Coincidence?

I taught my first class today as an elective to students from the English Club that wanted to attend. There was no charge to the students and there will be no grading. I had about 35 students show up, only one female. I talked about syllables, the basic unit of our words. If English learners get that, they're probably going to be understood. I focused on the difference in sounds between words like care/careful/carefully. Although it seems so natural to us English speakers, it is not easy for French speakers to hear the stress on the first syllable in words like these. They naturally pronounce them with the stress on the last syllable which throws us off in understanding. Unfortunately, we have lazy listening skills. I'm using a favorite text of mine: No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency as a resource. If you haven't read the series by Alexander McCall Smith, I highly recommend it for fun reading. This class will meet just once a week for 4 weeks. Then I'll start teaching at the medical school.

Abbey (from Bloomington, IN) and I share an office at UPC. She's working for an NGO, teaching a service-learning course to a couple of Congolese students. You may know that I did my master's thesis on service-learning.

Carole (from NW Iowa) leaves Saturday for Lubambashi, Congo, where she's going to set up a Congo American Language Institute (CALI) based on the model here in Kinshasa. She's been a great housemate for me and I'll miss having her company, but I just got word yesterday that there are two Embassy workers needing a place to live for awhile. The Public Affiars Officer (PAO) asked me if I'd consider letting them share my space. I'm sure it could be coincidence, but I believe God is the orchestrator of even this detail.

I was given a "Courtesy Call" to meet the Chargee--the interim ambassador for Congo--on Tuesday. The official U.S. ambassador arrives in a few weeks. He is from Holland, Michigan, about 20 minutes away from my home town of Grand Haven. He graduated from Calvin College, Grand Rapids. Although I didn't graduate from there, I attended there the same years he was there. Coincidence again? Not a chance.

Two Ways of Seeing

Annie Dillard talks about two ways of seeing in her Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Yesterday at the English Club of UPC (Protestant University of Congo), the topic for discussion was, "Women in Congolese Culture." My eyes were opened to seeing from the Congolese perspective. The group of approximately twenty persons was comprised of five women, three expatriates, myself included. The discussion went from 12:45 to 2:15 and would have gone longer if possible. Because the reps from the Embassy weren't there, I was asked to kick-off the discussion. I began by talking about women's issues in the States. For most of us, we are given opportunities to study and learn what we want to do. We have families that support us in our endeavors. We are able to meet the challenges that face us and in most cases overcome the obstacles that stand in our way. My life is a case in point. As my children were growing up, I was able to work part time and be "Mom" around the home. When faced with a divorce and creating a career for myself, I was able to go back to school and obtain a master's degree in ESL. There were jobs for me when I was finished. I'm here in Congo working as a teacher being paid by the U.S. government (Thank you all for paying my salary!).

The young men and women in the English Club have little or no promise for their futures. Without a doubt, they are bright and ambitious. They are thoughtful and articulate. But they are without money and unemployment is escalating. If they have any money they are obligated to share it with their families. Several of the men in the Club took the view that women should not be in the work force, but stay home with the children. This attitude stems from their interpretation of the Bible. As you can imagine, the women in the group had a different perspective on the "submission texts." I fortunately was able to remain calm in order to moderate the conversation.

Next Wednesday, I will start my first class with some of these students. It's not an official class, but an elective for anyone who wants to be there. I have no idea how many will be there or what kind of a response I'll get.

Another highlight of the week was visiting the American School of Congo (TASOK). It originated in 1961 and is now the educational center to 230 K-12 students, children of U.S. officials, NGO's and wealthy Congolese. It is within walking distance from my house and is situated on 42 acres of very nicely kept grounds. I am given privileges to walk on the property, which is really a huge blessing because walking on the streets is alot like walking the streets after the Coast Guard parade.

One more thing: Daughter Grace tried to mail me something this week and called to my attention that once again I had put the wrong address down for the APO box. My apologies--my mailing address is:
Jane DeGroot
Unit 31550
U.S. Embassy Kinshasa
APO AE 09828-1550

I'll keep trying till I get it right. FYI: I have edited it on the previous blog titled Address for MeJane.