Break Time

Today is Thursday April 10th. The school break has started and I officially have just about a month off. What will I do? I’m really not too sure. Today I am taking it easy. I woke up early and went on a long run with Naomi and her friend Joyce. We ended up at her Uncle’s house. He is fairly well off and therefore he has a few gym machines. I showed Naomi how to use them to strengthen her shoulders and legs and how to do the chest press. Mostly we did crunches. I am doing my best to stay in shape. I then attempted to do some washing. I must look pretty silly while I wash clothes because people are always snickering at me, in a friendly way of course. Suddenly I have two or three of the older girls showing me how to properly do it and before I know it they have washed all my clothes. I do not do this on purpose, I promise!
While most government schools vacated today, private schools are still in session until next week. Emily (my friend from Arkansas) works at a private school/orphanage so she is working until Wednesday. When she is done the two of us, plus Christina, Clara (Denmark) and Monica (Germany) will be heading North for a week to visit Mole National Park, the Hippo Sanctuary and the Crocodile Estuary. I would also like to make it back down to the coast to lay on the beach at some point.
I will also be decorating the school over the break. I have bought maps of Africa for each classroom as well as posters of numbers, the ABC’s and various animals for the younger classrooms. Starting in May I will be working with the vocational school girls to teach them about health and sex education. Like I said before, I only know what I have been taught myself and therefore would love any feedback on how to accurately teach these girls. I will be doing some research when I can but it is difficult to do at the internet cafés. I would like to discuss puberty, menstruation, some nutrition (although I am fully aware that there will need to be some modifications from nutrition taught in the States), and then of course safe sex.
I also plan on doing more individual work with kids in classes 3, 4 and 5 to improve reading and writing skills. With one on one work, I believe I will be able to see a difference in at least a few of these children.

