African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 156: Chapter 146 Educational Immigration

In the evening, after dinner, the immigrants came to the temporary school.

Voices of reading aloud came from the school.

”Danke!” (Thank you)

”Danke!”

”Auf Wiedersehen!” (Goodbye)

”Auf Wiedersehen!”

...

The makeshift school was packed with people ”diligently” learning German.

”When you receive help from others, you should express gratitude by saying Danke. Now repeat after me.” Loros Ryan addressed the students.

”Danke!”

”Dànkè!”

Apart from the Germans and some Austrian-Hungarian immigrants, the rest of the immigrants basically didn’t speak German.

Now they were forced to attend classes in cramped classrooms.

Students were divided into different classes according to their languages, and even many illiterate old Austrian-Hungarian farmers became teachers.

Mainly responsible for the immigrants within Austria-Hungary who only spoke local dialects.

Don’t have high expectations for the learning ability of these immigrants; the East African colony was only teaching some simple vocabulary and phrases to meet their initial life needs in the colony.

Anyway, the sole public language in East Africa was German, even without German classes, some would teach themselves to become proficient.

This situation was not uncommon, especially in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where in regions where two languages intersected, many people would speak both, but if asked to write, they couldn’t even recognize the words.

And the adult education in the East African colony was mainly oral, not requiring them to learn to write.

Many German immigrants were like this, able to speak but not write, mostly because they were too old for learning like primary school students to be realistic.

The method of adult education was also simple, using things everyone recognized to study repeatedly.

For example, this is rice, now everybody follows along and reads the pronunciation of rice.

Grammar, vocabulary... frankly, there was none at all.

As long as you learn simple oral phrases, others can probably guess what you mean.

Following the language class was the general knowledge class.

This required everyone to study together.

Every new batch of immigrants had to undergo general knowledge education.

East Africa was, after all, a special place, very different from where the immigrants had previously lived.

”In Africa, there are no four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—so agricultural cultivation doesn’t follow the practices of the Old Continent.

Here, influenced by monsoons, there are two rainy seasons, and the weather is warm all year round, with the lowest temperature not below 10 degrees.” Loros Ryan introduced to the students.

At this time, Loros Ryan was the professional. For subjects like geography and astronomy, naturally only professionals could handle them, and the temporary illiterate teachers also turned into students themselves.

”In East Africa, keeping clean and hygienic is most important. Our government data shows that the leading cause of death in East Africa is disease, spread through mosquitoes and unsanitary behavior.

So everyone should do well in mosquito prevention, and emphasize hygiene—no defecating anywhere, but using toilets, washing hands before meals, not drinking raw water, and avoiding wild foods...” Loros Ryan instilled life and work precautions in the colony to these immigrants one by one.

”Teacher, you’ve said so much, how can we possibly remember it all? And with so many rules, isn’t it making a fuss over nothing!” Some European students questioned.

”Humph, do you think I want to waste my breath lecturing you about these things? Surely, before coming to East Africa, you heard some things about overseas colonies, and they probably weren’t many pleasant ones, but all sorts of terrifying stories of diseases and deaths.

Like Africa, referred to by us Europeans as the cursed continent, or as the Orientals would say, full of ”miasma”, with countless deaths and white bones everywhere.

You might not see the true horror upon arriving in East Africa, and why would that be? Isn’t it because the government’s measures ensured your safety?

If you don’t understand, let me make an analogy using the Black Death and the plague, the impact of these diseases in Europe and the Far East was comparable to some ordinary diseases in the colonies.

Back then, many Native Americans couldn’t withstand the European diseases carried over by Europeans, leading to widespread sickness and death. Similarly, Africa, as a hotbed of diseases, also has many you can’t resist, so greater prevention is needed.”

”Mr. Loros Ryan, you said we can’t resist, are we not wasting our time?” someone said.

”I said after getting sick, resisting would be impossible, as per the then medical standards, many diseases were incurable, relying solely on one’s immune system to pull through.

Of course, while the East African colony now seems safe, don’t think I’m joking. Your current safety is built on the things that make some of you resistant.

For example, some people might never have bathed in their whole life before coming to East Africa, and now they’re required to bathe and wash clothes daily.

Disease fears cleanliness the most, that’s why you often hear about past city epidemics, especially during the Black Death era, filth overflowing in the streets, stench pervasive, all breeding grounds for diseases.

Now, for the most rampant malaria in the tropics, our East African government discovered it spreads through mosquito bites, requiring you to heed related preventative measures...”

General knowledge classes were essentially the life guide launched by the East African government once immigrants arrived in East Africa.

Covering all aspects of the East African colony, including natural conditions, laws and regulations, and various life experiences.

It aimed to help immigrants better integrate into the East African colony, and at the same time to reform immigrants’ thinking in this way.

Indeed, many immigrants were uneducated, perhaps lacking knowledge, but a lack of knowledge shouldn’t lead to delusion, or ignorance will prevail.

For example, many were superstitious, but superstition should not affect East African policies.

Otherwise, if I talk to you about cleanliness and hygiene, yet you turn to praying to deities without believing in self-effort to avoid disease, it amounts to incorrigibility.

The East African colonial government absolutely won’t tolerate this, because none of the gods from anywhere are effective in East Africa, and the sole authority on religion lies with the government here.

As for the bad habits you brought from various places, finding development soil in East Africa is impossible.

The East African colony can’t withstand any disturbances now, with no benevolent governance, it’s even stricter than Prussian rule.

The difference lies in Prussia being besieged by strong enemies on all sides, nerves tense, while East Africa temporarily has no enemies, even bullying neighboring natives for years, lacking that sense of urgency.