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SCARLET AND BLACK

Buoy Describes liberiun Soiourn;
‘ Cuttington Stay Provides Insight

By Kris Nash

Liberia, West Africa, is a na-
tion of sharp contrasts, From the
modern coastal city of Monrovia
to the unexplored bushland of the
interior, from the educated stu-
dents and teachers of the colleges
to the tribal natives who have nev-
pr seen a white man, from the
numerous areas exhibiting West-
orn influence to the primitive cus-
toms of the bush which are often
steeped in magic and superstition
~ in these and in various other
segments of Liberian life are
found constant reminders of the
great paradox which the culture
of this country currently repre-
sents.

Liberia has been the home of
Dirk Baay (German) for this past
11 months. Easy and his wife and
family lived on the campus of
cuttington College, 120 miles from
the coast. Though said to ha lo-
cated in the village of Suacoco,
Cuttington is actually situated in
the open bush, With primitive na-
tive settlements existing perhaps
a mile from the campus.

Serving as I Fulbright-Hays
Visiting lecturer, Baay taught
freshman English and American
literature at Cuttington, one of Li-
beria’s two colleges.

Baay described Monrovia, the
Liberian capital, as “a sizeable
city,” containing several super-
markets, and large office build-
ings in the downtown sector. Traf-
fic in Monrovia resembles that In
western cities, with taxis the chief
means of transportation.

Cuttington is a liberal arts col-
lege offering a degree in agricul-
ture, as well as the standard 3.5.
_tnd BA. certificates, The school’s
li-member faculty serves an en-
rollment of about 200 students,
three-fourths of which are Liber-

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ians. While most students come
from high schools in Monrovia'
there are some enrolled who re-
ceived their secondary level edu-
cations at mission schools in the
bush. Such pupils lack the cultural
development of the Monrovlans,
but otherwise are scholastically
competent.

Since there are no utilities, Cut-
tington has a generator and pro
duces its own electricity. There is
a college dining room, though
Baay and his family lived in a
separate three-room unit contain-
ing a refrigerator and electric
range. Baay revealed that the wa-
ter throughout Liberia holds the
threat of dysentery and typhoid
fever, and is therefore unfit to
drinlr.

Classes at Cuttington are not
overcrowded with the student body
still relatively small, but the dor-
mitory facilities are definitely
cramped. Four students are its
ually forced to occupy a room
scarcely spacious as a Grinnell
"double."

Occasional concerts by visiting
groups are also presented in Mons
rovia, and plays are staged from
time to time by amateur groups
The amateur theatrical group at
Cuttington recently presented a
Gilbert and Sullivln operatta, un-
der the direction of a faculty ads
visor on dramatic: and assisted
by Mrs. Buy. On an even larg<
er scale was a production of “Mars
der in the Cathedral," which was
put on not only at the college, but
in Monrovia and other cities in
the upland interior.

The studant who played the lead
in “Murder in the Cathedral” is
a native boy, president of the stu-
dent body, whom easy is ins
terested in bringing to Grinnell
next year as a senior.

Baay was active in the athletic
scheme at Cuttington by serving
as chairman of the athletic com-
mittee and coaching the soccer
team. Soccer is the most popular
game in West Africa. Baay em-
phasized that the quality of Liber-
ian play in such contests as bas-
ketball and track has been greatly
increased as a result of better or-
ganization in these areas at Mon-
rovian high schools.

Just as in Monrovia, the scat
tered expanses of native quarters
— with their rnud huts, capped by
corrugated-iron roofs —- supply
blatant contrast to the metropoli~
tan ﬂavor of the downtown office
buildings, so in the interior the na-
tive tribal villages clash with the
atmosphere of Cuttingtan. These
natives live as their ancient anv
cesters did. wringing an existence
out of the bushland by farming
and small-scale livestock or poul-
try growing. Because of the ani-
mals’ propensity for contracting
lethal tropical diseases, there is
an astonishing dearth of Wild
game in the Liberian interior. The
natives supplement what little
fowl and fish meal is available
by raising ducks, goats, and
chickens in their villages.

Most of the primitive tribes
hava members who have never
seen the white man, but have only
heard stories. The general tribal
image is of a “kind of superman
with all kinds of magic,” Baay
says

The tribal native has no concept
of the world as it exists; even
those who have seen maps or II‘
lasu are unable to accept a hori-
mn which stretches beyond the
coast or further than Monrovia.
There are villages in thl deep
bush still to be reached; than is
a job in Liberia that is gargantuan
in scope.

Buy believes that many of the
native customs, such as closeness
of family and tribal ties, an ones
which could be better employed
by our more civilized cultures.
Needless to say, there are endless
benefits which modern methods
could bring to the natives. Theirs
is a whole story in itself as they
continue to live, simply and primi«
tive, in contrast to the broadening
horizon of modern inﬂuence in Li-
beria, West Africa.

} Thomas
(Continued from Page a)

Pakistan economics since so
little research has been previa
ously undertaken, but also that
for an underdeveloped country,
Pakistan’s economy “is doing
well" and the economic policy
is performing “s good job."

 

 

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Friday. March 20, [965

Dunforill Spends Seven Months in Paris
Under Universal Science Foundation

By Pam Clay

From July until the end of
January, Joseph Danforth
(chemistry): his wife, and his
four children lived in Paris,
where Danforth was working
with the UNESCO Science
Teaching Section.

Danforth actually had two re-
sponsibilities. Through his pro-
fessional connections he was
able bi) work with UNESCO sec-
tion, the head of which is Albert
Baez (father of Joan Baez). In
this capacity Danforth aided in
the development of films and
teaching aids for UNESCO
teachers to use. “It is difficult
enough to teach chemistry at
Grinnell," said Dsnforiih, “and
hero almost everyone has the
same general backgroun ."

UNESCO has a great prob-
lem with 115 countries all hav-
ing different cultures, religions,
teaching methods, and teaching
aims. ”It strives for the most
worthwhile objchVes in sclen»
tific education but the difficul-
ties of accompiishment are
many," he said.

In many of the Eastern coun-
tries chemistry is necessarily
more practical; in d us t r i ll
chemistry is stressed. The lib
oral arts concept does not exist,
and students are trained mainly
as professional scientists

Daniorth also taught a begin-
ning chemistry laboratory at
the American College, a two-
year liberal arts college in Par-
is. The American College has
students from all over Europe
and several from the Rice Insci<
tuta in the United States its stu-
dents also have quite hetero-
g e n e o u 5 educational back-
grounds

Danforth said that for a fam-
ily of six who did not know
French, living in Paris was
hard and expensive. They lived
at the Pension de Famille (sime
ilar to a boarding house) “The
French cooking was very good
at first but they always had so
much garlic in the meat!" he
exclaimed. “Also, we were not
accustomed to some of their

 

delicacies-such as cow's head,
which is all fat,”

Daniorth explained that Paris
has virtually no suburbs mod
that the population density is
about three times that of New
York City because everyone
lives above the many small
shops.

The French have a much
greater time involvement in

education than do Americans.
They travel to school (some-
times quite a distance), they go
to school for is long time, and
they take many subjects A
large number of them know
two or three languages.

As a difference from the
American situation, Danfotth
cited the definite lack of what
seems to be efficiency accord
ing to the American conception,
it was more difficult to ac-
complish things which Ameri-
can: think should be don. im<
mediateiy. The French are
proud of their own heritage and
are not extremely interested in
allowing or bringing in new
things which are not of French
origin, Danforth noted.

DllBarry Cosmetics
and

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TASTE WHAT'S HAPPENED TO LEMON AND LIMEl

 

 

 

