Tuesday June 24th, I am at school trying to get started on this week’s blog before break time is over. Another blog, another week completed in Ghana. Yesterday was my official 6 week left mark and I am filled with different emotions. While I am not totally wishing for another 6 months and am truly excited to get home, I do not wish these last 6 weeks to go by any quicker than they are going to. My time in Ghana has been an unbelievable experience and I my journey is coming to an end. Thankfully I still have time to check off my to-do list though I was able to get a few things done this past weekend. I am also happy to report that the young adults group from my wonderful church (UCUCC) is going to give me quite a bit of money to put towards the Columbus preparatory school and orphanage. The young adults group is going to dip into their personal account and I will help them fundraise when I return. While we are still deciding how to best use the money I am fond if the idea of building new desks for the older classes. If you have checked out my pictures website recently, you will see a photo from the exam period and it is clear that the desks provided are much to small for classes 4 and 5. Building new desks should not been too difficult. In addition I would like to provide each student with exercise books and new pencils. If there is any money leftover I would like to accommodate the few children at the orphanage still without a proper mattress. Foam mattresses cost between $15 to $20. I am excited to offer assistance to the school however we decide to spend the money.To once again continue where I left off in the last blog: I spent last Wednesday evening with my friend Jeanette (from Denmark) at her project. She is working in a different town just outside of Kumasi at a rehabilitation center for the disabled. I saw very little of the center Wed. night but on Thursday she took me to the various classrooms. The center is primarily a vocational school. Being a government run center, they are supposed to receive adequate funds to provide necessary materials for the different classes as well as room and board for each student. Jeanette informed me that the government has neglected to give any financial support for the past two years. The center has been running off of strictly donations since then. Even with this being the case, the classrooms seemed well stocked with supplies compared to the vocational students at my school. There was a room for shoe making (I ordered a pair…3 Ghana cedi each!), a room for hair dressing complete with sink, various blow dryers and products of different kinds, a room for sewing, weaving, carpentry and catering though that class does not seem to be in high demand. All of the students are disabled in one way or another but their disabilities are vast in variety. Jeanette serves as a teacher for all other subjects, primarily science and math. Each day she takes certain students (all aged 13 to 25) out of their classes to work on the basics. Since I was there to both observe and be of help, she put me to work. Thursday was her deaf group and she gave me the three oldest boys to work on math. Before I go any further I want to mention the blackboard at the school. The boys stared at me strangely because I seemed very interested in the chalkboard. The board looked more like the chalkboards I am used to and I had to find out what type of paint was used. I spoke with the headmaster and he informed me that it was in fact crushed battery acid mixed with a basic black paint. Well that doesn’t help me one bit. I refuse to use toxic chemicals in an area with so many children so I am just going to live with the faults of the blackboards at my school.After learning about the board, and forcing myself to ignore the fact that I had to come in contact with crushed battery acid, I began my lesson. While these boys were relatively older than the kids I teach at my school, Jeanette told me to stick to basic addition an subtraction. After a while I tried subtraction using borrowing, something they had clearly never done before, but both I and the three boys found this to be fairly simple. I continued and by the end of my lesson I was teaching multiplication. I demonstrated problems like 4x3 by drawing four groups of three objects like circles, apples, hearts etc. I then had them first count the number of objects and then the number of groups and finally count the total number of objects. I really enjoyed working with these boys, and though I was a bit nervous in the beginning and probably used overly exaggerated hand movements, I realized they can understand me. I applauded each time they answered the problem correctly and they rewarded me with huge smiles. After the lesson Jeanette gathered her group and my group together to play a memory game. They students clearly loved this game while Jeanette personally made with the help of former volunteers. After lunch we headed to town and to the cultural center. I had seen an absolutely gorgeous painting of elephants at a watering hole and decided I had to get it but when we came to the stall I was told the painter had just sold it an hour before. He said he could easily paint me another so I will be able to pick that up next week sometime. Friday was another long day. I woke up early to get some washing done, though I admit Naomi helped me quite a bit (hand washing bed sheets is quite the ordeal and I watched in awe as my sister completed the task like it was nothing). Around 10:30 Naomi, her younger sister Adelaide (yes my host father, the bishop, has 4 children and 3 different mothers) and I headed to Kumasi. Adelaide, 13, has been living at Columbus for the past month and left to go back to Accra (she lives with her mother) and to school this past weekend. I wanted to take her out for a fun day before she left. I had a list of things to accomplish before the day was over and our first stop was the Kumasi zoo. Break is over however so I must go and return after school. School is over for the day and I can continue my blog. The Kumasi zoo is both better than what I expected and worse. After paying just 1 cedi, 40 pesewa for the three of us, we walked in and almost tripped over 3 huge peacocks. There are many more animals than I was told but the cages and facility as a whole needs work. We were able to see the whole zoo in an hour though we were taking our time. I felt most sorry for the various chimp and baboon species. They looked so depressed in their cages, though when a group of primary school students arrived at the zoo the chimps became riled up. A woman also walks around selling peanuts that people then take a feed to the monkeys (totally ignoring the signs that say “do no feed the animals.” There was a man hanging out by one of the chimpanzee cages and we began chatting. He is from South Africa and is a cameraman filming a new series on animal planet about rescuing chimpanzees and reintroducing them into the wild. I told him I would look out for not only the show but the chimp named Martha that he and his team are taking out of the zoo confines and are bringing her down to South Africa to a monkey sanctuary. Now I can say that I have met knew a chimp before she became famous. Finally we stopped by the leopard and lion exhibit (though I can hardly call it an exhibit). The poor single leopard is in a cage smaller than my bedroom at home and is all alone. And the lions looked quite underfed if you ask me. After the zoo we headed for the central market to find some fabric for me to get another dress made. I can get cheap cotton fabric for 1.50 