Into Africa

Fun in February

"La Grève" is the very important French vocabulary word-of-the-day. "Strikes." In French systems, one must expect strikes in all sectors of life. Today it’s the post office, tomorrow the airlines, for the past month it has been teachers and professors. I support their strikes because they are severely underpaid. A primary school teacher who has to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic to 60-80 rambunctious young students of varying ages collects, at the end of the month, a whopping $25. And I’m even being generous with the exchange rates. It is less than minimum wage, which is $45 a month. The primary school teachers ask for another $1.25 per month, the principals, an extra $3, etc.

Here teachers are national government employees. The ministers and company have their children in private schools, or better yet, have sent them to Senegal, to Ivory Coast, or to France to receive their education. Thus, they couldn’t care less if the Beninois children are not able to go to school for a month. Who really suffers in the end? The children of course, who have only gone to school on Fridays since they came back to school after the Christmas holidays. It breaks my heart.

The university professors have also been on strike for two weeks, to support the primary teachers.... And to think that in the United States, primary students complain about having to go to school and university students skip class. One day I am going to write an article called "The World Upside-Down." It will be up to the reader to choose which world makes more sense.

In the past month I have met several more American missionary families. One family of four, the Singermans, came back from furlough in Ohio in January. They live in Calavi, not far from my university, so between classes or when classes are cancelled, I stop in. They always have chocolate-chip cookies, real coffee (ground from beans and made in a coffee-maker), or some other wonderful American délice to share. They have lived in Bénin for eleven years, so they understand the culture and the language very well.

Did I tell you about our small music ensemble? We are called BOSCH (Birgit, Olaf, Signe, CHris). Three Germans and an American; two pianists, a singer, and a violinist. We play German music from the 1920s, Yiddish/German folk tunes, and a few gypsy tunes. I have lots of fun violin parts to play, and I enjoy learning the new genre. For Chris and Olaf, it’s their first attempt at music for an audience. Last week we had rehearsal at the German ambassador’s residence to prepare for the concert on Friday.

...The concert went very well. Our fourteen guests showed up on time (they’re German, you know). We received lots of applause and compliments. Our audience munched on pretzels, cashews, and chocolates during the concert and drank wine or pop. After a couple of encores, Olaf’s wife, Anna, brought out a big surprise: a huge black forest cake and champagne. Yum yum!

The audience, not wanting the evening to end, started requesting songs from our two good-sported pianists. The next two hours were dedicated to karaoke, most of which I did not understand. After a couple hours, with the guests still talking in the living room, the musicians and spouses fled to the pool. A perfect ending to our opening night. We swam and talked before drying off to gather up the glasses and rearrange the furniture.... I hear we have a contract with the French Cultural Center to perform in April!

Relaxing in the pool at 1 a.m, I had to wonder how many Beninois had ever done anything like this before. I peered up at the stars, between swaying coconut tree branches, and asked God why I received these privileges, when others with whom I come into contact daily will never be able to appreciate the same graces. It is a question I pose regularly, and I still struggle for an answer that satisfies me. All I can do now is accept the grace that God has given me and share what I have with others as best I can.