Peace Corps Revisited: Don and Ann Leake's Year in Sierra Leone

Ann and Don Leake met 40 years ago as housemates in their Peace Corps posting in the Republic of Congo.  Don taught math; Ann taught English.  At our April 2018 RFAreaREA meeting, they described it as a life-changing experience.  When Don ended his career as a math professor at UW-River Falls and Ann retired from teaching English as a second language in Minnesota public schools--and a post-retirement stint in the English Language Transition Program for international students--they were looking for the next adventure.

The Peace Corps encourages its alumni to do it one more time for shorter periods of time.  The Leakes applied, were accepted, and got ready to return to Africa, this time as to a university in Sierra Leone as teacher trainers for eleven months.

They spent two weeks in the large city of Freetown, Sierra Leone, learning a little bit of the language and the culture before heading to Kenema, the country's second largest city, and to Eastern Polytechnic University.  Upon arrival, Ann and Don discovered that the university had no real idea why they were there and that they would have to invent their own jobs.

The Leakes lived on campus in a decent house, given local standards, that had no running water and unreliable electricity. They did have one propane burner on which to cook.  Water had to be carried from the well some distance away or collected from the roof during rainstorms.  Bathing and laundry were major undertakings.  Solar-powered lights that they were advised to bring with them provided enough illumination to read in the evenings.

Sierra Leone's educational system follows the British model inasmuch as the country was at one time a British colony.  This system relies upon testing, the results of which determine where students will attend school or college.  Eastern Polytechnic had been completely destroyed during the political revolution twenty years ago and is still in the process of rebuilding.  It has a library building but no books available to students.  The only resources available to teachers and students are chalkboards, paper, and pencils.  Students take 12 to 15 subjects a week, spending one to two hours a week studying a specific subject.   Class sizes averaged 50 to 60 students.

Don taught math at the university and Ann English.  Her students were primarily nursing students.  Ann decided that her efforts might be more meaningfully directed at the neighboring elementary school where she volunteered.  She spent time in a fifth-grade classroom, built to hold 30 students, teaching more than 90 students.  Teachers rely on lots of memorization, repetition, and recitation.  Ann also learned, to her dismay, that schools practice regular corporal punishment.  When she suggested that there might be other ways to discipline students, she was told, "African children need to be beaten."

The sense of accomplishment they gained during their first Peace Corps stint was not repeated this time.  Both Leakes thought they might have affected the lives of a few students, but they certainly were able to share any of their knowledge with the university's teacher training faculty, who were simply not interested in American teaching techniques or philosophy. 

Not to be discouraged, the Leakes are planning yet another adventure.  Rumors are that they may be headed to Morocco!