Ghana cedi per yard (I need three to make a dress). I then had various other errands to run and it was nice to have company. We had planned on going to Manchyia (and area of town) to visit the Chief’s Palace and Museum (my organization spent time here during orientation but since I missed that week, I have to go myself), but time was ticking and we has to postpone the museum for another day. I also want to visit the Armed Forces Museum at some point (this is right in town across from the post office) but will do that on my own. Before heading back home I treated the girls to pizza at Vienna City (a restaurant/bar/pool hall/casino). Both Naomi and Adelaide had never had pizza before. I ordered a soft drink for each of us, veggie spring rolls and a margarita pizza. It was quite entertaining watching the girls eat pizza, unaware of the hot, stringy cheese and the need to use both hands to separate and eat the pizza. In Ghana it is considered very rude and a traditional crime to do just about anything with your left hand (thankfully I have been excused from this many times, it is hard to remember to wave only with my right hand), and therefore I think Naomi and her sister were having trouble eating the pizza (not wanting to pick the whole thing up at once). Though the bill was somewhat pricey, they were extremely grateful and I was able to share an American dish with them. We quickly headed back to Columbus only so I could grab my backpack, turn around and head back to Kumasi and to “the Palace” to meet Alison, Tony and Jeanette for dinner and a night of relaxing in front of the tv (and the air conditioning). Jeanette and I spent the rest of the weekend with our friends enjoying the use of the kitchen, hot showers and comfy couches. Saturday night the ladies and three two guy friends of ours (plus a visitor from Arizona) went out on the town enjoying wine at a fancy hotel followed by beer and pool. While I am doing things I can very well enjoy while in the states, I am meeting new people, those that I would never have had the chance to meet had I not come to Ghana. Sunday evening I had the kids back in my room for our weekly event. I couldn’t help myself while in town this past weekend and I bought a new Disney collection dvd full of children’s movies from the past three years or so. The kids choose to watch “Over the Hedge” Sunday night but I think I will start having movie night twice a week because I want to watch some of these movies. Back at school on Monday I went right to work grading the math quizzes for class 4. Twelve received at least 75%! A good number received failing grades but between yesterday and today I spent at least ten minutes with each student (other than the above average 12) going over their quiz. More than half could answer the problem correctly when given the time. Three kids were absent yesterday, including Elizabeth Sawaa (the girl whose mother died a month ago, the same girl who has failed her past two grades but was not allowed to be held back). Elizabeth received 30% on her grade (sadly, this was just below the average grade of 40%) so this morning I took her out of class and she and I worked on not only her quiz but some other topics she missed while mourning for her mother. After speaking to Mr. Osei (class 4) and Mr. Boachie (class 5), I think she will in fact repeat class 4 next year, which really is the best thing for her. Well this is all I have thus far. Tomorrow I teach another sex health lesson on STD’s but this time I am equipped with visual images of genitals infected with various STD’s and new notes to better explain each disease. I’m anxious to see how it will go. Wednesday 6/25: school is finished for the day. I have to head into town briefly and I hope to get back before it starts to rain again. Last night I felt like I was back in Seattle. It was raining from 5 to 11 pm! I know it is rainy season but that seemed a bit extreme. The bucket I placed under the major drip spot in my room was half full this morning. And then just after breakfast, it was raining again. I just pray it dries up before the end of July (for my planned birthday weekend at the beach). School went well today. I finished going over the class 4 math quizzes with the kids that were absent before and Mr. Osei started a new lesson teaching the class how to use charts and draw graphs. I helped students understand the charts given and draw the correct graphs. There was a lot of erasing involved but I believe most recent a perfect grade. I began the day trying to write out as many notes as possible for my class on STD’s but once again there are just 4 kids here so I decided to hold off on my lesson until tomorrow and hopefully find a few more images online today. I did sit and talk with the vocational students however. One of them told me that they need my help. I’m sure their teachers (both whom were not present today) put them up to this but I gave them my full attention. While I agree that there is no motivation for the kids to continue coming, I also know it will take A LOT of donations and time to get an adequate vocational school up and running. While the school could thrive in the future I told them that I honestly think they should consider going to a different school next term. This may not be the “words of advice” I should be offering but I believe it is the best thing for them. Due to the heavy rain last night the chalkboards on the far walls (classes 4, 5, and vocational school) are drenched. Thankfully, the old chalkboards are available still and the teachers do not have to put their classes on hold. One of my coordinators, Douglas, stopped by today to see what I mean about the boards. He says Columbus (the pastor, my host father) will have to build an attachment to the roof to keep the rain from coming into the classrooms. Well, good, I’m glad we figured out what must be done, when this will get accomplished, I dare not say. And look at that? I am done typing for today and it begins to pour outside once again. I’m tired of rainy season, even if it is easier to sleep at night…I hope dry season comes again soon.Friday June 27th: I am quickly posting this blog and headed back home to sleep. Yesterday I felt quite ill and last night was no fun at all. I just spent an hour at a private hospital (with my host sister) and I was informed that I have a mild case of malaria. Well I guess I was bound to get it sooner or later since just about every other volunteer has had it at least once. I have to admit I was a bit nervous to get my blood drawn here but the needle was taken out of it’s individual, sterile packaging so I’m sure it’s fine. The doctor taking my blood wasn’t wearing any gloves however so that made me a bit nervous. In total with doctor consultation, lab work and prescription I had to pay 20 cedis. I guess that is cheap compared to home but I wasn’t prepared for that. Oh well. So I hope to have a full recovery by Monday. I missed school today and therefore also missed my STD lesson AND an art project with class 4. They will just have to wait until Monday. I was able to do an art project with class 3 yesterday before I felt sick and hung out with the two vocational school students yesterday as well. Delia, one of the students, made me a dress with some of the fabric I bought last week. I’m excited to wear it at home. Well I guess that is it for now. Have a great weekend!
And now…just as I was about to cut and paste this blog onto my website, the network goes down for who knows how long. Oh well. Back to my home for now and will just have to wait until tomorrow to post this.
