Tag Archives: Literacy

Hello All,

This past three weeks has been a very mixed bag regarding achievements and emotions. It is hard to believe that April 2 was exactly six months here in Ghana. During my time I have met some of the best people on this planet and experienced things that I never expected. To say that this adventure has been life changing would be an understatement. Because of these feelings, I have decided to stay for three months following the end of my volunteer term which expired on April 1. Working the extra three months will allow me to better establish the projects I have started and train incoming volunteers in June about the Labour & Trafficking project and the new initiatives. I also want to say that I haven’t forgotten all the people who have offered their support for my projects. In the coming weeks I will be reaching out to all of you asking for your help with financing some projects I have created. Please contact me via email JFire13@gmail.com or on Facebook if you already haven’t done so and are interested in helping!

TEACHING

Three weeks ago the public school teachers in Ghana went on strike for salary issues. Public servants were recently put on a “single spine” salary system and some of the bonuses that were promised to the teachers have not been delivered. When I first arrived at Senya DA Primary to teach, the classrooms were open but the teachers were not teaching and most of the students had gone home. Fortunately I was able to teach a handful of my students who had hung around. The next day I went to Senya expecting the same deal, open building but no lessons. Instead I found that the building was locked and only a few students from the whole school were still in the compound. Four of those students were from my class and I told them that if they wanted to stick around, I would teach. One of the boys looked at me and said, “How will you teach with no chalk?!” I had to laugh! Because of the casual atmosphere of holding a class outside on the steps, I just had them tell me a story about their favorite experience or holiday with their families. This was not as easy as I thought it would be for them. None of them could tell me any stories or memories and would only give me their detailed family history. It made me wonder if they really didn’t have any fond memories with their family or it wasn’t something that they think about or value. After our little “lesson” I visited the houses of my two best students. Since I started teaching here I could always notice a lack of confidence by the students and stories of a home life that doesn’t value education. I wanted to tell these parents that their children were excellent students who could do anything they want if they continue learning with the passion they have shown in my class. More importantly, I wanted to try and give the parents a sense of pride about their children’s accomplishments in school. The public school teachers strike lasted through the next week which meant no teaching for me. Since school has resumed, classes have been wonderful. This past week I was giving my final lesson of the term before the go on vacation for a few weeks. Because the students were preparing to write exams, the rooms had been arranged differently. In the room I teach in, the partition that separates my class and the neighboring class was removed. Their teacher was not conducting a lesson so the entire class was listening and participating in my English lesson. It was nice to have different responses and my students enjoyed having the older kids involved with their lesson.

Locked Out

Combined Classes

The other school I teach in, Nali High International School is private and therefore was not involved in the teacher strike. Right now, my students are preparing for their upcoming final exams which will determine if they go to senior high school and if so, which one. Over the past few weeks I reviewed their pitiful mock English exams with them and have really been focusing on reading comprehension. Their mock English exam scores ranged from 50-68% which is terrible but they only need a 70% to be considered excellent. Their scores on the overall test that included all subjects ranged from 11-72%. After reading some of their answers, I couldn’t help but get the feeling that some of these students are doomed. It is a terrible feeling when you realize this even though the student(s) try hard in class and you can tell that they are just not good at taking exams. This depressed feeling carried over to the next week when I was attempting to conduct a reading comprehension lesson with only one book for six students. I looked at the class and said, “This is ridiculous! I am buying new books for all of us by next week.” I don’t know if they were scared, shocked or both but they certainly showed that no teacher had ever bought them a book to use in class. Since then, the English classes have been a joy to teach and I am not struggling to have the class read a story with one book and then for me to dictate the questions to them. Teaching them to use a passage to find the answers is something they have never done but it seems that they are realizing how easy questions can be if you just take the time to find the answer. Like in my other class, there is one student who continues to make it all worth it. She reads very well and can write full stories with ease. It’s hard to see how demoralized and unmotivated she is because there has never been a teacher or individual pushing her, or the other students, to achieve more than they think is possible. I wish I had more time with these students before their exam and I wish that their school and teachers hadn’t given up on them. All I can do now is try to build their literacy skills and confidence and hope it can translate into improved scores on the exam. If not, at least the skills and their belief in themselves will stick with them after they are done schooling.

