Today is Monday May 26th and once again there is no school. I honestly could not tell you what holiday Ghana is celebrating today but it seems as though school is never in session for these kids. I am happy to report the chalkboards are complete! Well, all ten have been constructed. I have yet to buy the paint. Since there is no school today however I plan on going to town to do just that. I cannot wait to see the finished product.
The weekend went by quickly and the orientation was interesting. While we had great discussions and it was nice to spend time with volunteers who had actually been here for almost a year, I have come to the conclusion that I am a bit disappointed with my organization, ICYE. After a the weekend of pondering this however, I decided I can not do much about it now. I do think that it is entirely possible to come to Ghana to volunteer without an organization and without paying expensive fees to an international office and never fully understanding where my money has gone. While I absolutely will encourage others to volunteer, I would also encourage people to think about going on their own terms.
We arrived at the conference center around 8pm on Friday and we have nothing scheduled other than talking and meeting those we did not already know. All day Saturday we were doing activities and discussions about our projects, the kind of impact we think we had on our projects thus far or what we hope to accomplish before leaving. For those that have been here almost one year, we learned what they think they have actually accomplished and what they wish they had done differently. We had a fairly lengthy discussion on discipline in the schools and how every one of us hated the fact that the school authorities used nothing but physical punishment to “fix the problem.” The canning and the being forced to clean up garbage outside (during school hours) might provide a 5 minute solution but it does not solve anything. Yet when we were asked to come up with other ideas for discipline, things we have and have not tried, everything we came up seemed like it too would fail. Yelling at the kids does nothing, as I have found out, taking away breaks and P.E. also does not work because the teachers will not take their breaks to stay behind in the classroom with the kids. There is no detention teacher (I remember the few times I had detention in both middle school and high school, usually for talking too much, and that always worked on me) and everyone wants immediate results, like beating the children. No one wants to wait for change to happen and wait to see if a new form of discipline will actually work. The topic of discipline is just very difficult. Another interesting discussion was about our experiences in Ghana and what we plan to take back home with us. I still have almost 3 months so I choose to have this discussion with myself perhaps in July but it was interesting to listen to those that have been here much longer than I. Each of us are grateful for the experience and for whomever helped us actually get to Africa, that is one thing we all have in common.
Saturday evening I was hanging out with Eva, Sabine and Hannah, all from Germany. They arrived August 2007 and will be leaving in mid July. They had all graduated from secondary school then took a year off before going to a university to come to Africa. I admire what they have done. After just 3 months a part of me is missing home but they have been here for 10 months and they are just out of high school. To me, they are quite brave. I wish I had had the nerve or the courage to do something like that. Over our beers we discussed the positives and negatives of our organization, ICYE, and they gave me some pointers for my next 3 months. They also told me I am not a “typical American,” though I have no idea what they mean by this. Apparently, to Germans, Americans are selfish, arrogant and tightly wound. I found this fascinating. It is rare that a person gets to hear how they are perceived as a nation, from someone of another nationality. I am happy to report that I am Sabine’s first American friend and she is going to remember that not all Americans are not utterly selfish. At least I like to think that I’m not.
After our final thoughts on Sunday morning we headed back into town and I met up with Heather, Leanne, Tony and the driver Duko to go to another football match. Thankfully the rain held off for the game and we had a nice time, though the stadium was filled far beyond capacity. The match was Kumasi verses Accra, major rivalry. Of course I was waving a red and white Kumasi flag, though overall I didn’t really care who won. Still, it was exciting to see how crazy everyone gets during even the littlest foul. I am grateful that they do not sell alcohol at these games because I can only imagine how ugly things could get in an already over excited stadium, crammed FULL of people. Next weekend I will join my friends down to Cape Coast which should be a lot of fun.
I am going to head to town but will write more this week.
Today is Thursday May 29th and I have a cold. Not just a head cold but a whole body cold. How this happened I am not sure but I am missing the luxury of cuddling up on my couch in Seattle, in front of the fireplace and the tv, eating chicken noodle soup…oh well. Soon enough I suppose.
I find that that week has gone by both slowly and quickly but none the less, here we are with the week just about over. On Tuesday I went to work grading class 4 math homework. About half did pretty good and the other half I spent some extra time with this week and now just the entire class understands how to find the area of a square.
I also continued with my sex education class with the vocational school. This week the subject was puberty. While the girls, the boy did not join us this week, did comply an take notes I do not think they were as interested in puberty as they were with menstruation. This may be because they have mostly passed the puberty period and therefore do not really care that much. Next week I begin with sex health and how to protect yourself. When I mentioned bringing condoms to class and demonstrating how to use them correctly, I had the classes attention. What a shock.
The rain/wind storms hit hard the past two days, one completely waking me up at 4 am with me thinking my room would be torn into two, that or I would be hit by lightening. The bolts were so bright and the thunder so loud I swear the storm from right on top of us. Thankfully, my room did not leak too badly and I was able to go back to sleep.
This weekend I will be going to Cape Coast with my friends from the UK and the girls from Canada. It is Heather and Leanne’s last weekend here in Ghana and I plan on spending it with them. Sadly, I have already said goodbye to many friends during my 3 months and it is always a bit sad but then you meet new people and everything works itself out. I have met so many people from all over the world thus far and that is very exciting.
One last thing I want to share before posting this blog…I am going to attempt to write this in a most unbiased form. For a few weeks now an adolescent girl has been hanging out around Columbus (I am referring to the place Columbus, not the pastor, where I live). She clearly has some mental instabilities but seems harmless and sweet. From what I can see and have been told, mental illness is uncommon here and viewed as something no one wants to deal with. At first I saw her every few days but now it seems as though she is living here. I was told that she came from Tema (located near Accra) where her mother lives and was brought to Medoma (the town where I live) to be with her father. Now her father has disserted her and she therefore has become dependent on the church. On Tuesday, while I was teaching my lesson on puberty, I heard her singing, very loudly on the other side of the school wall. I stood on a chair to see her and asked nicely if she could sing more quietly or go sing for someone else since I am teaching. She then pointed at her leg and I saw that she was literally chained to the ground. There was a metal chain wrapped around her leg, with a lock and she had no room to move around. I immediately thought of a dog, a poorly treated dog, and was appalled. This girl is not an animal yet that is the way she was being treated. I was then informed by the vocational school girls that she was chained like this each day since last week and that one of the associate pastors decided to do this. Again, I was shocked. I tried to finish the lesson then went to speak with the girl. She stood there smiling and singing her heart out. Her favorite is Celine Dion and various American pop artists. I smiled at her and said she has a wonderful singing voice, which she does. After school I went to speak to Naomi about the chaining and then I was given the “rundown” on beliefs in Ghana. Naomi told me that Ghanaians believe in evil spirits, little ghosts, and in curses. If you are “not right in the head,” as they refer to mentally unstable people, you are first brought to a hospital to be checked out. If doctors can not determine what is wrong then the person is “diagnosed” as spiritually sick. The girl (who has been called Ellen) was brought to Columbus so the pastor (bishop, prophet) could pray for her and essentially ‘cure’ her. In order to do this the pastor (my host father) ordered her to follow a strict fasting schedule (not sure exactly what it is but something along the lines of 6am to 6pm without food each day) and is heavily prayed for my him and other members of the church. To prevent her from running off or getting in the way of others she is chained behind the school, in the shade however. With time she should defeat the curse or the spiritual evilness within her. Curses usually happen when someone (who already possesses bad spirits) you know is jealous of your accomplishments or of your success and sends evil thoughts and bad spirits into the person in which they wish to curse. From what Naomi tells me, Ellen has not always been “not right in the head” but we have no facts for sure. The fasting is to strengthen her spiritual soul. You eat for your body strength but eating too much weakens your spiritual soul. When you fast, your body uses fats to increase the strength of your spirit and you can better defend yourself against evil spirits. Naomi herself fasts twice a week to build up her spiritual soul. I was also told that it is late at night when the evil spirits are hardest at work and that is why people pray loudly late into the night (and wake me ). The fasting should strengthen Ellen’s soul and spirit and she will eventually be strong enough to defeat the curse, that and the constant prayers of course.