It is now Saturday afternoon. I was able to get plenty of rest last night and am feeling a bit better. Two more days of medication and I should be a okay!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Busy...Busy...Busy
Hello again. Today is Tuesday June 17th and I officially have just over 6 weeks left in Ghana. I will be arriving at JFK on August 5th and though I do not have a flight to Seattle just yet I assume I will be home that day or the next. All feelings of loneliness or homesickness that I have felt at one point or another while in Ghana have vanished. While I am very excited to get home and see everyone, I have a ridiculously long check list of things to accomplish before leaving.
Let’s see: I left my place at 8:20am on Thursday to head to Accra. After a hell of a time getting to the bus station, then choosing to take a tro-tro, and wait for it to fill up, I was finally on the road around 11:30 (two hours after I had planned to leave). While I thought I would save a few cedi’s by taking a tro-tro, I now see that I got what I paid for. I was the only white person in this 20 person vehicle and not one spoke enough English to communicate with me. I had my book and ipod for this very reason but just as we turned on the engine to get going a man jumped on and began saying a long prayer in Twi. This was not a problem except that NOTHING is done quietly in Ghana and therefore he was in fact shouting for 20 minutes in a language I do not know. He then proceeded to preach about health (from what I could tell when I heard him say HIV). He then held up photos of various advanced states of STD’s in the genital area. Hmmm…I was not aware that with my 5 cedis to go the 4 hours to Accra I would also get health information. Of course this was also in Twi and therefore I had no idea what was going on and attempted to ignore what was going on by turning the volume on my ipod full blast. Five hours later we arrived in Accra. That would make the time around 4:30. Great. I called Patrick and met him at the college. I was mistaken before. While Patrick is the president of a college in Ghana, it is not the University of Ghana. He started Ashesi College 6 years ago. This is a private school focusing on business and math. He was getting ready to go home and I was not able to see much of the campus but it was just as well (I was hungry). We hopped into his Honda CRV and drove a ways through Accra to his home. I learned that he is has a masters in Business from Berkeley and his wife, an American, is from Seattle. We arrived at his home complete with watchman to open the gate. There is a basketball home in the drive way and a backyard with grass, a swing set and two bunnies in a large crate (belonging to his daughter). I was expecting a house that reminded me of home but this was more than I expected. He has a lovely home and two great kids, Nana age 13 and Efia age 6. I had such a great time in the familiar family atmosphere. We ate a family dinner and talked about Seattle (Patrick’s wife Rebecca is an alum of Roosevelt High School) and I played board games with Efia. That night I slept in the air conditioned guest room and felt right at home. Friday I said goodbye to the family as they went off to school and to work as I was told to relax in their home until it was time to meet my friend. I gratefully thanked them and spent the morning watching children’s films, reading and eating scrambled eggs with cheese that their live in nanny prepared for me. Around 3pm I left to meet my friend Jeanette at the tro tro station, she also had a long journey from Kumasi. We had planned on going straight to the beach an hour away but then decided to stick around Accra for the night. We grabbed a taxi to an area called Osu to check into the Salvation Army Hostel where you pay 6 cedi a night for a small bed in an room of 12. We were lucky however and were able to have a room all to ourselves. After checking in we went to explore Osu. There were many restaurants and places to see, overall Accra is completely different from Kumasi. After dinner we headed to Ryan’s Irish Pub (which we learned about from the Ghana Bradt guide). From the moment we walked in we forgot we were in Ghana. Jeanette and I made our way to the bar, she was very excited to have a Carlsberg beer (since she is Danish and everything). We met the owners, a sweet British couple with Irish roots and proceeded to spend the next three hours talking to them about travel, volunteer work and Ghana all while sipping beer, Irish coffee’s and various other drinks (and I should mention that this was the case because the owners felt they should take care of at least half of our bill). From there a friend I had met in Cape Coast came to pick us up and we headed to Champs Sports Bar. I had heard about this place and wanted to check it out. Friday is karaoke night and I felt as though I walked into any bar located on University Ave in Seattle. We ended the night at a club which also reminded me of home. Wow. While I enjoy going out and somewhat forgetting where I am, I am very glad that I was not placed here my whole 6 months. I much more prefer to live in Kumasi where I do not have all the luxuries of home and feel as though I actually am somewhere completely different. Saturday and Sunday we were at Kokrobite, just one hour west of Accra. We opted to stay at the cheap guesthouse (7 cedi for two of us) instead of the overpriced “Big Milly’s Backyard,” though we did spend most of our time there. Saturday was Reggae night and there were more obruni’s in one place than I have seen since arriving in Ghana. And at least half of these obruni’s were from America, I am amazed that I can tell the English language from “American English” so clearly now. I had fun talking about American sports, the upcoming election and just about life in the U.S. I think I may be coming back to Accra for the 4th for I can celebrate among other Americans.
The journey back to Kumasi on Sunday was just as long, if not longer but thankfully I had Jeanette for company. I arrived around 9pm, very tired so the movie night was pushed until Monday. I also learned Sunday night that there was in fact school last Thursday and Friday (the headmaster had the dates wrong). I was upset to hear this because the whole point of my trip to Accra was because I would not be missing any school. This is actually midterm break week and I therefore have just tomorrow before the kids are off for the rest of the week. Shoot. On Monday I came to school and headed straight to class 4. They were working with protractors and learning how to draw angles. Osey and I walked around helping the kids steady their hands and understand the difference between an acute and an obtuse angle. During break some girls from class 5 were asking me about giving them another quiz. I love how excited the kids are about learning. This time they wanted a spelling quiz. I said I only have stickers to give out as prizes but that didn’t seem to bother them (meaning they are not just in it for the chocolate biscuits). I went to work choosing 10 words for a class 5 spelling quiz to be held on Wednesday. Monday night came around and I had no idea where the man was with the tv (that I paid to be fixed). My host mother, Georgina allowed me to use the living room television to set up the dvd player and 20 kids piled in watch “Brother Bear II.” I love to watch how animated their faces get when watching what they call “toys.”
