7 more weeks...

Hello again…I know I usually write more than one blog per week but there is always so much to share. Today is Tuesday June 10th around 4pm. School has ended, all the children are gone and I am alone to type. Since posting my last blog, I have been quite busy. Like I briefly said at the end of the last post, I went to a wedding on Saturday. I have now been to two weddings, both of which last under 5 hours, or less. The wedding itself takes maybe an hour or so and in the wedding on Saturday, at the Catholic Church, a presentation of the marriage certificate was part of the ceremony. How interesting. After the ceremony and many pictures we headed to the reception just across the road. The next two hours included toasts from the wedding party, eating, drinking, dancing and cutting the cake. The whole ordeal was over by 3 o’clock. Personally I love weddings and I think the reception/party should last until LATE in the evening but that is just one of the many cultural differences here. My friend Jeanette and I took a taxi to Allison’s place (a.k.a. the Palace) to take HOT showers and relax under the air conditioning. Am I cheating by doing this? A part of me thinks I should be waiting to experience any luxuries until I get home in August but then I think, naw…I deserve a hot shower. We then took her company truck to go to a store to buy a bottle of wine and try a meat shop I had heard about from the Canadian ladies (Heather and Leanne). The 4 Villages Inn Meat Shop (ran by a Ghanaian that spent about ten years in Canada) is small but lovely. The owner let us sample some cut ham and roast beef slices and they literally melted in our mouths. He has a farm so the animals are not out and about eating garbage. We bought some ham and some beef and some Canadian bacon for the next morning. My Saturday night feast was wonderful…ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches and real soup and red wine from Chile. We settled in for the night to watch wonderful girly movies and gossip. Sunday morning Allison took us to a church she sometimes attends named the Calvary Charismatic Center (C.C.C.). This church building was quite large and full of people. We walked in and were greeted with loud and wonderful gospel music that lasted at least 20 minutes. I was pleased to find out that the music and the sermon were all spoken in English. While this church was also a bit too over the top for my everyday taste, I really enjoyed myself and would like to go back before I leave. We headed back to the palace after church to cook up a great Sunday brunch of eggs, fried roast beef, baked beans, tomatoes with cheese, Canadian bacon, orange juice and a huge tray of fruit, it was truly a treat. That night I returned back to my place for a dinner of rice and vegetable stew. Since the television in my room is still broken I was not able to hold Sunday movie night but I did invite the kids in to draw and listen to music.
On Monday I headed to Kumasi early to meet Jeanette and another girl named Mika. Mika is from Japan and has been living in Ghana since September 2006. She leaves in 3 months. She also took intensive Twi lessons and can speak the Ghanaian language fluently. This amazes me. While I have learned the basics, learning the language seems impossible for me. While I am still unsure exactly what Mika is doing in Ghana (she may speak fluent Twi but her English is not great), she is working with AIDS research and prevention. She invited Jeanette and I to the KATH teaching hospital to see how the HIV clinic is ran. I have been on the grounds of the hospital but never inside. I was amazed at how crowded and obviously dirty the main facility was. Mika told me that there are smaller and preferably more clean private hospital, this is the best public, government hospital. We had to walk to the very back of the hospital to the HIV clinic so I had time to take in all that I was seeing. Everything seems archaic in the way the hospital organized patient files and forms. People were lying on the floor waiting to be simply checked in and I grew nervous when near a man with a hacking cough, TB is very common in Ghana. When we arrived at the clinic, Mika did most of the talking and you could see people’s faces brighten when they heard this obruni speaking perfect Twi, it made me wish I has spent more time at least trying to learn more of the Ghanaian language. Jeanette and I met a few of the men and women that run the clinic and they answered basic questions. Mon, Wed and Fri the clinic is used for HIV counseling and administering medication. The same facility is used for a TB clinic in Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was told I could be of assistance once or twice a week if I wished. I told Samuel, a local epidemiologist who has never left Ghana that I would like to take him up on the offer. While I am sure I will have trouble with many of the patients that do not speak English, I can help with paperwork and help counsel those that are educated. I looked around the room. There were probably 50 or so people waiting to be called to get their HIV medication. Some were older (elderly starts around age 50 in Ghana) but many people looked quite young, close to my age and each person in that room was HIV positive. While I am aware of the extremely high HIV and AIDS rates in Africa, it is a very different feeling being surrounded by so many people living with this virus.
