Hanging with the Homeboys

Today I would like to relate the course of last Saturday afternoon spent primarily with Johanese and Mohamed W. (not to be confused with "Blango" - the other Mohamed). The afternoon began at 2 whereupon I made my way over to the CRC for book club. Saturday we discuss The Giver which my little group of 5 (with a couple "sometimes show") are pretty into. In fact, Blango insisted upon reading the dream sequence where Jonas experiences "Stirrings." Nice to know teens are teens the world over... ANYWAY, after book discussion is supposed to be extra help for the WASSCE exam (which I owe a blog about...). Nobody showed up for the scheduled review session on Lord of the Flies, so Johanese and Mohamed and I just hung out and chatted for the next couple of hours while the girls were across the way braiding hair.

Speaking of braiding hair, the boys and I talked about it! I learned that part of the hair-braiding frenzy is that if the girls don't have their hair braided, they're liable to get flogged in school. It signifies that they are not "taking care" and might come from a bad family. Similarly, the boys have to have next to no hair. Interesting! They found it amazing that 1. teachers can't flog their students in the U.S. and 2. students can have long hair. I informed them that sometimes private schools work differently and can set different rules than in public schools (boys might have to have shorter hair). In Salone they are able to report a teacher who "touches the buttocks" rather than just caning the buttocks. The teachers are also not supposed to do more than 3 whacks. The boys resist by 1. refusing to cry or 2. outright physical resistance; the latter case is risky, however, as it might result in a suspension or expulsion. The teacher can also take them to administration or to another bunch of teachers who will then oversee the procedure. I asked what the students might have done who were lining up to be caned on the palm the other day; they said they might have been late for school or been talking Krio in the classroom - relatively minor infractions. I did confess that there have been times I would have liked to whack a student, but, alas, there are other methods of discipline in the U.S. classroom.

Speaking of "abuse", there was something on the radio this morning about a girl who is reporting that a pastor raped her. All sorts of people were calling in offering their two leones on the matter; there is movement to clean up the justice system a bit and give people a voice - especially women and children. Apparently, there is legislation being considered in the areas of children's rights and there is hope that women will have more recourse against deadbeat husbands or abusers. At the moment, it seems that police are very open to bribes and men sort of walk into jail and walk right back out. ALTHOUGH, Sunday's discussion group (Miracle's Boys) which just consisted of girls this time informed me that the death penalty is in effect here in SL and that they decapitate. Note to self: doublecheck to make sure something wasn't lost in translation...

I believe that from the conversation on flogging and abuse we segued to remarking on groups of people who magically disappear. This seems to happen a lot in Salone. The story was related of the Kamajohs who were soldiers in the war who had magical powers. Bullets couldn't penetrate them and they could spin around 3 times and vanish like vapor. This is widely believed and given more credence (at least by these boys) because they heard the eye-witness account from a pastor. It is quite fascinating the way superstition and voodoo/witchcraft intertwines with really strong faith in Jesus. I have yet to work out the thinking on that one...I'm all for the possibility that maybe some of those guys were angels, but really?! Invisible curse guns and the like? No and no and no and no and no (as my nephew would say).

Next up: the nature of blood. It started out with Mohamed informing me that he had studied animals quite extensively and he wondered if I knew that spiders live on blood? In addition, the common house fly has green blood in it head and red blood in the rest of its body. Even more interesting, a doctor had told him that blood in the human body has no color and only turns red when exposed to air. I took it upon myself to deliver the truth on that one - actually knowing something about that subject! You never know when random trivia will come in handy... From blood we went to brain transfusion; Mohamed expressed interest in getting one and I told him I'd contact my doctor friend (that's you, Lee!) to see about it. He wondered where she would get them after I told him she doesn't work in the morgue; I told him she has enough authority to ask someone to go to the morgue and get a brain and that she could keep them in jars in her office if she wanted to. I wonder if I'm ruining these kids for life?!