So…what am I suppose to say to that? This is clearly a belief that I know nothing about and find very hard to understand but who am I to tell the church they are wrong? I still believe that it is cruel to chain a human being…I’ll keep you up to date with Ellen’s recovery.
Today I continued working with class 4 and tomorrow I will wrap up puberty with the vocational school. Have a great weekend everyone!
keep checking my website with the pictures...I am always adding more.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
How's the weather in Seattle?
Another week…another blog. Are my blogs sounding repetitive or are you still interested?
Since I like to start where I left off…last Saturday night I stayed with friends Alison and Tony (from the UK). They are the ones who live in the house I have nicknamed “The Palace.” For the night I was transported back home. We sat on the fluffy couches, ate top roman chicken flavored soup, had ice cream for dessert and drank Wine! We also watched cable television of course. Doing that made me appreciate my room at the orphanage however. I know one would like it would make me appreciate going home to the states but for the time being, I am happy to not be living in a house that so closely resembles my house at home. I like my cold showers and the bugs (well I tolerate the cockroaches but what else is new) and I have grown somewhat fond of the Pentecostal church waking me up in the middle of the night with repetitions of “Jesus! Jesus!” I think I can only say I have grown fond of it because I will be leaving in less than three months. Yes I have actually less than three months remaining. I recently found out that school is actually out for break starting July 31st After this I am free to travel or go home early. In truth, I have done quite a bit of traveling so far and plan on doing more before August so I am not sure I will have much left to do once third term is complete. I do not have an exact date for my return though so I will keep everyone posted.
To continue: after spending the night at “The Palace” and sleeping in my own air conditioned room, we woke up bright and early to get started on our drive. Heather, Leanne (my Canadian friends here doing research for their nursing degrees), Tony and myself piled into one of the trucks belonging to Tony’s construction company (and our wonderful driver Duko of course) and drove the 3.5 hours north to Kintampo. From there we spent the rest of our morning at the Kintampo waterfalls. There are three falls in all but the only the third is worth spending anytime. We changed into swim suits and stood under the waterfall. Pictures to come soon.
From there we ate a roadside lunch of fried rice and chicken then continued on our way to the Buabeng-Fiema monkey sanctuary. The drive was unbelievably bumpy and I kept thanking god (or someone) that I was in a vehicle with working seatbelts. I am still baffled by the fact that the few tourist attractions located in Ghana are so very difficult to get to. The roads are unpaved and unsafe (with the speed people drive) and it is hard not to get discouraged and simply turn around. Since we had our fairly comfortable truck however, we made it to the sanctuary. In the few hours we spent there we came in close contact with quite a few monkeys. This was well worth the drive. From there we headed back to Kumasi. Just to paint a picture of the kind of road we are driving on: a combination of bumpy dirt road and terribly paved roads with potholes that look at those a crater fell from the sky, people are driving anywhere between 60 to 90 miles per hour and sometimes the road curves…oh and in the three hours up and three hours back home I think we saw at least three or four huge trucks completely turned over on its side or even on its roof. Thankfully we witnessed no actual crashes and no blood but passing these trucks on the road is quite nerve racking. For one thing, whatever type of cargo these trucks are carrying is usually piled on top of the truck as well as inside and therefore many of these semi’s become quite top heavy. Take that into consideration as well as the potholes, curves in the road, people constantly trying to overtake one another and lastly, the speed, it is a wonder I am still alive. However, I did arrive home in one piece, and just in time. Sunday night was another long and windy rain storm.
Monday came around and now it is Thursday (May 22). I can hardly believe it. I had a full week with class 4, attempting to teach them math. This week we are working on finding the perimeter of shapes and are still trying to master converting centimeters into meters and vice versa. It took four days but most of the kids were able to get at least 6 out of 8 on their math homework. When this happens, I feel like I am actually accomplishing something. Monday night I held the weekly movie night in my room. While I try to reserve Sunday night for this, I am not always back in time. On Monday the younger kids requested “Toys” meaning cartoons so we settled on “The Emperors New Groove.” My little buddy P.K. sat on my lap the whole time acting very cuddly. It will be so hard to leave him.
Tuesday was my first real sex ed class with the vocational school. I actually had 4 students too, what a break through. I decided not to count on more than 5 at any given time but then the ones who show up are the ones who will benefit right? The topic for this week is menstruation. My students consisted of 3 girls and one boy. I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate (for Ghana) to have the boy participate in the class but the teacher thought be should learn about health (as he should) so he remained. Because each of the students were in their teens, they have already had their first periods (alright, the three girls) but when I asked if they knew why they menstruated once a month, they had no response. The boy mentioned something about getting rid of the dirty blood so I went from there. I drew (as best I could) a diagram of a woman’s pelvic region and explained what happens in the ovaries, the fallopian tubes and the uterus. After the discussion, I asked the girls to tell me why a woman gets her period. Though they weren’t completely accurate, they began to understand the workings of ovulation, menstruation and pregnancy. I am really looking forward to continuing this class each week. Of course I had to control the laughter in the class when discussing male and female genitalia but then again I remember it being hard to keep a straight face in my sex health class in high school.
Today I took class 4 to P.E. (as I promised them I would if they worked hard on their math homework) but again was disappointed to see only the boys playing football/soccer. I tried to get the girls to play but most have little interest or are too scared to play with the boys. I have given up trying to play any other organized game at P.E. (which really should just be called recess), and usually our games of football are not very organized either. I wish I could offer these kids a real field to play on with four square lines and basketball hoops but I fear that will always be a dream, never a reality. After lunch I noticed there was no teacher in the KG1 classroom. The nursery school teacher informed me that she went home early because she felt sick. After much prying I learned that she had menstrual cramps and was excused. This made me very angry. I realize that things are done differently here but I don’t think cramps is reason enough to leave your kindergarten class unattended. I am sympathetic to her pain as I too suffer from cramps but I personally would have to be on the verge of fainting for me to leave the children I am responsible for. I then attempted to teach the class but wow, was that difficult. For one thing, these children speak very little English so after covering the ABC’s, counting, colors and reading a children’s book about the weather I had noting left for them. I had them sing me some songs but that only went so far. Soon they were fighting and hitting each other, I am shocked at how many slaps and punches I see between even the young kids. However, when your teachers beat you when you misbehave, it is really only a matter of time before the kids start taking their aggression out on each other. Not only aggression but boredom. After lunch many of the younger classes are told to “sleep.” While I am all for naps, it is rare that the kids will sleep for a full two hours, yet it seems as though the teachers have surrendered for the day and the children are on their own.
The chalkboards are currently in a standstill but I am told construction should resume this Saturday, just three boards remain unfinished, and then all that is left is the painting. I am keeping my fingers crossed that come Monday there will be 10 fully finished blackboards. Well school is over and I need to wash some clothes. I’ll write again before I actually post.
Friday morning: I just got back from Tafo (a nearby town) to again search for black paint. From what I can tell, black paint is not all that common and often people use the liquid chemicals in batteries to mix black paint. When I heard this I became alarmed. Clearly Ghanaians are unaware of how harmful battery juice is if it is absorbed in the skin. There is no way I am using that to paint the chalkboards in the school. I am pretty sure I am going to have to settle on a shade of dark green. I am just looking forward to seeing the finished product. I will take many pictures once they are finished.
Last night I worked with three of the kids in class 5 (that live at the orphanage), we were working on forming sentences using words about household items. Again this is what makes me happy, when I am able to work with just a few kids and really see the progress. I also played with the younger kids, tickling them mostly. I’m not sure what it is but every child here is over the top ticklish and I just love to hear them laugh.
Alright I am off to take class 5 to P.E. Maybe the class 5 girls will actually participate. Then this weekend I will be in Kumasi for the mid session orientation camp for my organization (ICYE). I am not really sure what we will be doing but all the volunteers still in Ghana will be there.
More updates next week.
