Things I took for granted (23 September 2008)

I had known that living and teaching in Ghana would involve a lot of adjustments on my part, lots of physical differences to which I would have to grow accustomed. The individual mental adjustments though remain largely unknown to me. Some of the ones to-date are included below.

Schedule of classes:
I am used to how it works at Stuart - sometime during the summer vacation I can come to school, ask in the Guidance Office, and see the schedule for the fall. I have known which classes I will be teaching since before I left for summer vacation. Here it is the fifth day of classes and we do not yet have a final timetable (schedule) for this school year. We were supposed to use last year's timetable yesterday, except that most people did not have it any longer, or are teaching different subjects so did not know when those classes were taught last term. Instead we have been using the provisional timetable which was created before a decision was made to change the electives offered to about one-third of the Form 2 students (sophomores); this decision was made on Friday, day 3 of the school year. Despite my tendency to want to know exactly what is going on at all times (which I am working on unlearning, or at least mitigating), I admire how things seem to just work out. I sat in on the meeting about the elective additions on Friday, as well as the meeting where the affected students were notified. Students were not asked what new elective they desired, I was told that they will just show up to the elective of their choice and that is how we will know which they have selected. So another thing I used to take for granted out the window: class lists before the first day of class.

Class size caps:
I met one of my Government classes today, luckily in the Lecture Theatre. I say luckily because 75 students showed up. Even with a class (or classes) of this size, I am hoping to be able to stick to my goal of not resorting to pure lecture this year. Wish me luck!

Custodians:
At Stuart, we all take our great custodial staff for granted. At Achimota, and most other schools in Ghana, the students are responsible for cleaning their classrooms and their houses (dorms). There does not seem to be a custodial staff at the school. For punishment, the students can be made to do weeding on the campus, which leads to another marked difference: the students here are given things called cutlasses, which to me look like machetes. The cutlasses are used to do weeding around the campus, particularly on the grounds of their houses. When I first learned this, I could not help thinking that at Stuart we punish students who bring weapons to school, here they give students weapons (although they are really tools rather than weapons).

A supportive PTSA:
One highlight of going back to school at Stuart each fall is the PTSA breakfast on the first workday. The second day of in-service meetings here two members of the PTA were invited to remind teachers of their responsibilities toward the children. The teachers here do not have the good relationship that the faculty and PTSA do at home, which I took for granted since I believe both groups strive for a common purpose: the education of the students, and I believe they need to cooperate in order to achieve that goal.

Copy machines for staff use:
One unit in Government deals with rights, particularly ones outlined in the Ghanaian Constitution (1992). I toyed with the idea of purchasing copies for all of my Government students, but at four Ghana cedis (about $4) per copy, that idea was prohibitive. So I need to copy the relevant pages of the Constitution for the students to work with as we discuss their rights. It should total three pieces of paper per student. I asked several teachers where I could make photocopies, and after several false starts (everyone tried to send me to the Staff Co-op Shop, where I would have to pay for copies) I was informed that the school copy machine is in the Headmistress's office. When I went there to ask about getting a master made, I was told that the copy machine is broken and they have to bring in someone to service it. I had already resigned myself to having to pay for the copies for all of my students, but was hoping to be able to at least have the original made by the school.

Reliable (and fast) internet:
The internet at school has been down for the past five days, hence why I have not posted in such a long time. I am assured that it will be up tomorrow. I was hoping to utilize the school computer lab for my emailing, blogging, etc. as a way to interact with my colleagues, but if the intermittent outages continue I will invest in wireless internet at home. I had not realized how much I relied on the internet for communication purposes as well as just to keep up with what is happening in the world. I have not read a U.S. newspaper since I have been here, although I do listen to BBC World on the radio.

Day Tripping (19 September 2008)

This past weekend I travelled with friends. On Saturday we went to Boti Falls, a double waterfall in the Eastern Region of Ghana, and then to the Aburi Botanical Gardens in the same region. The falls were lovely, and we saw a spiderweb that was different from any I had ever seen, and reportedly inspired some of the Kente designs.

At the Botanical Gardens, we got to stand inside a killer ficus tree. It is known as the "strangling ficus tree" because it grows up attached to another tree, and over the course of many years, this particular ficus completely enveloped the host tree and killed it. The other tree eventually decomposed leaving behind a hollow trunk.

Other trees continue to enthrall me - the height and the way the root systems have adapted in order to be able to support the great height are fascinating.

We were also shown a tiny fern that "cringes" when it is touched, it takes about five minutes for it to recover (see video at the bottom of this entry). When we were shown this, which I thought was really neat, I began to feel guilty about having walked on so many of them prior to this knowledge (I know, I know - ridiculous as I did not actually harm the fern).

Additionally on Saturday, Samuel, our host and guide who is also a teacher at Achimota, had to pay respects to an aunt who had lost a son. We stopped by his mother's house first and she outfitted us in traditional Ghanaian funeral garb. Just as in the U.S., black is a traditional color to wear to funerals, however, red and white are also employed. When the person who has passed away is 70 years or older, black and white are combined because you are celebrating a long life as well as mourning their passing. If the person who died is young, red is worn with the black.

On Sunday, we ventured out to Prampram and Ningo which are traditional fishing villages. We were able to see some of the boats being pulled in as we were there early enough in the day (fishing is done overnight, which is common in many parts of the world). At several beach locations, we waded in the African Atlantic Ocean (a first for me), and were bombarded with attention from local children one place we stopped. They gave us seashells, did back flips, and wanted their photo taken, again and again.

We also got to meet a chief of one region of the country. We were received, offered refreshments, and allowed to ask questions - he has three wives and sixteen children and spends much of his time helping the people in his region, including mediating problems that arise.

Who am I? (18 September 2008)

I have to get used to being seen. By this I mean that it is very hard for me to go unnoticed here in Ghana. Because I am white. I am accustomed to being able to blend in, to hang out in the background if I so desire, but such is not possible here. I am frequently greeted with "obruni" which roughly means "white person". Children holler it as I pass by; adults sometimes introduce me that way (what, as if people cannot see that I am not Ghanaian?). Additionally, people just want to interact with you (anyone "white") - I am frequently asked for my phone number, one gentleman stated that he would like to have a "white female friend". From talking to the male Fulbright teacher who is also on exchange in Ghana, he too feels as if he is always on stage, but does not get asked for a phone number nearly as frequently. On Saturday we were both asked if we could take someone to the U.S. with us - there is apparently a belief that Americans can just invite someone to come to the States, and it will happen; in fact I have no control over the granting of visas by the American Embassy.

I am also "Becky" here, despite the fact that I never introduce myself that way. Part of me understands that it is common here for names to be shortened, but I am not Becky, I have never been Becky, and never desired to be. I am, and always will be, Rebecca. (Okay, the one exception is Mrs. Duran in the JEB Stuart front office - she can call me Becky.) I am also Aunty Becky to some people, Aunty and Uncle being common here, seemingly substitutes for Sir and Ma'am. Honestly, sometimes it takes me a while to realize someone is talking to me. I was out for a walk today and was hailed by a boy who was trying to get my attention by calling "Aunty". I had no idea at first that he was talking to me.

Classes have officially started as of Wednesday 17 September, but I do not even feel like a teacher yet either. Wednesday was the day for teachers to meet with their students from last year and go over final exams. I will not see my Government class until Monday (unless the Timetable/Schedule changes before then), and they are the only students I will see for more than a month. As previously mentioned, the incoming Form 1, or freshman, students will not be arriving until mid-October since they have not yet received notice of the school they will be attending, and once they arrive will undergo orientation, so I will not be teaching my three Social Studies classes until the end of October.

Oh that modern technology!

I am sitting at the American Embassy (I got a badge!), all ready to update my blog with several postings as well as add photos to my last entry. The reason for the delay: the internet has been down at school since last Friday, so I have a lot to say and no one to broadcast it to. For this purpose, I wrote the blog entries and saved them onto a flash drive. However, my laptop has Windows 2007, which the computers at the Embassy do not have, so they cannot read my documents...Hopefully, the internet at school will be back up tomorrow so I can update the blog fully soon. Thank you for staying posted! Tune in again next time....

In country (now with photos)

I arrived safely last Sunday, and was taken to my school (Achimota, also called Motown) where I was met by a fellow teacher and former Fulbrighter. She arranged for the keys to my new home, for it to be tidied since it had not been used during the last school year, and took me shopping for some initial groceries and household items. So many people have already proven themselves invaluable to me, and I am sure they will continue to be so throughout the coming year. As I already mentioned this former Fulbrighter helped me get settled, later showed me around campus, took me to meet the headmistress (like a principal), also introduced me to someone from the American Embassy, and later the Head of Department for Social Studies. One invited and drove me to a service at the church where he is a pastor. Two other teachers initiated and sponsored a trip to Cape Coast (a town west of Accra) where we visited Kakum National Park and took a canopy walk through the forest, 40 meters off the ground. It was beautiful, so green and lush.





There are times I forget that I am in Africa, and this was not one of them! The landscape on the drive to the park was intriguing – several kinds of palm trees, but not the really tall ones (my knowledge of local flora and fauna is a fledgling thing!), and dense undergrowth, with an occasional lone very tall tree in the middle. It creates a wonderful vista. I have taken to walking around the campus – it is sprawling, I was told that the large oval road that encompasses most of this campus is 2.9 kilometers long, so it is much more like a college than a high school setting from my American perspective. One reason it is so large is that a number of students board (live at the school) as Ghana has a national educational system, so students can attend schools in other parts of the country. The educational system here is very competitive. From what I have read, approximately 260,000 junior secondary school students (think 8th or 9th graders) take a test each spring and 60,000 of them do sufficiently well to be admitted to the senior secondary schools (like Achimota). The better your scores, the better your chance of attending the school of your choice. This also means that the 1st year students will not arrive until the middle of October as the scores were only recently released and the students have to be notified and then make arrangements to get to the school they have been placed in. Anyway, back to my walks around campus: I am lucky that I have yet to fall into a gutter (pictures of those to come as well) and broken an ankle, as I spend much of my walk looking up into the trees trying to see the birds that are making these wonderful noises. There is one bird that, when it flies, the sound generated by its wings resembles an owl – at least I think so... Another that has a sound I cannot describe, but it is entirely black except for a bright red beak. One I have seen is an iridescent blue. The plants here are amazing as well – one tree near my home has leaves that are easily more than a foot in diameter, there are bushes with beautiful and fragrant yellow flowers, and there are aloe plants in pots outside my front door (no call for them yet, as I have not yet gotten a sunburn…)

After Kakum and the canopy walk we went to Elmina slave castle in Cape Coast. It changed hands several times during its history, it was first a Portuguese fort, than a Dutch, and finally a British until they were kicked out at independence. The guide estimated that between 12 and 14 million enslaved Africans passed through the “gate of no return” (see photo below) on their way to the new world for work on plantations. The conditions were, of course, horrible and many died before leaving and many on the voyage to the Americas. Ironically, one group of people living in the castle during its tenure as a slave holding and departure venue were missionaries. Another woman and I agreed that anyone witnessing the situation at the castle and not saying anything about it does not deserve the title of “missionary”.

You can still see the remnants of the wharf where the slaves were loaded onto small boats to be rowed out to the large ships.

Fortunately, the power problems that I had heard about are mostly a thing of the past – a year and a half ago, due to insufficient rainfall and a hydro-electric power system, electricity was off for large chunks of time each week. Such has not been the case since I have been here. The traffic, however, is equal to what it had been advertised as (bad). I thought, I come from Washington D.C., home of the second worst traffic in the country most years, how bad can it be? Let me try to explain. Everything seems to be more than it is in the U.S., in that drivers in the U.S. do these things, but they are more common here. At certain times of the day, there are just more cars than the roads can handle. People do not use turn signals enough, people speed, there are fewer street lights (or sometimes none at all), there are potholes that make the driving more exciting, drivers use their horns A LOT, the tro-tros (vans that have been put into use for public transportation) stop at designated and undesignated places to pick up and drop off passengers. I took my first tro-tro today. Here is how it works: you stand by the side of the road (or sit if there is a bus stop), and wait for a tro-tro to come by going where you want to go. How do you know where it is going? A young man, called a “mate” hangs out the window and shouts the destination. You flag down the tro-tro and climb on. Many of the tro-tros end at huge hubs where you can transfer to another tro-tro. However, again there are few signs (saw my first sign on a tro-tro indicating destination today), so you have to know where in the large parking lot you have to go to get a tro-tro to your destination, again signaled by someone shouting that end point. Once you find a tro-tro going to where you want to go, you board and wait for it to be full, which is when it will leave. Fortunately, one of my new friends accompanied me on my tro-tro journeys today to help and provide much needed information about how it all works.

School starts next week, so I have much studying to do – as I suspected, the classes are very different than what I am accustomed to teaching, so I have a lot of prep work to do. As previously indicated, I will update this entry in a couple of days with more specifics and some photos. There is so much more to tell, but I have a whole year for all of that – like the Makola Market, the main market in Accra, which I visited last week.