Today was busy. I came to school and attempted to get the printer to work to print off some information about STD’s that I had found earlier but it was a no go. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some information for my vocational school sex ed class. I then continued working math with class 4 and gave the chosen ten words for the class 5 spelling quiz tomorrow. After a lunch of rice and tomato sauce I took the excited class 4 out for P.E. This may sound like a fun time but I usually spend the 30 to 60 minutes breaking us silly fights and listening to pleas of “Madame, no girls! Boys play first, then girls,” or “Madame, the boys won’t let us play.” As much as I would love the class to play coed football, it seems impossible and so few girls actually want to play so forcing the boys to sit aside and watch is an extremely difficult task. Oh well, at least they are outside getting some exercise. Earlier in the day I found my dear Abigail. Late last week she hit her ankle on a pole of some sort and it not only swelled up but looked infected. I had to explain very slowly to her mother that she needed to go to a clinic to have a doctor look at it but from what I was told, her mother did take her. I come back and on Monday I see that her ankle looks much worse. I plead with her mother to take her again and say I will pay for any medication but she needs to get it cleaned and looked at once again. Today Abigail’s mother came to me and explained that the doctor gave her one injection (I’m not sure of what) and she needs two more (for one cedi each) and she was also given a prescription for some antibiotics and a topical solution. I gave her a measly 5 cedi and everything was taken care of. Wow…medical care really isn’t too expensive. I will keep you posted on the status of her ankle. After school I rounded a corner to come to the school to type and I found a teacher beating three children fiercely. While I struggle because I do not want to undermine another teacher, I was not able to stand by and watch. I demanded to know the crime and I learned that they had missed their ride. The school bus has long since broken down and for the past two months children have been taken to and from school in tro tros. I guess the three children did not hear a calling for the car and therefore had to collect money from the headmaster to get home. Yes I understand that this is a problem but they are kids for god’s sake and they were busy playing. After 4 months I am still cringing every time I see a cane raised overhead.
Before I go for the day I want to mention the chalkboards. Daniel, a man who lives at the Columbus community, painted all ten boards over the weekend. They look very nice however, the 4 boards along one of the walls (the empty classroom I use sometimes, class 4, 5 and vocational school) have a problem. When it rains, these boards become drenched and therefore the paint in affected and they are useless until 100 percent dry. Once again, shoot. I am kind of at a loss here. I doubt anyone will be building a cover to protect these boards when it rains and therefore the classes mentioned will have to use the old chalkboards until the paint dries. Someone explain to me how the money I spent wasn’t a complete waste please? I was on the verge of tears when I thought about other projects in the school I could have put that money towards. I guess I just need to learn that I can’t fix everything. Well that is all I have for today, more tomorrow.
Wednesday 6/18…school is over and the kids are at church. I wanted to add a bit more to the blog before posting it. After school yesterday I spent the afternoon hanging out with the kids and other women that live at Columbus. Georgina was sitting outside with baby Yaa (she will finally get her name at her naming ceremony this weekend). I immediately take her into my arms to play with her. She is almost 3 months old and is becoming so animated. I love to see her smile. I also used my camera to take some videos of the kids dancing. I has intended to get a video of P.K. laughing (since his laughter is so infective and I am going to be so sad when I can’t hear it everyday) but I can’t bring out my camera without at least 5 kids wanting to pose. With video’s I can capture the kids voices and movements so I think I am going to be taking many more in the next 6 weeks. This morning I arrived early to school in hopes of printing some notes for my lesson with the vocational school. The printer was working but I had just three pieces of paper to use. I printed what I could about various STD’s then headed to the vocational school room. I walk in and find two students present. I don’t understand why the vocational students cannot get their act together and come to class. From what I see, the students are not serious about learning and therefore it makes the teachers lazy. After speaking to the two teachers however, I can see it from their point of view. The vocational school has little to no resources. They are supposed to have classes in cooking, sewing, shoe making, hair dressing in addition to business lessons (math), the classes are very limited however. There are two sewing machines (and supposedly 15 girls enrolled), very little cooking supplies, and no workshop on shoe making or hair dressing. The teachers then tell me they need my help to raise money. While the entire school of Columbus needs to be redone, I can see why the vocational students decide to come 50% of the time. I told the teachers if the girls put together a proposal telling me what they need to become successful at this vocational school then I will seriously think about raising money when I get back to the states. After that discussion I went on with my lesson about STD’s. The two students were actually quite interested and while they knew the names of some of the diseases I discussed, that was all they knew. Next week I hope to have pictures to go along with the diseases (and I hope for a larger attendance). After that lesson I moved to class 5 to administer their spelling quiz. I was taken back to my 5th grade class with Ms. Kolling at John Hay when she would stand in front of the class giving the spelling test, I would be nervous and forcing myself to keep my eyes on my own paper, oh memories. Overall the kids did very well, many getting all ten, plus my extra credit word correct. At least 10 had zero correct however so I will do what I can to work with these students. After the quiz I took class 5 out for P.E. I enjoy taking this class out much more than class 4, they tend to listen to me.
Alright well I am off to Kumasi. I will be staying with Jeanette tonight (since there is no school tomorrow or Friday), she works at a rehabilitation center for disabled teenagers. I am looking forward to seeing what she does on a day to day basis. I have many things planned this weekend, including a full day with Naomi on Friday. We are going to go to the central market to buy more material for me to get another dress made, are going to two museums and the zoo. Saturday night I will be with Alison and Jeanette and I few other ladies. We are going to get dressed up and try to find a place to get some decent coaktails…we’ll see. Sunday is the ceremony for my baby (host) sister, I’m not sure what this entails, but I’m looking forward to it. Have a great weekend and check back again next week!
