After lunch we were off to visit Safia Sana, my newest sponsored child. I knew very little about Safia except that she apparently liked to read. She had been chosen for me when we discovered that Fatima had left the sponsorship program after my trip to Niger had already been booked and paid for, and we weren't sure if I would be able to see Fatima.
We drove along more twisting and barely distinguishable tracks to reach Safia's village, and like Fatima, she was standing in the lane outside her compound waiting for us. She looked very unlike the solemn little girl in the one picture I'd received. She was dressed in traditional costume, and had some red sparkles on her cheeks. She led us to a cleared area under a large tree where several chairs had been placed. I was introduced to her father, and someone was sent running to find her mother, who was off fetching water. I was introduced to the chief of the village, and to Safia's mother when she arrived. We were soon surrounded by at least 60 children, and almost as many adults. As before, there were many speeches, and then it was time to exchange gifts. I gave Safia a copy of Anne of Green Gables, and a book by Karleen Bradford in the Canadian Girls series about a young girl travelling the Underground Railway to Canada, both in French, of course. (Bought from Chapters using Anne's staff discount). I gave her a little toy horse beanie baby, and a pen set and stickers. I didn't have enough sticker books for the number of kids there, so asked Safia which were her brothers and sisters, and gave them sticker books and pens, and gave the schoolmaster the bag of Canada pins to hand out to the rest of the kids later. Then it was their turn, and I was given more eggs!
After the gift exchange, I asked about Safia's school, and was introduced to her teacher. I asked what class Safia was in, and she said Class 3. I asked her if she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up, and, like Fatima, she said she wanted to be a nurse, so I promised to try and find her books on nurses and nursing. I asked if I could see the school, and was led through the village to a wicker structure just outside the village. It was a single room, about the size of a medium-sized bathroom in Canada. There were 3 benches, and a blackboard. I asked how many students attended the school, and was told 59 - 29 girls and 30 boys. They were all in Class 3. The school had started 3 years ago, and since there was only 1 teacher, he moved up with each grade, and only one grade was taught each year. I asked if WV had plans to build a school in Safia's village and was told that eventually, yes, but since food had been scarce in recent years their efforts had been concentrated on Food banks and well building, although they did later show me one school they'd built in the region. It was time for us to go, so we all shook hands and waved good-bye, and as we left I saw the children mob the teacher for the pins!
Before heading back to town, I was taken to see the school that WV had built in the area. It had 3 sections built by WV, at a cost of about 500 million CFA per section, I was told. There was also a single long section built by a Swiss charity. Then I was shown a water tower and electric pump built by WV, and the generator that powered them.
When we got back to the WV offices in town, I was introduced to everyone, and then they asked if I wanted to go back to the hotel. I said I would rather go to a cyber cafe as I was still trying to email home to let everyone know I was okay, but they insisted I use their computers instead. I tried, but their internet connection was so slow nothing would load, so I finally gave up and let them drive me back to the hotel. As I was leaving the WV compound, Mr Albert said he would come and see me at the hotel that night.
I waited until 9 o'clock, but when he still hadn't arrived I went to bed. Fifteen minutes later the phone rang to say he was downstairs. I hurriedly threw on some clothes and went down; At first I don't think he recognized me without the hijab. We chatted for a few minutes, and I asked him to let me know if Fatima did rejoin the sponsorship program, and he promised he would. He asked if I would like the driver to pick me up the next morning to take me to the bus station, but I said no, it was only a short distance and I could easily walk. Then we said goodnight, and I thanked him again for everything, and went back to bed.
We drove along more twisting and barely distinguishable tracks to reach Safia's village, and like Fatima, she was standing in the lane outside her compound waiting for us. She looked very unlike the solemn little girl in the one picture I'd received. She was dressed in traditional costume, and had some red sparkles on her cheeks. She led us to a cleared area under a large tree where several chairs had been placed. I was introduced to her father, and someone was sent running to find her mother, who was off fetching water. I was introduced to the chief of the village, and to Safia's mother when she arrived. We were soon surrounded by at least 60 children, and almost as many adults. As before, there were many speeches, and then it was time to exchange gifts. I gave Safia a copy of Anne of Green Gables, and a book by Karleen Bradford in the Canadian Girls series about a young girl travelling the Underground Railway to Canada, both in French, of course. (Bought from Chapters using Anne's staff discount). I gave her a little toy horse beanie baby, and a pen set and stickers. I didn't have enough sticker books for the number of kids there, so asked Safia which were her brothers and sisters, and gave them sticker books and pens, and gave the schoolmaster the bag of Canada pins to hand out to the rest of the kids later. Then it was their turn, and I was given more eggs!
After the gift exchange, I asked about Safia's school, and was introduced to her teacher. I asked what class Safia was in, and she said Class 3. I asked her if she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up, and, like Fatima, she said she wanted to be a nurse, so I promised to try and find her books on nurses and nursing. I asked if I could see the school, and was led through the village to a wicker structure just outside the village. It was a single room, about the size of a medium-sized bathroom in Canada. There were 3 benches, and a blackboard. I asked how many students attended the school, and was told 59 - 29 girls and 30 boys. They were all in Class 3. The school had started 3 years ago, and since there was only 1 teacher, he moved up with each grade, and only one grade was taught each year. I asked if WV had plans to build a school in Safia's village and was told that eventually, yes, but since food had been scarce in recent years their efforts had been concentrated on Food banks and well building, although they did later show me one school they'd built in the region. It was time for us to go, so we all shook hands and waved good-bye, and as we left I saw the children mob the teacher for the pins!
Before heading back to town, I was taken to see the school that WV had built in the area. It had 3 sections built by WV, at a cost of about 500 million CFA per section, I was told. There was also a single long section built by a Swiss charity. Then I was shown a water tower and electric pump built by WV, and the generator that powered them.
When we got back to the WV offices in town, I was introduced to everyone, and then they asked if I wanted to go back to the hotel. I said I would rather go to a cyber cafe as I was still trying to email home to let everyone know I was okay, but they insisted I use their computers instead. I tried, but their internet connection was so slow nothing would load, so I finally gave up and let them drive me back to the hotel. As I was leaving the WV compound, Mr Albert said he would come and see me at the hotel that night.
I waited until 9 o'clock, but when he still hadn't arrived I went to bed. Fifteen minutes later the phone rang to say he was downstairs. I hurriedly threw on some clothes and went down; At first I don't think he recognized me without the hijab. We chatted for a few minutes, and I asked him to let me know if Fatima did rejoin the sponsorship program, and he promised he would. He asked if I would like the driver to pick me up the next morning to take me to the bus station, but I said no, it was only a short distance and I could easily walk. Then we said goodnight, and I thanked him again for everything, and went back to bed.
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