The Kindest Mob

The striking at school has become more aggressive in the past few weeks. Often, when there is a student strike, the students go to nearby schools and try to get those students to rally behind their cause, in order to put more pressure on their own administration. Recently, one of the strikes turned violent and some students were getting into fights with police. I’ve tried to find out the reason for the striking, and the reason is dependent on who you ask. The teachers told me the students are striking because there is an upcoming holiday (Tabaski) and some people need to do some traveling to see their families and want school to be closed. However, I asked some students why they were striking and they told me it was because the school had promised them scholarships and then not provided the money. For whatever reason, school is chaotic. On Wednesday, I was helping one of the other teachers give a test and about a half an hour in, we heard a yelling mob approaching. I gave a look to the other teacher (Mr. Sow) who gave me a shrug and just said to try to give the students as much time as we could. It’s kind of scary hearing an angry mob approaching, and I asked Mr. Sow if the door had a lock, and he said it wouldn’t matter. About a third of the class was finished when the mob finally made it to the door, and Mr. Sow was able to stall them for about 10 minutes, telling them he was giving a test, and just needed a little more time, then they could strike to their heart’s content. Well, finally the strikers poured into the room and started running around yelling (although they were full of energy, the mob did seem rather amiable. I recognized some of the students from my summer school, and they were very nice to me. They were screaming and yelling and throwing papers, then they would stop and smile and politely say, “Bonjour, Stephen!”). Mr. Sow and I were running around trying to collect all the tests before the students left. I got a wad of papers, hopefully everyone has something I can grade, but how can one be expected to perform on a test amidst an ensuing mob? I think I will grade them rather graciously. Can you imagine taking a failed test home to your parents and them saying, “Explain this grade, mister.”
“It’s not my fault, Dad. There was an angry mob in the class!”
“No excuses. Go to your room.”

Mr. Sow invited me back to his house for tea after class (tea is a traditional, social thing here, and people always invite everyone over for tea. The tea is served in something the size and shape of a shot glass. It’s incredibly strong and sugary. Personally, it’s not my cup of tea (sorry, couldn’t resist) but I drink it to be social and amicable) and had a chat for a while about the upcoming holiday, Tabaski. The story behind Tabaski is actually a version of the Old Testament story of when God asked Abraham to offer his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. Just before Abraham is about to kill Isaac, a ram is provided so that Abraham doesn’t have to kill his son. So, on Tabaski, everyone kills a sheep to symbolize Abraham’s faith. They are planning to kill three sheep at this house. Both of my host brothers and my host mom all have a sheep, so now we have a small menagerie behind our house. However, shockingly, the one sheep that our family already owns, the most annoying thing on four legs is going to survive the sheep slaughter. I asked my host brother and he told me the sheep was still too small, so it will wait for next Tabaski. If I don’t kill it first, that is