My last week here has been difficult. As I sit here today I can not say for sure that I have a placement to go to on Monday. The next four weeks of my life look extremely blurry and uncertain. This week I tried to do something good for the Gbi Special School. I tried to help the staff and students, but it backfired.
On Tuesday I met with the Director of Special Education for the Volta Region for an interview. I was extremely excited about this because all of the staff at the Gbi School had expressed an interest in hearing about what was going on in Accra at the national level and potentially hosting the Director at the school for the day to tour the campus and hear some of their concerns. The Director came out to the homebase to meet me, which surprised me because I thought he would be much too busy to leave his office. He told me that he was working out of the assessment centre in Hohoe where children are tested to determine whether or not they have a cognitive disorder. When I asked if he had been to visit the Gbi School recently he told me that he hadn't been there since January, but said he was a teacher there before he was given his current position. He complained about a lack of funding (a common thread around here) that made it difficult for him to visit schools in the Volta Region because he had to pay for it out of his own salary. He also told me a little about the reports he is required to file with the government and the testing methods they use to assess the children. I asked if he would be interested in joining me at the Gbi School later in the week, and he seem thrilled at the prospect. I was thrilled too, and we settled on a visit Thursday morning. He suggested that afterwards myself and the other volunteer at the Gbi Special School visit the assessment centre so that he could show us around and explain things in greater detail. I was very excited!
This is when things started to go wrong. It was raining during the interview, and the Director said he lived nearby so he was going to wait until it stopped raining and then walk home. I waited outside with him and tried to make small talk. He gave me his email address and phone number. Then he asked if I could help him go to university to become a clinical psychologist. I said "Probably not", but he didn't seem too discouraged. Then he invited me to go to church on Sunday with him. I said "Maybe". This man is about 50 years old, and he was making me feel uncomfortable. Finally it stopped raining and he left.
Later that night the night guard came into the house looking for me and told me there was a man outside asking for me, he had a gift for me. I was confused but followed him outside anyway. The director was standing outside the gate with a bag full of bananas. He said he brought me a gift and was looking forward to working with me (I gave the bananas to the other volunteers because I am allergic to them). At the time I didn't think much of this, receiving gifts around here is pretty standard as an international visitor.
The next morning (Wednesday) I went to see the headmaster at Gbi Special School to introduce a group of medical volunteers who were doing a hygiene presentation with the students that day and to tell him the good news. When he found out that the Director was coming to the school his face lit right up. He could hardly contain his happiness. He was shaking my hand and slapping his thighs and laughing--until I mentioned the Director's name. The headmaster's smile disappeared as he informed me that this man I was bringing to the school was not the Director at all, he simply ran the assessment center in Hohoe and had no influence in government at all. I was crushed, and embarrassed, and angry all at once. I could not believe I had been so easily fooled. That man had lied to me just to further his own interests--not only was he getting a ride out to the school for free to visit with his old friends, he also thought he had made an international connection that could assist him in advancing his career. The headmaster didn't seem too phased though. He gave me the contact information for the real Director of Special Education, who works in Ho, and told me to bring the imposter out to the school anyway and to pretend I didn't know the truth. The headmaster wanted to question this man and have him apologize for lying to me. I wasn't completely comfortable with this idea but the staff at CCS assured me that the headmaster was a smart man and would make sure that things were handled properly. The staff at CCS were also thankful to know they had been given false information and wanted the situation to be righted as soon as possible.
I was on edge Thursday morning to say the least. I didn't know how I could face this man who had lied to me about who he was and act like I was still oblivious to his lie. When he arrived we climbed into the van with all the other volunteers and took off. On the way he made our driver stop so he could buy food and phone credits--I wasn't impressed with this, we had volunteers to drop off at placements and he was acting as though our van was his personal limo. When we arrived at the school I took him to meet Michael, the pre-vocational teacher and a friend of this man. I asked Michael if he would mind taking the man on a tour of the grounds to see the new development projects after we talked to the headmaster and Michael agreed.
Another volunteer, Cassie, had come out to ask the headmaster about first aid supplies so she joined our entourage (I also wanted some support once the headmaster started drilling the assessment center guy so I was glad to have her there). We knocked on the headmaster's office door and he told us to come on in. He looked up and said "Sit down". My stomach immediately started twisting. The headmaster had not said "You are welcome", the usual courtesy to visitors around here. I knew things were about to go horribly wrong.