-Erin
Since I like to start where I left off…last Saturday night I stayed with friends Alison and Tony (from the UK). They are the ones who live in the house I have nicknamed “The Palace.” For the night I was transported back home. We sat on the fluffy couches, ate top roman chicken flavored soup, had ice cream for dessert and drank Wine! We also watched cable television of course. Doing that made me appreciate my room at the orphanage however. I know one would like it would make me appreciate going home to the states but for the time being, I am happy to not be living in a house that so closely resembles my house at home. I like my cold showers and the bugs (well I tolerate the cockroaches but what else is new) and I have grown somewhat fond of the Pentecostal church waking me up in the middle of the night with repetitions of “Jesus! Jesus!” I think I can only say I have grown fond of it because I will be leaving in less than three months. Yes I have actually less than three months remaining. I recently found out that school is actually out for break starting July 31st After this I am free to travel or go home early. In truth, I have done quite a bit of traveling so far and plan on doing more before August so I am not sure I will have much left to do once third term is complete. I do not have an exact date for my return though so I will keep everyone posted.
To continue: after spending the night at “The Palace” and sleeping in my own air conditioned room, we woke up bright and early to get started on our drive. Heather, Leanne (my Canadian friends here doing research for their nursing degrees), Tony and myself piled into one of the trucks belonging to Tony’s construction company (and our wonderful driver Duko of course) and drove the 3.5 hours north to Kintampo. From there we spent the rest of our morning at the Kintampo waterfalls. There are three falls in all but the only the third is worth spending anytime. We changed into swim suits and stood under the waterfall. Pictures to come soon.
From there we ate a roadside lunch of fried rice and chicken then continued on our way to the Buabeng-Fiema monkey sanctuary. The drive was unbelievably bumpy and I kept thanking god (or someone) that I was in a vehicle with working seatbelts. I am still baffled by the fact that the few tourist attractions located in Ghana are so very difficult to get to. The roads are unpaved and unsafe (with the speed people drive) and it is hard not to get discouraged and simply turn around. Since we had our fairly comfortable truck however, we made it to the sanctuary. In the few hours we spent there we came in close contact with quite a few monkeys. This was well worth the drive. From there we headed back to Kumasi. Just to paint a picture of the kind of road we are driving on: a combination of bumpy dirt road and terribly paved roads with potholes that look at those a crater fell from the sky, people are driving anywhere between 60 to 90 miles per hour and sometimes the road curves…oh and in the three hours up and three hours back home I think we saw at least three or four huge trucks completely turned over on its side or even on its roof. Thankfully we witnessed no actual crashes and no blood but passing these trucks on the road is quite nerve racking. For one thing, whatever type of cargo these trucks are carrying is usually piled on top of the truck as well as inside and therefore many of these semi’s become quite top heavy. Take that into consideration as well as the potholes, curves in the road, people constantly trying to overtake one another and lastly, the speed, it is a wonder I am still alive. However, I did arrive home in one piece, and just in time. Sunday night was another long and windy rain storm.
Monday came around and now it is Thursday (May 22). I can hardly believe it. I had a full week with class 4, attempting to teach them math. This week we are working on finding the perimeter of shapes and are still trying to master converting centimeters into meters and vice versa. It took four days but most of the kids were able to get at least 6 out of 8 on their math homework. When this happens, I feel like I am actually accomplishing something. Monday night I held the weekly movie night in my room. While I try to reserve Sunday night for this, I am not always back in time. On Monday the younger kids requested “Toys” meaning cartoons so we settled on “The Emperors New Groove.” My little buddy P.K. sat on my lap the whole time acting very cuddly. It will be so hard to leave him.
Tuesday was my first real sex ed class with the vocational school. I actually had 4 students too, what a break through. I decided not to count on more than 5 at any given time but then the ones who show up are the ones who will benefit right? The topic for this week is menstruation. My students consisted of 3 girls and one boy. I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate (for Ghana) to have the boy participate in the class but the teacher thought be should learn about health (as he should) so he remained. Because each of the students were in their teens, they have already had their first periods (alright, the three girls) but when I asked if they knew why they menstruated once a month, they had no response. The boy mentioned something about getting rid of the dirty blood so I went from there. I drew (as best I could) a diagram of a woman’s pelvic region and explained what happens in the ovaries, the fallopian tubes and the uterus. After the discussion, I asked the girls to tell me why a woman gets her period. Though they weren’t completely accurate, they began to understand the workings of ovulation, menstruation and pregnancy. I am really looking forward to continuing this class each week. Of course I had to control the laughter in the class when discussing male and female genitalia but then again I remember it being hard to keep a straight face in my sex health class in high school.
Today I took class 4 to P.E. (as I promised them I would if they worked hard on their math homework) but again was disappointed to see only the boys playing football/soccer. I tried to get the girls to play but most have little interest or are too scared to play with the boys. I have given up trying to play any other organized game at P.E. (which really should just be called recess), and usually our games of football are not very organized either. I wish I could offer these kids a real field to play on with four square lines and basketball hoops but I fear that will always be a dream, never a reality. After lunch I noticed there was no teacher in the KG1 classroom. The nursery school teacher informed me that she went home early because she felt sick. After much prying I learned that she had menstrual cramps and was excused. This made me very angry. I realize that things are done differently here but I don’t think cramps is reason enough to leave your kindergarten class unattended. I am sympathetic to her pain as I too suffer from cramps but I personally would have to be on the verge of fainting for me to leave the children I am responsible for. I then attempted to teach the class but wow, was that difficult. For one thing, these children speak very little English so after covering the ABC’s, counting, colors and reading a children’s book about the weather I had noting left for them. I had them sing me some songs but that only went so far. Soon they were fighting and hitting each other, I am shocked at how many slaps and punches I see between even the young kids. However, when your teachers beat you when you misbehave, it is really only a matter of time before the kids start taking their aggression out on each other. Not only aggression but boredom. After lunch many of the younger classes are told to “sleep.” While I am all for naps, it is rare that the kids will sleep for a full two hours, yet it seems as though the teachers have surrendered for the day and the children are on their own.
The chalkboards are currently in a standstill but I am told construction should resume this Saturday, just three boards remain unfinished, and then all that is left is the painting. I am keeping my fingers crossed that come Monday there will be 10 fully finished blackboards. Well school is over and I need to wash some clothes. I’ll write again before I actually post.
Friday morning: I just got back from Tafo (a nearby town) to again search for black paint. From what I can tell, black paint is not all that common and often people use the liquid chemicals in batteries to mix black paint. When I heard this I became alarmed. Clearly Ghanaians are unaware of how harmful battery juice is if it is absorbed in the skin. There is no way I am using that to paint the chalkboards in the school. I am pretty sure I am going to have to settle on a shade of dark green. I am just looking forward to seeing the finished product. I will take many pictures once they are finished.
Last night I worked with three of the kids in class 5 (that live at the orphanage), we were working on forming sentences using words about household items. Again this is what makes me happy, when I am able to work with just a few kids and really see the progress. I also played with the younger kids, tickling them mostly. I’m not sure what it is but every child here is over the top ticklish and I just love to hear them laugh.
Alright I am off to take class 5 to P.E. Maybe the class 5 girls will actually participate. Then this weekend I will be in Kumasi for the mid session orientation camp for my organization (ICYE). I am not really sure what we will be doing but all the volunteers still in Ghana will be there.
More updates next week.
-Erin
Saturday, May 17, 2008
It's a long one...
Wednesday May 14, 2008: School is about to start but I wanted to begin typing this weeks blog because it seems as though I have a lot to write. Finally the school attendance is almost back to normal and I am so happy to see all the kids. I am still trying to work out my schedule for this term because, as usual, there is so much I want to do and so many classes I want to work with. But first I am going to go back to this past weekend.
