WHIITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1988, PAGE 17 Whitby teacher describes work experience iin West Africa By GORD BRADY Gord Brady, head of the English department at Henry Street High School, organizes professional development work- shops for teachers in Mundemba, a southwest province of Came- ron in West Africa. If you imagine the African continent as a head facing east across the Indian Ocean, Cameroon is located at the nape of the neck. Just four degrees above the equater this triangular sb aped country is often referred to as "Africa in miniature." Every type of African climate from rain- forest to desert is represented as well as most forms of wildlife found elsewhere on the continent. I'm here under the auspices of a Canadian Teacher's Federation program called Project, Overseas. Seventy teachers from across Canada were selected to work with teachers in 20 countries around the world. This summer as the leader of a team of six Canadians, my responsibility is to organize professional develop- ment workshops for local teachers. Our task is a challenging one. Many teachers are untrained, do not have adequate facilities and are burdened with extremely large classes. The most immediate problem facing us is the transportation system. Outside of the main towns, public transit is almost non-existent. Roads are incom- plete and seldom maintained. The first village I taught in was Mundemba, approximately 150 km. from our headquarters in Buea. In a small rented car with a driver and my teaching partner, Irene Gagne from Alberta and I set out one hot, humid afternoon. The further we travelled into the rainforest the worse the road became. After the pavement ended the potholes grew deeper and deeper. At times, the wheel was wrenched out of the driver's grip by ruts and rocks. We bounced and battered trying to keep our bones together. After several hours of this abuse our driver said we were getting close te Mundemba. He slowed our vehicle, smiled, and turned off the tortuous track onto a smaller, rougher secondary road. I can't describe the condition of that so-called 'road' which threaded through the towering rainforest. Suffice to say I've carried canoes over Algonquin Park portages that were smoother than this dirt trail. In the end, the 150-km. adventure took us six and half hours to navigate. Thoroughly shaken, in dire need of a chiropractor, I arrived into the small village of Mundemba. UNIQUE TEACHING EXPERIENCE Working with local teachers deep in the rainforest of Cameroon is truly a unique experience. Teachers corne from nearby villages to Mundemba for training courses during their holidays. The Association for Creative Teachiñig works with the Canadian Teachers' Federation to promote effective teaching and creativity in the schools of anglophone Camieroon. Lectures and workshops by Canadian volunteers and local experts cover a wide range of subject areas from the ecology of the tropical rainforest to creative writing and drama. The greatest challenge for me is to find simple, practical ideas which will work in an ill-equipped classroom for an unqualified teacher who is instructing up to 100 children under 11 years old at a time. The second greatest challenge is lunch. Luckily my taste in food is fairly exotic. I don't md a culinary adventure. Most of the food here is predictable: rice, jufu (maize dumpling), okra soup, cow meat stew, plantain (cousin of the banana, not the weed). But I'm neyer quite sure what else will show up in the pot. Two days ago it was antelope, yesterday monkey and today- crocodile! The latter, which resembled chicken, was tough but rather tasty. Of course, everything eere is enhanced witb an explosion of super hot peppers te spice up the meal. The teachers attending the course havecto bring theirown plates and cutlery for the lunch which is preparedi'sbac ocal women. After lunch, its back to work with lectures and workshops until 6 p.m., five and a half days a week. When the school day ends there isn't much time to wander about or sightsee. Twilight is almost non-existent. Being so close to the equator means an almost equal division between sunlight and darkness. The sun seems to catapault into the sky around 6 a.m. and drops quickly out of sigbt by 7 p.m. Darkness is accompanied by a chorus of night sunds inth forest.Teng airthob wth the osso myriad of insects, birds and animals. Our evenings are spent reading, planning lessons and taking stock of the various wildlife inside our quarters. I share my room with a couple of three-inch cockroaches and a bold long-nosed brown mouse. We have a tortoise --a gift from some local teachers. Solomon, our cook gazes longingly at our adopted bouse pet from time to time. I can only guess what he's thinking. YS ' %% u