Honor and Shame of Exams

 Island students have to deal with a lot of pressure-filled exams. At the age of 6, they start taking the exams at the end of each school year which decide if you go on to the next grade or not. They keep students in a grade until they pass, meaning sometimes a few kids will tower over the rest in their grade because they are several years older than the other students. 

Tom with successful student at celebration

These every year exams are one thing, but there are three times in the life of an island student when the exams are a really big deal. The three exams are going from primary school to jr. high, jr high to high school, and high school to university. These are high-stress events— with parents asking for prayers for their kids months in advance. The whole school year of these three exam years include increased intensity and extra tutoring sessions. 

The most difficult is the Bac (the internationally recognized exam which allows students to go to university). Only about 20% of islanders usually pass the exam outright, with another 20-25% passing after having to complete a second round of oral exams (because their first round results were borderline). 

The results are announced on the public radio. Everyone you know is listening as each names is called out over the radio followed by their score. If you passed outright or made it to the second round, then you’ll hear your name. If you failed, you will listen until the end and never hear your name. If you don’t pass, everyone knows it, and your life is basically on hold. It’s a barrier and you can’t move forward until you succeed. 

We didn’t turn on a radio on results day, but the whole neighborhood was quiet and we could hear the broadcast being blasted by others. It takes a long time to get through all the names and we weren’t listening closely, but all of a sudden a cheer went out from our neighbors. Our next-door neighbor had passed! We went out on our porch and caught her eye and yelled our congratulations, while other neighbors came over to share in the joy. 

Megan & our daughter at neighbor celebration

Another student came to us the night after the announcements with his mom and a backpack full of sodas. It is island tradition that when someone passes a big exam that they will gift anyone who comes to give their congratulations a soda! He honored us by coming to us with 5 sodas and not waiting for us to come to him. 

A few days after the results, another student’s parents had a short prayer of thanks at their house to celebrate, giving all those who came a goody-bag with soda and snacks. A week later our neighbor had an event with hours of chanting their holy book, including snacks and ending with an elaborate meal, to both honor their daughter’s success and to show their gratitude to God. Students come to our English club, announce their success in order to receive everyone’s congratulations. We try to honor and congratulate these students, while also emphasizing thankfulness to God.  

Meanwhile there are those that didn’t hear their names. I’ve heard that several people don’t even listen to the broadcast or won’t listen around other people, because they can’t handle the shame of possibly not hearing their name in front of everyone. The parents of these students pull us aside and tell us quietly that they didn’t pass, partially I think so we don’t ask the student themselves.  In these cases, we’ll repeatedly hear “Next year, God willing.” We don’t tend to see these students again in person for awhile. 

Another one of our next door neighbors didn’t pass her exam to go into high school this year. We haven’t seen her since the results were announced. Her mom says she doesn’t want to see anyone. She’s ashamed and upset because she had worked hard and studied. Her cousin is the one who passed the Bac and she didn’t even go to the celebration. It doesn’t seem like her mom has any words of comfort for her beyond telling her “Next year, God willing.” We wish she would come out and we could let her know that God loves her and hasn’t forsaken her, that there is more to her life and worth than whether or not she passed an exam.

We rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn, and we pray for both those who succeed and those who fail to realize that life is about more than just exams. 

Anniversary hike-- 22 yrs!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The first monthly men’s gathering was a success with several men in attendance. We got news that Ma Imani’s medical treatment abroad is going well so far— we continue to pray for her healing. We celebrated 22 years of marriage and found a new hike to mark the occasion. We were thankful that the hike ended with a nice view and that the trail never got too treacherous. We’re thankful that Megan’s back (which hasn’t been in a good place for the past couple months) did well on the hike as well. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Tom needs to have a tough conversation with an island friend— confronting dishonesty. Pray that Tom could do that in a way that speaks the truth in love and maintains relationship while also making it clear that honesty is essential to us and before God. Our friend and colleague is working hard to prepare the launch of a new ferry boat business between the islands. They have had some expat personnel fall through and so a lot more of the hands-on boat work is falling on him. Pray that an experienced boat captain and/or mechanic could be found to join the work even short-term (let us know if you know someone!).   We have one more full week on the islands with our two older kids before they have to go back to school— pray that we’d have some good family time, while also getting errands done, including routine blood work for our daughter and some new clothes for our growing son. We continue to pray for those that took exams this year— that those who didn’t pass would be comforted and for those that passed their Bac and are making plans for university.