Despite the fact that the third term of the year just began three weeks ago, Chaminade Secondary School is now on break until September 13th. This is the result of some atypical events, which, unfortunately, is only going to make things more difficult for our students, particularly the Form 2’s and Form 4’s, who are scheduled to begin their testing on September 15th.
The Form 2’s (the equivalent of H.S. Sophomores) will be taking their Junior Certificate Examinations (the JCE’s), which they must pass in order to continue their secondary education. The Form 4’s (the equivalent of H.S. Seniors) will be taking their Malawi Secondary Certificate Examinations (the MSCE’s), which they must pass in order to officially graduate from Secondary school. Furthermore, their score on the MSCE determines whether or not they will get into University and whether or not the government will pay for their University, which, for many, will decide whether or not they are able to go. Essentially, these tests determine whether the students are able to pursue further education or whether they must return to their villages and resume whatever work they can find there, which, for many of them, will be a life of subsistent farming.
So why is Chaminade on break during the two weeks leading up to the tests upon which the entire Malawian secondary school curriculum is focused? Well, to begin, let me just say this past week has been a very interesting week.
Monday morning, I was awoken by the sounds of periodic clapping and cheering. It was around 7:15AM. Classes begin at 7AM for the students, and while I was not aware of any type of scheduled assembly, I had only been in Africa for two weeks, so I didn’t know what was going on. No one came to get me, so I wasn’t too alarmed. I could see out my bedroom window that some students were gathered near the administration wing of the school, so I casually put on some teacher clothes, and made my way over to see what was going on. When I arrived, I found nearly all 350 boys in their full uniform standing in a crowd facing the faculty and staff who had gathered outside the staff room. The Headboy (somewhat like a Student Government President, only with many more responsibilities here) was standing out in front of the crowd, reading from a list to our Headmaster, who was standing taking notes. The list was a list of grievances the students had for the administration. The students had organized a strike in order to bring their issues to the administration.
The night before, Molly, Emily, and I had gone out into the “bush” behind our house to look at the stars. While we were standing there gazing up at the sky, we heard the Malawian national anthem being sung from the direction of the hostiles, the dormitory type building where the boys live. After their singing, we heard cheers, clapping, and whistling. As Molly said, it sounded like the start of a sporting event. The power had gone out earlier that evening, which always riles up the boys because they don’t have to study since there is no light, so we figured their singing was a spontaneous overflow of their blackout energy. Apparently, they had organized an assembly amongst themselves, which, without administrative approval, is actually against regulations of the Malawian Ministry of Education, a serious violation. Every school sings the Malawian national anthem after general assemblies, and so the singing actually commenced upon the conclusion of their assembly. It was during that assembly that they addressed their issues with the administration, organized them, and decided how they wanted to present their issues.
The presentation of grievances lasted around two hours. The students were serious, and they had prepared a well written list of complaints with sufficient reason and argument for their issues. Many of the issues revolved around changes that had occurred in the past year as a result of budget cuts. One of the main issues was the removal of outings. The students had previously been allowed two outings per month. Since this is a boarding school, the students are actually restricted to remain on campus at all times except during scheduled outings. I believe when the current Form 4’s first arrived at Chaminade, the students were allowed outings every Saturday. Because of various abuses of the outings, including students going to town and getting drunk, the number of outings was reduced to two a month. Last term, eight students were found drunk after one of their outings, and as a result, the students were expelled, and the staff and administration made the decision to reduce the students’ outings even further, allowing only one per month. This may seem a bit extreme, but there are two important things to consider.
First of all, drinking is seen as a much more serious offense here in Malawi than it is in the US. The legal drinking age is 18. However, even for those who are of legal drinking age, drinking to excess is viewed as an extremely serious social offense. Drunkenness is viewed as a serious issue, and for boys, who are under the legal drinking age, it is quite unacceptable, especially for a private boarding school which claims to be one of the best schools in the country. The second important thing to consider is the fact that one outing per month is the national norm for Malawi. The students at Chaminade were actually granted special privileges in having more than one outing per month. So in reality, the staff was merely making the decision to reduce the number of outings to what all of Chaminade’s peer schools allowed.