LABOUR & TRAFFICKING

The past few weeks on the Child Labour &Trafficking project has been a lot of information gathering. While we are still interviewing children who have been trafficked and their families, we noticed that a lot of children have returned to Yeji or we already identified and interviewed most of them in the Senya community. Also, now that the village is familiar with CHF and our interviews/sponsorships we have encountered more and more people who give us false stories in hopes that we will give them money. Some of it is so bad that I can tell people are lying to us even though I can’t understand the language. As a result, we are going to slow down the amount of interviews we are conducting to ensure quality over quantity. I also suggested that we move to the other towns we sponsor students in and reevaluate the trafficking situation there. If nothing else, it will show the community and fishermen that we are still there and still working on this issue. After one of the interviews, we revisited a girl who we interviewed last year. A former Ghanaian volunteer would like to sponsor her to go to school and allow the girl to live in her house so she can help with the family business and taking care of the children. I asked around and this is normal for Ghana. As long as she is going to school and not strenuously working or spending too much time watching the children, I think it is a good idea.

An initiative I have been trying to work on to improve the Labour & Trafficking project is to establish some kind of apprenticeship or training program. In the past three weeks I have been going to observe and evaluate training programs which are offered by the Ghana Education Services Non-Formal Education Division. They all seem to be well run but each face their own different problem. The first is a dressmaking course that teaches women to be seamstresses. It is a three year program but the women need to provide their own sewing machine and tuition. This could easily reach 1,000 Ghana Cedis ($500 USD) which is an enormous amount of money in Senya Beraku. While I was meeting with the supervisor of this program, she introduced me to the facilitator for a training program in catering. This is a two year program where the women learn how to do large scale catering events like weddings and funerals, which are huge in Ghana, and also the traditional decorations for them. This past week I went to find out about an English training course. It seems like a wonderful FREE program except no one attends it! The course is six hours every week and they provide exercise books, training materials and story books for the advanced students. The facilitator also told me that the government has not given the incentives which were promised to the teachers for two years. They are not cash incentives but rather material things like cement, bicycles, sewing machines, roofing sheets, etc. I told him that I can’t provide him with any kind of money or gifts but I can go to the government office and try to put a little more pressure on them to deliver on their promises. Like most things in Ghana that deal with the government, I don’t have high expectations that this will be resolved quickly or at all. In the meantime, Freeman and I will compile a list of candidates who we think would be good for these programs and present the idea to them. For the free English and Fantse (local language) literacy programs, we will enroll those who are interested immediately.

A month or two ago my main focus was setting up a demonstration farm to teach the parents of our sponsored children. They would learn how to farm and be able to raise crops on their own beds to help feed their family and sell on the market. Ideally, this would alleviate some financial strain so they would be able to send more of their children to school instead of Yeji to fish. After meeting with the sub-chief about acquiring 40 acres of land, we realized that even 5 acres was going to be too expensive for our budget. Now, I would like to try and renegotiate with the sub-chief because I don’t think our local coordinator presented the idea to him properly. After discussing it with the coordinator, it sounds like he told the sub-chief that we want to buy the land so we can work it when in reality CHF would not profit from it at all. The hard part is that these chiefs always say they are working for the members of their community but it seems that is only true when there is money to be made from the deal. I want to put pressure on him and the other elders to show them how we are doing this for the people in their community who truly need assistance. Hopefully they can prove that they are really working to better the lives of the people who they represent.

TRAVEL

Over the past few weekends I have gone to an Easter celebration on a local beach, two beach resorts and a place called Wli (pronounced vlee) Agorviefe where there is a spectacular waterfall, Wli Falls. On Easter Monday, Ghanaians like to go party on the beach. We organized some people and food and went to a local beach I like to visit during the week. Typically I am the only one on the beach but for this day, there had to be at least 20,000 people there…absolutely crazy. It was great being with so many Ghanaians celebrating in their own way with music, food, drinks, and plenty of dancing. At Wli Falls, two new volunteers and I took a hike to the upper falls which was really beautiful and secluded; exactly what I needed after not being able to take a legit hike in over six months. We also stopped by the monkey sanctuary which I had been to before so they could check it out. The beaches were nice relaxing weekends, one with a new volunteer and the other with Victoria and two new volunteers. It is always hard coming back to Kasoa after these weekends!