-Erin
Let’s see: I left my place at 8:20am on Thursday to head to Accra. After a hell of a time getting to the bus station, then choosing to take a tro-tro, and wait for it to fill up, I was finally on the road around 11:30 (two hours after I had planned to leave). While I thought I would save a few cedi’s by taking a tro-tro, I now see that I got what I paid for. I was the only white person in this 20 person vehicle and not one spoke enough English to communicate with me. I had my book and ipod for this very reason but just as we turned on the engine to get going a man jumped on and began saying a long prayer in Twi. This was not a problem except that NOTHING is done quietly in Ghana and therefore he was in fact shouting for 20 minutes in a language I do not know. He then proceeded to preach about health (from what I could tell when I heard him say HIV). He then held up photos of various advanced states of STD’s in the genital area. Hmmm…I was not aware that with my 5 cedis to go the 4 hours to Accra I would also get health information. Of course this was also in Twi and therefore I had no idea what was going on and attempted to ignore what was going on by turning the volume on my ipod full blast. Five hours later we arrived in Accra. That would make the time around 4:30. Great. I called Patrick and met him at the college. I was mistaken before. While Patrick is the president of a college in Ghana, it is not the University of Ghana. He started Ashesi College 6 years ago. This is a private school focusing on business and math. He was getting ready to go home and I was not able to see much of the campus but it was just as well (I was hungry). We hopped into his Honda CRV and drove a ways through Accra to his home. I learned that he is has a masters in Business from Berkeley and his wife, an American, is from Seattle. We arrived at his home complete with watchman to open the gate. There is a basketball home in the drive way and a backyard with grass, a swing set and two bunnies in a large crate (belonging to his daughter). I was expecting a house that reminded me of home but this was more than I expected. He has a lovely home and two great kids, Nana age 13 and Efia age 6. I had such a great time in the familiar family atmosphere. We ate a family dinner and talked about Seattle (Patrick’s wife Rebecca is an alum of Roosevelt High School) and I played board games with Efia. That night I slept in the air conditioned guest room and felt right at home. Friday I said goodbye to the family as they went off to school and to work as I was told to relax in their home until it was time to meet my friend. I gratefully thanked them and spent the morning watching children’s films, reading and eating scrambled eggs with cheese that their live in nanny prepared for me. Around 3pm I left to meet my friend Jeanette at the tro tro station, she also had a long journey from Kumasi. We had planned on going straight to the beach an hour away but then decided to stick around Accra for the night. We grabbed a taxi to an area called Osu to check into the Salvation Army Hostel where you pay 6 cedi a night for a small bed in an room of 12. We were lucky however and were able to have a room all to ourselves. After checking in we went to explore Osu. There were many restaurants and places to see, overall Accra is completely different from Kumasi. After dinner we headed to Ryan’s Irish Pub (which we learned about from the Ghana Bradt guide). From the moment we walked in we forgot we were in Ghana. Jeanette and I made our way to the bar, she was very excited to have a Carlsberg beer (since she is Danish and everything). We met the owners, a sweet British couple with Irish roots and proceeded to spend the next three hours talking to them about travel, volunteer work and Ghana all while sipping beer, Irish coffee’s and various other drinks (and I should mention that this was the case because the owners felt they should take care of at least half of our bill). From there a friend I had met in Cape Coast came to pick us up and we headed to Champs Sports Bar. I had heard about this place and wanted to check it out. Friday is karaoke night and I felt as though I walked into any bar located on University Ave in Seattle. We ended the night at a club which also reminded me of home. Wow. While I enjoy going out and somewhat forgetting where I am, I am very glad that I was not placed here my whole 6 months. I much more prefer to live in Kumasi where I do not have all the luxuries of home and feel as though I actually am somewhere completely different. Saturday and Sunday we were at Kokrobite, just one hour west of Accra. We opted to stay at the cheap guesthouse (7 cedi for two of us) instead of the overpriced “Big Milly’s Backyard,” though we did spend most of our time there. Saturday was Reggae night and there were more obruni’s in one place than I have seen since arriving in Ghana. And at least half of these obruni’s were from America, I am amazed that I can tell the English language from “American English” so clearly now. I had fun talking about American sports, the upcoming election and just about life in the U.S. I think I may be coming back to Accra for the 4th for I can celebrate among other Americans.
The journey back to Kumasi on Sunday was just as long, if not longer but thankfully I had Jeanette for company. I arrived around 9pm, very tired so the movie night was pushed until Monday. I also learned Sunday night that there was in fact school last Thursday and Friday (the headmaster had the dates wrong). I was upset to hear this because the whole point of my trip to Accra was because I would not be missing any school. This is actually midterm break week and I therefore have just tomorrow before the kids are off for the rest of the week. Shoot. On Monday I came to school and headed straight to class 4. They were working with protractors and learning how to draw angles. Osey and I walked around helping the kids steady their hands and understand the difference between an acute and an obtuse angle. During break some girls from class 5 were asking me about giving them another quiz. I love how excited the kids are about learning. This time they wanted a spelling quiz. I said I only have stickers to give out as prizes but that didn’t seem to bother them (meaning they are not just in it for the chocolate biscuits). I went to work choosing 10 words for a class 5 spelling quiz to be held on Wednesday. Monday night came around and I had no idea where the man was with the tv (that I paid to be fixed). My host mother, Georgina allowed me to use the living room television to set up the dvd player and 20 kids piled in watch “Brother Bear II.” I love to watch how animated their faces get when watching what they call “toys.”