The headmaster asked "How can I help you?" He refused to look at the assessment man and his tone was cold and condescending. I explained that I had brought the Director of Special Education out to the school to see the new projects, as we had discussed earlier. The headmaster just stared at me. "Come again?" he asked. I hesitated--I was sure he must understand and I was confused as to why he was not going along with our plan. I had even had a staff member call earlier that morning to double check that this "interrogation plan" was still a go. So I tried to explain again, but the headmaster interrupted me. He told me that the staff at Gbi Special School do not report to this man, this man is not the Director of Special Education. This man does not represent the government. This man simply runs the assessment center in Hohoe. He is responsible for assessing the children that are sent to him and then handing them over to the school. He has no other business at the school. This man is not welcome on school property, so why have I brought him there? I have no business bringing this man to the school.
I just sat stunned. The assessment guy didn't say a word, he just looked at the floor. Cassie's mouth was hanging open in shock. This man is not welcome here, and I realize I am no longer welcome either. The headmaster says "If there is nothing else you can go". I stand up and the assessment guy and I walk out. I have no idea what just happened. Things just fell apart completely. I had been asked to leave the school.
I feel obligated to apologize to this man for some reason, and he tells me not to worry about it. My phone starts ringing. It is Makafui, the director of CCS in Ghana. I tell the assessment guy I have to take a call, I will meet him back at the schoolhouse. As soon as I answer the call the lump in my throat dissipates and I start to cry and yell at Makafui. I am embarrassed and angry and don't know what to do. He tells me he will send a car to get me, we will sort things out at the homebase. I hang up, compose myself, and head back to the school to tell the assessment guy and the other volunteers there what is going on. Michael sees me as I am speaking to another volunteer and notices I am upset. He runs over and grabs my arm and starts pulling me toward a classroom. I try to explain that I have received some bad news and need to return home for the day to deal with it. He won't listen. He tightens his grip, pulls harder. He says I can't leave them. The children need me. I need to stop crying. I can't leave them. This draws a crowd of students and teachers. I ask him to let go, he's hurting me. I need to leave. Please just let go. He won't listen. I scream at him. I tell him he needs to let me go, I will be back as soon as I can but for now I need to go. He twists my arm behind my back but the assessment guy finally pipes up and tells him to let me go. I am bawling uncontrollably at this point. The kids are following behind me asking me why I am crying--they think they are responsible, and this breaks my heart. My phone keeps ringing every two seconds as the staff at CCS call to check on me. My class teacher comes over and starts asking me questions. The kids are yelling at me. My head is spinning.
Finally the cab arrives. The assessment guy leaves with me. To my horror he asks the cab to stop twice on the way back to the homebase--once at the post office and once at a shop. I am crying and I need to get home and I paid for the damn cab. I couldn't believe his nerve. A staff member met the car and I stormed home. I collapsed in my room and bawled. Then I fell asleep. I woke up later to explain things to the staff and they apologized profusely, promising to set things right.
On Friday I went to a different school and taught art. It was a nice change. The students sat in their desks and listened. They shared art supplies. They all followed one lesson. It was so easy. I taught a lesson on how to draw a face, which they thought was hilarious because I let them choose the gender and hairstyle of the person. They also ending up naming their faces, giving them jewellery, and adding in scarification marks that indicate tribe affiliation. I was pretty impressed. That afternoon I was called into Makafui's office. He told me that I had been drawn into a personal conflict between the headmaster and the assessment center guy, which had actually been the reason the assessment center guy LOST his job at the school in the first place. They had essentially used me as a pawn to have a confrontation. Makafui said the headmaster would be coming to meet with us later that evening to try and explain things to me and the CCS staff. To make a long story short, the headmaster did not show up, nor did he return our phone calls. He also managed to come up with excuses to avoid a meeting over the course of the weekend.
The assessment center guy has stopped by the CCS Homebase 3 times looking for me. The guards have to keep shooing him away and telling him I am not there. I have reported this to the intern supervisors and Makafui is going to make sure this man leaves me alone.
It is Saturday and I am very homesick right now. I am bitter. I am struggling to see the beauty in the people and community that I saw during my first few weeks. I do not know who to trust anymore. I feel used and unappreciated. I miss the kids but I do not know if I have it in me to go back out to that school. It has sapped all of the energy out of me. New volunteers arrived today. When they ask where I am placed I do not know what to tell them. When they ask how much I love Hohoe, if I would come back again, I do not know whether to lie or tell them the truth. I am not feeling very social to say the least...