Upper Wli Falls

Lower Wli Falls

GHANA

In Ghana I have had a lot of conversations about religion. I have also dodged a lot of conversations and questions about religion. A few weeks ago I was in Senya one evening trying to observe the English training class. It turned out that they were on a break that week and I would have to wait to hear from the coordinator. Instead Hayford, our local coordinator, and I went to get a drink. Normally I am in Senya from 10am till 2pm. That day I had gone in the evening because of the class and by the time we got to the spot (bar) it was 5pm. To me, Senya has always been a hot miserable place where I only get glimmers of hope from a few individuals. That evening showed me a different side of Senya, away from the trafficked and depressed children I am in constant contact with. There was a cool breeze coming off the ocean and the fading sun had painted the sky orange and pink. Because of the teachers strike, kids were everywhere laughing and playing and as usual, there was the loud distorted highlife and azonto music which has become the soundtrack of my stay in Ghana flowing into the streets from shops and houses. Two friends joined us at the spot where we began discussing our vision for Hayfords school (the one I organized the cleanup day at). Hayford is a rare find in Ghana. Because of the entrenched poverty in Senya, school fees are collected every morning from the children, about one Ghana Cedi (50 cents). This covers their day at school and a basic lunch. What has impressed me is that Hayford would rather a student come to school and learn than kick them out of school, sack them, for missing school fees. He even has a handful of students who can’t pay but he knows they want to be in school. A lot of the schools I have visited seem to focus more on the money than their real purpose, empowerment through education. After talking about what needs to be done to complete the school building and how to review their finances so teachers’ salaries aren’t delayed, I discussed how I can help and what I expect from the staff and administration. The conversation soon turned to religion when Hayford asked me, “How can a guy who gives as much as you do not believe in god?” I couldn’t help but laugh! After discussing my beliefs or non-beliefs with the group I was amazed at how respectful they were about the things I was saying. I could tell that they didn’t agree with them, but usually I get such strong pushback when it comes to religion that it was nice, for once, to just see them nodding and asking more questions. At one point I compared Hayford with myself. We both believe in education and the power it holds. Both of us believe that you should have access to an education no matter what economic class you were born into and that there are enough resources to educate everyone if we become creative with how we run the school or education system. Similarly, we both think it is worth sacrificing personal wealth or luxuries to make education possible for those who are not in the position to pay for food and education at the same time. I then posed the question, “Why does it matter what I believe in or who I pray to if we are striving to achieve the same thing and try to live our lives as genuinely good people?” The three of them seemed stumped by this. For the first time, I didn’t hear “Because you have to give you life to Christ.” I’m not trying to tell them that their beliefs are wrong or they should believe in what I do but rather I am trying to encourage a tolerance for other beliefs and ways of life. This beautiful evening in a foreign place with amazing friends and such positive energy helped me push away all the clutter in my mind and refocus on what can get done in the coming months.

THOUGHTS

Like I mentioned in the opening, April 2, 2013 marked six months here in Ghana. To say it has all been easy would be a complete lie. Six months kind of crept up on me and when I realized how long it has been it opened a floodgate of thoughts and feelings. I think it is fair to say that working in the education field and dealing with severely impoverished communities in the developing world is a pretty thankless job most of the time. If it weren’t for the small victories, achievements or interactions each day, I would be absolutely crazy by now. That said, it’s hard to stay focused on what’s possible when the complexity of poverty is something you can’t fully wrap your head around. It’s hard to keep progressing and staying positive when you are inundated with terrible situations, problems, frustrating experiences and people all while trying to maintain a life away from work. It’s hard to deal with people asking for handouts and harassing you day in and day out. Most of all, it’s hard to keep grinding on when you can’t even tell if the individuals you are directly helping are thankful. All of these seem more manageable if there was some kind of support to go along with it. With such a small organization and no other volunteers working on the Labour & Trafficking project with me, there is no one to discuss these issues with or help with project ideas. Not only that but being one of two volunteers who has been here longer than two months puts you in a world of you own. Things are no longer new and no one can really relate to what I have already experienced. Sometimes I laugh because I can see myself in the things the new volunteers do or see but there is no one to share that with or laugh with me. Six months hit and I just felt tired. Tired of being “on” every second of the day. Tired of giving my all to something without any support and without seeing many results. Tired of sweating 24 hours a day, constantly being dirty and waking up to scratch one of my 10 mosquito bites. Tired of the extreme ups and downs which seem to drain you every other day. Tired of not being able to help people who don’t have any support system. Tired of all the external stresses while trying to navigate a relationship with someone special. Tired of being tired.