On Friday night I went to the hotel of my friends from Canada. Heather and Leann are staying in a hotel for 3 months while they are completing their research for their nursing school masters program at the university of Alberta. Both are interested in birth and delivery and midwifery and they have told me about their findings. Heather is studying pregnancy and birthing within a community in Ghana while Leann is studying from within the teaching hospital. This hospital is supposed to be one of the best in the country but from what she has told me, I pray to do not get sick during my last three months here because it sounds as though the conditions at the hospital will only make me worse. Patients are placed on mats on the floor and are not given even remotely the care they should be given, especially while in labor. I watched Leann break down in tears when she was telling me about the number of babies that have died before being born or just after she has witnessed in the 6 weeks she has been in Ghana. The high infant mortality rate is more often than not due to the negligence of the hospital staff. How terribly sad. And from what Heather tells me, I would prefer to have my child with a midwife in the community because she has witnessed far fewer infant deaths, stillborn births or death of the birthing mother. One rather morbid cultural difference is that in Ghana if a woman dies while giving birth it means she was unfaithful to her husband and God is punishing her. Just before the baby is born, within the village/community, the nurse or midwife asks the woman if she has anything to confess and if she neglects to do so and then dies it is because she did not confess to her adulterous sins. Another thing I find quite disturbing is that women are not allowed to grieve if their first child dies. Because children under the age of 5 die so often here, and in many developing nations, a woman is not allowed to grieve when her first child dies, but once the second or third child passes away then they can mourn. And another thing, when a child is stillborn or dies within the first 8 days of being born, they are not given a funeral but simply placed in a shoebox and are disposed of. Apparently a baby is not a person until they are 8 days old. The things Heather and Leann are learning are both fascinating and horrifying.
To continue: on Friday night the three of us made fufu and chicken stew. Yes it is possible to make fufu without the actual pounding stick, you can buy fufu flour at the store and mix it on the stove. We also used a blender to mix the veggies, how very un-Ghanaian of us. Still, it was a good dinner. That night we met up with other friends and attempted to go out to a bar. Nightlife here is very different than nightlife back home. For one thing bars and clubs do not get remotely crowded or in full swing until after midnight and some people stay up until 4 or 5 in the morning. Not me. By 2 I am tired and it is well past my bed time. Then on Saturday morning I woke up at Heather and Leann’s hotel and we made breakfast! They had found some instant bisquick batter and we made pancakes and eggs. It did not taste exactly like home but it was nice to have something other than oatmeal. I returned to the school on Saturday to see how the chalkboard building process was going. The workers seemed to have gone home early for the day but three more boards were finished. Overall they look good and are now just in need of paint. While I am glad I could help to make the school function better, I was unaware of all the extra costs such as paying the men for the labor. This means I can not continue buying posters for the classrooms and colored chalk because now is the time to really watch my finances. I did good on Sunday however and I was able to have a great day without spending much. Before heading into town and to the swimming pool I made a peanut butter (or rather ground nut butter) and jelly sandwich to save money on lunch. I was at the hotel swimming pool with a few friends from 10 to 2 pm and then I headed to the football (soccer) stadium. I had met a new friend named Tony a week earlier, he is from the UK and is here for the summer working construction for a water treatment company. He is living with another girl from the UK whom I met while at the national park. The two of them are living extremely luxuriously while here in Africa. They have drivers to take them wherever they want to go (and now their new friends, me) and a beautiful 5 bedroom house for the two of them complete with huge kitchen, washing machine and big screen tv WITH cable. We spent Sunday evening watching tv and enjoying a beer and drying off. Earlier while at the game we experienced Ghana’s rainy season like never before. Before the game started the sky was blue and it was quite HOT but by the first ten minutes of the game dark clouds rolled in and I was worried. First off there was NO shelter and all of us has cell phones and cameras. We crammed them all under our one umbrella just before the rain came pouring down in buckets, literally. We were instantly soaked through the bone and I was feeling cold. Everywhere around us people were yelling and having a great time, it was quite the experience. The second half was called off but I was not disappointed one bit. What better place to go than Tony and Alison’s palace of a house? I plan on spending many of my weekends there.
So Monday came and school started. To my surprise, most of the kids had actually showed up. While school is important in Ghana, daily attendance is not. Even though teachers expect attendance to be low I still witnessed many kids being caned because they missed the first week of classes. One thing I have noticed: the child is always to blame. If the parents requested the child stay home or if the family wanted to travel (not that that happens too often) or if the guardians do not have the money for the printing fee, the child gets beaten. How is that in anyway fair?
On Monday I dealt with some issues in building the chalkboards, I did not want the building to interfere with the children’s education and had to tell the workers they must wait until the weekend to continue. It seemed as though the nursery school class was completely out of control so I attempted to get them to quite down by singing songs. We began with “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” but the teacher soon took over and I heard the kids singing songs about Jesus. There were no vocational school girls at school so I headed to Kumasi early to bid farewell to Emily. For those who need clarification as to who she is, Emily is the other American volunteer from my organization. She and I grew close over the phone starting in October and had planned to first go to Kenya together and then decided on Ghana a month later. Due to the late start of our volunteer work, she is only able to be here for 3 months and is returning home this week. I will miss her a lot but hopefully we will see one another soon since we do in fact live in the same country.
Since I got home later than planned on Sunday I had movie night with the kids on Monday night. This time we watched “Save the Last Dance,” a movie about dancing. I guess the older kids had grown tired of Disney movies.
Yesterday (Tuesday) the workers had completely dismissed what I had told them earlier and continued building. After some rather harsh words, they understood and will wait until Saturday. I began with class 4 and we did math, or converting centimeters to meters and millimeters to be exact. I had to correct the teacher a few times so clearly it is difficult to teach the kids but about half of them got their homework correct so they are making progress. It is so hard to teach the kids without text books. If I did not have my own math book when I was in grade school to take home and complete my homework each night, I would have been hopeless. This school needs so many supplies, I hardly know where to begin.
After break I decide to begin working with the vocational school girls. Apparently there are 16 girls enrolled in the class but I have never once seen more then ten girls at a time. Yesterday there were 3. Oh well, I decided those three will benefit from being in school on time. I began my sex ed course with the question “What is sex?” I said there is no right or wrong answer but I wanted them to write down whatever they think of when I say the word sex. One girl, 16, answered “when a man and a women come together, in a bed.” That is on the right track. I then brought up several different ideas that come to me when I think of the word sex. The girls seemed both attentive and interested so I have high hopes for this course. From there I bulleted the main topics I wanted to discuss over the next 5 weeks or so. So far I have menstruation, puberty, sex health such as methods to protect yourself, STD’s and infections, abortion, sexual abuse, rape and finally some nutrition. For homework I told the girls to think of anything else they would like to discuss and to tell their friends to make it to class next week. Clearly I have a lot of research to do. I know what I learned in middle and high school health classes and that was a while ago. While I plan on looking online more this week, if anyone has some keys facts about these topics, please email me. Thank you. Well that’s enough for today. More before I publish this post this weekend.
