Excused Absences

Attendance policy for “Creation Care and the Common Good,” my English class, follows the UCBC policy: Unexcused absences for more than 25% of class sessions result in no course credit. That translates to three absences for class. Unfortunately, I neglected to think through the possibilities for excused absences

• A pounding rainstorm immobilizes all foot and moto travel and pins Beni’s residents, including students and teachers, under shelter. A thunderstorm breaking loose at 7:30 am delays an 8 am class for by thirty minutes or more.
• One’s family schedules your dowry ceremony on a class day. Congolese weddings and all their preparations involve the entire family—as in the larger, extended, family (e.g., aunts; uncles; elder cousins; aunts and uncles of aunts and uncles; parents’ cousins; etc.). Weddings are the responsibility of the groom’s family, so when the family decides the date of important meetings and ceremonies related to the wedding and marriage preparation, the groom must comply.
• A sudden dispute erupts between one’s family and the landlord. The parents call their son, a student, to help settle the problem.  Need for the son’s assistance is urgent, and during the school day.
• Students enrolled in an Economics class learn on Friday that they will leave the next day for a three-week research project several hours drive from Beni. And, yes, they’ll be staying out at the site for those three weeks.