What we took for granted

I remember my days in middle school and high school...granted, there were a lot of days in there that id rather forget...but there were a lot of days that were pretty normal too. I remember getting up for school at an hour i found to be unacceptable for someone of my age. (In those days 10:30 am was the earliest you'd see me on weekends!) I remember walking down the side walk to the elementary school where the buses picked us up...I remember always looking forward to those bus rides and people watching as we cruised pass the swarms of elementary school children flocking towards their hives in the center of each section of town. I remember backpacks full of heavy books. I remember the locker lottery and hunt that happened the beginning of each year, and the torment of gym class...especially physical fitness...being trapped inside that room full of mirrors and intimidating looking medieval torture devices. Even worse were the mile runs on the track and sprints they made us do! In those days i just went through the motions all those things, even the things i hated were just s normal part of life.

Looking back now, however, i realize that what i found unspectacular in those days--or even bothersome--were privileges of indescribable proportion. "Normal" for a student here in Bona-Bona looks quite different. "Normally" kindergarteners wake up at 4 am to walk  15-20 km along a gravel road in shoes of questionable condition to school,  where they may or may not get lessons. Who knows! The teacher may have been called away unexpectedly to a workshop. "Normally" middle school students arrive to school carrying those "heavy books" i mentioned in plastic grocery bags (if they are so fortunate to have books for their class) where they sit in crumbling, molding classrooms waiting for lessons to start...which may or may not, and they do, never start on time. "Normally" teens struggle through classes in which they barely understand the language of instruction and with no one to answer their questions or invest time and energy into explaining things fully. "Normally" if they make it through to 10 grade they begin to wonder mid year why they put in the effort because they KNOW their families cannot afford to pay for rent in the next town over so they can attend 11th and 12th grade and get a diploma. "Normally" the only sports they play are on a dry expanse of sand full of rocks and burrs...most of them without shoes since they have no sports shoes. Those "medieval torture devices in the gym they'd likely find even more intimidating that i did, for non have never seen them or even know of their existence. Even that road i used to cruise down on the bus ride to school without a second thought...most children in this village haven't seen a paved road. The closest one is 25km away...an impossible distance to span when there is no transport and only an endless expanse of sharp rocks and thorn bushes in between.

So many things i never even thought were worth acknowledging in my middle school days are things students here can only dream of. How can i then blame them when they raise their voice in protest, when the burn tires and buildings and disrupt school for weeks and months on end? How can i judge them for being angry and on the verge of desperation when their children are forced to drop out of school or precious saving for University re sucked up just so they can get a diploma? Especially when all it would take would be a few extra classrooms and teachers to allow them to finish school locally. How can i fault them for demanding a decent connection to civilization so that there is at least some opportunity for economic growth in the community. Protests have been raging these past few months and gotten continually more extreme. There have been many false promises from the municipality and few signs of genuine concern. Though after finally attracting some media attention in recent day the regional leaders were finally motivated enough to show their faces and give real answers. They say there will be changes and i hope there will be. Because the answers are pretty simple and "normal" in Bona-Bona just doesn't cut it.