PIC NIC

On Saturday evening I had the honor of being a guest speaker at a special gathering held at CENTRAM, an English language school for students of all ages in Moundou. MCC has partnered with CENTRAM since 2008 and is currently providing them with an English teacher who is my friend Ruth. I visited with Ruth the other week just to see the facilities and meet the faculty. It is a small school with about 4 teachers who offer classes in the afternoon, and I enjoyed meeting people who enjoy speaking English with American guests. During the visit, Ruth showed me a notice about their upcoming "pic nic" to celebrate the conclusion of summer classes, and I was promptly invited to come and speak.

 I had been greatly looking forward to this event in the preceding days. Ruth gave me the tentative schedule. We would have the first half of the program at the school. Then we would all walk to a restaurant for some reason. Then, we would all go "to the middle of the road" and I would present my speech on How to Master English. Ruth assured me that she had asked several people in both French and English for clarification about this particular part, but that was all she could gather. She also said that, while this was called a "pic nic," she wasn't certain that the word actually carried with it the promise of food, so I shouldn't expect it. Also, the radio might be there. I was excited to see how this would play out!

 The afternoon of the picnic, I arrived at the school to find a few people milling around outside while others set up in one of the classrooms. While I had been trying not to bring any assumptions with me, it occurred to me that I had wrongly assumed this picnic would be outside. After about an hour standing around being generally in the way of people's preparations, I was invited with the other staff and invited guests into a classroom for a delicious meal of chicken, veggies, and couscous. A line of four students served us generous portions, of which I ate everything, don't worry!!! This meal was not inclusive of the students, which made me conclude that it was a pretty disappointing picnic for most of those involved, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

Once we actually made it into the classroom where the event would take place, I took my seat at a table that was labeled "ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF" in between Ruth and Pastor Sem, the director of the school. The program was delightful! There was a brief welcome, a small group led by Ruth that sang classics such as "This is the Day" and "This Train is Bound for Glory." Students presented original poems and skits about a number of topics including about 5 short speeches on AIDS, which received supportive hoots and hollers. One boy's speech, in which he spoke from the perspective of HIV/AIDS and described his transmission, concluded with the words, "Incurable, Incurable, Incurable!" About here in the program, assistants came around with subs for all of the students, at which point I realizes this was not such a disappointing picnic after all! Ruth gave a speech about the differences between American and British English.

Somewhere in this time, the weather outside grew increasingly dark and ominous. The wind slammed the windows open and shut until they had been properly latched, and the business of people running around shutting windows while the winds blew noisily into the room had made it increasingly difficult to focus or hear the speakers. It was at the height of the action that it was announced that we would be making our way, the 70 of us, across the street to a restaurant, and then I would give my speech. However, as we exited the building, it looked like we would soon be facing a hurricane, so that plan was dropped. I would never know what road I was going to be standing in the middle of, which is maybe my biggest regret to date in Chad to date.

Instead we went right back inside and I gave my speech on How to Master English. I'm pretty sure I was one of the least qualified people in the room to give this particular advice, considering that I have not yet become proficient in a second language, whereas I'd guess that most all of my audience are at least bilingual, but I kept in mind that many of the students are only beginning to learn English, so this speech was primarily a chance to listen to a native a English speaker and get motivated that way. I tried to use a lot of hand gestures and use my best motivational speaker voice until I decided I'd bored them enough and I took my seat.

After I sat down, the chairperson asked the two other MCC guests if they had anything to add. They good-naturedly pitched in some advice and took their seats. Then he began urging others to ask us questions, and just like that we became an expert panel! I realized that with the cancelation of our prior plans, those in charge were taking advantage of the resources at hand to come up with a replacement activity, of which I was happy to oblige to the best of my abilities.

There were not an overwhelming number of questions, and a few were posed at individuals. A young man asked Ruth. "How can I learn to talk as fast as you?" I was asked, "What should we do to be able to go to the United States?" Isn't that the million dollar question? Once again, as a born citizen of the U.S. I felt abysmally equipped to answer such a question, and reminded myself again that I was not here to work any magic, but rather to be a resource for speaking and hearing English.

After the panel, there were words of closing and we were dismissed. A number of students came up to get their pictures with us, and then I was taken whisked off by my moto driver through the dark streets to home. It was only 6:00, but the sun sets early here, at least at this time of year. Light droplets of rain tickled my head and shoulders as we zoomed, and I breathed in the rushing air that felt almost chilly against my damp skin. It occurred to me that in the month I've been here, this was the first time I had been outside to walls of my home at night! I was relieved to have avoided a downpour, which thankfully held off until I was safely deposited into the living room of my Chadian home.