Tuesday, March 12, 2019. It is difficult to process the contrast that the population is famously friendly and hospitable, yet now guards with machine guns are posted not only at the embassies, but also at the bank, the casino, and even the Turkish-run hotel adjacent to the hotel and for the local population was also built in front of a private school. I have never seen so many scooters and motorbikes in my life: driving in Bamako is an art - you have to be born into it. We made it to the school this morning with hair-raising malas, and from there we set off to visit the children and their families in the Sans-Fils slum. Well, you can't prepare for something like this, and I was hit with so many impulses and impressions that I can only tell you about this trying work and incredible, intense experience. Already in the morning it has become terribly hot, and the dust that is present everywhere in the city is not only stirred up by vehicles, but also by pedestrians and the breeze and is constantly kept in the air. In the course of an hour or two, it fills a person's pores, lungs, and mucous membranes (nose, mouth, eyes) to such an extent that it is no longer an external, intrusive enemy, but an integral part of us. In the same way, the all-pervading, indefinable sweet smell and the strong smoke leaking from everywhere in the wake of open-air charcoal cooking.
The wider dirt roads between the houses and the narrow alleys are filled with an inordinate amount of garbage, which are used by pedestrians, motorcyclists and animals (cattle, goats graze, birds chirp). Small, independent houses that could not really be called furnished and cobbled together sufniks alternated with also small apartments built in larger houses, into which (due to protection against the heat) hardly any light filters through the tiny and few windows. The population lives their daily and communal life in the small, crowded common yards (sometimes even extending to the street). They cook, wash, and transport food outside - for these, water is usually carried in buckets, because running water is only rarely introduced. It is hard to imagine how children can do homework or study in such conditions...
Today we visited 16 families, the school principal and her daughter helped us to interpret the extremely thorough questionnaire for the locals in French, and to help with the further conversation. Everywhere they welcomed us cordially and with great joy, and it was a sensational experience that, despite the language, cultural and social differences, we immediately found each other in humor. In the afternoon, we had a little rest: we were entertained at the school today. Yesterday they prepared a mutton stew with rice for us, and for a snack ("as a snack") we got fried strips of lamb - and today they were waiting for us with some incredibly delicious four-legged goulash - and cold water! After we finished the late afternoon visits, we again discussed with the school administrator, and then we returned to the accommodation, where tonight we also started a big job of processing the collected materials (information, photos, etc.) and preparing the work of the following days.
At the end of the day, after I washed off several layers of African red sand from my image, I was happy to note that I didn't actually damage it in the sun, it just got a little... To sum up my professional experience, I hand over the keyboard to Andi Gyurácz.
In addition to eating, the midday break is also good for clarifying questions accumulated over the years. Finally, the exams and grades were in their place: We found out that if there is a 0 among the numbers on the certificate, it means that the child missed the assessment held every 2 months for some reason not verified by the parents. Also, the lives of sixth graders are the most bitter, because they write an assessment every month: in December-March-June, the results are sent to the ministry, and in the other months the school analyzes them. At the end of the 6th year, the so-called CEP certificate, with which you can move on to grades 7-9. to classes. Many people are already bleeding here. The 7-9. years there is an exam every quarter, and at the end of the 9th year the so-called DEF exam, which, if passed, automatically leads to the 3-year high school, at the end of which there is a high school diploma. Those who successfully pass this can go on to a university, depending on their results. There are 6 universities in Bamako. In public schools, teachers are constantly on strike: the high school students were barely in school this year, because 2 weeks of school are followed by 3 weeks of strike. Thus, instead of studying, they often work and help in the family. So they don't have a certificate...
The break is also great for language learning: we learn the Bambara phrases like we're done (ábáná), thank you (inicsi), thank you very much (imbaragyi) and goodbye (kámbé), which of course is a great success. I'm starting to get into French moaning: today I had a "high-flying" conversation with my "little girl" and 31 students who were trampling each other in the half-meter long corridor about what school is like, it's hot, it's -20 C at home and it's snowing, and there's a brother of mine who has a dog that doesn't like my cat. All this while showing pictures on the camera. But the tumult became so great that I was afraid that the barrier, which did not seem stable, would fall if they pushed each other into it one more time, so I retreated with a "kámbe". In the evening, while cleaning - because today was a big cleanup at the school, everyone was sweeping and watering and collecting everywhere - I taught her goodbye in Hungarian. Of course, the boys only cleaned until they thought I was taking pictures of them...