Devil Students

Troublemaker

Hello All!

Like most, this past week has been filled with extreme ups and downs.  I can feel that some progress is being made in my teaching ability and the executives of CHF are realizing what their staffs’ capabilities are.  I didn’t travel this weekend, but I spent time resting and hanging out with Kojo.

WEEK AT A GLANCE

Monday started with what every teacher must experience on a regular basis: a hell day.  It seemed like every student grew horns for the day and their main purpose was to make me miserable.  Someone must have fed them all sugar that morning because they would not sit down and shut up! Once again their teacher left the school the moment I arrived and didn’t return for hours.  I can’t even remember what I was trying to teach, not that it matters because we certainly didn’t make it through the lesson.  I had even picked up the cane, with no intention of using it, just to see if it would work in quieting them down.  It did, momentarily, until they again realized that I wasn’t the type to beat them with it.  After an hour of incessant talking, fighting, and beating each other, I gave up and went outside to grade their exercise books.  After staring into oblivion for a few minutes and trying to regain normal brain function, I came back t reality and heard that the class was still being very loud and there was a lot of commotion coming from the room.  I walked in to grab my bag and gave them the schpeal about me coming there voluntarily to help with their English and how I was not going to come back to their class tomorrow.  Even the bad ones pleaded, “Sir John, Sir John, please come back.”  I walked out with a stern look on my face but laughing, cackling, in my head.  As I was grading their exercises, four girls came out to tell me that they were trying to read but the class was being too loud.  There was a bench outside, next to where I was sitting which I told them to sit on and read out-loud with each other.  Their faces immediately lit up and they began reading, asking me how to pronounce some of the more difficult words.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw two more girls standing in the doorway, curious about this new reading group.  One of them was Mary Okine.  I had already identified Mary as someone who needed extra attention for her English.  When I asked the teacher about her background, he told me that she had dropped out of Class 4 about four years ago to sell goods on the street.  Now 14, she had returned to school but had forgotten most of what she learned and certainly most of her English skills.  I asked why she was returned to Class 4 if she could not speak, write, or understand English (since every subject is taught in English) and was told that it is just the way it is.  Oy!  I waved Mary over and told the other four girls to read with her, and translate any words she doesn’t understand into Twi.  Two boys came out to join and after a few minutes they started to cause some problems.  I think they just wanted to be included in this unknown group and I sent them back to the classroom after they didn’t behave themselves.  This informal reading group gave me an idea about splitting the class up into groups.  While I was grading the exercises, I also made three lists of students.  The first was of students who were at or above the Class 4 level.  The second was of students who might not be where they should academically, but showed enthusiasm and the desire to learn through their behavior and assignments.  The third list, well I didn’t actually make a list but those who are left are either extremely disruptive or didn’t even write anything down for their exercises.  The first two groups are who I really want to focus on because I believe I can actually make the greatest impact and that the third group is just taking away from their education.  Group one and two combined is about 25 student and I plan on speaking with the teacher about splitting the class so I can take these 25 and assign them more challenging assignments.  Hopefully the 20 or so students left in the third group will see the other two groups as a reward for good behavior and improve their attitudes.  I also plan on speaking to the teacher about him leaving every time I show up.  I am not here to babysit.  I am here to assist the teacher in teaching these students a universal language.  I don’t think any one person would find it easy to run a classroom with 45 students but by having his presence in the room might make it easier.  After having a day like this, I also looked at my own actions in the classroom to see what I am doing wrong, or what I can do better.  Like I said, holding the attention of 45 students for an hour is a pretty large task.  I have to find the formula of stories/questions/written work that keeps things fresh and gains everyone’s attention and participation.  I have found that I need to speak much slower and repeat things at least twice.  Tuesday was much, much better.  I started class with a “Life Lesson” and an open-ended sentence, “I go to school because I want to be a _______.”  I told them that being a footballer didn’t count, knowing that most of the boys would write this!  This got them working immediately and we had some fun with the answers.  I also gave them a little “Life Lesson” on listening versus understanding.  In Ghanaian schools, students are almost programmed to say “yes” when asked if they understand.  The frustrating thing in my experience is that some of them can’t understand English but still say yes!  After they give you this response and you ask a basic question about what you were talking about, they just give you a dumbfounded look.  I explained that I will subtract points for this and give points for questions asked.  I told them that listening is only the first part to understanding and it is the understanding part that they have to focus on.  This seemed to sink in with them and during the lesson after I asked the class if they understood, some of them responded “no.”  I have never been so happy to hear that people didn’t understand me!  The lesson went so well that at the end the students clapped for me!  The only bad thing about Tuesday is I found out that even more students couldn’t speak or understand English which is why they have just been sitting idle in class.  Like I said last week, this is a work in progress.

