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Report from Bihar 2009

AFTER NINE DAYS with FreeSchools WorldLiteracy-Canada president, Sue Tennant, visit-ing 32 of 40 Free-Schools in Bihar, I returned to

the comforts of home, back to 24-hour electricity, broad-band computer access and hot showers, but I will neverbe the same person I was before Bihar.

The lives of many people have added to my lifeand changed me in the best of ways.It was not the pervasive poverty, thehorrific filth or the chaos which tugsat your consciousness, that sotouched me. Unfortunately, I haveseen dire poverty before thoughmaybe not as intensely as this time.It was the resilience of people fac-ing challenges of immense propor-tions, their joy in simple things, theircourage to envision change and theirfaith that it would happen. It wastheir humility, generosity, hunger forlearning and zest for life thattouched the core of my being.

The story of FreeSchools,which now has 70+ programs inBihar, South Delhi and NorthernThailand, begins with Sr. Crescenceand Mark Bloomfield in Bihar. Thatstory has been told in prior accounts and will not be re-counted here. However, the continued success ofFreeSchools is based on the determination of Sr.Crescence that all children deserve to be educated, theservice and stamina of Sue Tennant, who shares Sr.Crescence’s vision, and all those who have contributedto FreeSchools and/or its related projects.

Saskia Raevouri’s journals of the journey she, SueTennant, John Lange and John Tennant experienced withthe Bihar FreeSchools accurately detailed what we saw.While change has occurred in the minds and aspirationsof individuals, the physical environment remains as docu-mented by Saskia, with the sole exception that she jour-neyed in sweltering heat and with pesky flies—the fogand cold saved us from the flies. So these musings willshare another aspect of the FreeSchools in Bihar… andmost likely in no particular order.

by Geri Johnson

Sr. Mary Crescence

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FreeSchools is a secular char-ity dedicated “to breaking the cycleof ignorance and poverty throughfree education” one village at a time.A preference is given to educatinggirls. Parents are told to send theirgirls first and then the school willaccept their sons. As the name im-plies, FreeSchools is tuition free. Itoffers a basic program of reading,writing and math for 2-3 hours a day,typically in the late afternoon. Forgirls age twelve and older, there arenow five tailoring schools to teachsewing, knitting and crocheting. Therequests for more tailoring schools arefrequent.

The FreeSchools charity was or-ganized by Sue Tennant and registeredin Canada. Organizational and promo-tional expenses have been assumed byvolunteers so that 90 % of donationsgo directly to the field. Salaries arepaid only to the FreeSchool teachersand a few indispensable area manag-ers. All volunteers donate their timeand pay their own expenses.

Sr. Crescence was our hostess,mentor, and guide into the villages,the schools and the lives of all whomwe met. Her vision created theFreeSchools concept and she contin-ues to manage the Bihar programs. With a smallcadre of helpers she finds villages willing to havea school, hires and trains the teachers, providesbasic school materials (think chalk, chalkboard,slates and a few books) and carefully watches theprogress of the children. She is ever on the look-out for where and how to expand education in thelives of children who have few options in life. Inher calm and gentle manner, she does not miss asingle “teaching opportunity” for a child or theirparents. She manages the resources, stretching pen-nies artfully, and accounts for everything.

Sr. Crescence is the head of the Sacred HeartSociety at the Banuchapur convent in Bettiah,Bihar. She has had an uncommon history, which

included twelve years as the Mother Superior ofthe whole order, but that tale will wait for anotherday. We stayed at the convent, welcomed as fam-ily, and we were blessed with a glimpse into theworld of these approximately two dozen womenwho serve as teachers, nurses and social workersto a community that numbers some 17 millionpeople. (Bihar vies with Orissa for being the poor-est state in India.) The sisters are forbidden to pros-elytize their religion. They live dedicated lives ofloving service, unselfish devotion, undying hope,merciful ministry and abiding faith.

No FreeSchool money is paid to the Church,the upkeep of the convent or the welfare of thesisters.

Convent and chapel in the backgrond

Guest house to the right of the convent

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* * *We find the convent an oasis of peacefulness

and civility. To begin with it is clean, calm andoften quiet, which cannot be said of anywhere out-side the convent grounds. Violent crime in thetowns and along the major roads is frightfully com-mon. Kidnapping is a major industry. The traffic isalmost unexplainable. The roads, a word used inthe most general sense, are often narrow and deeplyrutted. Onto these variously paved paths are cows,goats, water buffalo, pedestrians, bicycles, bicycle-rickshaws, motorized tuk-tuks, horse- or ox-drawncarts, cars, jeeps, SUV-type vehicles, buses, andtrucks of all sizes generally overloaded with cargo.And anyone who can move faster than anothervehicle is passing that vehicle. Drivers are coop-erative, yield to each other in akind of dance around the otherand alert one another with theirhorns. Given the number of ve-hicles, that means an endlessstream of honking.

