Boiled Frog

I admit that my entries on this blog have not been as frequent as in the past. Blame it on laziness or just the fact that I don’t have that much to write about; a quasi writer’s block resulting from the creeping normalcy of life here in Conakry, otherwise known as the boiled frog syndrome. If a frog is placed in cool water and the temperature of the water is raised sufficiently slow, the frog will not jump out and will be cooked to death. Dumb frog. 
Creeping normalcy refers to the way a major change can be accepted as the normal situation if it happens slowly, in unnoticed increments, when it would be regarded as objectionable if it took place in a single step or short period. As I stated in my previous post, we used to complain a lot about a lot of things last year; we don’t complain as much this year. Either last year’s objectionables have slowly become acceptables, or perhaps life here is just getting better.

Last year we complained about our accommodations; our apartment was small, cramped, ugly, toilets never worked, noisy neighborhood, unsafe, and just plain uncomfortable. We did something about it. We now live in a comfortable, quiet, safe apartment where the toilets work most of the time, and when they don’t, someone from downstairs immediately comes up and fixes it.

Last year we complained about the internet. It was deadly slow. I can honestly say that, for me this was the worst inconvenience of living here; forget the 50 Percent chances of getting malaria, if I don’t have connectivity with cyberspace, I am not a happy camper. But then, I’ve come to realize that this lack of connectivity to cyberspace is not necessarily a flaw in the place where I live, but rather a flaw in me and my dependency to the internet. Oh well, no one’s perfect. In any case, we recently changed over to another system that works well. Cannot quite say that we now have high speed internet and that I can wile my days away surfing youtube, but I have to admit that our internet is pretty decent and the violent effects of my internet detoxication have somewhat abated. I no longer kick the neighbor’s goat. I’m much happier this year. So is the neighbor’s goat.

Last year we complained about our lack of mobility. Every time we needed to go somewhere (not that there were very many places to go), we had to go through the rigamarole of finding a taxi, or in our case a déplacement (another form of taxi that caters mostly to expats who pay a bit more so as not to have to share the vehicle with 17 other brothers and sisters), of negotiating a price with the driver, and then trying to explain to the driver how to get to the place you wanted to get to in a city that does not have addresses, street names or address numbers (and let us not forget that there are no McDonalds at every street corner to help you give points of references when explaining how to get from place to place). Alas, with the purchase of a new school vehicle... well, I don’t really need to describe the sense of freedom that a reliable, safe, comfortable mode of transportation can bring to some one.

And then there’s my work. Running a school is and has always been challenging work, be it in Canada or any where else in the world. Understandably, running a school in one of the poorest countries of Africa has its specific challenges. However, one would think that the challenges of running a school in Africa would be more daunting than running one in Canada. Not so. The challenges are the same, but different. I guess when I finally do sit down and write my ‘School Administration for Dummies’ book, I will need to be a bit more succinct in my writing. Later.

In any case, working at school has also become...comfortable. During the past 20 months of my tenure as head of this small school, we’ve dug a well so our toilets flush, we’ve fixed the generator 12 times to eventually buy a new one, so we have electricity pretty well all day now. We’ve built a new guard house so that our security people don’t have to stand on tables when it rains. We seeded a mud field so that kids play on grass as opposed to getting dirty and hurt on a hard mud packed field. We’ve built new washrooms so that kids don’t need to be grossed out whenever they needed to go. We’ve put up a decent library and brought literacy at the forefront of our educational program. We’ve raised teachers’ salaries by 30%. Maintenance staff now have a decent health insurance plan. Simply stated, staff is happy, I’m happy, and above all, kids are happy. Life is good at school. Not that it’s perfect; there are still challenges, like dealing with the greedy landlord (steeliness cloaked in charm...the scoundrel!) or the occasional rebel kindergarten boy peeing in the sandbox.

The good moments far outnumber the bad.   Like this past week...finally got around to getting a new AC for Mrs. M&M (Madeleine’s call sign with the kids...they think it’s a play on her initials. I won’t tell them it means Menopausal Madeleine). Madeleine’s exuberance over this new acquisition is impressive to say the least. Never thought an AC could get a woman so excited. I guess it’s just another milestone in her life; perhaps not up there with her other milestones like giving birth or donating an organ, but still a milestone. Must be that boiled frog again...