Zimbabwe:Monkeys and teachers

-By Dr.Claude Shema-Rutagengwa-GLPN-Great Lakes Peace Network 

In Zimbabwe, where teachers are overworked and underpaid, the

following joke circulates: A hord of greedy monkeys regularly ate

all the corn that the villagers had planted.  The villagers tried

to chase the monkeys away, they set traps, they tried to poison

them, but nothing worked. Someone offered to get rid of the plague. 

He went to the field, whispered something to the monkeys, and

immediately they all ran deep into the forest and never came back. 

The surprised and grateful villagers asked the man how he had

accomplished that.  He said, "I told them that if they stay around

here any longer, they will become teachers."