Each time we drive out ofthe convent gates, the Sisterspray for the Father’s will to bedone, and then they trust Him.Sr. Elise, a nurse and socialworker, would say that they aredoing God’s work and He willtake care of them/us. Sr. Elisemanages a social-health groupand has some 150 lay workers.They have not had one workerrobbed or kidnapped in 25years. The goodness of the Sis-ters precedes them and they are valued for theirservice.

* * *This year the village fields were green and

fertile. Food should be abundant. Vegetables andfruit were plentiful in the marketplaces. Two yearsago these same fields were flooded. Homes, grainsilos, animals and people drowned in raging wa-ters. Others died of dysentery, diphtheria and re-lated diseases. Those that did not die knew thepangs of hunger. This year will hopefully be dif-ferent.

Village and fields

The children from these villages and manyfrom the cities come from families with no cultureof education save what they learn from their envi-ronment. In Delhi, I watched two boys, estimatedat five and seven years old (it is hard to tell as theywere small—one still had his baby teeth) workingthe street for handouts or any opportunity—carrysomeone’s bags for a tip?—that came along. Forfun they hopped onto the back end of a motorizedthree-wheel vehicle (tuk-tuk) and rode to the endof the street. They greeted people in English(“Happy New Year!”) and probably knew greet-ings in half a dozen other languages. I suspect they

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could count money. They could read faces andbody language, but could they read a street sign orbook? Their instincts are being honed but will thatbe enough to survive in today’s world? Or mightthey have to turn to mugging and kidnapping?

One of my favorite vignettes, seen from thecar window as we passed through a village, wasof three children and two baby goats, spinningaround in the “dizzy game” that children play. Whatamazed me was that the goats were following the

children! We saw children tenderly caring for theiranimals. Small children rode the backs of very bigwater buffalo, petting and talking to their animals.Baby goats were treated with care, sometimes puton a mat in the sun with infant children. I watchedan older brother carefully place his baby siblingonto the back of a water buffalo. Was this a firstlesson in bonding and animal management? Goats,chickens, dogs, cows, water buffalo, and occasion-ally a horse, lived with the family and made a fam-

ily well off. We watched children pickup cow dung, mix it with straw and placein the sun to dry, to be the fuel sourcefor cooking. And, we saw families in thesugar cane fields—fathers cut the canewhile moms and children gathered andbundled.

During the cold nights, as I lay un-der three blankets, I thought of thesechildren in their mud-walled, thatched-roofed homes, lying in their hay beds.Sr. Elise shared that she prayed that Godwould to send the animals to lay withthe children and keep them warm atnight. Oh, that gave a whole new appre-ciation for the animals!

Another scene I will never forgetis the sight of a toddler running all alonedown a village lane. At the sound of acar horn, he instantly jumped out of thelane, positioned himself on the side ofthe road and stood with his shoulders andback straight. He looked like he wasgoing to salute the passing car. Alreadythis child, who could not have been threeyears old, knew the sound of danger andhow to avoid it.

In the schools we saw all kinds offaces, from bright-eyed and eager towary and cautious. Often girls seven toten years old held and cared for toddlersiblings while learning to read and write.Being their family job to care for theyoung, both came to school (and perhapsinadvertently early education finds a toe-hold).

While India has a new child laborlaw intended to protect children fourteen

Mud-walled, white-washed home

Straw home for animals and people

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and under from working, on the farms and in thevillages everyone is needed. In the towns and cit-ies, the new law has not translated into practice.Children still work long hours. So the late after-noon times (2.00-4.00 pm or 2.00-5.00 pm) for theFreeSchool programs have worked in the lives ofthese children.

And even if children had the time to attendthe government day schools, there are other ob-stacles. A primary obstacle is that their languagelevels are limited to the lives they live. The lan-guage needed for even beginning levels of formaleducation are beyond them. Sr. Crescence ex-plained that many of those who try the governmentschools often leave in discouragement. Some gov-ernment schools are simply too far away. And thenthere is the problem that the government schoolteachers, at least in these districts of Bihar, havenot been paid for 22 months. Teacher absence is amajor problem. One is left to wonder if they areworking their own fields or other jobs to meet theirfamily needs.

* * *The FreeSchools are the only educational

option available for thousands of village children.Sr. Crescence and Sue Tennant report growth inthe Bihar FreeSchools attendance to the point of“bursting at the seams." The afternoon classes, theteaching methods employed and the location of theschools in the village community are winning com-binations. Schools intended to have 45 studentsrarely hold less than 60 and have as many as 110.The desire to learn grows. In areas where theschools have functioned for a few year parents seethe benefits and opportunities for their children.

