The fourth and final quarter has begun at the American School of Douala. In the first two quarters, my class and I spent the first ten minutes of every class reading a book that was not assigned for class. The goal was to encourage reading outside of class, bring down higher energy levels after gym classes and get our minds focused on the tasks at hand. For the next two quarters, this practice has been replaced by ten minutes of writing. This practice will bring down energy levels and set our minds to task, but it is also an opportunity to experiment with our creative sides. Students are free to write about anything they want or interpret the prompt in any medium they wish – the prompts are only for those who need inspiration.
I write the same prompts with my students in all three of the classes we practice this activity – teachers should always be willing to do what they ask of students. Below are the prompts from this past week and my favorite of the three responses I wrote with my classes. All prompts were written by myself.
The picture at the top of this post was taken by our apartment’s pool this past weekend. It’s a hard life here in Cameroon.
***
Monday 4 April
Have you ever had a wardrobe malfunction? What happened? How did you fix it?
Umbrellas are well-intentioned inventions. Nominally, they are supposed to protect one from rain. We still get our feet wet, but the umbrella usually does a pretty good job. I have yet to find an umbrella that is large enough to protect me or my legs, however. I might as well be walking through the shallow end of a swimming pool. Now I use a rain coat, because at least it frees up my hands, but then my backpack gets drenched as well. Every time it rains, I show up to school with soaked clothing, and I leave this long snaking trail of water as I walk down the hallway. I suppose I could wear rain pants, but then I would look like the Michelin Man, and that’s not good. There is no solution.
***
Tuesday 5 April
Spring. Flowers. Growth. New beginnings.
We reap what we sow
We sow what we need
We need what we know
We know what we reap.
To divorce our sweat
from the fruits of the ground
is to gamble, to bet
on the silence of sound.
To keep the excess,
to plant beyond desire,
is to steal from the less
and burn on a pyre.
To need the unknown
is to be cast away,
to study and be shown
a tome without page.
To gain what we lack
we look to our feet
and collapse, bent backs,
nothing to eat.
The cycle, seasons
The pattern, set
The truth, fleeting
What have we left?
***
Wednesday 6 April
The “Veil of Ignorance” – John Rawls. Imagine that you were randomly born into another body instead of your own. For example, you were born as a child in Yupwe, near the river. How do you think your worldview would be different? Would you like the society that you live in today?
[Pass]
***
Thursday 7 April
You are stranded on an island after a terrible plane crash. You were able to recover five things. What do you have with you on the island?
- Antibacterial disinfectant. No amount of masculine overconfidence or preparation can clean an infection in the middle of nowhere. Medicine exists for a reason.
- Fishing line. Strong enough to tie things together, catch protein, maybe even sow a wound shut.
- A thick blanket. Living in a world before modern textiles would not be pleasant. Even if it’s sunny and almost comfortable in the day, rainy days and cold nights would be very unpleasant.
- A tarp. A good tarp is a wonderful thing. A tarp can be used for work, or it can be the cover of a tent, or it can be a sail. Strands of plastic from a tarp can be used as kindle.
- A journal (and some pens? is that cheating?). To count days and maintain sanity.
***
Friday 8 April
What do you want to do over Spring Break?
I’m taking a bus to Bertoua, the capitol of the Eastern province. From there, I’ll hike back to Yaounde. The total distance is ~330km, which is an unrealistically long distance to hike for only 10 days, so I’ll end up hitchhiking for a good portion of it. I went on a similar hike last December, from Yaounde to Ebolowa to Kribi, and it was a highlight of my time in Cameroon so far. The hike I’ll be doing over Spring Break promises to be exciting: the Eastern province is the largest and least developed area of Cameroon, with a strong Animist influence and cultural crossovers with the Central African Republic. I’m expecting long dirt roads and villages every 10km full of happy people drinking palm wine. I’ll bring my tent, in case I can’t find a place to sleep indoors on some nights, but I expect that I’ll be welcomed by most of the people I meet. I plan to keep a journal while I hike, but I’m not sure that I’ll share it on here. We’ll see.
Safe travels ~
***
certification 
Leave a comment