Letters from Nigeria - Orientation in Ayetoro, 1972 August 11 - 12

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Diary



19720811

I taught form 1 today which was really exciting. They get so caught up in the lesson once you capture their interest. Someone else started the lesson on oral vocabulary, and I continued just when they discovered there is a French word for everything. They wanted to know the word to name very object in the room.

The school held a dance for us tonight. “Emperor Josy Ola and his band” played. This was a band like a Canadian high school group but the music is called “highlife”. It resembled all such dances, except mothers and little kids came!

19720812

This is Saturday but we have to teach anyway, because we need the practice. Wednesday schedule is being followed which is good for me. I had the fifth form (Grade 12) in the afternoon. These kids are fluent already and I arranged for them to take me to market in Ayetoro (the town 1 mile from here). Unfortunately, arrangements never seem to work out. The other two teachers and I went alone in the end, which meant we couldn’t buy anything. It was interesting however, and rather like the farmer’s market, except with a wider range of vegetables and staples.



To my family

August 12, 1972

Here I am in the southern-most corner of Nigeria speaking more French than I ever did in Quebec. There are about 12 French teachers and we almost always talk in “our” language. In fact one of my students thought I had learned English at school as she had.

I have really enjoyed teaching here so far. The students are exceptionally good and enthusiastic. If you give them a chance to move around and make noise, they will gladly learn. I taught Form 1 vocabulary (Grade 7) and introduced a lesson to Form 2, and explained grammar to Form 3. In all cases I got the students up participating in the lesson. It is hard to tell if it worked because I had only had them once each, but next week should tell. The exciting thing here is that they are learning audio-visual French without all the aids which, except in a few cases, can come between the teacher and students.

Ayetoro school itself is large. Regularly there are about 1200 students, all boarding, but only 350 are here to help us (during their holiday). We are staying in one dorm which is just 2 long rows of cots, each with a short cupboard, and a lock. It is fine for 2 weeks but I am glad I didn’t go to school here. The most disillusioning aspect is how old the buildings look despite the fact that they are brand new. This showed me exactly how destructive humidity is – much worse than cold/hot change. Every piece of iron rusts, painted or not. Tiles fall off months after they are put up, I should say, and dirt clings to wall in a way that it could not in Canada.

The other witness to humidity is the vegetation. Oddly enough, lush is not how I would describe it. Nothing here looks as “lush” or full as a weeping willow or an elm or even a poplar tree, but I think it is because everything grows so fast that each leaf becomes gigantic instead of lending to a thick, bushy look. I have taken a couple of pictures and will take more. I really think the land is interesting, because, even though it could superficially sound like Canada, it does not in the least resemble it. Two nights ago the students of Aiyetoro gave us a concert, or show as they called it. Later I learned that it was the cultural arts club. Le Cercle de la Culture et des Arts – I learn everything in French in conversation with my fifth Form (Grade 12). The show consisted of various dances, some for fun, originally, and some representing goat sacrifices. They were extremely well done, and we are going to have trouble matching the quality next week when we have to present Canada’s cultural heritage! All the French teachers are going to do a square dance.

Last night they had a dance for us. Emperor Josy Ola and his Band played. Despite the name, the Emperor and his band are just boys, I imagine from the high school or ones who have just graduated, like the high school bands in Calgary. It amazingly resembled a Calgary high school dance (except for the crazy CUSOs), but it was better attended (every village mother and little kids came) and thus more active.

We arrived in Aiyetoro Tuesday afternoon (Tuesday morning for us) after making a stop-over in Dakar, Senegal and landing in Lagos. The Dakar airport was very interesting. First of all, the air smelled “African”, although I am used to it now and can hardly detect it anymore, the ensemble of tropical plants, desert land, humidity, and different climate makes for an odor on an entirely different plane than anything in North America. I imagine Canada must have its own smell too.

The airport in Lagos seemed rather chaotic but was probably more efficient than Toronto’s from where we left. Our passports were handled in bulk, about 6 people checked our health books, and our luggage went through customs unchecked. We immediately got on three Greyhound-Nigeria buses (rejects from the US) and soon headed for the school. We were going fast; it took 3 hours to go 70 - 80 miles. The road was tarred but all chewed up – reportedly from moving heavy war machinery. The parade we made in our three buses must have been a yearly event, because everyone along the route rushed out to have a look at us. (The same thing happened when some of us walked to Aiyetoro.) About half way, the bus stopped, and an experienced CUSO with the driver bargained for some oranges and bananas. The bananas here are usually smaller than at home but sweeter and softer. The oranges, just as the guys from the Caribbean said, are naturally green when they are ripe! Also not so sweet.

It looks likes this is all for this time around. The address on the back is where I will be after here for language training. Please write.



Map to date

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Photos

Ayetoro school at dusk
6:00 pm

Comments

[Isabel Gibson]

Culture and smells
I'll be interested to hear what you did to illustrate/represent Canadian culture. I'm drawing a blank, I admit. I could more easily identify some of the regional cultural influences, I think, than any national one. I was interested in the smell. Guatemala had its own smell too - in the cities, at least, most things (and people) smelled of cooked corn mush/mash. I expect we, collectively, have an odor associated with eating so much meat and sugar. And in Alberta and Saskatchewan, whatever the smell of dryness is, except when there's actual rain.

[beentouring]

Culture and smells
Indeed, every area of the world must have its own environmental smell. Undoubtedly diet alters our collective smell. This seems less obvious now that airports are so large and standardized. We must acclimatize quickly.