Thursday May 15, 2008. The school day is over and I am once again rolling my eyes as myself because I must learn to control my impatience. I find myself writing a checklist each day of all the things I want to “fix” at this school but then I get overwhelmed, have no idea where to start begin thinking pessimistically telling myself “well nothing is going to change anyway so why bother?” I know this is a terrible attitude but it is just so heartbreaking to see the lack of necessary materials and resources needed to accurately teach these children. After grading the math homework of class 4 yesterday I wrote down the names of the 4 children that got the lowest scoring grades then today I took those 4 children out of class and began from square one. How can these kids do long division is they can not subtract? The four kids, Paul Owasu, Kwame Agyr, Bonsu Opoku and Elizabeth needed to break down the problems step by step to understand that you can not subtract 5 from 2 and therefore you must borrow from the number to the left. This concept is quite difficult for them and even though I find myself easily frustrated I remember that I too had serious difficulty learning math. I however had access to tutors, math books, chairs and desks meant for a child my age (not desks meant for kindergartners), and people who actually KNEW how to go slow and teach me. After 45 minutes 3 of the 4 were able to answer problems on their own but Elizabeth was having major trouble. I dismissed the other 3 and I worked for another half hour with her. This time I had her begin with a simple addition problem. After a while of making her understand the difference between addition and subtraction we began the long process of her adding simple number such as 9 and 3. Starting from 9 and adding three on her hands also proved to be quite difficult for her. I took out a plastic bag with many bottle caps (something Catherine had put together and left for me before returning to England) and used them as props to add and subtract. I decided for next week I will buy a bunch of hard candy and use it for props, perhaps that will help. After lunch I did a lesson about colors for KG 1. Overall they did very well and knew just about all of their colors. I think I need to give myself balance between the older classes and the younger classes. Tomorrow I plan on teaching a lesson on prepositions to class 4, we’ll see how that goes, and continue math with Elizabeth and a few others who need extra help. Then this weekend I am going to look into the price for blackboard paint and attempt to paint the boards myself to avoid more labor costs. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Just another quick thing before posting this. It is now Saturday and I have yet to buy more paint. It turns out that the men building the boards did not estimate correctly because there are several bags of concrete leftover. They are not finished with all of the chalkboards but they defiantly do not need 12 bags to do so. Therefore I am waiting to buy paint until I see if I can return the leftover concrete. Yesterday was nice and somewhat relaxing. We were due for a rainstorm since it had not rained since Tuesday. The storm prevented me from getting into town to use the internet and check on paint prices but I was able to almost finish my tenth book, A Thousand Splendid Suns. If any of you have not yet read both this book and The Kite Runner: Get On It! They are absolutely incredible and terribly sad. I now have just two books left for my next three months so that could be a problem. In addition to reading all night I put to use the multiplication flash cards mom sent to me in Ghana at the request of the kids. No where else will kids be asking to “learn” on a Friday night. This gives me great pleasure and helps me realize the impact I am having since I feel utterly useless while in school. More on that later though. Ok well I am off to meet the Canadian girls and my new friends from the UK. We are going to make dinner in their fancy kitchen and watch movies. Have a great weekend.
-Erin
and last but not least...I have some photos up online. I am only up to my weekend at Cape Coast over Easter and I am not near done yet) but check these out in the mean time: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26395483@N06/?saved=1
just plug in the above website and start from the beginning!
On Friday night I went to the hotel of my friends from Canada. Heather and Leann are staying in a hotel for 3 months while they are completing their research for their nursing school masters program at the university of Alberta. Both are interested in birth and delivery and midwifery and they have told me about their findings. Heather is studying pregnancy and birthing within a community in Ghana while Leann is studying from within the teaching hospital. This hospital is supposed to be one of the best in the country but from what she has told me, I pray to do not get sick during my last three months here because it sounds as though the conditions at the hospital will only make me worse. Patients are placed on mats on the floor and are not given even remotely the care they should be given, especially while in labor. I watched Leann break down in tears when she was telling me about the number of babies that have died before being born or just after she has witnessed in the 6 weeks she has been in Ghana. The high infant mortality rate is more often than not due to the negligence of the hospital staff. How terribly sad. And from what Heather tells me, I would prefer to have my child with a midwife in the community because she has witnessed far fewer infant deaths, stillborn births or death of the birthing mother. One rather morbid cultural difference is that in Ghana if a woman dies while giving birth it means she was unfaithful to her husband and God is punishing her. Just before the baby is born, within the village/community, the nurse or midwife asks the woman if she has anything to confess and if she neglects to do so and then dies it is because she did not confess to her adulterous sins. Another thing I find quite disturbing is that women are not allowed to grieve if their first child dies. Because children under the age of 5 die so often here, and in many developing nations, a woman is not allowed to grieve when her first child dies, but once the second or third child passes away then they can mourn. And another thing, when a child is stillborn or dies within the first 8 days of being born, they are not given a funeral but simply placed in a shoebox and are disposed of. Apparently a baby is not a person until they are 8 days old. The things Heather and Leann are learning are both fascinating and horrifying.
To continue: on Friday night the three of us made fufu and chicken stew. Yes it is possible to make fufu without the actual pounding stick, you can buy fufu flour at the store and mix it on the stove. We also used a blender to mix the veggies, how very un-Ghanaian of us. Still, it was a good dinner. That night we met up with other friends and attempted to go out to a bar. Nightlife here is very different than nightlife back home. For one thing bars and clubs do not get remotely crowded or in full swing until after midnight and some people stay up until 4 or 5 in the morning. Not me. By 2 I am tired and it is well past my bed time. Then on Saturday morning I woke up at Heather and Leann’s hotel and we made breakfast! They had found some instant bisquick batter and we made pancakes and eggs. It did not taste exactly like home but it was nice to have something other than oatmeal. I returned to the school on Saturday to see how the chalkboard building process was going. The workers seemed to have gone home early for the day but three more boards were finished. Overall they look good and are now just in need of paint. While I am glad I could help to make the school function better, I was unaware of all the extra costs such as paying the men for the labor. This means I can not continue buying posters for the classrooms and colored chalk because now is the time to really watch my finances. I did good on Sunday however and I was able to have a great day without spending much. Before heading into town and to the swimming pool I made a peanut butter (or rather ground nut butter) and jelly sandwich to save money on lunch. I was at the hotel swimming pool with a few friends from 10 to 2 pm and then I headed to the football (soccer) stadium. I had met a new friend named Tony a week earlier, he is from the UK and is here for the summer working construction for a water treatment company. He is living with another girl from the UK whom I met while at the national park. The two of them are living extremely luxuriously while here in Africa. They have drivers to take them wherever they want to go (and now their new friends, me) and a beautiful 5 bedroom house for the two of them complete with huge kitchen, washing machine and big screen tv WITH cable. We spent Sunday evening watching tv and enjoying a beer and drying off. Earlier while at the game we experienced Ghana’s rainy season like never before. Before the game started the sky was blue and it was quite HOT but by the first ten minutes of the game dark clouds rolled in and I was worried. First off there was NO shelter and all of us has cell phones and cameras. We crammed them all under our one umbrella just before the rain came pouring down in buckets, literally. We were instantly soaked through the bone and I was feeling cold. Everywhere around us people were yelling and having a great time, it was quite the experience. The second half was called off but I was not disappointed one bit. What better place to go than Tony and Alison’s palace of a house? I plan on spending many of my weekends there.
So Monday came and school started. To my surprise, most of the kids had actually showed up. While school is important in Ghana, daily attendance is not. Even though teachers expect attendance to be low I still witnessed many kids being caned because they missed the first week of classes. One thing I have noticed: the child is always to blame. If the parents requested the child stay home or if the family wanted to travel (not that that happens too often) or if the guardians do not have the money for the printing fee, the child gets beaten. How is that in anyway fair?
On Monday I dealt with some issues in building the chalkboards, I did not want the building to interfere with the children’s education and had to tell the workers they must wait until the weekend to continue. It seemed as though the nursery school class was completely out of control so I attempted to get them to quite down by singing songs. We began with “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” but the teacher soon took over and I heard the kids singing songs about Jesus. There were no vocational school girls at school so I headed to Kumasi early to bid farewell to Emily. For those who need clarification as to who she is, Emily is the other American volunteer from my organization. She and I grew close over the phone starting in October and had planned to first go to Kenya together and then decided on Ghana a month later. Due to the late start of our volunteer work, she is only able to be here for 3 months and is returning home this week. I will miss her a lot but hopefully we will see one another soon since we do in fact live in the same country.
Since I got home later than planned on Sunday I had movie night with the kids on Monday night. This time we watched “Save the Last Dance,” a movie about dancing. I guess the older kids had grown tired of Disney movies.
Yesterday (Tuesday) the workers had completely dismissed what I had told them earlier and continued building. After some rather harsh words, they understood and will wait until Saturday. I began with class 4 and we did math, or converting centimeters to meters and millimeters to be exact. I had to correct the teacher a few times so clearly it is difficult to teach the kids but about half of them got their homework correct so they are making progress. It is so hard to teach the kids without text books. If I did not have my own math book when I was in grade school to take home and complete my homework each night, I would have been hopeless. This school needs so many supplies, I hardly know where to begin.