Many of these parents are requesting more pro-grams and longer hours.

* * *In the village of Neenwalia, Mr.Dinnesh

teaches 65 students. The village mothers formed“an advisory board” and made a formal request toSr. Crescence and Sue for a day school, rather thanthe existing evening classes.

* * *In the village of Bairiyia, near the town of

Motihari (where Gandhi began his movement)there are three classrooms and three teachers for115 children. This is turning into a model school.Some years ago the villagers provided the land andthe materials (hay, wood and clay type mud) for atwo room school. While we visited, a gentlemandonated enough land for three more classroomsand requested a full day school.

Sue Tennant with Mr. Dinnesh

This self-formed Advisory Board requested this picture andarranged themselves as seen, with Sr. Crescence sitting inthe middle.

Class is held in a yard. The children bring empty rice bagsto sit on and use empty plastic bags for book bags.

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* * *At Tali, outside Motihari, Ms. Manjusha

teaches 110 students every day. Her father, a doc-tor, inoculates children against polio and works toeradicate the disease which still exists in this partof the world. Manjusha comes from a high casteand class. She chose to work with these villagechildren even though that carries a stigma—teach-ing the poor brings the connotation that you are a

A few of the 115 Bairiyia students

Land for new classrooms

One room of the two-room school

The three Bairiya teachers

poor teacher and cannot get a better job. Manjushahas a class of students who have attended for twoyears and a group of new students. She needs an-other teacher to help her. In the interim the olderstudents teach the younger ones. Before we leaveTali, a group of mothers come to Sr. Crescence,saying, “When is it our turn? When can we learnto read?”

It is very cold and foggy morning Ms. Manjusha with Sue Tennant

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* * *Many of the teachers are young girls, 16-18

years old. They have completed the equivalent of10th grade and were trained by Sr. Crescence (whocontinues to provide monthly teacher meetings andtraining sessions). Some of the teachers are retiredteachers. Some are university educated. Several arenuns or teachers who regularly teach in the con-vent tuition schools and also teach a FreeSchoolsclass in the afternoons. In the Largath villages, thereis a family of teachers. Rajanee, the mother, teachesin a neighboring village, while her eldest daugh-ter, Subhadra, teaches in their home village, fromtheir front yard. Subhadra applies her monthly sal-ary to her education; next year she will attend theuniversity. Then her sister will teach the Free-Schools class.

Sr. Crescence tells the teachers that their workis an act of love, as FreeSchools will never be able

Some of the 110 students and mothers watching Rajanee teaching a lesson on the need for clean waterpumps and clean water

Subhadra teaching at family home, listening to a girlrecite a poem

to pay what the government teachers receive. Sheinspires them with the knowledge that they changelives and open the doors to the future for children.

The middle sister will replace Subhadra (right) Subhadra’s class

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* * *One of Sr. Crescence’s many dreams is to of-

fer a tailoring school in every village. She wouldlike each graduate to leave with a treadle sewingmachine (electricity is not widely available or re-liable). A girl who can read and sew and who hasher own sewing machine would be respected andtreated with care in her husband’s home. Sr.Crescence says she would no longer worry thatsuch a new bride would be beaten and maltreatedby the mother-in-law.

* * *In every village we were greeted with kind-

ness, hospitality, hope, flower garlands, songs andcups of tea. Many of these children waited hoursfor our arrival in the cold morning (as we droveslowly through the fog. Some wear jackets orshawls. Many have long sleeves and head cover-ings. Too many are bare-legged and bare-footed.Sr. Crescence tells the children that “Ma’am Sue”and “Ma’am Geri” love them and that we havecome from Canada and Singapore because we carefor them and want them to learn. She tells themthere are other people in the world who care aboutthem. It is a foreign concept; yet we are there. Theireyes beamed at us and touched our souls.

Our hearts swelled with love, with concernfor their welfare, with tenderness for their inno-cence, with sadness for their poverty and respectfor their desire to learn. In the right moments, whenSr. Crescence knew we were suffering at the plightof these children, she tells us that Indian childrenare very brave. And we see their resilience.

Dharmaha Village near Motihari School is held in the yard and childrensit on the cold ground

Dharmaha Tailoring School

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Above: Regina’s Center in Motihari

A school in Bettiah, near the convent A class at the Banuchapur Sacred Heart Convent School

Geri Johnson (shown here with Sr.Crescence and one of the FreeSchoolteachers in Bihar) is president ofFreeSchools World Literacy-USA. Shelives and teaches in Singapore.