Ok. Enough complaining…

Around the six month mark something changed. Riding back in a tro-tro from another weekend at the beach, I was looking out the window as usual but everything looked different. It was no longer this crazy, loud, dirty foreign land. I knew where I was. I understand a lot of the conversation around me and feel like I can relate to others because of my experiences and the people I work with. Driving back to Kasoa was, at least for a moment, peaceful. It looked beautiful. It felt like home. While I am constantly reminded that I am an outsider and don’t always feel at home, this was a great feeling to have at such a time.

Even though I feel like I have a lot of arbitrary things to complain about sometimes, I still feel tremendously fortunate. I worked my ass off to get here and have been rewarded with a life changing experience full of new wonderful people, places and perspectives. On top of that, I seem to spend each weekend in a literal paradise whether it is a beach, mountain, rainforest, or barren savannah land. Eventually, I am always reminded of the reasons I am here. Most recently it was from a man named Ahmed. He is the English training class’s facilitator who I mentioned earlier that hasn’t received any kind of compensation for two years. When I spoke with him I could still feel his passion and dedication for teaching his community members. The fact that he hasn’t been paid was only brought up after I was prodding him for more information about the program and how the government sponsors it. He was genuinely upset that attendance in the class was abysmal and wanted to know if I could help to improve it. Speaking to individuals like him and his supervisor who are quietly working on these vital programs is the fuel I need to keep going. There are plenty of nameless and faceless people out there who are selflessly working for others. Finding one and interacting with them is the best gift I could ever receive.

Another Wonderful Individual, Miriam

I have to take a moment to thank my family for being so supportive especially in the last six or seven months. Although you guys aren’t here, your thoughts and ideas have influenced a lot of lives through my work in Ghana. Sometimes it is hard to get in contact with each other but I cherish those short late night phone calls I make or waking you up, Sue, early in the morning. At times being this far has been hard and I really miss you all. Thank you for being there and giving me the support and advice I need.

I miss and love you all,
John

We’re Family at the Dinner Table

2 Replies

Hello All,

This past week marks five months here in Ghana and I can’t believe how fast the time has went. I can remember my first day here like it was yesterday and the whirlwind of experiences since then. The project I have been working on has opened my eyes to a whole world that I never knew about and introduced me to some remarkable people. I can only hope that the next few months will be filled with the same excitement and I will be able to see my project ideas come to fruition.

TEACHING

Teaching at two different schools has taken over a large chunk of time during the week that would otherwise be devoted to the Labour & Trafficking project. Fortunately, I have really enjoyed instructing these kids and I use it as my motivation booster every week. In addition, it gets me out of the office which is the biggest benefit of all (I don’t think I’m an office person)! My class in Senya DA Primary continues to be very enjoyable. The only problem I have been having with them is tardiness. They have their first break of the day, or recess, right before my class and it sometimes takes 15-20 minutes to get them all in the classroom again. Nothing I seem to do encourages them to be on time so I have just started to accept it and begin teaching as the kids trickle in. On Tuesday I split the class into teams and they responded to that very well. It might have been the first time a teacher has made them work in groups because they didn’t quite understand that they could work with their partner to read and answer the questions. Towards the end of that class the students were having trouble focusing. One of the permanent teachers had stopped by to ask me if I could tell him when I was done with my lesson so he could cane some of the children who had been late to school. Immediately I could see a change in some of the students who would be caned and the class didn’t want to participate. Towards the end of the lesson they begged me to tell the teacher not to cane them. They even showed me the “dance” kids do when they are getting caned. When I dismissed the class, not a single student got up! It was one of those situations where it was such a sad sight that I had to laugh. I did tell the teacher to take it easy on them because they were the best students, but I knew that there was no way out of it.