Update: Today is Monday. I wrote this post on Saturday but the internet crashed so it never posted. This morning the headmaster came to meet with me and Makafui. He apologized for his behaviour and promised it would not happen again. He did not mean to direct his anger at me, he meant to direct at it the assessment guy. Apparently he had tried calling one of the staff earlier that morning to tell them to make sure the assessment guy DID NOT come out to the school, but he didn't reach anyone in time and was flustered when I showed up with assessment guy in tow. The headmaster has invited me back to the school, so I will return tomorrow morning. However, a few things have changed.
I have decided to only spend 3-4 days a week at the Gbi Special School because the atmosphere there is taking a huge toll on my optimism and energy level. The other days I will be returning to St. Teresa's Demonstration School to teach visual art (the students and teachers requested I come back!). My focus at the Gbi Special School will be on developing teaching aids for my teacher, arranging in-service learning seminars for the staff (e.g. how to teach sexual education, how to make learning interactive, etc.), and creating booklets and reference guides on different topics for the staff members (e.g. classroom management, behaviour management, creative learning solutions, etc.). Outside of this I will be focusing on independent learning about the special education system in Ghana through interviews, research, and visits to other special education institutions throughout the country. All of this information will be outlined in a report which will be made available to incoming volunteers so they have a better grasp on the political issues surrounding special education here.
I am feeling much better about things now that I have plan. I am happy that I was able to speak to the headmaster, assert myself, and have him agree to work on professional terms with myself and all future volunteers. Makafui says that things between CCS and the Gbi Special School finally reached a breaking point after many hiccups over the past few years. It took this episode with me for the headmaster to realize how important it is to maintain the relationship with CCS volunteers because we provide a lot of support and opportunities to the school that they would not otherwise receive.
However, I feel kind of bad for the headmaster at the same time. After everything that has happened I am beginning to understand why he acts the way he does sometimes. He feels threatened constantly. His position at the school is the only thing he has, and people are very protective of the things that give them status and power here. Makafui explained that the headmaster was afraid the assessment guy was going to look for negative things that he could report to the real regional director while he was at the school. I think the assessment guy may have tried to take the headmaster's job at one point. I can not imagine living in fear of losing my job and respect from others due to jealousy and personal issues with former coworkers. Job protection and politics operate on an entirely different playing field here than they do in Canada.
Anyway, this post has been long-winded. I hope to provide you all with a much more uplifting report next time I write. Hope all is well back home!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
I'm feeling much better since the last time I posted. The issue with the school has been dealt with and I have asked a group of medical students who are now volunteering with CCS to give all of the students at Gbi Special School a couple of seminars on Sexual Education. I'm really hoping this will help the students understand the potential results of their actions and assist the teachers in developing a better sexual education curriculum in the future.
A lot has happened in the past week, so here are the highlights!
As I briefly mentioned in my last post, last Thursday myself and some of the other volunteers went to a small community outside of Hohoe, called Ango, to help the community build a primary school. It was amazing to see how everyone stopped what they were doing to pitch in, even mothers with babies on their backs were hauling mud! I'm not sure whether we actually sped up the process or slowed them down. I'm sure they were grateful to have us carry mud for them, but some of the men stopped their work to teach us how to make mud walls and I can't say I was as skilled or as quick as they were at it! I gave them all a good laugh though as they watched my attempts. I also wore my hiking boots to the site and they all ended up calling me "soldier lady", which they found amusing but slightly annoyed me--those that know me well would understand my desire to remain unassociated with the military. I managed to make a baby cry too. I approached him to hand him the toy hippie van I have carried around this country with me (kind of like the gnome on those traveling commercials) and he just started bawling. Apparently he hadn't seen any person so white before and it freaked him out. I almost started crying too I felt so bad! His mother just laughed though. She said he would have to get used to the yevu at some point!
On Friday I climbed Mount Afadjato. I was slightly dizzy and dehydrated before starting the climb, which probably wasn't a good thing as it made the climb seem more grueling than it actually is. Mount Afadjato is a small mountain, but the biggest freestanding mountain in West Africa, at 885 meters above sea level. The climb is more of a steep hike than anything, but the lose pebbles and wet mud make finding footholds difficult. It took us about 40 minutes to reach the summit (like I said, small mountain). We had only been up there about 5 minutes before a small old Ghanaian man in his bare feet with an amputated hand came cruising up shouting "I am the winner, the winner, the winner" and doing a silly dance. He asked me to take his watch, which I did. He then proceed to tell me that he had started his climb at 9:45, would I please tell him what time it was now? It was 10:05- he had taken only 20 minutes to get up here. I was shocked. A few moments later a white guy comes running up behind him. It is soon revealed that these two race up the mountain, every day. The white kid had barely broken a sweat. Meanwhile you can see the outline of my sports bra because around it my shirt is soaked through with sweat. How embarrassing! Anyway, now I can say I've climbed a mountain. A literal one.
