Junior Achievement's TV Debut

When yesterday morning rolled around, I was still doubting that this Junior Achievement television extravaganza was actually going to happen. For several weeks Alyssa, Kerry, and I have been hearing of Talla's mysterious plan to bring a TV crew out to our sites. His objective of showing off Junior Achievement and the work we've done to the rest of Senegal seemed good in theory; it's a great program, and the more people who know about it, the better. We let him chat about it and nodded politely, assuming that no such thing would occur (and also kind of hoping that no such thing would occur to avoid embarrassing ourselves in national television).

Not only did this actually happen...it went...(do I dare say?) smoothly. I called Alyssa yesterday morning to see if she had heard anything, and the Peace Corps car had already picked her and Kerry up and was headed for my house. After loading me and all of the certificates for the students into the car, we headed to the elementary school where three men from the national television station and their cameras where already waiting (twilight zone!). After talking quickly about logistics, we headed back to the classrooms, where all 100 of my students were crammed into one classroom, waiting for our arrival.

It turned out to be a wonderful morning. We handed out all of the certificates to each student one by one in front of a TV crew, various JA representatives from Dakar, and the director of the school. I'm hoping the importance of the classes and how proud they should be of themselves really resounded with the students. I was certainly proud and almost teared up a few times because I cry at everything.

After the certificate presentation, the TV crew interviewed the director of the school, two students from each class, and then (the moment I had been dreading) me. It's not that I was nervous or anything about the interview, I just felt awkward because it's hard for me to talk about myself and have the work I've done be publicized for all to see. The interview went well, except for the part where the journalist switched gears and made me respond in Wolof. That was definitely embarrassing as my Wolof skills are quite rusty. Afterwards, I did a short review of all of the lessons with the students so the representatives from JA Dakar and the TV crew could get an idea of what we've talked about during the classes.

The TV crew interviewing one of my students - he was so nervous!

Doing a quick review of what we've talked about during the classes

My awkward interview

After some group shots outside, I gave my students some last words of encouragement and said how proud I was to have worked with them. I also warned them if they ever see me on the street, they are not allowed to call me "toubab" (the Wolof word for white person). They just giggled.

The director of the school and some proud students

All of us!

After saying all my goodbyes, I headed home, but poor Alyssa had to soldier on and basically repeat everything that had just happened for her own Junior Achievement class in Thies. From what I understand, it was a long day for her, but it all went well. Overall, as much as I was dreading it, yesterday turned out to be a great day and I'm truly happy my students and the JA program will be showcased on TV. We have no idea when the segment will air, but my Senegalese family told me they'll be telling the whole neighborhood as soon as it does.

Thanks to Alyssa for all the amazing pictures! I've put up all of her pictures from yesterday, as well as Kerry's pictures from when he attended one of my classes a few weeks ago. Check them out in the album "Junior Achievement" on Picasa.

Can you spot the Toubab?