After break I decide to begin working with the vocational school girls. Apparently there are 16 girls enrolled in the class but I have never once seen more then ten girls at a time. Yesterday there were 3. Oh well, I decided those three will benefit from being in school on time. I began my sex ed course with the question “What is sex?” I said there is no right or wrong answer but I wanted them to write down whatever they think of when I say the word sex. One girl, 16, answered “when a man and a women come together, in a bed.” That is on the right track. I then brought up several different ideas that come to me when I think of the word sex. The girls seemed both attentive and interested so I have high hopes for this course. From there I bulleted the main topics I wanted to discuss over the next 5 weeks or so. So far I have menstruation, puberty, sex health such as methods to protect yourself, STD’s and infections, abortion, sexual abuse, rape and finally some nutrition. For homework I told the girls to think of anything else they would like to discuss and to tell their friends to make it to class next week. Clearly I have a lot of research to do. I know what I learned in middle and high school health classes and that was a while ago. While I plan on looking online more this week, if anyone has some keys facts about these topics, please email me. Thank you. Well that’s enough for today. More before I publish this post this weekend.
Thursday May 15, 2008. The school day is over and I am once again rolling my eyes as myself because I must learn to control my impatience. I find myself writing a checklist each day of all the things I want to “fix” at this school but then I get overwhelmed, have no idea where to start begin thinking pessimistically telling myself “well nothing is going to change anyway so why bother?” I know this is a terrible attitude but it is just so heartbreaking to see the lack of necessary materials and resources needed to accurately teach these children. After grading the math homework of class 4 yesterday I wrote down the names of the 4 children that got the lowest scoring grades then today I took those 4 children out of class and began from square one. How can these kids do long division is they can not subtract? The four kids, Paul Owasu, Kwame Agyr, Bonsu Opoku and Elizabeth needed to break down the problems step by step to understand that you can not subtract 5 from 2 and therefore you must borrow from the number to the left. This concept is quite difficult for them and even though I find myself easily frustrated I remember that I too had serious difficulty learning math. I however had access to tutors, math books, chairs and desks meant for a child my age (not desks meant for kindergartners), and people who actually KNEW how to go slow and teach me. After 45 minutes 3 of the 4 were able to answer problems on their own but Elizabeth was having major trouble. I dismissed the other 3 and I worked for another half hour with her. This time I had her begin with a simple addition problem. After a while of making her understand the difference between addition and subtraction we began the long process of her adding simple number such as 9 and 3. Starting from 9 and adding three on her hands also proved to be quite difficult for her. I took out a plastic bag with many bottle caps (something Catherine had put together and left for me before returning to England) and used them as props to add and subtract. I decided for next week I will buy a bunch of hard candy and use it for props, perhaps that will help. After lunch I did a lesson about colors for KG 1. Overall they did very well and knew just about all of their colors. I think I need to give myself balance between the older classes and the younger classes. Tomorrow I plan on teaching a lesson on prepositions to class 4, we’ll see how that goes, and continue math with Elizabeth and a few others who need extra help. Then this weekend I am going to look into the price for blackboard paint and attempt to paint the boards myself to avoid more labor costs. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Just another quick thing before posting this. It is now Saturday and I have yet to buy more paint. It turns out that the men building the boards did not estimate correctly because there are several bags of concrete leftover. They are not finished with all of the chalkboards but they defiantly do not need 12 bags to do so. Therefore I am waiting to buy paint until I see if I can return the leftover concrete. Yesterday was nice and somewhat relaxing. We were due for a rainstorm since it had not rained since Tuesday. The storm prevented me from getting into town to use the internet and check on paint prices but I was able to almost finish my tenth book, A Thousand Splendid Suns. If any of you have not yet read both this book and The Kite Runner: Get On It! They are absolutely incredible and terribly sad. I now have just two books left for my next three months so that could be a problem. In addition to reading all night I put to use the multiplication flash cards mom sent to me in Ghana at the request of the kids. No where else will kids be asking to “learn” on a Friday night. This gives me great pleasure and helps me realize the impact I am having since I feel utterly useless while in school. More on that later though. Ok well I am off to meet the Canadian girls and my new friends from the UK. We are going to make dinner in their fancy kitchen and watch movies. Have a great weekend.
-Erin
and last but not least...I have some photos up online. I am only up to my weekend at Cape Coast over Easter and I am not near done yet) but check these out in the mean time: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26395483@N06/?saved=1
just plug in the above website and start from the beginning!
Friday, May 9, 2008
whoa...the week went by FAST
The first day of school is over and I taught not one thing. Today is Tuesday May 6, 2008 and probably a quarter of the students actually attended school. Apparently this is quite common for the week after break and we shouldn’t expect usual attendance until the start of next week. So today we (the other volunteers, Martina, Klara and I) visited with the kids, helped tidy the classrooms (dusted away spider webs, and the spiders along with them, swept the dust on the floor from one pile to another, that sort of thing) and tried to ignore the fact that this lack of attendance would never happen back home. Even though we were not able to begin teaching, it was great to see the kids faces and they seemed just as happy to see us.
I noticed that many of the blackboards in the classrooms were falling down, bent and pretty much worthless. I had noticed this before but did not know if there was much that could be done. Most of the boards are literally a large piece of plywood that has been painted black. This only lasts so long and as you can imagine, the chalk never gets completely wiped off. I asked Naomi what is costs to have actual blackboards installed in each classroom and she went to ask someone. She returned to ask if she could take me down the road to a lumber yard to see for myself. Since it was clear that there would be no actual teaching done today, Martina, Klara and I went with Naomi to the town of Ahwiaa (about ten minutes away). Of course the school needs more text books and reading books and pencils but it also needs appropriate blackboards, ones that will last. The school itself needs so much work and I believe chalkboards are where to start.
I soon realized that true blackboards are hard to find in Ghana but we could buy new boards for 8 cedi each and again paint the boards black. Another idea is to figure out the cost of cement and build blackboards by smoothing a new layer of cement to the walls of the classrooms and to then paint that black. I did not understand how this would work so Naomi took us to another school nearby that used cement for their chalkboards. After seeing the other school I think this is the best option. I should get an estimate on costs soon and depending on that cost, the other two volunteers and I may just decide to pay for them. I would love to see some improvement in the school building before I leave.
This past weekend was fun. I spent most of the day on Friday with a friend I met in Mole National Park. She is a grad student from Canada doing research for her nursing program. Because she has to work in her thesis while here in Ghana, Heather has a laptop with her and this is wonderful because we discovered free internet at a luxurious hotel in Kumasi. The Golden Tulip hotel is stunning and has a beautiful pool and restaurant and is entirely too expensive to stay at, however they coffee is affordable and REAL! We sat at the restaurant at the hotel for hours drinking coffee, treating ourselves to lunch and using the free (fast) internet. I was able to upload my pictures onto my cd but need to wait until this weekend to use her computer once again to actually get the pictures online for you to see. I am really keeping my fingers crossed this time because I cannot wait to show you all what I have been doing the past 10 weeks. After we left the hotel we went back to her hotel. Heather (and her friend Leann who was traveling for the weekend) are staying in a hotel for the full three months they are living in Ghana because they were unable to find a host stay. While this is a somewhat expensive choice, I was invited to stay over Friday night and I have never slept so well (while in Africa). Not only did they have air conditioner but it was very quiet!
Then on Sunday I joined Emily and Monica (two other volunteer friends) at another nearby hotel to spend the day at the pool. Not long after we arrived a woman came over to introduce herself after hearing us speaking English. Turns out she is with a group of adults in the medical field hoping to open a training center specializing in facial deformities in children. We asked her where she was from and she said that seven out of the ten were from non other then the Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Washington. This was all too fortunate and unbelievable. I asked if I could meet the rest of her group deciding I absolutely must take this opportunity to practice my networking skills and decide if I do in fact take after my mother. She invited me to join them and soon I found myself seated with her group explaining what I was doing in Ghana, where I went to high school, college and my future plans (to get into the health care field myself) in addition to current Seattle weather and any recent news in the democratic election. Before leaving I managed to get three business cards and invitations to get in touch with them. I was thrilled and felt quite accomplished. Don’t worry, I have already sent an email to each saying how great it was to have met them. And to finish off the weekend Martina and Klara returned to our project after not seeing much of each other over the break and the three of us ate a dinner of boiled yams and vegetable stew and watched “Dream Girls” on the dvd player. I will write more this week before posting this blog.