I spent my first weekend in Hohoe last weekend which was a lot of fun. The World Cup started Friday afternoon, and everyone here is obsessed it. The games are broadcast everywhere whether over the radio in the taxis or over the televisions in the shops--you won't miss a thing. Maya, Jillian, and Michaela left on Saturday, which was super sad. I cried a little. I'm going to miss them all a lot. I also couldn't help thinking about all the other goodbyes I am going to have to say before it's my turn to pack up and leave. I keep wondering who will be there to see me off on my last day.
On Sunday I went to a Pentecostal Church service with one of the staff and three other volunteers. It was hot, loud, and the service was long. They said everything in English once and then had it translated into Ewe. The speakers and vocalists screamed into the microphones, which were turned up so loud they kept screeching with feedback. They also sang and danced a lot, which I loved, but the songs were each 15 minutes long and would leave you sweating at the end of them. I had a lot of trouble relating to the sermon and the prayers. They spent a lot of time praying for money and avoidance of debt and for the soccer team to win. It just felt a little spiritually lacking. After the collection they proceeded to announce the names of the people who had donated the most to the church and why. It was like a competition of sorts--who loves Jesus the most? This was strange because most people here can hardly afford to keep their families clothed and fed, yet they are giving huge chunks of their money away every Sunday. They announced a pilgrimage to Israel opportunity too, costing $3000 US dollars. How they thought anyone in the congregation would actually be able to afford that is beyond me. Towards the end they called a teenage boy up the front with his mother. His mother was concerned that his teenage whims were corrupting him and leading him away from God, so they performed a blessing and a type of exorcism to pull the demons out of his soul. Everyone in the audience got so worked up, shaking and shouting things out. The man in front of us was convulsing and bawling, we were all waiting to see if he would pass out or have a heart attack or something. After that we left, our ears ringing like we had just left a heavy metal concert. I think we had all had a little too much "praising the lord" for one day. Our prayers did accomplish at least one thing though--Ghana won against Serbia later that afternoon.
This week has been pretty laid back so far. I have been working my butt off on projects for my classroom and the school. On Wednesday we held two seminars out at the school, one on basic first aid and one about classroom management and behaviour management. They seemed to go pretty well. Today I missed placement due to another bout of digestion problems. The lack of toilets out at the school makes attending placement really difficult on days when I'm not functioning quite right. Tomorrow I'm going out to an orphanage to attend a goodbye ceremony for a couple of our volunteers. More of them are leaving this Saturday.
Anyway, I'm happy again and feeling more optimistic about my ability to make a positive impact at Gbi Special School. The kids out there are quickly working their way into my heart. I'm glad I have five more weeks here to spend with them.
A lot has happened in the past week, so here are the highlights!
As I briefly mentioned in my last post, last Thursday myself and some of the other volunteers went to a small community outside of Hohoe, called Ango, to help the community build a primary school. It was amazing to see how everyone stopped what they were doing to pitch in, even mothers with babies on their backs were hauling mud! I'm not sure whether we actually sped up the process or slowed them down. I'm sure they were grateful to have us carry mud for them, but some of the men stopped their work to teach us how to make mud walls and I can't say I was as skilled or as quick as they were at it! I gave them all a good laugh though as they watched my attempts. I also wore my hiking boots to the site and they all ended up calling me "soldier lady", which they found amusing but slightly annoyed me--those that know me well would understand my desire to remain unassociated with the military. I managed to make a baby cry too. I approached him to hand him the toy hippie van I have carried around this country with me (kind of like the gnome on those traveling commercials) and he just started bawling. Apparently he hadn't seen any person so white before and it freaked him out. I almost started crying too I felt so bad! His mother just laughed though. She said he would have to get used to the yevu at some point!