Nonetheless, the Chaminade students were extremely discontent with this change. Now, I could begin to describe some of the issues of entitlement of the Chaminade students that have been discussed this week, but I’m going to try to finish explaining the events that led to our two week break.
After the students finished presenting their grievances, Mr. Nthala, our headmaster, suggested that all of the staff meet and work on coming up with some solutions for their grievances. At this point, I was somewhat impressed with the students. Granted, it would have been much better for them to have brought up these issues at a time when they weren’t supposed to be in class, but the manner in which they presented their issues, the language they used, the respect they showed, and their degree of organization.
The staff met for almost three full hours, examining and discussing each of the twenty one issues the students presented. Some of the issues were quite trivial or all together made-up, such as the complaint that teachers sit in the Headmaster’s office and watch television when the students aren’t allowed to. (In actuality, the television in the Headmaster’s office hasn’t had a connection for five months.) However, some of their concerns were definitely legitimate. For example, one of their major complaints was about their diet. Right now, their diet consists mainly of nsima (maize flour and water) and some beans with a bit of lettuce. Nsima is the staple food of Malawi and many other parts of Africa. It has practically no flavor, the consistency of dry, chewy mashed potatoes, and as far as I know, little to no nutritional value. The boys get a small serving of meat once per week, and rice once every two weeks. I’ve always thought of rice as a primary food for those who cannot afford otherwise, but here, because of recent price increases, rice is actually a luxury. With this issue, I am in strong support of the students complaints. I would be extremely interested in examining the nutritional content of their diet; however, I am also scared to see the results. It is very likely that most, if not all, of their nutritional needs go unmet. This is particularly challenging for us as volunteers, who, because of our fundraising and support from our volunteer program, are able to eat a rather luxurious diet. Several of us are already experiencing a great deal of conflict regarding our resource consumption. While I desire a flavorful diet, and while I believe in the need to have a strong nutritional foundation to that diet, it is very difficult to sit at our dining room table with a relative feast before us as we watch the students walk to their dining hall where we know they are probably being served a meager meal of nsima and beans. With all this being said, the students did have some serious issues.
The staff worked out some solutions for the students’ concerns. However, with an extremely limited budget, and costs constantly rising, the solutions the staff developed were meager and temporary at best. It was clear to all of us that more work needed to be done to meet some of the students’ legitimate needs. For the time being, though, we wanted to offer the students some responses, which would hopefully enable them to resume their normal class schedule; this is where problems really began.
During the staff meeting, one of the teachers had passed a few students and overheard one of them say, “night is coming.” There was some debate amongst the teachers as what that could mean, but it definitely raised some concerns. After the staff meeting, the Headmaster sent out the message to gather all of the students in the assembly hall. A few minutes later, the staff made our way to meet the students there. However, they were not there. We could see the whole crowd of students standing outside of the hostiles. They had long since changed out of their uniforms, and had used the past three hours as free time. We received the message that they wanted us to come to them. This, for several reasons, was a big issue. The staff made it clear that the students had to come to them, while several members began getting worried about the students’ noncompliance. The students then marched around to the administration offices, sending a message to the staff that they would be willing to hear the staff’s response there. By this point, things seemed very strange. The other volunteers and teachers informed us new volunteers that this type of behavior was extremely unusual. Murmurings of police assistance began among the staff, and Sarah Wdowiak informed me that that would probably be the next step.
One of the student representatives informed the Headmaster that the students did not want to meet inside the assembly hall, so the Headmaster told them that he would be willing to meet them out in the open air, outside the assembly hall, but that they had to come to him. It was clear to me that there was a battle for authority and power going on. The students finally came around, and met us outside the assembly hall. All of this was extremely strange considering the fact that it was the students who put out the request for solutions to the issues, and the staff had so far shown a willingness to work with the students. This meeting, after all, was for the students to hear the staff’s suggested solutions. I found it strange that they were showing such reluctance to come hear those solutions.
What happened next brought this issue to a whole different level. When the students came to meet the staff, the Headmaster asked all of the students to sit down before he began sharing the solutions the staff had developed. The students were working as a mob by this point, and I could see them looking to one another, to a few “ring leaders” here and there to see how they should act. A few students refused and began to walk away. This sent a ripple effect, and the mob of students started yelling and marching away. At this point, the staff made the decision to call in for police. We didn’t know where things were going to go, but with these blatant acts of defiance and the mob mentality that was setting in, we wanted the police to get there before anything happened.
