Day of Excellence

Saturday, March 20 was no typical school day at Village Altonodji. Students exited their classrooms and business-as-usual was postponed a few hours while the students, faculty, and administration took time to recognize some of their hardest workers.

This “Day of Excellence,” sponsored by MCC, occurred in the wake of International Women’s Day, a day to celebrate the contributions of women in society. In Chad, women have a valued role in the home and in commerce, but women’s education remains an uphill battle considering that 1 out of 3 girls are married before they turn 15. I recently read that women are more likely to die in childbirth than graduate from high school, or something horrendous like that!  It was then timely that this Day of Excellence was designed to promote and celebrate the academic achievements of female students in all levels at Village Altonodji. Not only this, but the school chose to recognize the work of the orphaned children who live on campus. Out of the 323 students studying at Altonodji, 120 are “internal” students, meaning that one or both of their parents have died and thus they spend their weeks on campus. Due to the additional challenges that these children face, the organizers of the event wanted to recognize those who have excelled in their studies.

Students crammed into the benches and around the windows of the school chapel, in all of the places that were not reserved for the numerous special guests, including parents of the winners, the city mayor, and a radio reporter. Awards were given on the basis of grades from the first trimester. First, for the primary school, the two internal students from each grade level with the highest marks were presented with their prizes: brand new colorful backpacks! For those of you who are following my year more closely, you may remember my mention of two little boys who insisted on fetching me water even when I didn’t need it and it meant getting soaked by the buckets on their heads. These are the same boys that I recently posted a video of on Facebook, doing a silly, wordless dance in the middle of the gardens. The littlest one, Semplice, is the one into whose hand I had to force a marker back in the days he was still too shy to talk to me, while now he will run after me on campus begging me to color or performing “summersaults” or putting things over his head and growling at me like a wild animal. Considering how tenderly I now feel for my little friends Semplice and Calis, imagine just how proud I was when the first two names were read, the two strongest internal students at the level of CP1: Semplice and Calis!!! I could hardly stay in my seat watching them march up to stage, a mixture of pride and shyness in their steps, to the cheers and tender smiles of their peers to receive their congratulations. It occurred to me shortly thereafter that they might have been the only eligible students, being the youngest at the orphanage, but that did not lessen my excitement! Then this happened several times over as each following name belonged to a child that I know and appreciate for their smiles and curiosity and generosity.

Semplice receiving his backpack to the smiles of onlookers

For the older students at the lycee and college level, the three top internal students from each class level were awarded a French dictionary, a bilingual French-English dictionary, and a stack of new pens. For the older students, prizes were also awarded to the female students with the highest marks. The parents in attendance took turns meeting their daughters at the front of the stage to cheer and give them a hug. A secondary goal of the project according to its coordinator Fitikissou Daissou Emile was “bring parents to understand the importance of education for girls.” This opportunity to see their daughters recognized for their efforts was one step towards achieving that aim.

Then came the moment for the grand prizes. Two new bicycles were poised at the front of the chapel, awaiting the students who received the highest honor. The first bicycle went to the female student with the highest grade-point average in all of the college and lycee, my student from 4e, Mekoulnodji Djerambete. Lastly came the award for the internal student with the highest grade-point average. The winner was 6e’s Djimboundade Caleb. The coordinator of activities for the internal students announced that not only did Caleb earn the highest marks out of all of the orphaned students, but he surpassed all students studying at Village Altonodji. For this, he received a handshake and speech of congratulations from the city of Moundou’s mayor. To the appreciation of all, he also received a big, mama-like hug from the very Mama-y French teacher, Agathe.

Dounia Samuel, the school’s director and my host father, implored all students to take this day as encouragement to work even harder in the future and watch their own averages increase so that this event next year might be an even greater cause for celebration. The day was a hit, and I was pleased to see that brand new bike being ridden around all morning by dozens of students who were not the owner. It was really neat to see the attention and recognition going to kids who were not necessarily the usual suspects, that is, the ones with resources.

I’ll admit something. When I heard some of my students who were being rewarded for their work in the “top 3 internal students from each grade” category, I was quite surprised. These were not all my cream-of-the-crop students.  But it made me think differently about how it might be different being a student in school without parents, and what kinds of extra challenges that might present. Also, in a setting of 50 students per class, it’s been a big question for me of how to provide POSITIVE reinforcement when kids do something good, rather than focusing merely on stomping out problem behavior. It was a breath of fresh air to see kids patted on the back and being given something special for what they have done, with the message that they are capable of doing great work and they can do it even BETTER! All in all, this Day of Excellence was indeed an excellent opportunity to celebrate education, family, hard work, and one another in a way that was far from typical. I am so pleased with MCC’s willingness to play a huge role in bringing it to fruition.

Grand prize winners Caleb and Djerambete