Today was busy. I came to school and attempted to get the printer to work to print off some information about STD’s that I had found earlier but it was a no go. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some information for my vocational school sex ed class. I then continued working math with class 4 and gave the chosen ten words for the class 5 spelling quiz tomorrow. After a lunch of rice and tomato sauce I took the excited class 4 out for P.E. This may sound like a fun time but I usually spend the 30 to 60 minutes breaking us silly fights and listening to pleas of “Madame, no girls! Boys play first, then girls,” or “Madame, the boys won’t let us play.” As much as I would love the class to play coed football, it seems impossible and so few girls actually want to play so forcing the boys to sit aside and watch is an extremely difficult task. Oh well, at least they are outside getting some exercise. Earlier in the day I found my dear Abigail. Late last week she hit her ankle on a pole of some sort and it not only swelled up but looked infected. I had to explain very slowly to her mother that she needed to go to a clinic to have a doctor look at it but from what I was told, her mother did take her. I come back and on Monday I see that her ankle looks much worse. I plead with her mother to take her again and say I will pay for any medication but she needs to get it cleaned and looked at once again. Today Abigail’s mother came to me and explained that the doctor gave her one injection (I’m not sure of what) and she needs two more (for one cedi each) and she was also given a prescription for some antibiotics and a topical solution. I gave her a measly 5 cedi and everything was taken care of. Wow…medical care really isn’t too expensive. I will keep you posted on the status of her ankle. After school I rounded a corner to come to the school to type and I found a teacher beating three children fiercely. While I struggle because I do not want to undermine another teacher, I was not able to stand by and watch. I demanded to know the crime and I learned that they had missed their ride. The school bus has long since broken down and for the past two months children have been taken to and from school in tro tros. I guess the three children did not hear a calling for the car and therefore had to collect money from the headmaster to get home. Yes I understand that this is a problem but they are kids for god’s sake and they were busy playing. After 4 months I am still cringing every time I see a cane raised overhead.
Before I go for the day I want to mention the chalkboards. Daniel, a man who lives at the Columbus community, painted all ten boards over the weekend. They look very nice however, the 4 boards along one of the walls (the empty classroom I use sometimes, class 4, 5 and vocational school) have a problem. When it rains, these boards become drenched and therefore the paint in affected and they are useless until 100 percent dry. Once again, shoot. I am kind of at a loss here. I doubt anyone will be building a cover to protect these boards when it rains and therefore the classes mentioned will have to use the old chalkboards until the paint dries. Someone explain to me how the money I spent wasn’t a complete waste please? I was on the verge of tears when I thought about other projects in the school I could have put that money towards. I guess I just need to learn that I can’t fix everything. Well that is all I have for today, more tomorrow.
Wednesday 6/18…school is over and the kids are at church. I wanted to add a bit more to the blog before posting it. After school yesterday I spent the afternoon hanging out with the kids and other women that live at Columbus. Georgina was sitting outside with baby Yaa (she will finally get her name at her naming ceremony this weekend). I immediately take her into my arms to play with her. She is almost 3 months old and is becoming so animated. I love to see her smile. I also used my camera to take some videos of the kids dancing. I has intended to get a video of P.K. laughing (since his laughter is so infective and I am going to be so sad when I can’t hear it everyday) but I can’t bring out my camera without at least 5 kids wanting to pose. With video’s I can capture the kids voices and movements so I think I am going to be taking many more in the next 6 weeks. This morning I arrived early to school in hopes of printing some notes for my lesson with the vocational school. The printer was working but I had just three pieces of paper to use. I printed what I could about various STD’s then headed to the vocational school room. I walk in and find two students present. I don’t understand why the vocational students cannot get their act together and come to class. From what I see, the students are not serious about learning and therefore it makes the teachers lazy. After speaking to the two teachers however, I can see it from their point of view. The vocational school has little to no resources. They are supposed to have classes in cooking, sewing, shoe making, hair dressing in addition to business lessons (math), the classes are very limited however. There are two sewing machines (and supposedly 15 girls enrolled), very little cooking supplies, and no workshop on shoe making or hair dressing. The teachers then tell me they need my help to raise money. While the entire school of Columbus needs to be redone, I can see why the vocational students decide to come 50% of the time. I told the teachers if the girls put together a proposal telling me what they need to become successful at this vocational school then I will seriously think about raising money when I get back to the states. After that discussion I went on with my lesson about STD’s. The two students were actually quite interested and while they knew the names of some of the diseases I discussed, that was all they knew. Next week I hope to have pictures to go along with the diseases (and I hope for a larger attendance). After that lesson I moved to class 5 to administer their spelling quiz. I was taken back to my 5th grade class with Ms. Kolling at John Hay when she would stand in front of the class giving the spelling test, I would be nervous and forcing myself to keep my eyes on my own paper, oh memories. Overall the kids did very well, many getting all ten, plus my extra credit word correct. At least 10 had zero correct however so I will do what I can to work with these students. After the quiz I took class 5 out for P.E. I enjoy taking this class out much more than class 4, they tend to listen to me.
Alright well I am off to Kumasi. I will be staying with Jeanette tonight (since there is no school tomorrow or Friday), she works at a rehabilitation center for disabled teenagers. I am looking forward to seeing what she does on a day to day basis. I have many things planned this weekend, including a full day with Naomi on Friday. We are going to go to the central market to buy more material for me to get another dress made, are going to two museums and the zoo. Saturday night I will be with Alison and Jeanette and I few other ladies. We are going to get dressed up and try to find a place to get some decent coaktails…we’ll see. Sunday is the ceremony for my baby (host) sister, I’m not sure what this entails, but I’m looking forward to it. Have a great weekend and check back again next week!
-Erin
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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
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
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Happy first week of June!
Back at school…today is Wednesday June 4th. School ended early so that children can go to the church and be blessed. I never mean to sound disrespectful but I really do not see the need to cut school early twice each week so the children can sit in the back of the church, talk and not pay any mind to the service. I guess I just do not understand.
The first thing I want to address in this week’s blog is Ellen. After speaking up about my disapproval of the way she was being treated last Tuesday, she has seemed to disappear. This of course made me worry a bit, “now what have they done with her?” but I was informed that she was brought back to Tema (a city not far from Accra) to live with her mother and be “healed” at a church in Accra. I wish her luck.
I spent the past weekend on various beaches along the coast. I was much closer to the western border of Ghana this time in a town called Axim. While I could not afford to sleep at the fancy resort some of my friends choose to stay in, I was able to spend the day on a beautiful, secluded beach. My tan truly is coming along but I fear I too often forget my sunscreen and I know I need to watch out. Tans are great…but are a BIG price to pay for future wrinkles and the possibility of skin cancer. I promise myself (and my mother) that I will do better in remembering to apply sunscreen, liberally, while on the beach.
