Strike Tour

My big event in March was a 5-day bike tour around the south-west corner of the country. I joined five other volunteers from all sectors (Education, Health, Business Development, and Environmental Action) to present to over 600 high school students.

Our goal was to raise awareness and encourage high school students to make smart choices about staying in school and planning for their futures by delaying sex or practicing safe sex and family planning. The theme, “Je planifie parce-que j’espère” (I plan because I hope), addressed the four main reasons to practice family planning. F.P. can allow them to complete their educations, maintain their personal and family health, assure prosperity for the future, and contribute to environmental sustainability.

The greatest challenges were not the arduous kilometers covered by bike, nor the heat rashes spawned from hours spent sweating through the upper-90s of hot season. Rather, we fell into the hands of fate as we conducted our tour of multiple high schools in the midst of a nation-wide teacher (and student!) strike.

While the strike had officially started in February due to several teachers being owed salaries from the year before, school in most communities continued as usual. In my community, most teachers kept attending school lest their names be placed on a black list. But only a week before the tour, I had arrived at the high school for my weekly Girls / English club (everything has become a “slash English” club these days) and discovered a ghost town. That very morning, a group of activists had raided the school, insisting all of the teachers and students go home so that the government may take their strike seriously.

“The rebels!” my school director drunkenly lamented to me from his sad, empty school. I couldn't help but think back to the largest teacher strike I can remember, state-side in Wisconsin, and that between administration members like this school director and the unresponsive President of Benin, there seem to be some regular Scott Walkers here too, labeling the act of standing up for your rights and your paycheck as “rebellious.” To be fair, there are a multitude of differences between Benin and Wisconsin, Yayi Boni and Walker... And in the cultural context, the preferred method here would be to keep on working, though maybe not as hard, and to complain until something changed. I guess that didn’t work well enough, because action was taken and the strike went on.

In retaliation, the government cut pay for all teachers, even those still working, and the strike extended from secondary schools to primary and university, and now, to the students themselves.

If a strike continues for a certain period of time (3 months?), the year is declared null, and students must repeat a year. That’s the worst part. School here is not free, and those school fees will have gone to waste, never to be seen again. A year of school fees can make a huge difference, especially for girls, who often have to forgo school if there is only enough money in Papa’s pocket for one child’s fees and she has a brother. Thus, the students are the biggest losers here.

And so, they didn’t want to take it anymore either. They took to the streets, to the public squares, to the mayors’ offices, with songs and chants and youthful protests. But I’m not certain if they were organized or empowered enough to be recognized, and the strike goes on…

Several schools we visited then required a rallying of straggling students and teachers, waiting around hopefully for some work to do. An overall audience of 600 plus wasn't too shabby though, given the circumstances, and it was an exciting experience for the volunteers involved to see new parts of the country, improve our presentation skills, and witness the varying attitudes across communities.

This week, I rest my legs and continue trying to master the art of not sweating so much. It’s been a steady 99^ο for the past 5 hours, and I’ll have to wait until June to get my April showers... Despite a hold on school activities, I find little projects here and there in the mean time. Coming up: a Beninese style bachelorette party for a fellow volunteer, and various “celebrations” of World Malaria Day – April 25! Be glad USA is Anopheles free!

With that, I'll wish you a happy spring time, and a happy belated Beninese St. Patty's Day: