October 1, 2008

October 1, 2008

Today began with a chicken in the bathroom. I was taking a video to show you all where we live, opened the door to the bathroom and a giant chicken hopped out at my feet! Denise, Sema, and Beatrice had a good laugh.

We walked to the JSS school to meet up with Tony and meet all the children. I took a video of the unfinished library also. I'll upload pictures when I can. The library project has no more materials to build with, so the lack of funding has the Anyo Group at a standstill, leaving a partly painted open air structure to sit and wait. Proposals for funding have been written and send out, but it's been over a year and they've received no response.

The children in the classrooms were very enthusiastic when we walked up. We'd enter a classroom and the children would immediately stand and in unison greet us, "mia woezo!" We saw Jessica's class outside but didn't see Grace when we went to the JSS classes. Later we
learned she didn't go to school today because she was needed on the farm since her mother was going to Ho for market Day. We came to the Primary 1 class and I spotted Selom at the first table. I waved, and he bashfully waved back and then slowly stood, walked over, and gave
me a hug. He looked at the floor but you could still see his smile, then he tucked his head under my ribs.

Later we spoke more with Tony about our plans. He asked how soon we could meet with the students to discuss higher education and health and sex education. We are looking to start next week. The headmaster wants to meet with us today or Friday to discuss in more detail. Tony
talked to us about he challenges he faces as a teacher. He said the kids don't retain the information they are taught. You could lecture all day and ask questions about the material the following day, and the children will just stare at you. They are given homework but some children just don't complete it. When they do not complete their homework, children are punished either by addressing the entire class, or with a cane. Using a cane is illegal, but the teachers think it's the only way to get the children to obey, and complete their assignments. There are no methods of positive reinforcement, and children don't seem to care if they are held back 2 or 3 years. There is no remorse or embarrassment, or attempt to improve. The parents
aren't involved at all either, and don't encourage studying. Like Grace today, if they find it necessary, they'll pull the child from school to work on the farm instead. Her older brother though was in school, so I wonder if because she's the oldest daughter she is required to do farming instead of school more often than Kosi… I suggested having an after school program where teachers could take turns staying an hour or so after classes end to encourage students to
start on their homework, and answer any questions they may have. Tony said they did have something like that, but it fell apart. He didn't give much detail. All classes (except Ewe class) are taught in English, but most of the children we've spoken to do not speak or understand it very well. (Grace is the exception, her English is amazing.) I wonder if English provides a learning barrier, if the children don't understand the language in which the subjects are
taught. It seems that the education is mostly lecture, without many activities for the children throughout the day to reinforce what they've learned. It's not a very interactive environment. When the kids return home, there are many distractions and they need to do work around the home. The hope is that when the library is complete, the kids will have a place to go to study and complete their homework.

The benefits of the library are two-fold. A boy we met yesterday named Divine (20) thinks that with the finished library (with electricity), teenagers will have a place to go after dinner to study, and he thinks this will give them something to do, and a safe place to go, which he believes will help prevent teenage pregnancy. Divine told us that it is best to teach abstinence. Condoms kill sperm, i.e. they kill the chance of making life. This goes against the law of God, as the bible
says "go forth and have children," not "go forth and use condoms to have sex a lot." (not that they had condoms back in 33 A.D.) people also are under the impression that since condoms aren't 100% effective, it doesn't make any difference. Denise and I are assuming this was taught to them as if to say, "well, it's not going to 100% prevent anything, so really you just shouldn't have sex." This is ok in theory, but kids are going to have sex. Now, they're just choosing not to use condoms because they're not 100% effective anyway. He also said that even though there is no sex education, people think they know all there is to know already. The only concern right now is teenage pregnancy (in their minds). The only sexually transmitted disease they know about, or hear about, is AIDS—no one even mentions other possible diseases like syphilis or gonorrhea. Divine also mentioned that even here in the village, girls will prostitute themselves for a small amount of money for food. I'm talking the equivalent of 50 or 75 cents. It's a vicious cycle: lack of education >> more poverty >> prostitution and teenage pregnancy >> more children with less involved and less educated parents encouraging them only to join the farm work.


Thunder is rolling in now. Some children fell asleep on our floor. Kosi loves to read so he watches us intently as we write and reads over our shoulders. We gave him a book to read (Gulliver's Travels) so hopefully that will occupy him for a while. J The children are so curious and pay close attention to everything! For certain subjects not appropriate for their young ears, Denise and I have resorted to speaking in Spanish! The kids are always around, leaving privacy as only a "nice concept." The kids also have no problem taking your water pouch or glass and helping themselves, which is fine, but good lord these are some thirsty children! No one knocks either—not even adults—even if your door is closed. Though, our doors are kept open most of the time to keep the air flowing, and we just have a curtain to block some sun.


Tony came and took us to a field next to the school where 9 boys (18 to early 20s) were played soccer. We watched them practice for about an hour. The sky turned dark gray behind them, almost black. We headed home before the rain came, stopping briefly to meet with the headmaster of the JSS. He was very welcoming and said he was very happy about our goals to develop programs for the school. The thunder and lightening is getting stronger now. I learned more about Grace and Jessica's family today. The mother is from Liberia and came to Ghana (without her husband—I'm not sure if he died or if she just left him) with Kosi (3 at the time) and Grace (just a baby). There are 9 years between Grace and Jessica, another baby about 1 ½ years old, and another one on the way who will arrive in probably a month or so. I don't think their father is around though. I've only seen their mother twice, and she lives in this same family house, across the courtyard (or thatched covering area). Jessica is surely proof that
American children are babied and fussed over much more than necessary. She smacks into more cement floors and steps than you could imagine but without a concerned adult to make a fuss, she pops back up, laughs, and goes about whatever she was doing. She spins in circles
near the steps, and climbs on top of chairs, but you really don't worry about her. Kids are tough, resilient. They'll be fine. J I think she and Selom are getting sick though. They're coughing up
mucus- never a good thing.


We heard pounding from another room so naturally we went to investigate. Kosi had what looked like a double ended baseball bat and was pounding boiled yams into a wooden bucket. He would wet the bat with water and continue to pound. The yams were slowly transformed into a dough, which will be used in a soup for us on Friday. This is fu-fu, a traditional Ghanaian dish.