Teaching at Nali School has improved from the previous week. The class seems more comfortable with me and they have realized that I will make them answer questions and challenge themselves the whole time I am there. The school itself is a sad situation that doesn’t seem to be getting any better. They lost two teachers during the week and have been instructed not to hire anymore. The students are typically great kids but you can’t help but get the feeling that the education system in Ghana, and the school, has failed them tremendously. Walking into a classroom is so depressing when there is no teacher and the kids are either sitting there with blank faces or sleeping. Some of the students have such low confidence levels because they have spent years or months without proper instruction and no one encouraging and reinforcing their skills. One boy, who has a learning disability, always tells me he can’t read but when I finally get him to, reads to the class pretty well. He still insists, though, that he can’t read because that is what he has always been told or has not been shown that he can do well in school. When I begin teaching and realize the class hasn’t learned material that should have been covered because it will be on their final exam, it makes me angry. It also makes me upset because I realize that if these kids want to progress to senior high school, I have to begin teaching for the exam instead of having the time to give them a well rounded education. Because the end of the term is approaching, I don’t have much time with this class. Hopefully I will be able to help some of them on their final exams or at least encourage them to continue their educations.

LABOUR & TRAFFICKING

Last week was a typical “two steps forward, one step back” for the L&T project. In the beginning of the week I met with a senior high school teacher whose information I had received from our Senya coordinator. He is an agriculture teacher who specializes in animal husbandry, but has farmed in the past. Our meeting went very well and I was also able to meet with the head of the Agriculture Department at the school to pitch some cooperative ideas. The school has no land to apply what they learn in the classroom so I thought it would be a good way to give the children some practical experience and possibly use them to train others. Being that we haven’t even secured the land yet, I made sure they understood that this was just a preliminary meeting and that I would be in contact within the coming months to set up something more formal. I was very encouraging by how responsive they were to my ideas and the chance to give back to the community. Later on in the week, Freeman and I went to the Non-Formal Education Division of the Ghana Education Service to explore what kind of adult education programs they operate in the area. The woman we met with, Joycelynn, was very helpful and gave us times and locations for their training sessions and contact information for the facilitators. It turns out that their classes are winding down and they will be looking for new recruits in the coming weeks. I want to go observe and evaluate the program next week before we decide to send people there or partner with them. The “one step back” last week was a cancelled meeting with a member of the Senya royal family. I want to consult with him about our land acquisition and make sure we are going about it in the right way and speaking with the correct people. There are many cases of land being sold by people who don’t actually own it and then the land has to be forfeited when the true owners learn about it. The man I was supposed to meet with was busy when we were supposed to meet and I had to reschedule for the following week. On top of that, our Senya coordinator wasn’t prepared to conduct any trafficking interviews that day so besides for teaching, it was an unproductive trip to Senya. It gets very frustrating sometimes when I go into something with so much motivation and a clear game plan, and just get shot down every step of the way, especially when it is from others laziness or lack of organization!

Possible Plot of Land in Senya

Trafficked Boy

TRAVEL

One of the volunteers left last Saturday so we didn’t travel anywhere over the weekend. Instead we went out for her last night in Accra and I went to the beach on Saturday. I think I need to take a break from the sun for a few days because it has been so strong and my skin is pretty crispy!

OTHER HAPPENINGS

On Thursday I picked up a package from my parents which finally arrived after a little over a month. I had asked them to send some literacy materials for the adult education program I want to set up or to improve an existing one. In the package there were also some puppets that my mom wanted me to use to help my students learn. I forgot that she had told me this and instead gave one of the dolls away to the girl down the street from the office, Rabia. Her face was all I needed to know that it was the right decision. She might have been, or still is, the happiest girl on Earth with the doll. Her mother told my colleague that she has to keep cleaning it because the little girl feeds the doll her food before she will eat it!

Thanks for the Gift, Momma!