As the mob began walking back to the hostile, we could see the Headboy and his council were genuinely concerned. The Headboy and the council of Prefects were the top students in their classes. They are extremely intelligent and respectable young men. The tone of things had definitely changed from that morning, when the Headboy and the Prefects presented their concerns in a very formal and official manner. Now, there seemed to be an under current of defiant students who were working to rile things up. After some discussion, the Headboy rang the assembly bell, and called the students back. Slowly but surely, they all came back. The student leaders informed the students to sit down and hear the staff’s suggestions. It comforted me to see that the Headboy and Prefects were not satisfied with the behavior of the student body, but it concerned me that there was a clear mob mentality developing.
Finally, the students settled down, and they began listening to the Headmaster as he described the solutions, though temporary, that the staff had created. Things began to look like they were going well. However, the police who had been called when things weren’t looking so good finally arrived. This got the students riled up again, and I could tell that many of them became frightened by the police presence. I could also see in some of their faces looks of resentment that the police had been called. In some ways, I feel that the police presence took away the voice of the students. They no longer could feel free to speak their mind. Nonetheless, there was some comfort in the fact that the police were there.
The Headmaster finished sharing the solutions, while making it clear that some of the students’ issues were unable to be resolved that day. He articulated that, for those issues, the staff would continue to work on finding solutions with the students. He even announced that he would be meeting with the student representatives again that day for further clarification and discussion of some of the more pertinent issues. Things seemed to finish well. It was a bit past 1PM, and the boys hadn’t had lunch, so the Headmaster encouraged them to go eat. He and the student representatives continued to meet throughout the afternoon. As a safety precaution, several police remained on campus that evening.
The next day, Tuesday, classes resumed as normal. However, when Emily, one of the volunteers, said to one of her Form 1 classes, “It is good to see every thing back to normal,” one of her students replied, “No, Madame Richardson. Things are not normal. They appear normal, but they are not normal.” Some of the other volunteers had heard that some of the students were going to vandalize parts of the school and the Headmaster’s house the night before. Apparently, the police had arrived moments prior to the planned attack. As we, as a volunteer house, discussed this, we reflected on our own concerns. The volunteers who have been here for a year felt confident that the students had no desire to harm any of us or our house. And in the three weeks I have been here, I can see that the students genuinely appreciate and enjoy the presence of the volunteers. I too felt very safe here. Also, all of the negative thoughts had been directed primarily at the administration and the Headmaster.
That evening, we had invited Madame Malwanda, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Chaminade over for dinner. She had heard about the issues of the students, and was concerned about some of the threats that had been made on the school and on the Headmaster. While we were eating supper, we began to hear a roar of shouting erupt. We were all disappointed because we knew that some of the students were probably up to something that wasn’t going to be good for them or for the school. We weren’t too concerned, though, since many of the students have very good relationships with the volunteers. We had also heard that the police were on their way. The shouting subsided, and we resumed our meal. Perhaps ten minutes later, the shouting began again, this time louder and more intense. We couldn’t ignore this anymore, and Madame Malwanda was the first to rise from her seat. We went out to the porch to look out to campus. We could see a crowd of students rushing about the center of campus, which is probably two or three hundred meters from our house. Again, we had no doubt that the students would leave us alone, but we were concerned for the school, the Headmaster’s home, and the students themselves. We could hear some rocks being thrown at buildings, but nothing seemed too out of control. We could tell that it was not all the students who were yelling and running about. Then, we could see a small fire spark. We had heard that the police had arrived to campus, but the sight of a fire was definitely concerning. The fire began to grow, and we became concerned that it would spread. We soon saw a number of police officers run up and quickly suffocate the fire. Things calmed down, and we could tell the police had corralled all of the students back into the hostile. Sarah then drove Madame Malwanda home, who was actually grateful that we happened to invite her over that night. She was able to be present for this event, and so she had a first hand understanding of what transpired.