On Friday I climbed Mount Afadjato. I was slightly dizzy and dehydrated before starting the climb, which probably wasn't a good thing as it made the climb seem more grueling than it actually is. Mount Afadjato is a small mountain, but the biggest freestanding mountain in West Africa, at 885 meters above sea level. The climb is more of a steep hike than anything, but the lose pebbles and wet mud make finding footholds difficult. It took us about 40 minutes to reach the summit (like I said, small mountain). We had only been up there about 5 minutes before a small old Ghanaian man in his bare feet with an amputated hand came cruising up shouting "I am the winner, the winner, the winner" and doing a silly dance. He asked me to take his watch, which I did. He then proceed to tell me that he had started his climb at 9:45, would I please tell him what time it was now? It was 10:05- he had taken only 20 minutes to get up here. I was shocked. A few moments later a white guy comes running up behind him. It is soon revealed that these two race up the mountain, every day. The white kid had barely broken a sweat. Meanwhile you can see the outline of my sports bra because around it my shirt is soaked through with sweat. How embarrassing! Anyway, now I can say I've climbed a mountain. A literal one.
I spent my first weekend in Hohoe last weekend which was a lot of fun. The World Cup started Friday afternoon, and everyone here is obsessed it. The games are broadcast everywhere whether over the radio in the taxis or over the televisions in the shops--you won't miss a thing. Maya, Jillian, and Michaela left on Saturday, which was super sad. I cried a little. I'm going to miss them all a lot. I also couldn't help thinking about all the other goodbyes I am going to have to say before it's my turn to pack up and leave. I keep wondering who will be there to see me off on my last day.
On Sunday I went to a Pentecostal Church service with one of the staff and three other volunteers. It was hot, loud, and the service was long. They said everything in English once and then had it translated into Ewe. The speakers and vocalists screamed into the microphones, which were turned up so loud they kept screeching with feedback. They also sang and danced a lot, which I loved, but the songs were each 15 minutes long and would leave you sweating at the end of them. I had a lot of trouble relating to the sermon and the prayers. They spent a lot of time praying for money and avoidance of debt and for the soccer team to win. It just felt a little spiritually lacking. After the collection they proceeded to announce the names of the people who had donated the most to the church and why. It was like a competition of sorts--who loves Jesus the most? This was strange because most people here can hardly afford to keep their families clothed and fed, yet they are giving huge chunks of their money away every Sunday. They announced a pilgrimage to Israel opportunity too, costing $3000 US dollars. How they thought anyone in the congregation would actually be able to afford that is beyond me. Towards the end they called a teenage boy up the front with his mother. His mother was concerned that his teenage whims were corrupting him and leading him away from God, so they performed a blessing and a type of exorcism to pull the demons out of his soul. Everyone in the audience got so worked up, shaking and shouting things out. The man in front of us was convulsing and bawling, we were all waiting to see if he would pass out or have a heart attack or something. After that we left, our ears ringing like we had just left a heavy metal concert. I think we had all had a little too much "praising the lord" for one day. Our prayers did accomplish at least one thing though--Ghana won against Serbia later that afternoon.
This week has been pretty laid back so far. I have been working my butt off on projects for my classroom and the school. On Wednesday we held two seminars out at the school, one on basic first aid and one about classroom management and behaviour management. They seemed to go pretty well. Today I missed placement due to another bout of digestion problems. The lack of toilets out at the school makes attending placement really difficult on days when I'm not functioning quite right. Tomorrow I'm going out to an orphanage to attend a goodbye ceremony for a couple of our volunteers. More of them are leaving this Saturday.
Anyway, I'm happy again and feeling more optimistic about my ability to make a positive impact at Gbi Special School. The kids out there are quickly working their way into my heart. I'm glad I have five more weeks here to spend with them.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Hitting speed bumps
The roads in Ghana are bad. Really bad in comparison to those back home. They are riddled with potholes and used by drunks and tro-tro drivers who are always in a hurry to get somewhere. This results in a lot of deadly accidents so the government has started a new awareness campaign where they post large billboards advertising the vehicle accident death tolls of the previous year to try and persuade drivers to be more cautious. Cities have also taken action by installing patches of speed bumps, 5 or 6 in a row, along all of the main roads that run through heavily populated areas. Hitting these speed bumps in a fast moving, old vehicle hurts and usually the vehicle bottoms out. I wouldn't say it makes cars drive much more slowly though.