THOUGHTS

A couple of years ago I asked my sister how she made it through two years in China without seeing the family. It was during the holiday season and I was in Colorado missing my family, which is particularly hard during holidays and special occasions. She told me that it is tough sometimes but you have to surround yourselves with great people who act as your family. This is what got me though some times in Colorado and has certainly been a factor while here in Ghana. Recently, I have been occasionally eating dinner with another host family and the interns living there. Besides from the issues I face with my host mother, I think the reason I enjoy their dinners so much is because we all sit around the table and talk like my family would back home. I have always said that my favorite thing in the world is eating dinner with my whole family. It is what I think about when I miss them and my favorite part about coming home. I can admit that I am guilty for going over there subconsciously wanting to be invited for dinner because then I can relax and feel “at home.” Their host mother, Auntie Josephine, reminds me so much of my grandmother and always makes me feel like her own son when I am at her house. Like my sister said, it is the great people you surround yourself with who become your family no matter where you are and can give you that little taste of home.

Kasoa Family

I miss and love you all,
John

Who Turned Off All The Water…and Electricity?!

3 Replies

Hello All,

Sooooo I have been pretty lazy when it comes to blog posts this year! Because the old ones took so much time and were a lot to read, I am going to change things up a little bit. The last time I posted something was just about a month ago and a lot of things have happened since then! Needless to say, the past month has had the same extreme ups and downs which have been present throughout my time in Ghana. One thing that hasn’t changed is the heat…still hot as hell!

TEACHING

Plenty of good things have been happening on this front. A few weeks ago I was finally able to split Class 4A into two sections, the advanced group and the ones who need extra attention mostly because they are disruptive. Because of the original teachers’ attendance and his preference to cane kids, I left him with the disruptive group and took the advanced class to another room. Immediately the entire learning atmosphere changed for the better in my section. In the three weeks that I have been with them, I haven’t had to tell them to be quiet or interrupted the lesson for any kind of discipline. Almost all of the students participate and I have slowly helped them feel more comfortable asking questions. My suggestion to split the class was validated this week in the online class I am taking. The professor discussed how “tracking,” or splitting a class to homogenize the academic level, has been proven to help all students. In my section, I have already seen an improvement in the responses to some of the exercises and have been focusing on developing their critical thinking skills. One day this week the normal teacher didn’t show up which means I had to teach both sections together. It was just like old times with a crazy class and a lot of talking!

Still Goofballs

Related to teaching, I finally tracked down the assemblyman who has the key to the library. Unfortunately he told me that the library “needs” renovations, paint, and asked me for money to complete the project. Basically he is holding the library hostage until he receives a few hundred Cedis for this project. This type of behavior is what has constantly discouraged me while living in Ghana. While young students are begging to go to the library for access to storybooks they can’t afford to buy, someone in power is trying to enrich himself without thinking about the consequences for everyone else. Not only that, but does the library need to be closed while you are raising funds? Best of all, the letter he presented to me soliciting funds for the project was poorly written broken English. Proof that these people need the damn library!

Last week I began teaching at Nali High International School in addition to Senya DA Primary. A returning volunteer, Lucian, just finished four weeks of helping the school construct a library and canteen while improving their class schedule which has been a problem because of a severe teacher shortage. He asked me to take an hour or two each week to go over there and instruct the Junior High School Class 3 in whatever subject(s) I feel comfortable with. At the end of this term they take their exams which will determine whether or not they can attend Senior High School. After twelve noon, the students don’t have any teacher so I scheduled myself to come in the afternoons during their “self-teach” periods. The first lesson went well but it is hard to work through past exam questions when there are only two textbooks for the class. My teaching style is certainly different than that of a typical Ghanaian teacher and it will take a few lessons for everyone, including myself, to feel comfortable. They must have thought I was crazy when I moved all the desks into a semi-circle and sat with them! The class is small, only 8 students, which makes it very enjoyable compared to the 20-45 student classes in Senya. I hope that in the coming weeks I will be able to create a good working relationship with the students and address the topics that they don’t feel confident with.

