I know about poverty. I've read the statistics. It's different when poverty has a face. Here at the university we are somewhat isolated from poverty. Students and professionals wear clean, stylish clothing, carry cell phones, interact as students and faculty do at universities in the U.S. So I drop my guard here. Poverty is pushed into the background. When it finds me dozing, it pounces.
Case in point: I’m spearheading a library project at the primary school adjacent to the university and recently arranged to hire the teachers there to do the card inserts. Their salary is woefully low and the extra income was welcomed enthusiastically. The head teacher, Conrad, and I met briefly to plan the logistics of our Saturday work day. I suggested that the teachers bring their lunches since we were planning to work the entire day. He did not understand what I was asking. So I rephrased my suggestion and saw that he was a bit perplexed still. After a third reiteration it became clear to me that he was not comfortable with this request and sidestepped the whole issue by asking that I speak directly to the teachers about it. Luckily, before I plunged us all into similar discomfort of group proportions, I ran into the librarian/teacher. Dear Ayubu was a very adept go between. He relayed to me that no, the teachers did not want to break for lunch. They preferred working straight through. Really? (Images of lunchless American teachers striking filled my mind.)
Okay, then. No lunch break.
Finally it dawned on me.
They do not eat lunch.
Get it?
As a matter of course, the teachers do not eat lunch.
I confirmed this with Tim’s teaching assistant by asking what meals were typically taken in Tanzania… particularly by teachers. (He is a former teacher) Some do have two meals during the day. Some don’t. In some schools tea is provided mid day. Some do not eat at all until evening. This is their daily routine. Dignified, professional, employed teachers do not have enough money to eat three meals a day…
This is when I go to our little house, shut the door, and crawl under the bed.
