One Woman's Road to Being Educated

Oops!  In deleting duplicates of this post, I got rid of them all!  Reposting...

Someone asked me about educating girls in Cameroon/CAR, so I went in search of some answers.  Yesterday I interviewed Marie Atta.  She is the only female among the 20 students studying to become catechists at the Bible School in Garoua Boulai so I thought her story would be interesting to hear.  What do you think?

Marie is from the town of Ndokayo on the road south to Bertoua.  She said there are three schools in her town, a public one, a pilot one, and St. Paul’s run by the Catholics.  She attended the public school through CM2 (Cours Moyens 2), the equivalent of fifth grade in the US.  After that she left school and got married. 

She told me that it is expensive to go to school because each student must pay a yearly fee of between 8,500 and 24,000 cfa ($17 - $48) depending on the town and level – high school costs more.  Students also pay for textbooks about 8,000 cfa ($16); again, high school texts cost more.  Sometimes at the primary level, students can use books the school has, but then they are taken and locked in the director’s office each night so students can’t read or study at home.  In addition, students’ families must buy them uniforms.  Each school has its own design and color. 

It is harder for girls to study than boys because many parents don’t encourage their girls.  They push the boys to stay in school, but don’t see the point in girls learning more than the basics of reading and writing (if that).  Marie says, though, that this attitude is changing slowly.  I asked her about her children.  She said that she had six children, but four, two girls and two boys, died.  (Note:  yes, infant mortality is still a huge problem here – many from malaria, unfortunately, but also many newborns deaths can be attributed to a scarcity of medical care.  I just saw this link today which explains more if you are interested:  “Africa Riskiest Place to be Born,” http://somalilandsun.com/index.php/world/2867-africa-is-riskiest-place-to-be-born-report-says.)  The remaining girl is 18 and left school several years ago.  The boy went a little further finishing 6ieme (equivalent of 6^th grade), but has left school.  She says he has agreed to go back to school soon.

Many girls leave school to get married (even at the age of 15 or younger!).  Marie says even though more parents urge their girls to study, some refuse – such as her daughter.  Of course, sometimes money is an issue as well. 

When Marie was young, she had nine living siblings.  It was hard to pay school fees for them all, so they had to help out.  When she was about ten, though, she fell gravely ill going into a coma.  She had a vision of light.  A man pulled her right hand and told her she needed to be studying and preaching the Bible.  She got better and began to sing in the church choir.  They were given Bible verses to memorize.

Still, Marie didn’t realize the importance of education until she was an adult.  She took Bible correspondence courses and she completed classes for Gbaya (reading, writing, and teaching literacy), receiving three different certificates. 

Since she could read, she was asked to help out at church, reading lessons, etc.  She married and had her first child, but still was active at church working for the Femme Pour Christ (Women for Christ) for four years.  She occasionally had visions, too.  Once she dreamed of a river.  She was with another woman; they saw her dead children.  They opened three Bibles.  She was told that that she would live for at least 30 years because she had work to do. 

Another time, she again became very ill and had another vision of a woman talking to her and encouraging her in her work for God.  (Note:  she told me that she knows why she got sick the second time; there was a woman with whom she worked who wanted her responsibilities who cursed her.  I said that sounds like witchcraft.  She agreed.  I said, but Christians don’t believe in curses and witchcraft.  She agreed to that, too.  She ended that part of the conversation by saying that God saved her and she is doing everything she can now to serve Him.)

She has worked for churches in several towns.  It is the last church (still her home church) that sponsors her to attend the two-year program at the Bible School in Garoua Boulai.  She said that her level of education (only 5^th grade equivalent) is lower than is generally accepted.  (Many students have finished the equivalent of 8^th grade or higher.)  Still, she sent copies of her three Gbaya certificate and made her case in her application; she was accepted.  This is near the end of her first year.  When she finishes in 2014, she will return to the church to serve as a catechist.  Because there are not yet enough pastors trained, each church has a catechist who leads the weekly worship and helps take care of the parish.  Once a month, a pastor comes.  That week there is communion, babies are baptized and/or people are confirmed.  The pastor is able to assist to some extent at other times, but has various churches that s/he serves.  (Last year, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon ordained the first four women.  Several others are completing internships and may be ordained in December 2013.)

Marie says that she now see the value of school and encourages other to study.  She said if she had the money and the chance, she would return to high school and continue to study as long as she could! 

An interesting note:  Marie’s husband comes from a family of farmers who were never educated.  He never went to school, so never learned to read, write, or speak French.  The Bible School offers literacy and other classes for students’ spouses, so this man is one among 19 women.  He is determined to learn to read Gbaya, speak French, as learn whatever else they offer! 

It was a pleasure talking to Marie.  Both she and her husband can be an inspiration to us all to keep learning – whatever level of formal education we have had.