L'Américaine au Cameroun

Some kids get to go to school here in Cameroon, but many do not. They don't go to school because their parents can't afford it, because they haven't passed the exams or because there's only enough money for a few children in the family and this is not their year.

I designed and ran a class for kids who are no longer in school in April and May. It ran for two months and we met twice a week in the Binum building, home to the the agricultural group I work with. My students were between 13 and 18 years old. Most could read a small amount but I had one boy couldn't write his own name and one girl could read most anything I could write. I recruited these kids by walking through the markets, talking to market mommies, heading out au cartier and chatting people up and going to group meetings with the cashier from my bank.

The class was a mix of toned-down business classes, sessions on HIV/AIDS and sessions from what's called the "Life Skills Manuel" -- making good decisions and thinking about one's future. They idea behind this class was pretty straightforward: All kids work here, and kids no longer in school especially so. They gather wood, they sell peanuts or beans in the market. The lucky ones find odd jobs with a mechanic or tailor. The class was aimed at teenagers, those right on the cusp of adulthood and families of their own. These kids aren't going to grow up and have steady jobs or any sort of benefits. They are going to need to support themselves making things, growing things, and selling them. The idea of the class was to get them thinking about their future and started on making it happen.

Our first class, I separated the boys and the girls into two groups and asked each group to make me two lists: First, a list of ten things they could do to earn money when they are grown, ranked in order by preference. Second, a list of five goals they have for their lives, not including work, ranked by importance.I had done this exercise myself that morning and had easily come up with my list of female and male income-generating activities that folks do in Bangou: Tailor, boutique owner, bar owner, pot mommie, farmer, raising animals, selling vegetables in the market, buying fabric in the city and selling it in the village, grilling food, grinding corn and flour, photographer, chauffeur, mototaxi driver, restaurateur. It took the kids 45 minutes to come up with their lists and required a lot of assistance on my part. They had never considered this before. No one had ever asked them "What do you want to be when you grow up?" They were all pretty adamant that they didn't want to be farmers -- too much work for very little money -- but they had no idea what they wanted for themselves instead.

During the business sessions we used examples they were familiar with: Mototaxi men, tailors and vendors. We relied on a lot of skits and games, as most of the kids couldn't read that well. We talked about how we could know if an idea could generate a profit, where to find the resources a person might need, how to do a budget and plan for those rainy days: Malaria, broken machines and family asking for money. We did a role play in which one fabric seller puts a small amount away each market day, saving to increase his stock while another takes all the surplus home. We watched the first increase his sales over time while the others stayed at the same level, laughing at the ferocious market bargaining of the actors and counting up their piles of play money at the end.

We spent a week talking about HIV/AIDS. We played a game about myths and facts, matching up true stories and false ones, discussing what we thought of each. With a male Peace Corps volunteer, we split off into boys and girls and practiced putting condoms on bananas. The girls side spent a lot of time talking about how to negotiate condom use: How do you get your boyfriend to wear one? How can you get them when everyone in town knows who you are? What if your boyfriend doesn't believe AIDS exists?

One day about six weeks into the class we took a small field trip to my bank. The kids had never been to a bank before and weren't familiar with what goes on there. The accountant explained how one opens an account and makes deposits and withdrawals. I gave them 600 CFA to deposit into my account. They clustered around the counter, elected Edith the form-filler-outer and walked the money over to the window. After our tour of the front office we went into the back to see my counterpart, the bank manager.

He welcomed them into the office and, after a little talk about the bank, started asking them questions about the class. They nervously looked down at the ground. Here was a college educated, notable, grey-haired man with one of the most important jobs in Bangou and he was speaking to them! A group of uneducated farmers' kids who walked in 40 minutes from the bush to get to the bank. But the manager persisted in asking them questions and they slowly warmed up. Yes, they liked the class. Yes, they were learning a lot. Yes, Mlle. Jessie is very nice.

Then he asked them what they wanted to do when they were grown. Edith looked up from the floor, looked directly into the bank manger's eyes and said "I want to make clothes." Eric came next, saying he will open a small boutique. Thierry looked up from his shoes and said he wants to be a mason and help build buildings. We all turned to look at Boris. He looked back at us, moving his eyes from face to face. Turns out Boris still needs some time to reflect.