Tuesday, June 21, 2011

First Long Ghana Update!


Hi all,

Everything is going really well here in Ghana. These first three full days have been action-packed, so I’ll get right into it. I slept a lot on Saturday night/Sunday morning because I was really tired from the flight and plenty jet-lagged. I had a relaxing afternoon – got a tour of the community from some of the local kids and spent some time reading as well. So it was a good way to get settled in.

I'm living in the house of the headmaster (Mr. Kabutey) of the Manye school. The school is in the cit of Tema which is a suburb of Accra (~30 minutes away). Tema seems pretty interesting in its development – it is a planned city and we are in Community 25. Since Community 1 is at the center of Tema, a big number like 25 means we are really on the outskirts. And in Ghana, the outskirts of a major suburb = rural. We have electricity and a working shower. The toilet is a little shack with a toilet looking shape on top of a hole in the ground. The smell isn’t too bad – makes me think of all those horse show porta-potties back in the day.

My room is good. I’m in an annex of the headmaster’s house and I’ve kind of got the place to myself since it’s separated from the other part of the house where the headmaster and the WPE consultants live. So it’s nice to have some personal space. You can see some pictures of my room. Note the fan and the mosquito net – key assets. I’ll take some pictures of the school soon to put those up – the house is right next to the school.

Another thing of note is the food, which has been great! Emma, the wife of the headmaster, is a really great cook and she has been serving mostly western dishes with some Ghanaian flavor. Dishes of note have been fried chicken and rice, chicken and chips, and a delicious spaghetti plate with bits of meat, vegetables and spices. It could have been right off a restaurant’s list of specials. So that’s been really great and my stomach has had no problem since being here, which is a great contrast to Morocco where my whole family got really sick on our second night in the country.

I haven’t gotten off scott free, though. I spent all of Sunday night tossing and turning, not able to sleep – likely because of the jet lag. Then I woke up late because my alarm didn't go off. I tried to get ready really fast and suddenly felt dizzy and nauseous. The lack of sleep and probably a little dehydration did me in. So I took it slow on Monday morning. I met some of the kids and teachers. Mr. Kabutey tricked me into substituting for the First Grade teacher who was out sick. So that was a bit of a riot, but by the end of class I actually felt back to normal.

The children are pretty hilarious. All the young ones want to come up and hold my hand and play with my watch and ask me questions. They all call me “Mr. David” or “Sir” which I find pretty funny. Sometimes it turns into "Sir David" which is just hilarious. But Ghanaian culture places a strong emphasis on respect, which is interesting to see. And all the kids are very friendly and curious. They remember all the past WPE volunteers, so I’ve been telling them I know "Mr. Kevin," "Madame Jeni," "Madame Sidny," and "Madame Maya" – all Dartmouth friends of mine who have been here previously. They think that’s greatest and they wish all of them would come back and visit them. The volunteers certainly make a big impact in the lives of these children, which makes my time here feel very special.

I spent Monday afternoon walking around the community with some kids and local people they know, which was great. And on Monday night, I slept really well, which was a big relief. I may be over the jet-lag (fingers crossed). I woke up feeling fine this morning and had a great day at the school. I observed a Third Grade class in the morning as they did French, Reading Comprehension, and Math. Then I went back to check out my First Grade class in the afternoon. Luckily the teacher had returned. She was teaching the subject RME (Religious and Moral Education), which a pretty interesting element of Ghanaian public education. They were going over the basic practices of Ghana’s three major religions – Christianity, Islam, and “Traditional” (animistic) religions. Although all the students and teachers here are Christian, the coverage of the topic was balanced and seems a good way to promote tolerance. Although the topic and the title they use for it constantly made me think of REM’s “Losing My Religion.” Haha

So that’s what I’ve got for now. I’ll see if I can cut down the length of future posts, but a lot has gone on in the first few days and I wanted to make sure I’m relating the experience well. If you have any specific questions and want to know more about something, send me an email and I will reply the next time I have internet. Hope you all are well and I will be in touch!

1 comment:

  1. "sir david". very good. don't let it go to your head.
    glad you are settling in. enjoy the experience!

    ReplyDelete