Jeanette is interested in becoming a midwife when she returns to Denmark and is therefore interested in volunteering on the midwifery floor. Mika took us to that section of the hospital to see first hand what happens there. We were invited to observe a nurse as she took the necessary information from a woman 7 months pregnant visiting a doctor for the first time. After taking her height and weight and asking about family history the woman was asked for a sample of her urine. She returned with a small vial which she handed to the nurse. The nurse then took out a swab stick with sensors on it and tested the urine right in then and there without concern of gloves. Wow. Before leaving Samuel gave me a whole box of condoms to distribute in my vocational school class as well as a penis model and leaflets with information about HIV. All in all I learned much about the public health care system in Ghana in just one day. I look forward to spending more time at the hospital in the weeks to come.
Today I spent the morning with the vocational school students. After the initial laughter upon presenting the penis replica we got down to business and discussed the ways to protect yourself against STD’s and unwanted pregnancy when they decide to have sex. I had each student practice putting a condom on and correctly disposing of it once finished. They took away two condoms each. I also addressed the birth control pill and explained how inexpensive the pill is. Next week I will continue the sex health class with information on STD’s.
After break, as promised, I had a multiplication quiz with class 5 with more chocolate biscuits for rewards. They did better overall than class 4 but many still struggled. All were able to get a biscuit before returning to class. Tomorrow I do the same thing with class 3 but will stick to the 2 and 3 times tables. Then after lunch I continued working on math with class 4. I am determined to see every student in class 4 get 100 percent on their math homework before I leave. I’m crossing my fingers. Now I am off to do some washing and hang with the kids. More later.
Wednesday June 11th, another school week has come to an end. The kids are at the church and I am off to Kumasi soon to post the blog and check on a few things. This week is midterm break so there is no school tomorrow or Friday. I will be heading to Accra tomorrow to visit the University of Ghana. Friends from my church at home, The Warrens, are good friends with the president of the university and they have made it possible for me to meet him. The school president kindly invited me to stay with him and his family tomorrow night in Accra. There is no for sure plan for the weekend but I think I will remain in the country capital until Sunday. This morning I held my third multiplication quiz for class 3. The class is allowed to use their times tables for everything which gave me limitations to my quiz. I stuck with the 2’s and 3’s times tables. About half of the class answered their question right away but the other half needed exaggerated help. Still, every student was able to get a chocolate biscuit eventually. As soon as I was finished with class 3 I was literally pulled to class 4 by my students to mark the math exercise and give out stickers. While many still received 50% and below, the numbers of students getting just one wrong or all right has increased. One boy in particular, Jah Bless, that I have grown fond of but who never seems to grasp what I am trying to teach him got 5 out of 6 on his exercise. I was so proud of him and I could tell he was proud of himself because he was grinning from ear to ear. Elizabeth Sawaa (I mentioned her a while back) has returned to school. Osey (the class 4 teacher) told me he did not think she would be coming back to school since her mother passed away almost a month ago. Elizabeth is the girl that has failed to pass both class 2 and 3 but her mother did not want to hold her back and she therefore gets further and further behind. I was very happy to see her back in school but we have a lot of work to do before I leave. I had hoped to take the kids to P.E. today but I am glad that the teachers felt they needed the full day to teach since the kids are going on school break tomorrow. I agree that in class work in more important than playing football but I assumed both class 4 and class 5 teachers would be happy to give the kids to me for the afternoon. Instead I helped Mr. Boachie (class 5) administer a science quiz to his class and listened to Osey give a Twi lesson to class 4.
Blackboard update: I was able to sell the remaining 5 bags of cement for 40 cedis and friend is going to pick up the paint for me. I know I will be gone this weekend but one of the men that live at Columbus offered to do the painting for me. I hope to have all 10 chalkboards painted black and spotless when I return. I am off to town to get my errands done. Dad and Grandpa: I will be speaking with you on Sunday. For all the other dad’s reading this blog: I wish you a happy father’s day!
-Erin