Mary Okine

Rebecca Benton – Age 17 – Group One

Priscilla Effum – Group One

Regina & Priscilla – Group Two

Group Two Ladies

Tuesday night I became extremely sick.  I’m glad it happened this night because it rained so hard, and we have a tin roof, that I would have woken up anyway!  I didn’t feel well on Wednesday so I stayed home from work and rested.

Even though I still felt weak on Thursday, I went to work because we were conducting another Child Labour & Trafficking talk in Fetteh.  I have mixed feelings about these talks.  On one hand I think they are important because students do dropout to work and some of these students have friends or acquaintances that are laborers or have been trafficked.  Maybe they will go back and talk with them about the dangers of their work and the benefits of an education.  On the other hand, we are spending our time talking with kids who are already in school and not addressing the root cause of this labour and trafficking problem, poverty.  The junior high school class 2 was the most receptive and interactive during Thursday’s talks.  Because I wasn’t feeling well, I acted as the photographer between the three groups we had talking.  Freeman didn’t host any of the groups and I feel that, especially with the younger students, the classes would have benefited and understood more if he was able to speak in Twi.

Leticia, Vodafone World of Difference Volunteer, helps with our Child Labour & Trafficking Talk

Fetteh CHF Group – Top: Anand, Charlee, Maia, Leticia – Bottom: Grace & Laura

On Friday I ran my first staff meeting at CHF where I introduced some of my solutions for our inefficiency.  Of course I ran these ideas by Eric before the meeting and included his input.  The first change I proposed was to assign everyone a more defined role within the organization and within their projects.  One of the main complaints from new interns, and me, is that there is work to do but no one seems to be doing any of it.  This is partly because we don’t know each other’s skills and there has been no formal “To Do” list.  Some of the positions I created would ease new volunteers transition into Ghana and CHF.  Eric has been overwhelmed with his role as executive director and orienting new volunteers, so I told him that us volunteers would be glad to do it and might be more effective.  He also asked me to create a position to reach out and contact other organizations to explore partnerships.  I think this is very important and even if we don’t create partnerships, we can gain valuable advice from other groups in the same line of work.  Within our two main projects, Public Health and Child Labour & Trafficking, I proposed positions for photographers, scheduler, and intern report compilers.  This is to help create new and up-to-date content for our followers and keep management informed about what is really going on.  I also thought it was very important to update weekly the profiles of students we sponsor so we can report back to the donors.  The meeting also served to refocus our attention towards fundraising and grants.  I created a grant writing team after gauging everyone’s experience with fundraising.  We all would like to be involved in this so we decided on team leaders who will delegate the work.  There has been almost no productivity with fundraising since I arrived and it seems pretty suicidal not to make it the number one priority.  One of the new interns voiced her concern about not utilizing our time at work well.  She was referring to the time wasted when all the volunteers are travelling and conducting the health or labour talks instead of focusing on fundraising.  We all seem to share this concern and I have already talked with management about how ineffective giving the talks in English are.  This is something we have to keep talking about and working on in the coming weeks.  I believe that by refocusing on funding, we will be able to make some big improvements in the coming weeks.  Towards the end of the meeting, I also created a suggestion or comment time.  Sometimes we don’t know what other interns are working on and some don’t always bring their good ideas to the table so I thought this would be a good way to open up communication and make people feel more comfortable in the office.

Office Shenanigans

This weekend was spent catching up on some much-needed rest.  Getting sick on Tuesday sapped all of my appetite and energy so I slept late, practiced my Twi, and did a lot of reading over the weekend.  On Saturday Kati, Kojo, and I went to the beach.  This was Kojo’s first time in the ocean and he described it as getting punched over and over again!  Even though he felt that way, he loved it so much and wants to go back as soon as possible.  I think he played in the water for four hours straight!  Since I couldn’t lay in bed on Sunday and read the New York Times like I love to do in the US, I settled for a US history book entitled A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki.  I had to keep reassuring my host mom that nothing was wrong and that I just wanted to relax in front of my fan and read all day!