I have been hitting my own speed bumps lately. As lovely as Ghana is, there are a few things that have really started getting to me, especially at placement. The violence and lack of respect for authority at the school is ridiculous. I have witnessed students beating students, students hitting teachers, and students verbally insulting teachers. While this was tolerable with the knowledge that my students are becoming pretty manageable with the new "good behaviour" guidelines, we had an incident at the school last week that really threw me off course. On this particular day my teacher was the only one in her classroom. The others had gone off to waste more of their students' time and left their classrooms unattended. At one point a student came into my class to get the teacher for something but she quickly returned. Myself and another volunteer were teaching math when we heard screams outside. We ran out to see a little girl (maybe seven years old) lying on the ground while she was beaten by a ring of boys. They were punching, kicking, and whipping her with their belts. The other volunteer grabbed the girl while I pulled three of the biggest boys off to the side to discipline them. When I went to talk to my teacher about it she just shook her head. She said the little girl had been caught in one of the empty classrooms having sex with one of the boys. My teacher had stopped them but after she left the students started to taunt and beat the girl. She said this is common. What made things worse is that the boy involved was 15 years old. They weren't having sex, he was raping her. And then she was beat for it. She had absolutely no idea what was going on. She was so petrified and confused. It absolutely broke my heart. I was shaking in rage. My teacher assured me that the staff would deal with it and offer counseling to the girl. I didn't believe a word of it.
Yesterday nothing had been done about it yet, so I went to report the issue to the headmaster. He claimed he had no prior knowledge of the event and called my teacher in to explain what happened. He asked her to speak with the assistant headmaster and then organize a staff meeting with the students involved to deal with the issue. On the way back to my classroom I had to break up a fist fight between two students in a new volunteer's classroom. One of the fighters was the boy who raped the little girl. While I attempted to haul him out of the classroom he just flopped on the ground and smiled up at me. I felt so sick to my stomach. I called another teacher in to deal with him. The teacher simply looked at the boy then looked back at me and said "He won't do it again", then smiled. I stormed out. In my classroom I just started crying. I don't know how to help these kids. They are surrounded by bullying peers and teachers who don't give a shit. They want to learn so badly, but the environment here is poisoning them.
I'm taking a couple days off placement to sort things out. Today I helped build a school in a small community and tomorrow I am climbing Mount Afadjato. Hopefully I will be able to climb the mountain at Gbi Special School too. Wish me luck.
I have been hitting my own speed bumps lately. As lovely as Ghana is, there are a few things that have really started getting to me, especially at placement. The violence and lack of respect for authority at the school is ridiculous. I have witnessed students beating students, students hitting teachers, and students verbally insulting teachers. While this was tolerable with the knowledge that my students are becoming pretty manageable with the new "good behaviour" guidelines, we had an incident at the school last week that really threw me off course. On this particular day my teacher was the only one in her classroom. The others had gone off to waste more of their students' time and left their classrooms unattended. At one point a student came into my class to get the teacher for something but she quickly returned. Myself and another volunteer were teaching math when we heard screams outside. We ran out to see a little girl (maybe seven years old) lying on the ground while she was beaten by a ring of boys. They were punching, kicking, and whipping her with their belts. The other volunteer grabbed the girl while I pulled three of the biggest boys off to the side to discipline them. When I went to talk to my teacher about it she just shook her head. She said the little girl had been caught in one of the empty classrooms having sex with one of the boys. My teacher had stopped them but after she left the students started to taunt and beat the girl. She said this is common. What made things worse is that the boy involved was 15 years old. They weren't having sex, he was raping her. And then she was beat for it. She had absolutely no idea what was going on. She was so petrified and confused. It absolutely broke my heart. I was shaking in rage. My teacher assured me that the staff would deal with it and offer counseling to the girl. I didn't believe a word of it.
Yesterday nothing had been done about it yet, so I went to report the issue to the headmaster. He claimed he had no prior knowledge of the event and called my teacher in to explain what happened. He asked her to speak with the assistant headmaster and then organize a staff meeting with the students involved to deal with the issue. On the way back to my classroom I had to break up a fist fight between two students in a new volunteer's classroom. One of the fighters was the boy who raped the little girl. While I attempted to haul him out of the classroom he just flopped on the ground and smiled up at me. I felt so sick to my stomach. I called another teacher in to deal with him. The teacher simply looked at the boy then looked back at me and said "He won't do it again", then smiled. I stormed out. In my classroom I just started crying. I don't know how to help these kids. They are surrounded by bullying peers and teachers who don't give a shit. They want to learn so badly, but the environment here is poisoning them.
I'm taking a couple days off placement to sort things out. Today I helped build a school in a small community and tomorrow I am climbing Mount Afadjato. Hopefully I will be able to climb the mountain at Gbi Special School too. Wish me luck.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Living in Ghana
More than a week has passed since my last post and so much has happened. I finally realized I was in Africa last night after sitting outside for two hours petting and feeding our honourary goat, "Billy", who was on loan from a neighbouring farmer as a result of my request for a household pet. I actually started crying I was so happy--the shock is finally over and I can really start "living" in Ghana. Unfortunately, Billy returned home this morning after bleating all night long--poor guy. His absence was quickly filled by a kitten (which I can't pet because of my allergies), and we have named her "Whiskers" (as you can tell we are very creative when it comes to naming our pets). She will have to leave to go home again too, but our internship advisor is working on getting us our own baby goat to care for, which I am so excited about.
Upon waking up this morning I had another reminder that I am in Africa--our end of town, aptly called the "Boondocks", does not currently have any running water. Ironically, I planned to wash my clothes today (which are all dirty) and shower for the first time since Tuesday morning (which seems like a year ago since all I do is sweat here and create a nice adhesive surface for all the red, blowing dust from the roads). Thank goodness for hand sanitizer and bottled water is all I can say at this point.
Last week was very eventful. I climbed the mountain range between Ghana and Togo and crawled through the Likpe Caves, which were full of history, "thunder stones" (volcanic rock that sparks when smashed together), and "shit of bat". Ghanaian tribe leaders used to convene meetings in these sacred caves and they were later used to hide runaway slaves from slave traders. Now the caves are frequently traversed by tourists and by locals who go looking for the coveted bat manure to use on their tomato gardens. What amazed me was the leisurely way that our small, older guide completed the hike while all of the "Yevu" sweated, panted, and swore our way up this mountain side and over rock ledges. Everyone seems to be in incredible shape here.
I visited the Wli Waterfalls and was offered wood carving lessons from an artist who works in the forest alongside the waterfall trail. The falls were beautiful and I will definitely be taking the artist up on his offer when we return to the falls for a swim next week.
Over the weekend I went on a trip to Lake Volta, the world's largest man-made lake. We stayed in a hotel called Afrikiko. On the outside this place was paradise--flowering trellis-covered walkways, African sculpture and pottery displays, grass hut sitting areas, and a restaurant patio overlooking the lake's uninhabited shoreline. Inside the rooms things weren't quite so wonderful. To start off our stay we were all charged $20 US extra for a reservation error that the hotel had made! We then went to our rooms which were supposed to have DSTV but only had two channels (and only one channel with sound). In the bathroom we found a hose coming out of the wall--our shower for the next two days. I just had to laugh. TIA! Otherwise our trip went really well. We visited the Cedi Bead Factory where artists make beads and jewelery out of recycled glass bottles, plastic, and scrap wood. A live demonstration showed us how tedious the work is to produce such beautiful products. I was thoroughly impressed and managed to spend quite a bit of money in their gift shop after the tour! We also visited a disco club at The Volta Hotel (an upscale Western standards resort with bad wine) where we danced the night away to hits of the 80s and 90s! So much fun! On our last day we went on a boat tour of the natural half of Lake Volta and got to see the massive dam and pipeline structure that keeps the man-made side of the lake in place. Afterwards we took advantage of the sunshine and pool to do some swimming and work on our tans/sunburns. My freckles are now out in full force! Yay!
The coolest thing I have done so far this week is feed a monkey a banana at the Monkey Sanctuary! The monkeys would literally hold onto our hands and peel the banana themselves before breaking a piece off and nibbling it! The only thing I found slightly odd was the behaviour of nursing mothers and the pack leader (the head honcho monkey who is larger than all the rest). The mothers would eat first before offering any to their newborns and before we could feed any of the monkeys we had to toss a whole banana to the pack leader, who caught it, ate it, and then observed our interactions with his pack. He refused to look any of us in the eye or take any further offerings of food. Tomorrow I leave for Cape Coast and the slave castles. I am super excited about it and will be sure to post as soon as possible next week.
Aside from frolicking around Ghana and sightseeing I have been working my butt off at placement every day to get my classroom functioning. I am currently in the middle of a class rejuvenation project and have painted the numbers 1-10 and the alphabet up on the classroom wall. Next week I will be drawing curriculum posters that the teacher can use as visual aids during her lessons. I also instituted the positive reinforcement rule and now violence is no longer acceptable in my classroom, regardless of whether it is disciplinary/corrective (done by staff caning a student who misbehaves or gives the wrong answer) or retaliatory (students hitting each other or the staff). Instead we have time outs, line writing, and loss of privileges as disciplinary measures. We also have a "Good Behaviour Chart" where each student is eligible to get a sticker if they manage to get through a day without fighting or cheating in class. Once they have ten stickers I give them a treat! Today was the first day all of my students were awarded a sticker--everyone was very happy about it!