The next morning, we found that some of the teachers were scared to teach. After all, it would be one teacher in a room with up to 50 students. The Headmaster made the decision to postpone classes while they worked on gathering names of who was involved with the vandalism and fires of the night before. The police were once again brought it, and an action plan was developed to gather the students for an assembly, send them to their classrooms, and then arrest the students who were suspected of being involved. All of this took several hours. It was just before noon when the thirteen students who were named were gathered and taken in. The Secretary and Counselor of the Ministry of Education were already on their way to decide what else should be done. After several meetings with the administration, staff, and students, the decision was made on Thursday to give the school a two week break. This two week break would give the students some time to calm down, while also allowing the administration some time to come up with some lasting and effective solutions to some of the issues that sparked these events.
The students who were arrested were released on bail yesterday and are to report for their court case on September 10th. There are also fifteen other students whose names were identified on Thursday as additional suspects for the riotous behavior that happened on Tuesday night. As of right now, I am unsure how those students will be dealt with.
So, as you can see, this was an extremely interesting week. All of the students have left campus and have returned to their homes. The students come from all parts of Malawi, especially the northern region. In order for them to return to Chaminade in two weeks, the administration has implemented a requirement for one of the parents to accompany the students upon their return. Before they are allowed to re-enter the school, the student and parent must read and sign a contract to abide by the rules and regulations of the school. If they refuse to sign the contract, they will not be allowed to return to school.
What does all this mean for the volunteers? Well, we have a two week break. There is plenty for us to do around the house, but there have been a few ideas floating around of going down to Mzuzu or visiting some other place. We also know a number of other volunteer workers in the area, including the Australian family at Losobila Orphan Center and numerous Peace Corps Volunteers throughout the northern region; all of them are potential opportunities for us to assist in some of the other work that is being done in our area. Most likely, we will probably take this time to relax a little bit, work on a few things around the house, and try to get a little more settled in this place. I wouldn’t say it is exactly an ideal situation, but we will definitely be able to make use of this time. We will also probably have at least a few meeting at school this week to discuss what has happened, and how we are going to go on from here.
Many of the teachers have shown great care, concern, and compassion towards us, especially those of us who have just recently arrived. All week, I was asked by almost every staff member, “Taube, how are you doing?” “Are you dealing okay?” “Is everything alright?” The Headmaster has specifically made a point to check up on us. And just the other night, Chris and Anne, the couple that works for Paladin, the Uranium Mining Company, came over to our house to check in on us. The Marianist Brothers have also been supportive of us. We’ve received a great deal of support even though all of us felt very much that the students’ issues were not with us. Nonetheless, this has been a somewhat stressful and confusing situation. For us new volunteers, we’ve been quite clueless with everything. We hardly know any students, we don’t know what life is typically like for the students here, and we aren’t familiar with the way the school normally deals with issues. But for the volunteers who have been here for a year, I think it has been even more difficult. It has been upsetting for them to see the school as they have come to know it almost flip itself over. Some of the students who were involved, even some of the ones who were arrested, had close relationships with them. And perhaps most troubling of all, Emily and Ryan both teach classes for students preparing to take the JCE’s or MSCE’s, and now, those classes will not meet for the two weeks prior to the tests. This has been particularly difficult for Emily, who was planning on using these next two weeks to work intensively with the students who needed the most help.
This is, by far, the longest post I have written, and hopefully, it will be the longest post I write during my time here. For those of you who made it through the entire thing, thanks for reading and showing your concern and interest. I want to ensure to you that I am, and the other volunteers are, doing okay. Though we were prepared to leave campus and find a calmer place to stay when things got tense, at no time did we feel threatened or in danger. And though this issue wasn’t directed at us, I do ask for your prayers for the school and the students. We are all quite confident that it was only a minority of students who took things too far, but this has definitely affected all of the students and all of the staff. I ask that you pray for the administration as they work out ways to handle the situation, and I ask that you pray for the students as they prepare to return to campus, especially those who are left to prepare for their tests on their own.
While this whole situation was quite unexpected and quite unfortunate, it’s where we are at, and all we can do is go from here. I am still hopeful and optimistic about this volunteer experience. And in some ways, this situation shows some of the ways that we volunteers are needed here. There are definitely ways this situation could have been avoided, and I think the positive relationships the volunteers have with the students shows some of the insight we can share.
If you have any thoughts, concerns, or questions, please feel free to shoot them my way.
Thanks again for reading, and hopefully, the next post will be a bit lighter for you.
Peace and Love.
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