Accra (the capital of Ghana)… is like a run down American City, with poor city planning, smelling sewers, and people hustling on the streets… but after living in the ‘bush’ for 3 months Accra is like entering back in to the US… there is a mall with a movie theater, a Nike and Puma store, a food court and a legit grocery store, people are driving extremely nice cars, and there are large variety of restaurants (rather than just eating Ghanaian chop) and bars.

Peace Corps hooked us volunteers up with a place to stay… staying with US Embassy workers in an air-conditioned house, having HOT, pressurized showers, with western foods (real milk, ice cream, pizza and Tostitos corn chips)... so we could par-take in eating a Thanksgiving meal with the US Ambassadors.

180 volunteers, 14 turkeys, 40 something pies, and 1 pool party later we were over stuffed and extremely satisfied and thankful with having had a ‘real American Meal.’

Happy Thanksgiving!

walking up to the Roman Catholic Junior High School

Teaching is a struggle… as this isn’t my primary project and I wasn’t so called “trained” in how the Ghanaian school system works. So every day is a learning experience.

ringing the bell to change classes

Both schools have me now teaching ICT (Information, Communication and Technology). Well more teaching the theories behind ICT as most rural schools aren’t equipped with any form of technology… let alone books that the students can learn from. So on my biweekly visits to the two schools I try to explain what a computer is, the various pars of a computer, how to type… where fingers should be placed if they wish to type correctly… and how to operate a mouse. The theories behind the internet, and the cyber world (extremely challenging as these kids don’t have any imagination, and telling them to imagine another so called ‘world’ well?). As well as all the various types of storage devices for computers, what printers do, and the difference between RAM and ROM (things that I never took interest in learning until now.)

the students desks

But I’m struggling with how to motivate students… yes ICT is required for students to pass to go onto the next grade, but school isn’t taken seriously. All my fellow teachers keep telling me that if they don’t cane (whip) the students then they wouldn’t learn anything and they keep insisting that I should cane the students if they act up or don’t do the homework that I assign to them… first off I’m not allowed as a Peace Corps Volunteer to cane students, and second I don’t believe in caning students as a form of punishment I more believe in praising the students when they have done something good and ignoring the bad, rewarding them, and give them an incentive to learn and want to be in school… or at least in my class.

the teacher's desk

Although I still find it a struggle because the only things that tells the students if they can go onto the next grade is if they pass their final exams. And I know that that if there is no motivation behind learning then why not just cram for the exam to go onto the next grade?

a lone man's village on the mountain side

Looking down on my village

(to get this picture I had to cross the river and start hiking up the hill in my village... the next day I got explicit instructions from my chief that I'm NOT allowed to cross the river by myself... it is spirited and I will die... right?)

Thoughts…

1. Cheap and efficient way to build a fence… enlist in some school children for some child, slave labor. Send them into the bush to fetch some bamboo. Have them cut it and construct a fence for you… all the while you sit and watch them (maybe drinking mojitos… if only there was mint here.) But no, as much as I insisted that I want to cut the bamboo and help hammer it together to build a fence for my garden they whole community insisted that I send the school boys to fetch the bamboo and have them build a fence for me… and it’s built.

2. “I heart my bong”… whatever isn’t sold at second hand stores in the US and Europe and through various clothing drives, our ‘trashy clothing’ is sent to Africa to be sold at markets… so many people here run around wearing things that they don’t know the meaning to… boys wearing girls pants or a feminine cut tank top. So it was pretty comical trying to explain to my “small boy” what the meaning of his shirt was (and yes it really said “I heart my bong”, only there was a picture of a heart and a bong).

3. It was pure chore and almost punishment to do dishes growing up… but here I can be attempting to wash my dishes and my “small boy” will come running over saying “madam, madam let me to do the washing for you.”

4. Oh Africa!