Hello again...it is Friday May 9th today and I am back at the Golden Tulip luxury hotel with two friends from Canada taking advantage of the free internet. I am happy to say that this week went by very quickly. So on Wednesday Martina, Klara and I went with Naomi to purchase the cement and then order the sand. While I am so happy to offer to pay for all of these materials, I have to admit I did not think the construction for the blackboards would even begin to take place until July or something. Everything in Ghana takes three times as long as it would anywhere else so to my surprise I was shelling out $240. Again, I am quite happy to do this but my casual comment about the price of blackboards now has me seriously watching the amount of money I have in my account for the next 3 months. The sand did not arrive until yesterday afternoon therefore the actual building of the blackboards did not begin until this morning. Yesterday I came to school wearing shorts, a t-shirt and my running shoes. The kids know what that means. I was greeted with huge smiles and "Madame...P.E.??!!" I smiled back, "yes kids...c'mon." They followed me out to the "field" and we began a boys verses girls game of football. With the attendance being so slow, we were actually able to play a real game for a while. The girls tired easily though to my disappointment. I played with the boys a while longer then began skipping rope with the girls. My forgot to put sunblock on however and my shoulders are quite red.
Thursday was beautiful and very hot but that night we had one of the biggest storms we have ever had. There was torrential rains, wind, lightening and thunder complete with a leaking roof. In addition to all of that I had about 12 kids in my room. Klara had gotten braids in her hair about 3 weeks ago and it takes just as long to take them out by hand (about 7 hours). She was in my room with a few of the girls taking out her braids while watching some movies and before I knew it all the other kids were in my room. When the storm started not one of them wanted to go outside, understandably so. By nine, when the storm finally let up, I had ten children sleeping on my floor. I felt bad waking them up but there was no way they could all stay in my room for the night.
I have to get going though, Heather, Leann (friends from Canada) and I are going to attempt to make our own fufu for dinner tonight. I'll let you know how it goes. Have a great week and Happy Mother's Day on Sunday!
-Erin
I noticed that many of the blackboards in the classrooms were falling down, bent and pretty much worthless. I had noticed this before but did not know if there was much that could be done. Most of the boards are literally a large piece of plywood that has been painted black. This only lasts so long and as you can imagine, the chalk never gets completely wiped off. I asked Naomi what is costs to have actual blackboards installed in each classroom and she went to ask someone. She returned to ask if she could take me down the road to a lumber yard to see for myself. Since it was clear that there would be no actual teaching done today, Martina, Klara and I went with Naomi to the town of Ahwiaa (about ten minutes away). Of course the school needs more text books and reading books and pencils but it also needs appropriate blackboards, ones that will last. The school itself needs so much work and I believe chalkboards are where to start.
I soon realized that true blackboards are hard to find in Ghana but we could buy new boards for 8 cedi each and again paint the boards black. Another idea is to figure out the cost of cement and build blackboards by smoothing a new layer of cement to the walls of the classrooms and to then paint that black. I did not understand how this would work so Naomi took us to another school nearby that used cement for their chalkboards. After seeing the other school I think this is the best option. I should get an estimate on costs soon and depending on that cost, the other two volunteers and I may just decide to pay for them. I would love to see some improvement in the school building before I leave.
This past weekend was fun. I spent most of the day on Friday with a friend I met in Mole National Park. She is a grad student from Canada doing research for her nursing program. Because she has to work in her thesis while here in Ghana, Heather has a laptop with her and this is wonderful because we discovered free internet at a luxurious hotel in Kumasi. The Golden Tulip hotel is stunning and has a beautiful pool and restaurant and is entirely too expensive to stay at, however they coffee is affordable and REAL! We sat at the restaurant at the hotel for hours drinking coffee, treating ourselves to lunch and using the free (fast) internet. I was able to upload my pictures onto my cd but need to wait until this weekend to use her computer once again to actually get the pictures online for you to see. I am really keeping my fingers crossed this time because I cannot wait to show you all what I have been doing the past 10 weeks. After we left the hotel we went back to her hotel. Heather (and her friend Leann who was traveling for the weekend) are staying in a hotel for the full three months they are living in Ghana because they were unable to find a host stay. While this is a somewhat expensive choice, I was invited to stay over Friday night and I have never slept so well (while in Africa). Not only did they have air conditioner but it was very quiet!
Then on Sunday I joined Emily and Monica (two other volunteer friends) at another nearby hotel to spend the day at the pool. Not long after we arrived a woman came over to introduce herself after hearing us speaking English. Turns out she is with a group of adults in the medical field hoping to open a training center specializing in facial deformities in children. We asked her where she was from and she said that seven out of the ten were from non other then the Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Washington. This was all too fortunate and unbelievable. I asked if I could meet the rest of her group deciding I absolutely must take this opportunity to practice my networking skills and decide if I do in fact take after my mother. She invited me to join them and soon I found myself seated with her group explaining what I was doing in Ghana, where I went to high school, college and my future plans (to get into the health care field myself) in addition to current Seattle weather and any recent news in the democratic election. Before leaving I managed to get three business cards and invitations to get in touch with them. I was thrilled and felt quite accomplished. Don’t worry, I have already sent an email to each saying how great it was to have met them. And to finish off the weekend Martina and Klara returned to our project after not seeing much of each other over the break and the three of us ate a dinner of boiled yams and vegetable stew and watched “Dream Girls” on the dvd player. I will write more this week before posting this blog.
Hello again...it is Friday May 9th today and I am back at the Golden Tulip luxury hotel with two friends from Canada taking advantage of the free internet. I am happy to say that this week went by very quickly. So on Wednesday Martina, Klara and I went with Naomi to purchase the cement and then order the sand. While I am so happy to offer to pay for all of these materials, I have to admit I did not think the construction for the blackboards would even begin to take place until July or something. Everything in Ghana takes three times as long as it would anywhere else so to my surprise I was shelling out $240. Again, I am quite happy to do this but my casual comment about the price of blackboards now has me seriously watching the amount of money I have in my account for the next 3 months. The sand did not arrive until yesterday afternoon therefore the actual building of the blackboards did not begin until this morning. Yesterday I came to school wearing shorts, a t-shirt and my running shoes. The kids know what that means. I was greeted with huge smiles and "Madame...P.E.??!!" I smiled back, "yes kids...c'mon." They followed me out to the "field" and we began a boys verses girls game of football. With the attendance being so slow, we were actually able to play a real game for a while. The girls tired easily though to my disappointment. I played with the boys a while longer then began skipping rope with the girls. My forgot to put sunblock on however and my shoulders are quite red.
Thursday was beautiful and very hot but that night we had one of the biggest storms we have ever had. There was torrential rains, wind, lightening and thunder complete with a leaking roof. In addition to all of that I had about 12 kids in my room. Klara had gotten braids in her hair about 3 weeks ago and it takes just as long to take them out by hand (about 7 hours). She was in my room with a few of the girls taking out her braids while watching some movies and before I knew it all the other kids were in my room. When the storm started not one of them wanted to go outside, understandably so. By nine, when the storm finally let up, I had ten children sleeping on my floor. I felt bad waking them up but there was no way they could all stay in my room for the night.
I have to get going though, Heather, Leann (friends from Canada) and I are going to attempt to make our own fufu for dinner tonight. I'll let you know how it goes. Have a great week and Happy Mother's Day on Sunday!
-Erin
Friday, May 2, 2008
10 weeks
Hello again…I want to thank people for taking the time to read my blogs. It means a lot to me that people are interested in my experiences over here in Ghana and the support is greatly appreciated and needed.