Library Dedication Assembly

My New Class

CHILD LABOUR & TRAFFICKING PROJECT

A lot of things have been going on with the project since I last posted. Freeman and I have continued our trafficking interviews in Senya and the monitoring of students who we already sponsor. Each week when we interview these children, it is a stark reminder of why I am here and the unimaginable hardships that other people face. In my last post, I outlined a number of projects that I would like to institute and ranked them by how possible and necessary they are. Since then I have started laying the groundwork for these projects and have been gauging the level of interest in them. I will run through them briefly with you:

Agriculture Project – Initially, I envisioned some kind of farming cooperative for the parents of our sponsored children and other individuals in the community. After doing some research and talking with people who actually know how to farm, we decided that a demonstration farm would be a better idea to train people how to grow crops for themselves. I visited a demonstration farm in the old Liberian refugee camp outside of Kasoa where an organization called Point Hope is doing some amazing work. A CHF volunteer is working in the camp for their nutrition program which is tied in with their agriculture training program. The farm manager, Emmanuel, explained their training program and took us for a tour of their vegetable farm, poultry farm and newly acquired land where they hope to build a compound complete with a farm. The great thing about this project is that an assemblyman and sub-chief in Senya offered to donate land to CHF. While I think the term “donate” is used loosely here, it is an encouraging sign that this idea can actually materialize into one of the missing pieces of the trafficking project; skill building and income generation. In the coming weeks we will be working on actually securing the land, which can be a nightmare in Ghana, and arranging our funds and ideas on how the training program will work.
Open Dialogue with Parents of Sponsored Children – After I teach my class in Senya, I have been seeking out parents of our sponsored children to give fill them in with the academic progress of their children. Next week I even want to visit the parents of my two best students to let them know just how talented their daughters are. Sometimes it is hard to track down the parents so I have had mixed results with this. It is also hard because I need a translator to come with me who can speak the local dialect. After I create a survey/questionnaire, I will begin to more formally ask them what kind of job training they might be interested in or if they would like to learn how to read, write and speak English. I would like to eventually organize some basic business and financial workshops for them using local businesspeople
Apprenticeship Program – This program has been a little slow in getting off the ground because of how transient the older fishers are. We have been trying to target people in their late teens to early twenties who are not interested in receiving a formal education and don’t see a way out of the fishing industry. While we have interviewed two possible candidates, they have not been in Senya recently when we looked for them because they were following the fish to the Ivory Coast. To formalize this program, I would like to create a database of skilled workers who can be used in the future as we locate more individuals interested in learning a trade.
Adult Education – This initiative has also been a little slow to get up and running because of my preoccupation with the farming project. My mother, the literacy guru, has sent me some literature to start with and I am formulating some ideas on how to run these courses and who to use for instructors. Next week I will meet with the head of the District Assembly to find out about their past literacy program and if the community has anything running right now. Finding literate instructors who are willing to volunteer or work for a very low wages is a difficult task and I am trying to think of what kind of schools or organizations would be interested in providing their support. After conducting a trafficking interview a few weeks ago, I encountered a woman who asked if we could teach her how to read and write in English. I was so happy that she was asking for this and I know that there must be more people in the town like her. Something tells me that I will definitely get this program running and it will be success.
Sanitation – This is such a large issue in Ghana and it is hard to think of how CHF could really set up a comprehensive system in Senya and the surrounding communities. Part of the reason it seems so daunting is because sanitation is a mentality and lifestyle choice. That being said, I do believe that CHF can make a difference in some of the schools that we operate in. In the next few weeks I would like to buy waste bins to help collect trash and water rubbers, or the bags that drinking water comes in. While the garbage will be burned, at least it will not be strewn all over the schoolyard. The water rubbers can be recycled and the company that collects them will pay you for them. Using that money to help purchase school supplies or create a bonus for well performing teachers is something I had in mind.

Despite our lack of personnel, I am highly confident that all of these programs will be feasible in 2013. The agriculture project has taken priority because of the possibility of free or very cheap land which is amazing. It feels so good to suggest something and see some momentum put behind it from outside forces. In the next month I hope to have a more concrete view of all of these initiatives and be able to outline a timeframe for everything. Then I will be able to create some project plans and wait for some more volunteers to help execute them.

Trafficking Interview

Trafficking Interviews

Point Hope Demonstration Farm

TRAVEL

The past month hasn’t been too crazy with travelling. We went to Kumasi a few weeks ago for a festival and checked out the huge central market. It is said to be the largest one in West Africa and was quite overwhelming with the amount of vendors and variety of goods. This past weekend we all went to a beach resort by Cape Coast for a fellow volunteers’ last weekend in Ghana. It was a nice break from spending everyday in Kasoa and it always feels good to lie on the beach in February!

