Krug Shares About Life in Somaliland

Teresa Krug, a 2003 Heber Springs High graduate, is an English teacher in Somaliland in the eastern horn of Africa. She has been there since October 2009. She was originally supposed to teach English and journalism to university students, but since January she has been teaching English at the secondary school of Abaarso Tech (an advanced high school) to freshmen and local police and customs officers.

Krug is the director of communications and is in charge of outreach to media outlets. She was asked to give readers an insight into what life is like in Somaliland. More information about Abaarso Tech and her experiences can be found at www.abaarsotech.org and www.smilinginsomaliland.com.

My mornings begin with a classroom of 14 freshmen. Together we rehearse the different parts of speech, review capitalization, and spend time with famous literary characters. My students face me in dark blue uniforms, and I instruct in a hideously flowered 'teacher dress.' This scene closely resembles any boarding school classroom in the United States, save one notable part: my hair and exposed neck are wrapped in brightly colored scarves.

The total freshman class is composed of roughly 50 students. They are the first to go through Abaarso Tech, a secondary boarding school in East Africa that was founded by an American in 2008. The students, who are in the top one percent of their peer group of Somaliland, are admitted regardless of their abilities to pay. As a whole, however, they still lag far behind their peers in more developed parts of the world.

Previous to enrollment many of our students had never seen a computer, and the majority lacked the fundamental conceptual and analytical skills my classmates and I developed as children. While we spent time with board games, theater, debate, and other foundational activities, these students' education focused more on memorization and housework. In addition to advanced science and math classes, these teenagers are now also being exposed to logic and arts education for the very first time.

The educational downfall is just one side effect of this post-conflict society. (Somaliland unilaterally separated from its 1960 union with southern Somalia in 1991 after a violent civil war.) Many Somalis, the majority of which either lived in refugee camps or abroad during the war, are still suffering from undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder. The political and healthcare systems are still tremendously underdeveloped, and books are severely lacking. Because little printing takes place here, and shipping is extremely expensive, it is common for classes to be taught without enough—or any—of them.

What the country lacks in material resources, however, it makes up for in committed, optimistic individuals who are determined to see Somaliland succeed. Despite the international community's reluctance to acknowledge it as a separate country, hospitals are being built, universities are being strengthened, and students are attacking education with an insatiable hunger.

As difficult as it has been to lose much of my independence to armed guards and shared drivers, I find it increasingly difficult to walk away from this country. I am reminded daily of Heber Springs in the people I meet: generous, religious, largely homogenous, strong familial ties, and gentle, teasing senses of humor. I am also reminded of the lessons I learned here—both in and out of school—as I apply them every day with my students.

I know the capability to see my friends and family in Somaliland has enabled the struggles of Somalis to become more personal. My hope is that others, despite their physical location, will also be able to personalize their struggles.

Source: The Sun-Times