At this moment in time, Lion started barking and ran by. Lion lives here with Puppy, his "wife". We talked about the difference between a dog's life here and in the U.S. Dogs hunt for their food here and I guess Lion often deposits something at the security gate. Sometimes the food that dogs bring back gets eaten. Again, really?! I made the comparison to retrievers and other "working" dogs in the U.S. but given that we actually feed our pets and don't necessarily eat what they retrieve (a memory of Prince dragging home a rotting deer part from the dump comes to mind), it's a bit different. Lion's schedule seems to be to leave the compound relatively early in the day, check back in at some point and maybe come in at night - but maybe not. I tend to think that he frequently joins the large group that carries on seemingly right outside my window. They do have a good time! We talked about the dogs in my past and then I brought up Mac (my cat for those of you who don't know him). I'm worried about him as he is staying with my mom and doing the male cat territorial thing b/c they have a cat now, too. Very bad. They asked if he had a wife. No.

I'm not sure how we got to cars, but we did. They asked how much I had paid for my car and then suggested I sell it and give the money to the poor. I told them that then I would have no way to get to work because there is no public transportation where I live. Maybe I could jog was one idea. I said it was too far. Mohamed offered to come with me to America and carry me. Now THAT sounds like a decent idea! We talked about various ways of getting around depending on where one lives. I explained that in some parts of the country, one needed a car. In other parts, not so much. They agreed that if they were in NYC, they'd ride bikes. Prices of things was sort of the foundation of this conversation so we discussed how prices are relative depending on demand and ability of the consumer to pay. I pointed out that I could buy rice less expensively here than in the U.S. but that potatoes were actually more expensive here than in the U.S. (that fact garnered from Fudia who recently made french fries). We mused over that weirdness for a while - especially when it was brought up that my lantern which cost about $15 at Dick's Sporting Goods costs about $1.50 in Bo. When I expressed incredulity over that notion, they double-checked with the security guards who all insisted that it was CRAZY to spend as much as I had. Not much I can do about it now!

We talked a bit about church and I told them about the great (apparently) sermon which was preached in Krio at Leader that morning. They go to a different church so I gave them the gist. I definitely missed a few punch lines (seeing as in Krio it's a pidgin English so I get about every 3 words - enough to get the concept but not the exact details) but I know the congregation was seriously engaged and Rev. Gbenday (the spiritual education coordinator at the CRC and part-time pastor at Leader Church) told me afterward that the pastors switch it up a bit (although he didn't put it that way exactly) so that the congregation remains alert. The boys and I talked about Krio and I learned that there's a sort of proper Krio which is spoken more around Freetown and there's the other kind of Krio which they speak; someone in Freetown would know it wasn't proper Krio. We compared it to speaking British vs. American English but I pointed out that it's really a matter of education. Mr. Lamboi (the director of the CRC), for example, would understand everything I say because he got his degrees in the U.K. and is very well educated. He probably understands more than many Americans simply because of his education and even an American might not understand a Brit unless they had lived there or had British friends so they knew the slang and some of the idioms. I think they grasped that concept but since there are 17 languages here, it's really a different kettle of fish (to speak idiomatically :)). I don't know how many of those are written languages.

While a lovely time was had by all, it was eventually time to go - me, back to the MTC for dinner and them, off to showers and dinner. I was left with the assignment to try and figure out what a "temelon" is (the only information given is that it grows in northern African muslim countries and is brown) and to figure out what the English word is for "kpoyeh" (which is Mende). After doing my homework, I have figured out that "temelon" is a location in Guinea and that the internet does not really care to give me a definition of "kpoyeh". Fudia, who speaks Mende, has no idea what the word is and says she needs to hear them pronounce it.

So there you have it! LOVE those boys and especially just enjoy BEING with them (or whomever else). The culture of "being" and of being in the moment is a foreign one for most westerners. I think we always have an agenda or someplace to be or something to be doing. While getting out of northern VA has certainly helped with this, I want to cultivate even more an attitude of being open to what comes along. It's in relationship and encounters and time spent that ministry happens. For continuing reflection...