Ashanti Akwasidae Festival

Ashanti Akwasidae Festival – The Ashanti King

Ashanti Akwasidae Festival

Abandze

Fort Amsterdamn

Abandze

GHANA

“Water is life.” A common saying here in Ghana. Water is something that you don’t think too much about when you live in the US. Growing up in New Jersey a drought meant that you couldn’t water your lawn everyday or wash your car in the summer. Moving to Colorado, the realities of a drought became a little more real when I saw ever increasing forest fires and water restrictions that were actually enforced. Still, most of those restrictions didn’t affect my everyday life besides from the disappointment of not being able to tube down the closest river. For the past two months, water has been a huge problem in Kasoa. The tap has flowed once in the beginning of January and that was it. I think it has rained once or twice for a few minutes in those two months which is hardly enough to even keep the ground wet for more than a few minutes. In a real drought like this, you quickly realize all the things you rely on water for and how difficult they become when there truly isn’t enough water for everything. From washing dishes and clothes, to taking showers, washing your hands, flushing the toilet, or cooking, everything becomes more difficult or impossible. It seems that you never have the time to fetch enough water. Fetching water is always that chore that you are too tired to do at the end of the day and the water source always seems to get further and further away. Tensions over water are always high and I can’t help but understand why people will literally fight over the right to water. Even in my own house, it has been a source of these tensions. Granted, my host mom and I don’t have the best relationship, but the water issue adds more stress to an already challenging situation.

In addition to the water situation, electricity and fuel has been contentious issues in Ghana. The power supply has been extremely unreliable in the past few weeks, almost as bad as when I first arrived. Fuel prices have spiked which immediately caused an increase in everything from drinking water to bread. Natural gas or LPG prices rose by 50% which is devastating to the taxi drivers who rely on it to power their vehicles and anyone who cooks with gas. The election is still being contested in court which makes the government the perfect, likely, scapegoat for all the criticism going around. I don’t think anyone really knows the true problem or solution to all of these issues. All you hear in the media is propaganda and there is never a reliable source of information in the government because everyone believes them to be corrupt. It is easy to see why so many people distrust the government with all of these problems swirling around but I maintain my position that the government shouldn’t be blamed for every difficulty we face here. Private organizations and individuals need to step up and create realistic solutions to these pressing issues if Ghana is ever going to overcome them.

Overcoming Hardships Starts with Education!

THOUGHTS

I have been thinking about what I am going to write in this section for over a week now. Although there is so much I can discuss, my mind keeps on coming back to the challenges and success I experience every day. In short, volunteering in a third world country is a complete mind-fuck (excuse my language but there isn’t a better word). Every single day I am faced with terrible and great situations, awful and truly amazing people, and a country that is both severely dysfunctional and beautiful all at the same time. It’s the never ending onslaught of emotions which exhausts me and keeps me motivated to make even the smallest of changes. Each day is an extreme exercise in patience and teaches me to move on from small failures and create something positive out of them. As I have written about in the past, every other week I am forced to calm myself down and refocus on what is possible in the situation at hand. Things can become so overwhelming that you lose focus of all the good things that are happening around you. I have always been someone who likes to come home from work, talk about and process everything that has happened that day and allow myself to decompress. For a long time in Ghana I didn’t afford myself the time to do that because coming home was always another stressful experience. Now that I have been making the time to actually process the events of each day, I can evaluate all the good things that took place after I clear my head of all the frustrations and “clutter” that diverts my attention from the positives. Some of my worst days are littered with great moments from my students, colleagues, neighbors or just plain strangers. Despite all of the crap that goes on, I will always be inspired by the humanity and resilience displayed by some of the people I have met here. I have been extremely fortunate to encounter and be surrounded by some truly amazing individuals who, if for nothing else, keep me going day after day. These are people who will continue to empower and transform the lives of those most in need and will remain with me no matter where life leads me.

I love and miss you all,

John

Devil Students

2 Replies

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

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

My Adventures

Travel, Fun, Life…

Tag Archives: Literacy

Final Push For Our School…Please Help!

To My Friends: I Kindly Ask For Your Help

“It’s Not Easy…”

We’re Family at the Dinner Table

Who Turned Off All The Water…and Electricity?!

Devil Students

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