We (Heather, Leanne, Tony, Alison, Klarta from Switzerland and myself) played beach volleyball in the rain (it is rainy season so we can’t be sun bathing all day long) and had great food. I stayed down the road in a different resort that had accommodation for budget travelers. However, I personally preferred the Axim Beach Resort as it too was beautiful with charming double rooms with breakfast included in the price of the room. I am perfectly content. The tro tro ride home however was an all day process but I made it in one piece.
This week I have continued working with class 4 teaching math lessons. Yesterday the 9 kids I spent extra time with seemed to really understand how to find the area and perimeter of a shape but then today I looked over their homework and it was as though they forgot everything I taught them yesterday. Boy, do I have an unbelievable level of respect for any teacher anywhere, this is a HARD job. Tomorrow I am holding my multiplication quiz for class 4. They should have been studying their 2, 3, 4, and 5 times tables to prepare for the quiz tomorrow. I will use the flash cards mom sent me in the mail and have chocolate cookies for rewards. They seem excited but I have my doubts as to how many of them will be successful. We will see.
I put the sex health class on hold for this week. In order for me to properly teach the girls about safe sex methods, I need props and information. Yesterday I met a woman from Japan who has lived in Ghana for over a year. She is doing some form of AIDS research though I am not certain of her exact responsibilities. She invited me to join her on Monday at the teaching hospital to visit the AIDS ward, meet patients, doctors and other researchers. She also told me I would have access to condoms, a penis model to help demonstrate how to properly use a condom (hopefully a can discuss female condoms as well) and will also be able to borrow books to better teach sexual education. I am really looking forward to this. While I have enjoyed teaching overall and have really bonded with my kids, I originally wanted to come to Africa to volunteer in health care. If this visit on Monday goes well, I may be cutting down my teaching hours to just three days a week and volunteering with Mika (the woman from Japan), learning more about AIDS research. I will start my sex ed course again next week, hopefully armed with colorful pictures and printed hand-outs.
Well that is all I have for today. I promised to help with homework tonight for a few of the kids living at the orphanage. I do enjoy being a tutor to the children, mostly because I vividly remember those that helped me with my homework in daycare and after school. Without their help, I’m not sure I would be where I am today so I am happy to provide the same guidance to others.
Friday (June 6th) afternoon…the kids are once again at the church for their bi-weekly blessing. I usually head to my room during this time and intentionally avoid going to the church on Fridays but I think I will join them for the last hour of the service today. The week has gone by quickly. On Wednesday I ended up joining Klara and Nana (one of our organization coordinators) to the nearby craft center. Klara is heading back to Denmark next week and she wanted to buy some more gifts for people. I did buy a few bracelets for friends but held off on any wood carvings just yet. There are so many beautiful crafts to buy but I am doing my best to not only wait until my last month here but also to reevaluate my funds. I also know that the first price I am told for any given item is usually about 50 percent higher than the necessary price. While I wouldn’t say I have great bargaining skills, they are improving. After the craft center I came back to hang out with some of the kids. I brought out my camera and that is always exciting for them. If it were up to the kids I would be spending the entire night snapping photos of them in various poses. I also worked on some homework with the older kids.
While watching Forrest Gump on Thursday morning (before school) I heard a loud pop come from the television and then it went blank. Shoot. I have no idea when that will get fixed. I guess I have to remind myself that I was extremely spoiled having a tv in my room but still, I didn’t even get to the part where Forrest and Lieutenant Dan became shrimp boat captains. In addition to the tv breaking, we have been without running water for over a week! I can still “bath” but it is in the form of bucket showers. I know, I know, poor me. I’m kidding, I lucked out before because most people do not have access to showers while in Ghana. Thursday was a very long day for me however. I was busy in school helping the class 5 teacher give an English lesson and after break was the multiplication quiz for class 4. Overall they did better than I expected but I was most defiantly nicer than I should have been and gave multiple chances to some of the kids. They really enjoyed the chocolate biscuits though and I think it is incentive to study harder for the next quiz next week. I made myself hoarse however yelling at the kids to be quiet, sit down and DO NOT help by giving out answers. I may have been yelling at them but I was laughing to myself because while it is very difficult to give a quiz when all the kids are running about, I totally understand what it is like to be their age and how easy it is to get carried away by talking to your friends. Many of these kids remind me of myself just 10 or 12 years ago. I made the mistake of letting kids in class 5 and class 3 see my chocolate biscuits so now I am giving quizzes to both of those classes next week as well. Thankfully, biscuits and cookies are quite inexpensive in Ghana.
After school I went to Kumasi to spend some time on the internet and then met up with friends for Heather and Leanne’s good-bye dinner. I have already had to say bye to many friends I have met in the past 3 months but I have faith that I will stay in touch with most of them, which is very cool. And lastly today…school went just fine. I went over class 4’s homework for the week and gave out stickers to those that got at least 80 percent correct. I think it took a while but I can see the stickers and the cookies are real incentives for the kids to actually try when doing their homework. If I missed giving out a sticker, that student is immediately asking me to correct myself and produce a sticker for all to see. Time to join the kids in church and relax for the rest of the evening…tomorrow I will be joining the rest of the volunteers in my organization at a wedding. William (the head coordinator for ICYE in Ghana) is getting married and we are all invited. I will write about it before posting the blog tomorrow.
Hello all…I just got finished with the wedding. It was held in a Catholic church and was lovely. It was great to see all the other volunteers again too. A lot of the service was actually in English, which was very helpful. I am off to stay the night in “the palace” again. The evening will be filled with grilled cheese and movies. Have a great weekend everyone!
-Erin
The first thing I want to address in this week’s blog is Ellen. After speaking up about my disapproval of the way she was being treated last Tuesday, she has seemed to disappear. This of course made me worry a bit, “now what have they done with her?” but I was informed that she was brought back to Tema (a city not far from Accra) to live with her mother and be “healed” at a church in Accra. I wish her luck.
