My postmate and I made plans to have a meeting with all of the geography and history teachers at the high school for Teacher Training activities. On the day of the meeting, we arrived prepared for the activities only to walk into an empty room. Apparently, all of the teachers were told only the night before that there is a geography/history seminar in the city that same day. Of course, they are given little notice as it always happens here and no one tells us that it is canceled.
We tried to get a hold of them to reschedule, but there was no cell phone reception at the high school. Instead, we were advised to leave them a note on the “notice board”. This is just a blackboard in a classroom that is covered in hand written pieces of paper glued (not taped from some reason or even just written in chalk because it doesn’t really erase) to the blackboard. We searched for glue in the classrooms, but all of the teachers and students bring supplies back home with them at the end of the day since there are no doors to the classrooms.
Finally, we found a tree outside and used its sap to paste the note to the board. Nothing ever works as you had planned in Africa, but it always does seem to work eventually in ways you never imagined.
