First meeting with the candidates

The meeting took place at the Arabic School in Dassilami Soce. The teachers and director set up desks and chairs under a large tree in the school’s courtyard for us. We got started around 10 am, and ended around 2:30pm. During this time, we took down basic information about the girls, interviewed each of them, and had them write a personal essay.

The interviews included questions like, “what the biggest obstacle in your life?”, and “do you feel like your family is supportive of your education?”. The essay included questions like, “if there was something you could change about the Senegalese educational system with regards to girls’ schooling, what would it be?”

In my introduction letter to my application, I discussed several ways in which this process was flawed. I’ll outline a few below.

By the end of the morning, I recognized that many of the girls’ answers were similar or even identical. Part of the problem is that they could all hear each other’s answers. Beyond that, I didn’t know how to convey to them that there were no wrong answers, and that I actually wanted to have them come up with unique and personalized answers. Most importantly, however, I’m sure they felt quite a bit of pressure to say “the right thing” in front of their teachers and school director.

Unfortunately, the director and teachers also influenced the girls’ answers directly. For instance, the director really didn’t appreciate the essay question’s invitation to critique the Senegalese school system. At first, I thought that he simply didn’t understand the question, and I tried to give what I thought was a standard example: girls should be encouraged/given incentives to stay in school longer, so that they do not get married too young. The director rejected this entirely, saying that girls should get married when their parents say so, and that they should never go against their parents’ wishes anyway. According to him, nothing is wrong with the Senegalese school system.

His opinion effectively squelched any possible critical or creative thinking on the girls’ part. They unanimously said, in so many ways, that success in academic and professional pursuits depends solely on hard work and compassion for others. They said they could bring about change on a small scale, by encouraging other young women to follow their lead or supporting their own children’s education. But they simply did not (or could not) express an idea for large scale, institutional, and systematic change—because this kind of change would necessarily challenge traditional gender roles and ways of life. For example, it might result in women not marrying so young or when their parents say so. Clearly: a drastic change in the Senegalese school system is a drastic change in Senegalese socio-cultural attitudes is a drastic change in the Senegalese school system—etc. And understandably, that’s pretty threatening to older, highly respected, and male Senegalese citizens.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not defending this mentality, just trying to understand it. I definitely have a problem with someone saying that young women should marry when their parents say to, and that young women should dutifully obey their parents always. I was struck dumb for the few seconds following that remark, and inwardly seethed for the rest of the day. But when it comes down to it, there’s no way I can change the Senegalese school system or Senegalese socio-cultural attitudes in two years of PC service. That’s not what I came here to do. And really, I want to work with the girls, not the director. If I can support their education or help them better their lives in any way, then that’s more than enough for me.  

·      Several girls want to become teachers, a couple want to become doctors, one wants to be a vendor in a boutique.

·      One girl said that her favorite class is biology, because she wants to understand how the heart works.

·      Many have to walk many miles to get to school every day.

·      One girl lives in her family’s village, but with a different family. Apparently, her own family simply did not have enough money to raise her.

·      Money is definitely scarce. Each girl has up to 14 brothers and sisters, and all their parents work in the fields.

·      All say that their families support their education by paying for their school fees, uniforms, and school supplies. They didn’t cite any other forms of support, such as verbal encouragement (e.g. “You can be anything you want to be when you grow up”).

·      After school, female students are expected to complete many household chores: sweeping, cooking, caring for younger siblings, doing laundry, drawing well water, etc. During the farming season, they go to the fields to work alongside their parents and any siblings 10 years old and up. It is extremely physically demanding work.

·      The girls are between the ages of 16 and 19. They are quite a bit older than middle school girls in the States or even in the Senegalese French schools, but I’m not sure why.

·      I was surprised to learn that the girls cannot write Arabic fluently. In fact, they were not able to write even simple phrases like “I want to be a doctor” without assistance. By means of explanation, I was told that Arabic grammar is very difficult.