World Map Project (Part I)

I started this project in September. The objective was to create a space for, then draw, then paint, then label a map of the entire world on some public space in Belehede. When I pitched the idea to the parents, they loved it and gave their full support (see 1st & 2nd photos). We decided to use the outside school wall (see 2nd photo) and make the map 4 x 2 meters, (i.e. big).

I suggested that we could fund it - I would pay for the base paints and colors while the parents would pay for cement, sand and labor. They easily agreed. Later, I applied at the last minute for a grant from the American Embassy and got it, so that was great.

My original idea was to work closely with the teachers. Last year we had 6, this year there are 7 with only two returning. The new director let me explain the project to the group in October at the beginning of the school year. In this meeting I was hoping to get ideas on how to involve as many students as possible. I wanted to create a tentative schedule. I wanted creative feedback on how to make this work.

I explained that the best case scenario would be if we worked intensively with kids from grades 6 to 4 while somehow involving the three younger classes as well...

They asked questions about kids making mistakes - I explained that we would draw in pencil. They talked amongst themselves while I was taking - I alternatively paused and waited or intensified my voice and hand gestures. They wanted to wait and see how things went - I wanted feedback on the tentative plan: to have the 6th/5th grades draw and the 4th/ 3rds paint.

Well, by the end of the meeting we had decided that I would start working with the 6th graders at an unspecified time, one day, of the next week. On verra -we'll see. The new director (and the others teachers) make it pretty clear that students were NOT going to be able to do this. Are you a map maker? the director asked me. Otherwise, he was incredulous that the kids could/ should/ would be made to do this. You, band of good-for-nothings! - I've observed - is the director's favorite way to address the kids.

I had printed off a handbook from the Peace Corps website. Anyone could do this project in their own home if they wanted to since the directions are actually that straightforward and simple. All you would need is a ruler, a pencil and some paints. After creating the cement rectangle and painting it several times until it was light blue like the ocean - my counterpart and I draw a grid with 56 squares across and 28 down. Then we divided the rectangle again into 18 big sections. Section one, for example, starts with square 1-1 and goes to square 1-10 across and 1-12 down. One page in the handbook corresponds to section one and from there you see what needs to be drawn in square 3-8 or square 4-12, for example.

As the project moved along very slowly throughout the second half of October and into November I would come to the school early every morning to work with a different group of 6th grade students (about 65 total). They would usually show up at some point before classes so we were able to work pretty much every day. Still, they had a very hard time grasping the concepts. They did not intuitively understand the grid. They also had trouble scaling images up. I had to explain a few things everyday: the picture on the wall is bigger than the picture on the paper so every shape you draw needs to be bigger than the shape you're copying. Look at where the line starts. Is it the upper left-hand corner, the upper-right, the lower-right/left, or in one of the middles? Look at each square as if it were divided in four sections - in which section are you supposed to draw the shape?

Some kids weren't able to grasp any of the concepts - locating squares on the grid, copying lines and shapes, scaling up from the smaller images, connecting forms from one section to another, even moving from drawing in one square to drawing in another. Some kids couldn't even seem to make a shape. Others, though, eventually got the gist. They could be left to draw and make mistakes for a few minutes before I came over to check and correct them. One student, however, rose above all the others and frankly saved the never-ending "day". He was not from the village but actually the brother of the 1st grade teacher and therefore a very well-educated "city-kid". Sanou and his sister come from Bobo-Dialassou, the second largest and arguably most developed city in Burkina Faso. This child wound up drawing most (if not all) of Africa as well as much of South America. He was truly the only student who really understand how to draw the map and I told him he could come anytime he wanted to. Is it unbelievable that there wasn't even one village kid educated enough to honestly get it?

In any case, as I mentioned, progress was SLOW. Before we had finished even one continent, a teacher or the director would ask a question like, oh so you're not done yet? or, oh so you didn't work this morning? There was one day about a month after we had started when I picked up a pencil and took over for a few minutes. I drew a few lines myself to get the section done quickly. The director saw me and asked oh, so now its you who draws everything?

I worked exclusively with the 6th grade for the first month because they are the oldest school kids and for goodness sake there are 65 of them with only a handful understanding the process of drawing! When we finally got about 70% drawn (more than a month into working everyday on it) I felt I could move on to another grade. Even if we draw two squares every day of the next week, at this point we could feasibly and move onto the painting phase. Enough is enough!

The 5th grade has about 100 kids. We decided I would call one or two groups of 10 kids everyday for about a week. Every student would get one chance (and one only!) to participate. If she did not volunteer to draw something, too bad. If he did not show up, too late. Otherwise, since I did not expect much progress at this point, I also planned to do some quick geography lessons. What is this a picture of? Where is Africa? How many continents are there? Which ways are north, south, east and west? Most kids did not recognize the world map. Most could not point out Africa. Many couldn't name north, south, east and west. Some knew north in respect to Belehede (its that way!) but could not translate it to a map even if I explained, south is the opposite of north (that way and that way!) and on the map this is north so which way is south? Some of the biggest deficiencies in education here are the abilities to think critically and creatively. Many kids had trouble realizing that the picture in my right hand and the picture in my left were one in the same: a world map.

At this phase, there were not many surprises. Some of the 5th graders did indeed succeed in drawing something. That was great. But most just got a quick lesson. Others never showed up. But the biggest change for me was that at every session, the 5th grade teacher showed up. For the first time in over a month I finally had a Burkinabe educator at my side filling in the gaps of my lesson or my explications in French. While I had had the school director mentioning the shortcomings of my project periodically over the last two months - you are going to have to go over everything again; you'll have to make the lines darker; you must correct all those mistakes - finally one teacher was participating.

I decided to end the drawing phase with the 5th grade and wait until the school (and the teachers) went on break to start the painting of the map. Honestly, they had had two months of chances to "buy in" to the project: to make productive suggestions, to offer their students or class time, or to participate. The kind support of the one teacher cast into relief the apathy of the others. So I left village to celebrate Thanksgiving and announced to the parents and the community: Get ready because when I get back you and I, the old and the young, the women and the men and the kids will PAINT!

To be continued...