On Monday the school had their science exams and my class 4 kids surprised me. Most of them did better than I thought they would, which made me realize that I need to have more faith in my kids. Of course there were still quite a few who needed to have the questions read and re-read and then explained before they choose the right answer but I was proud of them. I then did an English lesson with class four to help prepare them for the next days exam. It seemed to take forever for them to calm down but eventually they did listen to me. I left school that day thinking I had done something right. That feeling went away and was replaced by frustration during the English exam on Tuesday. Not only is the exam very poorly written but the students had a lot of trouble choosing the correct answers. Clearly, I have a lot of work to do when they return for third term. After lunch on Tuesday I hung out with class 3. I had them write letters to “Madame” Catherine (the girl from England who was here at Columbus when I arrived but finished her two months and went home in the beginning of March). They did a good job and drew some beautiful pictures for her. I told them I will mail them to her soon.
English was the last exam and yesterday the teachers were simply putting together their classes report cards (and therefore had nothing for the kids to do). I decided to do an art project with class 4. I am always trying to add posters and color to the classrooms so I had each student draw two animals and color them in with colored pencil. After making sure they wrote both the type of animal and their name, I collected the paper to make into a collage. After art with class 4 I asked class 5 if they would like to do Art or go play football. They choose football. Off we went to the “field” for an hour of running around, kicking the ball…and sweating like crazy.
I am really feeling as though I am getting the hang of it here and am truly feeling a connection to these kids. Of course it is hard not to want to do more. I am working with my coordinators and with Naomi (because Father Columbus does not speak English well) to figure out exactly how much it costs to sponsor a child to come to the Columbus prep school and orphanage. Currently the “orphanage” needs a lot of work. There is not room for more than 15 or so kids to actually sleep here and not one has an actual bed. The school more aims to help orphaned children come to the school free of cost. Remember that in Ghana an orphan usually means just the father is dead and therefore they most likely have a place to call home but are without the money to pay school fees. I am trying to get an exact number to sponsor one child. This would include school fees, a uniform, transportation, lunch and some minor school supplies. While I am not sure of the exact number, I am sure it is around $75 per year. Obviously in order to try to start this sponsor program I would need to make it very professional and business like. Before I leave however I would like to get everything in order to get a sponsor program in line. If people start to sponsor these children then the money Columbus (the pastor) is personally spending on those children that need aid can be spent on the school building and be put towards the purchase of a new school bus. Today is April 12, 2008. I have a little over 4 months to get this started. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
Let’s see: my baby sister is still extremely small but she has one healthy set of lungs, I can say that. I bought an outfit for an infant on the street and plan on giving it to Georgina, my host mother, at little Yaw’s naming ceremony. Naomi, my host sister, and I continue to grow closer. She is a big Celine Dion fan and the two of us watched “Titanic” in my room the other night. Someday I would love to help her come visit me in the states. Until then she is trying to go to a nearby university to become a nurse. At first she wanted to go into business but her father (Pastor Columbus) told her no, without giving much of a reason. Again I am thankful to be allowed to make up my own mind and to pursue the type of education I am interested in. Although Naomi now claims she would like to go to nursing school, it was the only option her father gave to her.
Before I go I wanted to take this time to describe some of the traditional Ghanaian foods. While I have tried just about everything once, I thankfully have the choice of rice with just about every meal. Like I have said before…I am not a fan of the fish here. While I have grown to love fish at home, I know that I am quite picky as to how it is prepared. I promise I do try and do pick at it but the tilapia is so small and practically the whole fish is put into the stew, bones, fins and head in all. I am thankful when the fish is intact so I can simply eat around it. Anyhow…we have banku, fufu, kenkey, plantain and yams. I prefer the yams to be fried (and they have no real taste anyway). I also prefer the plantain to be fried as well. Plantain is strange. It looks like large, green banana’s but taste similar to potatoes. To make fufu: Plantain and cassava (starch)…peeled, cut and boiled. Once they reach your preferred texture, pour out leftover water and wait for the contents to dry. Put the cassava in the mortar and use pistal (very large wooden stick) to pound the cassava. This process takes a long time. Once you again reach the desired texture, you are finished. You eat fufu traditionally with your hands (right hand only! Using your left hand for just about anything is a sign of disrespect) and with soup. Soup is generally prepared with fish or chicken meat, the broth being the most important ingredient. Peppers are added to everything here and if I were a true Ghanaian, I would be able to eat spicy foods. For banku: you must buy the corn blend in the market as it must be done with a large grinding machine. After buying the powdered corn you add water in small amounts, kneading the mixture together. Then you set the mixture aside until the next day. The next day you add cassava, also in a blended form and mix in water. While on the fire you use something called a driving stick to stir. This process again takes awhile as you must “drive it” well and continuously add water and reach boiling point. Banku is eaten with stew. Stew usually consists of okra, tomatoes, pepper, meats and or fish, garden eggs (a type of vegetable)…everything is cut and mixed into a sauce pan. Add water and boil for 5 minutes. In another sauce pan boil palm oil, add ground onions and green pepper then add everything together and again, eat with your right hand. Just so you know I have tried eating with my hand but am usually given a spoon, and I am grateful for that. I prefer fufu or banku any day. Kenkey on the other hand is not my favorite by any means. I’m not even sure what it is about Kenkey because it too is made with corn but for some reason is takes extremely sour to me and I can never eat much of it. Oh…one last thing. With any of these traditional meals, you generally do not chew, but swallow your “bite” whole. When I said I cannot do that, I was laughed at. One other meal that I don’t mind is red red. Not too sure why it is called red red but basically the meal consists of fried plantain and beans, soaked in oil. When I am not eating these traditional meals, I am given white rice with anymore of stew (and I can probably count the number of times I have eaten fufu, banku and kenkey). For breakfast I have oatmeal, rice porridge, wheat porridge or fried eat sandwich. I also have bought my own jam, peanut butter, cheese and milk. So there you go, in case any of you were wondering exactly what I am eating on a daily basis. With that said…I would appreciate luna bars or any other power bars. Thank you.

Just one more thing:
There was a problem at the post office and after much struggle, we had to change our post box number. They have assured me many many times that if I am to receive mail to my old address it will be forwarded. I will be asking the post office about my mail frequently. With that said, here is my new address:
Erin Williams
KS 14340
Adum
Kumasi, Ghana