We got up and had breakfast and amy and I went into town for a bit. When we got back Kevin (prof. from NYU who is here with us, wife emmay is a mid-wife working here for the month as well, he does prison theater—very interesting) and amy facilitated an activity where we used quotes from pedagogy of the oppressed to create human statues. It was very interesting and a great way to get conversation started.
The conversation was pretty intense. We really grappled with the reasons we are here and whether or not we are doing or can do any good. It made us all really think. One idea was struggling with- are we being oppressors by coming in and doing what we are doing. I think we came to a bit of a conclusion with the idea that we are just here to give another perspective and idea on how to do things but not here to make the teachers do it our way. There are things that we feel should change but it is not our place to make those changes happen. We can just introduce different ideas and empower the teachers with knowledge and a little encouragement that they are professionals and should be taken as such.
We went out to lunch and hung out in town for most of the rest of the day. Still no water.
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That would have been a very interesting discussion indeed! I think your take is right. From what I can gather, your group was invited in to help people who need it. The definition of oppression is "the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner." Helping people improve their lives voluntarily fits not a one of those criteria. To the contrary, Idi Amin was an oppressive dictator from that country who was responsible for creating much of the need there now. You guys can only do so much, you aren't trying to rework their government to remove the economically depressing corruption. That is up for the people there to do. An educated population is more apt to be able to act for their own self-interests, and in that you are making an impact. Oppression? Hardly. I'd call it empowerment, and more power to you.
(Sorry for the rant! Didn't mean to hijack your blog!)
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