I am also looking into speech therapy techniques and hoping to redesign the current assessment system they have for new students entering the school. Anyway, my computer time is almost up. Hope all is well back home! Ndo!
Upon waking up this morning I had another reminder that I am in Africa--our end of town, aptly called the "Boondocks", does not currently have any running water. Ironically, I planned to wash my clothes today (which are all dirty) and shower for the first time since Tuesday morning (which seems like a year ago since all I do is sweat here and create a nice adhesive surface for all the red, blowing dust from the roads). Thank goodness for hand sanitizer and bottled water is all I can say at this point.
Last week was very eventful. I climbed the mountain range between Ghana and Togo and crawled through the Likpe Caves, which were full of history, "thunder stones" (volcanic rock that sparks when smashed together), and "shit of bat". Ghanaian tribe leaders used to convene meetings in these sacred caves and they were later used to hide runaway slaves from slave traders. Now the caves are frequently traversed by tourists and by locals who go looking for the coveted bat manure to use on their tomato gardens. What amazed me was the leisurely way that our small, older guide completed the hike while all of the "Yevu" sweated, panted, and swore our way up this mountain side and over rock ledges. Everyone seems to be in incredible shape here.
I visited the Wli Waterfalls and was offered wood carving lessons from an artist who works in the forest alongside the waterfall trail. The falls were beautiful and I will definitely be taking the artist up on his offer when we return to the falls for a swim next week.
Over the weekend I went on a trip to Lake Volta, the world's largest man-made lake. We stayed in a hotel called Afrikiko. On the outside this place was paradise--flowering trellis-covered walkways, African sculpture and pottery displays, grass hut sitting areas, and a restaurant patio overlooking the lake's uninhabited shoreline. Inside the rooms things weren't quite so wonderful. To start off our stay we were all charged $20 US extra for a reservation error that the hotel had made! We then went to our rooms which were supposed to have DSTV but only had two channels (and only one channel with sound). In the bathroom we found a hose coming out of the wall--our shower for the next two days. I just had to laugh. TIA! Otherwise our trip went really well. We visited the Cedi Bead Factory where artists make beads and jewelery out of recycled glass bottles, plastic, and scrap wood. A live demonstration showed us how tedious the work is to produce such beautiful products. I was thoroughly impressed and managed to spend quite a bit of money in their gift shop after the tour! We also visited a disco club at The Volta Hotel (an upscale Western standards resort with bad wine) where we danced the night away to hits of the 80s and 90s! So much fun! On our last day we went on a boat tour of the natural half of Lake Volta and got to see the massive dam and pipeline structure that keeps the man-made side of the lake in place. Afterwards we took advantage of the sunshine and pool to do some swimming and work on our tans/sunburns. My freckles are now out in full force! Yay!
The coolest thing I have done so far this week is feed a monkey a banana at the Monkey Sanctuary! The monkeys would literally hold onto our hands and peel the banana themselves before breaking a piece off and nibbling it! The only thing I found slightly odd was the behaviour of nursing mothers and the pack leader (the head honcho monkey who is larger than all the rest). The mothers would eat first before offering any to their newborns and before we could feed any of the monkeys we had to toss a whole banana to the pack leader, who caught it, ate it, and then observed our interactions with his pack. He refused to look any of us in the eye or take any further offerings of food. Tomorrow I leave for Cape Coast and the slave castles. I am super excited about it and will be sure to post as soon as possible next week.
Aside from frolicking around Ghana and sightseeing I have been working my butt off at placement every day to get my classroom functioning. I am currently in the middle of a class rejuvenation project and have painted the numbers 1-10 and the alphabet up on the classroom wall. Next week I will be drawing curriculum posters that the teacher can use as visual aids during her lessons. I also instituted the positive reinforcement rule and now violence is no longer acceptable in my classroom, regardless of whether it is disciplinary/corrective (done by staff caning a student who misbehaves or gives the wrong answer) or retaliatory (students hitting each other or the staff). Instead we have time outs, line writing, and loss of privileges as disciplinary measures. We also have a "Good Behaviour Chart" where each student is eligible to get a sticker if they manage to get through a day without fighting or cheating in class. Once they have ten stickers I give them a treat! Today was the first day all of my students were awarded a sticker--everyone was very happy about it!
I am also looking into speech therapy techniques and hoping to redesign the current assessment system they have for new students entering the school. Anyway, my computer time is almost up. Hope all is well back home! Ndo!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)