March has been an extremely busy month for me in terms of projects and events. In honor of International Women's Day March 8th, we (the 2 other volunteers in town plus myself) decided to organize a celebration for the girls who are members of our girls mentoring center. For those of you who have not heard about the center yet, it is a place where teen girls can come 3 days a week to receive extra help with school, learn about important health topics, develop their self-esteem, and receive math, computer, English, and science tutoring. With the majority of girls here "married off" by their families between 14-18, the center provides a safe haven for them to escape the harsh realities of life in Mauritania. The goal is to increase their confidence and encourage them to delay marriage and childbirth by staying in school and becoming successful career women.
So, in keeping with this goal, we invited 10 prominent women in the community to come to the center and talk to the girls about their lives and careers. In addition, the girls wrote and performed 4 plays (2 in French and 2 in Arabic) about the role of women in society, the importance of staying in school, and proper health and nutrition. We also had a presentation on the meaning of the day followed by an AIDS video and a traditional Mauritanian meal of sheep and potatoes. Of course, first we had to buy the live sheep and have it slaughtered--a difficult task, especially for a former vegetarian. Despite the stress of planning such a big event, especially in another language, the 75 girls in attendance rated it a highly successful day.
The second big event of March was the graduation ceremony for our adult English classes. After 10 weeks of teaching a beginner and an advanced class 2 nights a week, we (my roommate Cat and I) were proud to distribute certificates of achievement to 70 percent of the class while the remaining 30 percent received certificates of attendance and participation. Despite the fact that neither of us are education volunteers nor do we know anything about teaching, our students routinely commented that we were far better than their Mauritanian teachers. Sad, isn't it? One of our students even wrote us a letter of thanks which he read to the entire class. According to him, we opened the door of rich communication in English for our students and no one will ever forget the wonderful gift of knowledge we gave them. This was followed by resounding cheers from the rest of the class. So, all in all, I can say this was a great month. What a difference it makes to feel appreciated by someone else.
Janine