Kojos First Time in the Ocean

Kojos First Time in the Ocean

GHANA

The longer I am here, the more I hear and understand about the current presidential campaigns.  Until this week education has been the main talking point for the candidates.  They have ignored other issues such as a lack of running water, poor or nonexistent roads, and daily blackouts which always seem to occur at the most inopportune times.  This week the focus has been on corruption after secret tapes have been revealed.  I’m glad that this is now the topic because corruption is so blatant and apparently widespread that it is undermining the advance of most social programs, including education.  After speaking with my colleagues and many other Ghanaians, they all seem to echo the same message.  Ghana has so much mineral and oil wealth but no one seems to know where the money goes.  For there to be blackouts for hours every day and day-long blackouts every week while the members of government are living rather lavishly seems very fishy.  Again, I don’t know enough to fully weigh in on all these issues but have seen corruption first-hand through the police force and know that it has become an accepted way of life.

Infrastructure Problems – Roads, Sanitation, Water Supply, etc.

I have noticed that if there is a speaker in Ghana, it is playing music/radio/speeches/etc. at full blast! Always!  I don’t know what this is about but would like to see some statistics on how many people are deaf in Ghana.  We’re not talking about Bose quality sound either.  It is the scratchy, static noise coming from every mobile phone radio, car stereo, or street stereo.  People can’t think is sounds good!  I love the music but sometimes the speakers make it hard to listen to.  People always try to speak over it, too.  Most of the time I don’t know if they are speaking softly or the music is just that loud.  Bose, please market a low-cost speaker here.  Please!

The weekly act of Ghanaian kindness to me happened after I stepped in mud this past Tuesday.  There was no way around it.  Like I mentioned, roads are pretty bad here, most not paved, and after it rains they become even more of an obstacle course.  I was jumping over some water onto what I thought was more solid ground.  Wrong!  I sunk in and had a foot covered with slimy mud.  Two ladies in their shop saw this and after they laughed at me and the face I made, called me over.  One of the ladies gave me two free waters and a rag to wash my feet and sandals with.  The other lady actually helped me wash.  I was so thankful because I did not want to walk the remaining 10 minutes to the tro-tro station like this and then travel to Senya before I could wash it off at school.  I offered the woman payment for the water but she refused.  I have to go back this week and buy something from her, probably cookies, or else I will feel bad!  To my relief/dismay, I saw them laying new dirt on that section of road over the weekend.  I don’t know if this will improve the situation, or just make more mud!

Muddy Road

Fresh Dirt Road

THOUGHTS

One of the hardest parts on my experience/situation in Ghana has been the lack of privacy.  I have always cherished and came to expect that at least one day a week, I could escape into the mountains and be alone if I wanted to.  It was always time I used to relax, clear my head, and rejuvenate myself.  Since I have been in Ghana, I can’t think of one instance that I have been alone.  I know that if this is my biggest complaint than things are pretty good but I miss those few hours to really rest.  I have even been waking up and going to work early so I can get there before everyone else.  Yes, I wake up early and go to work before I actually have to be there!  Actually Freeman is always there but I think we are on the same page about this and after saying good morning, we don’t talk.  Living with my host family is great most of the time, but this is one thing I wish I could change.  I always think that it would be much worse, though, if I lived in the intern house with 10 other people!  Going to the beach with just Kati and Kojo was as close as I have gotten but I enjoyed lying around, relaxing, and chatting with Kati while Kojo went crazy in the ocean.  I’m hoping that in the coming weeks I will be able to find some time during our weekend excursions to take a little walk by myself and enjoy some nature.  Ok, I am done whining now.

Common Room at Home

Well, almost.  One last thought.  Can someone please tell me why mosquitoes are on this Earth?  Seriously.  Besides making people itch and spreading disease, is there a reason they are here?  Is it some sick form of population control?  Someone please enlighten me.

My Little Mosquito Killer – We Have a Whole Family

I miss and love you all,

John