Highlighting Happiness

Every year to celebrate it’s birthday, Peace Corps has their Peace Corps week where they celebrate all things Peace Corps with a theme. This year the theme is “Highlighting Happiness: What Does Joy Look Like in My Peace Corps Country?” I was going to write a blog about my own happiness here, and I might do that later in the week. But today my blog has a special focus on happiness from the perspective of my students.

I gave a quiz last week to review the Unit we just finished in the textbook. Normally when I give quizzes it is 10 multiple choice questions and then 2 bonus questions, with each one being a multiple choice question worth half a point. However, this week one of my bonus questions was “When are you happiest?” with the sentence prompt, “I am happy when ________________.” I even gave an example of “I am happy when I am drinking buna with my family.”

When I collected the papers and read the sentences later it showed both the creativity of some of my students, and yet how prevalent cheating is. There were 3 or 4 sentences in each class that were written by 1 student and then written the exact same way by about 10 of their friends and classmates. I am well aware of the cheating here, which is one of the reasons I don’t give quizzes often. It was interesting to really see which groups sit together though by that final answer. However, that’s another issue for another discussion- back to happiness.

I collected the answers from my classes and here is the list I received. I know they are happy much of the time, for many different reasons. But here are some of the times Ethiopian teenagers are happy:

I am happy when…

T-13

-       I am listening to music

-       I help my sisters

-       I am drinking tea with my family

-       I come to school

-       I make buna

-       I play football

-       I am visiting a historical place

-       I am drinking coffee

-       I go to school every day

-       I am making cloking with my sister

-       I am reading a book with my friend

-       I am playing football with my friends

-       I am making injira with my mother

-       I am with my father

-       I am with my friends

T-14

-       I play football

-       I am drinking tea with my family

-       I am drinking coffee with my friend

-       I wear a new dress

-       I am laughing with my family

-       I watch TV or a film

-       I play pool

-       I play volleyball with my friend

-       I am drinking beer with my sister

-       I get good marks

T-15

-       I listen to music

-       I dance

-       I play football

-       I pass my exam

-       I am drinking tea with my family

-       You are happy

-       I am drinking buna

-       I am drinking sewa with my brother

-       Kelsey is happy

T-16

-       I am studying English

-       I am going to school with friends

-       I am drinking tej

-       I am playing volleyball with my friend

-       I am living with my family

-       I am going to Adwa

-       I am listening to music with my friends

-       I am visiting historical places with my friend

-       I am playing football with friends

-       I am doing homework

-       I am watching a film in my home

-       I am doing homework with my friend

-       I am meeting my brother

-       I am drinking Mirinda with my father

-       I am drinking tela

-       I am eating injira

-       I am playing football with my brother

-       Studying Biology

-       Listening to music

-       I am drinking milk with my sister

-       I am drinking tea with my family

-       I am going to Axum with my father

So whether you are happy when you play sports, hang out with your family, watch TV, listen to music, drink numerous alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, or when you pass your exams you might be more similar to an Ethiopian than you think. Happiness comes in all forms and it crosses cultures, ages, backgrounds, gender, and every other divide you can think of. Happiness and joy are universal, and we would do quite well to remember that.