are well heated,
in winter and that suitable clothing means
non
one need freeze outdoors"
As part of their orientation, such
"strange" western customs as queuing are
explained. In Indochina, people don't form
orderly lines at the bank, bus stops,
grocery stores or movies: They also learn
that they don't have to ask the ;govern-
nlent's permission anytime they want to do
something. Two engaged couples were
delighted when they were told they.coutd
martY whenever they chose, without
approval from. Ottawa.
While thearents are being instructed in'
p
the nuances of Canadian life the children
are busy absorbing
their own far'tc of
.
Canadian life. They are entrancedby ny
staff member with a beard, Since beards
are almost unknown in Vietnam, curiosity
often overcomes their shyness y
and they
.
take turns tugging at the bushier ones to
see if they're detachable,
Most of the., ' i s 11a41e spent a.w
m
•
•
tents. Now the match features 600,, exhibits in ' ..
the Tented City, making the event the largest
outdoor farm machinery show• in North
t tt y
the 1979
.America. Kent County is. the host ofh 7
International Plowing Match and Farm Mach- .
finery:' Show, September 25 to 29, The
250 -hectare site is .located 5 kilometres south of
Chatham, off Highway 40, (OtylAF ph+tos).
minimtrni of three to four months in a camp ..
and many, who came via Thailand or
Indonesia, have spent up to two years
.gaiting to be resettled. Although the vast
majority a the recent arrivals,' are from
South`Vietnani—onlY tWo ter three per cent
are Knniers andlaotiatts m. -an increasing
number are now corning from the North.
Occupational skills of the refugees', have
also changed since that initial exodus,, Four
years ago, the business mato an&pt;ofesw
sionals were itt the majority. Now, most are
office workers and trades people,.
Although the work of Settlement staff
members can he emotionally draining, they
feel well compensated when they hear
about the successful. adjustments made' by
many of the refugeesso soon after their
arrival here.
One man, a horse breeder in Vietnam,
was hired to look after a large estate in
suburban `roronto and hiw, i itc was
employed to do housework, Their employ-
ers gave tern a furnished cottage on the
grounds and even addeda bedroom fora
nephew and a brother. Reports indicate'
that everyone is equally •eleliglted with: the
' : arrangement; ,
A62 olc, echanae was im medtar ly
snapped up by a manufaeturcr of cranes
and hydraulic jacks who bad been looking
for someone, without success, for 'half a
Year, The man .has now been happily=
employed for five months. Initially he
spoke no English whatsoever. but the
owner of the company was so desparate to
have him, .he hired another refugee for one
tnniith, just to act as an interpreter for the
mcehanfc.
Because the refu gees are: soeager to
g
adjust to life here and find work, as sodic: as
possible, the people who art involved with
them believe that such happy endings will
become increasingly common.
enovating?
would like
Our readers �e
o share your;e1
r ✓t
..�
' �y
e ,r e
Have you, re,cently 'renovated y. our
house?
Whether youdid the work yourselves
or
contracted at out, other readers would like to
hear about yotir renovating, experieneeS.
The a Hur on ;1:.,rtposttot' is looking for 'ltte:al
families ssho have recently completed or are
now involved in iconie renovations, inside or
v.
outside, large or small. IPerhaps,coir'we
added a fancily room, put in energy saving
insulation or irentodeled year hoose to giVe
nttteh n:ceded. space,
Wed d 'like to use your story in a planned ned
home renovation feature edition corning up
in a future issue of the
Exposit*. If you can
if.
tore r'e a bit of time to talk about, your
spa
experiences, please call: Susan White et'
Alice Gibb at the ExpeSitor, S27-0240, today.,