One Town Before and After

Lis da Rocha, Libya

“Humanism: a set of ideas about or interest in … mankind, not including religious belief.”
Chambers Dictionary

Lis da Rocha is a teacher mentor, currently working in Sarawak, Borneo. Lis studied in the UK and has subsequently gained 33 years’ experience in EFL- teaching in Sweden, Germany and Mozambique, where she has volunteered twice. She has also trained teachers in Libya and Portugal. She is interested in Dogme and has previously used Suggestopaedia on intensive courses, whilst working for the Swedish Agency for Development Co-operation. E-mail: elisabetdarocha@gmail.com

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Before and After
PS 1
PS 2

Before and After

I had the privilege of working as an EFL teacher/trainer and later Training & Academic Manager at the Language Centre at Sirte University in Libya for a two year period, being evacuated in February 2011. It was on a project called LETUP. (To know more google it!)

I was working in a highly religious and conservative Moslem community, where men and women lived separate lives, yet where university attendance had lately been largely female at around 80%. It was not easy to live there as an unaccompanied woman- something unheard of there.

A year ago I contributed an article to this journal, praising the fact that 6 female trainee teachers had worked hard to get onto MA TESOL courses in the UK and how Libya was opening up to the outside world. Graduates were generously funded by the state to study abroad on MAs & PHDs and in the UK alone there were 5000 Libyans studying. Interest in English and in the UK in general was high and our trainee English teachers were radiant after their pre-sessional courses in the country. We had a positive relationship at work with co-operative staff and motivated students. For the first time ever female graduates would be allowed to travel alone to the UK without chaperones from that town - after we took the trouble to involve the imams and invited the TAs’ male relatives to the university to explain the advantages of the women going to study abroad unaccompanied. In other words we seemed to be on the right track. We had opened a Self Access Centre in the library and many students would spend hours there improving their language skills and preparing for IELTS and TOEFL exams. We were also in the process of extending our reach to secondary school teachers and had a pilot course for 40 local English teachers for a month. Slowly but surely things were changing. But then things changed and my piece was never published.

After my evacuation by the UK government, whereby I had to leave my possessions very hastily, but worse, my students and colleagues without even saying goodbye or giving any explanations I got hate mail. I will leave you to draw your own conclusions as to why:

Now the town has become a ghost town. The locals have fled or been killed. Young students, reaching their prime have also died. I know of one case but have no idea of the total number, possibly nobody does. Partly this is due to the fact that there have been no telephones in the town since August last year- neither landlines nor mobile phones can be used. At other times there has been no electricity, water and a shortage of food. Flats have been shelled and the university looted. A bomb was dropped onto a secondary school. I have managed to communicate with some of the staff & students via Facebook from elsewhere or they have contacted me via friends abroad somehow. The picture is entirely different today. Hell on earth.

As a humanist, irrespective of religious beliefs if any, I have to believe that there is an alternative to violence and war. VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE. My belief is that more hatred has been created now in Libya and that it will take a long time to repair the damage both psychological and physical that has been done. And of course some damage is beyond repair e.g. the loss of limbs or eyesight.

I thank HLT for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the journal and share my story, as a humanist, interested in mankind. Is this not after all why we become teachers- because we are interested in mankind and have no interest in killing others but of lifting them up from wherever they may be and helping them to improve their own lives? English is the language of opportunity, a world language and we are doing a very important job as we can be facilitating for our students to access this important key.

Dedicated to all my teacher colleagues who get evacuated because of war situations.

In conjunction with my article I have managed to get these reports on Sirte- better late than never.The English is not so good I am afraid but it says a lot...

PS 1

Hii My friend
I phoned Ali and Osama about the situation in Surt, They said the situation in Surt is abnormal, There r Many of the homes destroyed, There r Schools and (30% or 40%) from the university destroyed.
The university didn't start the classes yet, but they prepare to it.
Schools: the early classes will start this week.
Electricity: The house have electricity, but the streets not good.
Water: The water is OK.
Telephones: GPTC and Libyana working, but it's not good, Al-Madar is so bad.
Internet: There is ADSL
There at all not good, Coz there is no a lot of money in the banks, There is a little banks working, The money is a big problem in Surt, Coz a lot of ppl, they go to Tripoli or another city to have a money from the bank.
22nd January 2012

PS 2

thnx mr pacoyour feelings about my country,But questions about the Sirte Sirte in stable condition now, but it is completely broken, bad communications, schools did not open fully, and electricity slowly returned,
We can communicate with each other
best regards
iman
20th January 2012

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