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this is hope
at least that's what i called her
truthfully i don't know her name, or
how old she is
but i've met her in nigeria
when i visit africa five years ago
and this is a big sister
i don't know her real nameeither
but she was taking care of her little brother
who's standing right beside her
most Nigerian girls who are at least
four or five years old
have to care for their younger brothers and sisters
while their parents are working
i really don't know what happened to the big sister last night
but i suspect it was due to inadequate into health care
because are so many nigerian children
especially those in rural areas
who looked the same
like little sister
she was one of the many kids that I desperately wanted to pack up and hiding
my suitcase
and bring home with me. I have
all of these children's pictures still hang my house
because I don't want to forget the lessons that they taught me
i spent time in several nigerian schools
and i worked at teachers and students there
this is a typical classroom
open-air
electricity only on rare occasions
plastic lawn chairs for school
no textbooks for students
and in this case just a broken chalk board
which was the sole means of getting information from
the teachers textbook
into the students notebooks
this is a private school which means the parents had to sacrifice to pay
tuition for their children to attend here
in the elementary school that i visited
there weren't any toys
there were no educational games
no book shelves filled with colorful picture books
there was no playground equipment
there was not one drinking fountain
or cafeteria
and they had no little cubbies with each kid's name above them
where they hang their disney princes and ninja turtle backpacks
there weren't any dress code violations because in order to attend school at all
you had to have a uniform
and if your parents couldn't afford a uniform
which generally costs the equivalent of eight to ten u_s_ dollars
you couldn't attend school
no matter how old you were
or how badly wanted to have an education
if your parents couldnt afford to send you the school
then you would work
you wouldnt work to buy things for yourself
but for your family
you might be carrying water from the well or other water sources
that could actually be miles from your home
and when your work is done you might just hang out with others who aren't in
school either
you're lucky
you could find an old tire that you could roll around with a stick
this appealing toy that other kids would really get into
before your parents returned from the fields
you might just get back with buddies and shoot the breeze
and a couple of americans happen to visit your village
they might entertain you on a street corner for entire hour
with a single paper airplane
you'd wait your turn to catch it when you bring it back to the american lady
she can throw it
and then you watch
as one of your friends took a turn
as a teacher there were so many things I did not see nigeria
in my mind i pictured what schools in life would be like
for months before i took my trip
and the pictures i had made my mind
were so far from what i experience
that when i left nigeria
it was without words to adequately express
that experience
children's faces like the ones in this photo
haunted my dreams for months
and the voices of women like Mary
who ran the village pharmacy
and who have worked without pay for two entire year's
spoke to me
when i asked her
why she continue to show up everyday and work without a salary
she looked at me directly in the eyes and she said
might because the people here need me
well so i can do
they needed me
yes there are many things that i did not see in nigeria
that things are so take for granted in the united states
there are no rules are standards for success posted on school walls
no teachers who reminded students to address the doors like
mr mrs or miss
i didn't witness students talk back to teachers who use profanity
i didn't see students sleeping class who were not pulled in conversations
with other students while the teacher was actually teaching
in short i did not see
disrespect
everywhere i went
people clamored to carry my backpack and my supplies
they offered me their chairs
their food their hospitality
valued my conversation
and they've respected the voices and the experiences
of others
they were gracious and grateful for everything we offer them
the nigerian schools i'd visited
may not have had standards for success posted
but their students were living the standards
everyday
now i realize that
its easy but all too tempting to romanticize third world countries and
peoples
but there's little that is romantic or special about the kind of poverty
that i witnessed in nigeria
there's nothing great about the fact that young people
people your age in high school
suffer from fifty percent
unemployment rate
most do not go on to college
even if they're fortunate enough to attend high school graduate
when i visit schools
i actually saw students working hard
students whose parents had sacrificed everything to send them
in the hopes that somehow some way
their children with finding a way to get a college degree
and more importantly
to find gainful employment
there's nothing good about the miles of rusted tin
homes and businesses inside of compounds
then stand by some walls
with barbed wire and cut glass on the top
here for me
there's much to be learned from the nigerians internalized
virtues as respected personal responsibility
in spite of what they did not have
there was more that they didn't have
i left africa
and i returned i well with the faces and the voices of those i've met
when i wake up
every morning and
look out from my bed
I see a picture that was taken in the villages of
forty kids
who clamor to hold my hands in carry my backpack
some of you may argue that
bridges like respect in personal responsibility
the same virtues that are identified in our standards of success
are not necessary
something even argue
they're just plain
as adults we simply live longer an experience more than you have
it wouldn't be an ethical or kind for us however
to tell you that virtues in standards like these
do not matter
in reality
they matter deeply
in the world you'll enter after high school
but it's work or military or college
these standards will matter as much
or more
in electing your talents
we may not be able to convince you that these matter at this point in your lives
but it is still a responsibility to try
our challenge to only chess
next month
is this
internalize these standards in such a way that they
genuinely influence
all you say
in short
take them from the posters on the walls of our school
and move in and yourself
and then look around you
notice when others are living up to standards in our classrooms
there can trian politics
and then tell anyu staff member
or drop a note of recognition
into that "I see what you did" boxes that you're going to find in the
cafeteria
main office
guidance and attendance office
next month
you'll hear about some of the standards being worked out
right here i'd like to ask
bulldog nation
stay tuned