My trip down to Accra was nice. The 4 hour bus ride went smoothly (left on time, arrived roughly on time) and was overly air conditioned. Once we arrived in Accra we said goodbye to John, a volunteer from England, who was headed home and we were greeted by Albert. Albert is a taxi driver from Accra and I had gotten his number from another volunteer when I was at the national park up north. He is very reliable and is an expert on getting around Accra, and his name is passed around by foreigners. When I called Albert, he was very friendly and was at the station to meet us. We then went to our hotel. Accra is a great city but there are few affordable hotels, and even those can be expensive. We decided to try the cheapest hotel in our guidebooks and wow, this was no where near luxurious. Oh well, we put our stuff in the rooms and headed out to the cultural center. The cultural center in Accra is a series of stalls back to back (and when I say series, I mean hundreds) selling basically the exact same things. There are wood carvings and wooden animals and masks, many different kinds of jewelry and paintings and African cloth. After about 30 minutes however, you have seen all there is to see. I am trying my best to wait until at least the beginning of July to start buying crafts but I am taking orders, so let me know if you have something in particular that you would like from Ghana.
From the cultural center we headed to the Accra Mall. I had heard that this was fairly brand new and extremely nice. From the moment we walked me, my friends and my mouths dropped open and stayed that way. I felt like I was transported back to the states. Everything appeared quite Western looking and there was a whole lot more diversity walking around. We walked into every store just too look and then there was the supermarket! We had to remind ourselves that we were still in Africa. We then walked to the food court and had our pick in deciding if we wanted pizza, salads or burgers for dinner. Christina, Emily, Clara and I ordered a pizza each and still found room for ice cream. We made our way back to the hotel. Emily and my room had been crawling with huge cockroaches when we arrived but we were told they would spray the room. 5 hours later the room still had roaches everywhere and we decided to pull the prissy American girl attitude and ask for another room. While we had to share a bathroom with our new room, there were no bugs so we were content.
On Sunday we woke up and had delicious egg sandwiches on the street just across from our hotel then changed into suits and headed for the beach. We decided to try the Coco Beach resort because we knew that because we could not afford to stay there, the facilities would be great. For 5 cedis we were able to use the resort pool (which was absolutely lovely) and use the beach in front of their hotel. We felt this was well worth it and happily found chairs to lay on and tan. A little over an hour however the clouds rolled in and we had to go to the covered restaurant area. Here I ordered a greek salad and listened to the radio playing none other than my favorite country songs. I was happy. The rain did not let up though so after a while we headed back to the hotel.
On Monday we had to say goodbye to Christina. She is from Denmark but is now in India for another two month volunteer project. How ambitious of her! Emily (the volunteer from my organization, also from the US) headed back to Kumasi but I choose to stay in Accra for another day. Clara was leaving (back to Denmark) on Tuesday and I have been bored at my place all alone so I wanted to try another day at the pool. Clara and I met with Megan, a girl from Minnesota who I met at Mole National Park, and the three of us found ourselves back at the same resort. There was no rain on Monday however and we spent a beautiful day lounging by and in the pool. Clara and I enjoyed burgers for dinner once again and then we relaxed in the hotel for the rest of the evening. I took the 11am bus on Tuesday morning heading back to Kumasi. I assumed I would be back a little after three but that was before the rain started to fall. I guess the heart of rainy season should really mean flood season. If it wasn’t blistering hot when it’s not raining, I’m sure flooding would be an issue. Due to the torrential downpour it took the bus close to 7 hours to actually get back to Kumasi. By this point I was beginning to lose all patience and knew I had to get back home soon before I had a mental breakdown.
Since Tuesday I have been hanging out with the kids and just trying to find things to do with all the hours in the day. I am so ready for school to start again. This month has gone on long enough and even though I enjoyed the time to travel, the days have started growing much longer and I have began wishing I had company. Last night I invited the kids into my room for another movie night. I let them color too, something they always enjoy. This weekend I plan on hanging out with Emily and Heather (a new friend from Canada), hopefully lying poolside at another hotel nearby.
Have a great weekend!
-Erin
I also finally received the package from my mother. The mail system does work, but it is just another aspect of Ghana life I must be patient with. Hint, hint, I would love any cards and or other notes. Thanks!
My trip down to Accra was nice. The 4 hour bus ride went smoothly (left on time, arrived roughly on time) and was overly air conditioned. Once we arrived in Accra we said goodbye to John, a volunteer from England, who was headed home and we were greeted by Albert. Albert is a taxi driver from Accra and I had gotten his number from another volunteer when I was at the national park up north. He is very reliable and is an expert on getting around Accra, and his name is passed around by foreigners. When I called Albert, he was very friendly and was at the station to meet us. We then went to our hotel. Accra is a great city but there are few affordable hotels, and even those can be expensive. We decided to try the cheapest hotel in our guidebooks and wow, this was no where near luxurious. Oh well, we put our stuff in the rooms and headed out to the cultural center. The cultural center in Accra is a series of stalls back to back (and when I say series, I mean hundreds) selling basically the exact same things. There are wood carvings and wooden animals and masks, many different kinds of jewelry and paintings and African cloth. After about 30 minutes however, you have seen all there is to see. I am trying my best to wait until at least the beginning of July to start buying crafts but I am taking orders, so let me know if you have something in particular that you would like from Ghana.
From the cultural center we headed to the Accra Mall. I had heard that this was fairly brand new and extremely nice. From the moment we walked me, my friends and my mouths dropped open and stayed that way. I felt like I was transported back to the states. Everything appeared quite Western looking and there was a whole lot more diversity walking around. We walked into every store just too look and then there was the supermarket! We had to remind ourselves that we were still in Africa. We then walked to the food court and had our pick in deciding if we wanted pizza, salads or burgers for dinner. Christina, Emily, Clara and I ordered a pizza each and still found room for ice cream. We made our way back to the hotel. Emily and my room had been crawling with huge cockroaches when we arrived but we were told they would spray the room. 5 hours later the room still had roaches everywhere and we decided to pull the prissy American girl attitude and ask for another room. While we had to share a bathroom with our new room, there were no bugs so we were content.
On Sunday we woke up and had delicious egg sandwiches on the street just across from our hotel then changed into suits and headed for the beach. We decided to try the Coco Beach resort because we knew that because we could not afford to stay there, the facilities would be great. For 5 cedis we were able to use the resort pool (which was absolutely lovely) and use the beach in front of their hotel. We felt this was well worth it and happily found chairs to lay on and tan. A little over an hour however the clouds rolled in and we had to go to the covered restaurant area. Here I ordered a greek salad and listened to the radio playing none other than my favorite country songs. I was happy. The rain did not let up though so after a while we headed back to the hotel.
On Monday we had to say goodbye to Christina. She is from Denmark but is now in India for another two month volunteer project. How ambitious of her! Emily (the volunteer from my organization, also from the US) headed back to Kumasi but I choose to stay in Accra for another day. Clara was leaving (back to Denmark) on Tuesday and I have been bored at my place all alone so I wanted to try another day at the pool. Clara and I met with Megan, a girl from Minnesota who I met at Mole National Park, and the three of us found ourselves back at the same resort. There was no rain on Monday however and we spent a beautiful day lounging by and in the pool. Clara and I enjoyed burgers for dinner once again and then we relaxed in the hotel for the rest of the evening. I took the 11am bus on Tuesday morning heading back to Kumasi. I assumed I would be back a little after three but that was before the rain started to fall. I guess the heart of rainy season should really mean flood season. If it wasn’t blistering hot when it’s not raining, I’m sure flooding would be an issue. Due to the torrential downpour it took the bus close to 7 hours to actually get back to Kumasi. By this point I was beginning to lose all patience and knew I had to get back home soon before I had a mental breakdown.
Since Tuesday I have been hanging out with the kids and just trying to find things to do with all the hours in the day. I am so ready for school to start again. This month has gone on long enough and even though I enjoyed the time to travel, the days have started growing much longer and I have began wishing I had company. Last night I invited the kids into my room for another movie night. I let them color too, something they always enjoy. This weekend I plan on hanging out with Emily and Heather (a new friend from Canada), hopefully lying poolside at another hotel nearby.
Have a great weekend!
-Erin
I also finally received the package from my mother. The mail system does work, but it is just another aspect of Ghana life I must be patient with. Hint, hint, I would love any cards and or other notes. Thanks!
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