By Jose Alfaro
Every University has some level of disfunction to it. Often it is what makes us like them or laugh at them. Like the fact that University of TN does not have sorority houses because according to the law it would be a brothel. Or the fact that the water main broke at Michigan's Environtmental and WATER resources. University of Liberia is no different. We started our program last Sunday by becoming the first occupants of the dormitories at the new Fendell Campus. The new dorms were donated by China AID and unfortunately have been sitting there for a while. So, adding to the University's disfunction is the debugging of a brand new building. Needless to say that is a formula for disaster.
The dorm is beautiful and elegant, reminds me of an apartment I lived in in Germany. But the toilettes smell to high heavens and they are squatters. The water reservoir is not enough to serve all of us and there are NO curtains in the dorm! As much as I am not very shy, I still would not like to have all my junk out for my students to see. Oh, yeah, we are staying at the same dorm as the rest of our 80 students. We had to literally struggle our way around the engineering building and the first couple of days we had crazy stories of getting into different rooms for classes and actually being able to use the bathroom.
But, as the british used to say "Keep Calm and Carry on!" So we did. We pushed on and tried our best to give the students a nice first week of classes. And as much as the dysfunctionality felt like nails on chalk the students and the staff actually made some amazing progress and were treated to some great stories. My favorite stories of the first week have to do with the fact that as much as things were not really ready with buildings and class rooms and we were plagued by misunderstandings the students and the staff are working great together. Matter of fact, the students mentioned that their favorite part of Summer Start is the ability to hang out with each other. Although the Liberian students usually spend a lot of time together they don't have time for non-academic stuff. So at Summer Start they get to work together and live together and get a semblance of how great team work can be.
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| Second Year Students brainstorming |
On top of our staff we have a group of 11 undergraduate students from UM that are helping in the program. Their job is to more or less help the Liberian students gain life skills and get exposed to students from America. At first I thought this was just a nice thing for the American students to experience as part of their Global Intercultural Experience for Undergraduates (GIEU). But once I saw what it is doing for the Liberian students I can't put a price on it. The GIEU students have been amazing at jumping in and mixing with the Liberians. They are all split into teams with our returning students from last year and working on research projects. They have already taught them how to search the internet for appropriate and reliable sources and how to manage the search during a project. They have participated in brainstorming exercises and even taught them how to play ultimate frisbee.
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| GIEU Students help with research on the internet |
For the independence day on July 26 we organized a scavenger hunt. One of our volunteers from the Peace Corps made up 16 clues that went with the traditional masks of each tribe that makes up Liberia. We then hid the masks around campus. The students broke out into groups and searched for the masks. It was amazing to see them not only think critically about some really hard riddles but to solve them and use technology to organize their search. The winning team broke out into smaller teams and used their cell phones to figure out the clues and how to direct each other to the right spot. In the end 2 teams came in with all 16 masks accounted for. They won some goodies but we got the best price of the day. Both teams broke out into chanting and dancing for celebration. They sang and sang and screamed. As more and more teams came in they all joined sometimes all doing the same dance sometimes each team performing a different one. One big wave of youth and power and song and joy. It was the perfect example of how joyful the young generation of Liberia can be. How they need no breaking of the ice, as they showed us last year.
Last night, our intern Ryan, lead an impromptu unplugged sessions where the students drowned his guitar with their singing. I heard them laughing and shouting from my room in the dorm. It reminded me again of how the intangibles of this program are the best part of it. How singing and dancing and culture have nothing to do with agriculture and engineering but are such key components of the education of our youth. How when they express themselves with no inhibitions they learn to chase after dreams and joy and to help each other and depend on each other. They will need that to succeed and to chase the dreams they have. Once again summer start… we begin again… the students showing us that sometimes you do need to ease back and enjoy a little song before the real work can begin!
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