I spent the past weekend on various beaches along the coast. I was much closer to the western border of Ghana this time in a town called Axim. While I could not afford to sleep at the fancy resort some of my friends choose to stay in, I was able to spend the day on a beautiful, secluded beach. My tan truly is coming along but I fear I too often forget my sunscreen and I know I need to watch out. Tans are great…but are a BIG price to pay for future wrinkles and the possibility of skin cancer. I promise myself (and my mother) that I will do better in remembering to apply sunscreen, liberally, while on the beach.
We (Heather, Leanne, Tony, Alison, Klarta from Switzerland and myself) played beach volleyball in the rain (it is rainy season so we can’t be sun bathing all day long) and had great food. I stayed down the road in a different resort that had accommodation for budget travelers. However, I personally preferred the Axim Beach Resort as it too was beautiful with charming double rooms with breakfast included in the price of the room. I am perfectly content. The tro tro ride home however was an all day process but I made it in one piece.
This week I have continued working with class 4 teaching math lessons. Yesterday the 9 kids I spent extra time with seemed to really understand how to find the area and perimeter of a shape but then today I looked over their homework and it was as though they forgot everything I taught them yesterday. Boy, do I have an unbelievable level of respect for any teacher anywhere, this is a HARD job. Tomorrow I am holding my multiplication quiz for class 4. They should have been studying their 2, 3, 4, and 5 times tables to prepare for the quiz tomorrow. I will use the flash cards mom sent me in the mail and have chocolate cookies for rewards. They seem excited but I have my doubts as to how many of them will be successful. We will see.
I put the sex health class on hold for this week. In order for me to properly teach the girls about safe sex methods, I need props and information. Yesterday I met a woman from Japan who has lived in Ghana for over a year. She is doing some form of AIDS research though I am not certain of her exact responsibilities. She invited me to join her on Monday at the teaching hospital to visit the AIDS ward, meet patients, doctors and other researchers. She also told me I would have access to condoms, a penis model to help demonstrate how to properly use a condom (hopefully a can discuss female condoms as well) and will also be able to borrow books to better teach sexual education. I am really looking forward to this. While I have enjoyed teaching overall and have really bonded with my kids, I originally wanted to come to Africa to volunteer in health care. If this visit on Monday goes well, I may be cutting down my teaching hours to just three days a week and volunteering with Mika (the woman from Japan), learning more about AIDS research. I will start my sex ed course again next week, hopefully armed with colorful pictures and printed hand-outs.
Well that is all I have for today. I promised to help with homework tonight for a few of the kids living at the orphanage. I do enjoy being a tutor to the children, mostly because I vividly remember those that helped me with my homework in daycare and after school. Without their help, I’m not sure I would be where I am today so I am happy to provide the same guidance to others.
Friday (June 6th) afternoon…the kids are once again at the church for their bi-weekly blessing. I usually head to my room during this time and intentionally avoid going to the church on Fridays but I think I will join them for the last hour of the service today. The week has gone by quickly. On Wednesday I ended up joining Klara and Nana (one of our organization coordinators) to the nearby craft center. Klara is heading back to Denmark next week and she wanted to buy some more gifts for people. I did buy a few bracelets for friends but held off on any wood carvings just yet. There are so many beautiful crafts to buy but I am doing my best to not only wait until my last month here but also to reevaluate my funds. I also know that the first price I am told for any given item is usually about 50 percent higher than the necessary price. While I wouldn’t say I have great bargaining skills, they are improving. After the craft center I came back to hang out with some of the kids. I brought out my camera and that is always exciting for them. If it were up to the kids I would be spending the entire night snapping photos of them in various poses. I also worked on some homework with the older kids.
While watching Forrest Gump on Thursday morning (before school) I heard a loud pop come from the television and then it went blank. Shoot. I have no idea when that will get fixed. I guess I have to remind myself that I was extremely spoiled having a tv in my room but still, I didn’t even get to the part where Forrest and Lieutenant Dan became shrimp boat captains. In addition to the tv breaking, we have been without running water for over a week! I can still “bath” but it is in the form of bucket showers. I know, I know, poor me. I’m kidding, I lucked out before because most people do not have access to showers while in Ghana. Thursday was a very long day for me however. I was busy in school helping the class 5 teacher give an English lesson and after break was the multiplication quiz for class 4. Overall they did better than I expected but I was most defiantly nicer than I should have been and gave multiple chances to some of the kids. They really enjoyed the chocolate biscuits though and I think it is incentive to study harder for the next quiz next week. I made myself hoarse however yelling at the kids to be quiet, sit down and DO NOT help by giving out answers. I may have been yelling at them but I was laughing to myself because while it is very difficult to give a quiz when all the kids are running about, I totally understand what it is like to be their age and how easy it is to get carried away by talking to your friends. Many of these kids remind me of myself just 10 or 12 years ago. I made the mistake of letting kids in class 5 and class 3 see my chocolate biscuits so now I am giving quizzes to both of those classes next week as well. Thankfully, biscuits and cookies are quite inexpensive in Ghana.
After school I went to Kumasi to spend some time on the internet and then met up with friends for Heather and Leanne’s good-bye dinner. I have already had to say bye to many friends I have met in the past 3 months but I have faith that I will stay in touch with most of them, which is very cool. And lastly today…school went just fine. I went over class 4’s homework for the week and gave out stickers to those that got at least 80 percent correct. I think it took a while but I can see the stickers and the cookies are real incentives for the kids to actually try when doing their homework. If I missed giving out a sticker, that student is immediately asking me to correct myself and produce a sticker for all to see. Time to join the kids in church and relax for the rest of the evening…tomorrow I will be joining the rest of the volunteers in my organization at a wedding. William (the head coordinator for ICYE in Ghana) is getting married and we are all invited. I will write about it before posting the blog tomorrow.
Hello all…I just got finished with the wedding. It was held in a Catholic church and was lovely. It was great to see all the other volunteers again too. A lot of the service was actually in English, which was very helpful. I am off to stay the night in “the palace” again. The evening will be filled with grilled cheese and movies. Have a great weekend everyone!
-Erin
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