One of my projects which has proven to provide me with the greatest amount of joy in Seronga has been my girl’s book club. The idea came when I was reading a copy of The Secret Life of Bees and thought about how much I would like to share it with girls here. I had had the idea in mind for a book club in which we would read The Diary of Anne Frank, but the copies were taking a little while to get here (but have now been delivered into my hot little hands thanks again Mrs. Payne and Rob!!!) so I decided to start with the three copies I had managed to snag that had been floating around in this country of the Secret Life Of Bees.
I got the blessing of the guidance and counseling advisor at the school and placed a notice up on the school bulletin board outlining my expectations. I attended a school assembly (which began at half six in the morning!!! Uhgh) to recruit girls to form the group. In the end I have always had more girls sign up than actually attend, but I’ve got about 5 who are consistent. We are midway through the book and with help from home I have been able to show them pictures of the iconic American events and products outlined in the book and have got a copy of the movie ready to watch at our end of the book celebration I’m planning.
The book club ends up being a hard sell to try to link in with what is supposed to be my main focus, HIV/AIDS, but I find that helping these girls read and discuss many of the topics raised in the book (in English no less!) has been really rewarding. The book has several relevant themes that cross cultures (racism, interracial/teenage dating, being an orphan, female empowerment and business ownership, ect) and it is very cool to be able to remind them that the book it set in 1964, which is two years before Botswana got its independence. It was the year that the Civil Rights Amendment was signed in the United States, giving black people the right to vote and now we have a black president. Race is still a pretty big issue in Botswana, and to be able to make such a powerful connection to a countries ability to change in such a short period is amazing.
I genuinely feel that as they practice reading and answering critical thinking questions, each girl comes out of her shell in a small way. They are very supportive of each other, helping each other along over difficult words, and are more willing to ask questions and share their opinions. As time goes on each girl is willing to read out loud for a longer period of time, and they’ve also become more comfortable when I ask them to act out a certain part to better envision how it plays out. Slowly but surely they are realizing that they have a forum from which to ask questions about their own culture as well as mine, and to discuss issues they find important. We recently read through a part in which the main character, a 14 year old white girl (which happens to be the age of most of the girls in the club) falls in love with a black boy. It was so cool to discuss love and dating with these girls, and to be able to help them think through aspects of dating within their culture that they may or may not agree with, and to discuss how to resist pressure from boys.
It has been a joy to try to bring the book alive for these girls who are so hungry for information and new experiences. Through some stroke of luck or serendipity, I found out that the councilor’s widow keeps bees. About a month ago I arranged for her to give the girls a short lesson and demonstration about how beekeeping works. The girls got to suit up in full beekeeping apparel and use the smokers and feed the bees. Anne gave them all some honey to sample and bar of beeswax soap. It was so cool to take them on the sort of field trip that was the highlight of being in school for me, being able to get out of the classroom and experience things, and it was a huge departure from the type of rote learning they experience in their own classrooms.
Last week I added journaling as a component of the book club. I give them questions about the book and their feelings about it and opinions. I've found the girls will "speak" more freely if you will on paper. I've recently found that I've got two aspiring female doctors and that one of them plans on curing AIDS. I am awed at the goals of these girls from this place so far away from.... everything. And so proud to be able to work with them.
No comments:
Post a Comment