School Events

A couple of weeks ago, we had Sports Days at our school. The students competed as their houses (dorms) against the other houses in track and field events. As you can see below, the students dressed in their house colors, and came prepared with drums (or yellow cooking oil containers used to carry water to use as drums), some with banners. There was chanting, and flag waving, and in general a lot of noise and fun. The winning houses (one male and one female house) each earned a trophy. The best male and female athlete get their name on a list at the front of the school. Just the other day, the boys track and field team from Achimota competed in a district competition and finished first.

Two weekends ago, we had Speech and Prize Giving Day. It was kind of like Convocation at Stuart.
Similarity: Lots of students received prizes - best science student, best government student, etc. They received certificates and/or small wrapped gifts.
Difference: Many of the prizes were awarded to students who had graduated last spring or the spring before. I understand that since the WASSCE (West African Secondary School Comprehensive Examination) scores for last spring were only just recently available, that it was not possible to give awards for best score to the graduated students until now. However, why did we wait until now to give awards to students who graduated in 2007? Oh well. One teacher and one staff member also received awards from the PTA.
Similarity: All students and faculty attend.
Difference: Faculty wear graduation robes. Some wore mortar boards as well. Faculty also sat on the stage (see photo below of my view of the proceedings). I am guessing this is to assist with the issue of insufficient room within the Assembly Hall for all students, guests, and faculty at the same time. In fact, some students sat outside the Assembly Hall under a canopy because they did not have room inside for them all. This is also true of the Chapel on campus where they hold a morning meeting each day.
Similarity: There were guests from outside the school.
Difference: They were not just there to bestow prizes, but to give speeches. Two akora (alumni in Achimota vernacular) spoke on the theme of the day. One talked about the need to make Achimota the jewel in the crown of the Ghanaian public education system. And if that means that education there will become more expensive, so be it.

The students all have outfits in the school cloth, the colors that vary based on what year they are. They wear these outfits to events like Speech Day. Here are four girls wearing kaba and slit (top and skirt) in the Form 2 colors and one girls wearing it in the Form 1 colors.

These gentlemen are wearing the cloth in the traditional manner (the same way cloth is worn for funerals). They sport the Form 3 colors. This is the fabric that my school cloth outfit is made from. The fabric features the school seal and the pictures of the founding members of the school.

Last but not least, Entertainment. Most weeks, since most of the students live on campus, some form of entertainment is organized on Saturday evenings. Last week was the annual night when the Form 1 students, again by house, entertain the other assembled students. This happens in the Assembly Hall as well. The students carried benches in from the dining hall. Here you can see many of the girls on benches, wearing their house dresses (not the uniforms they wear to class, which are also green and white).

I had just come to be part of the audience, but was recruited as a judge. Thirteen of the fourteen houses performed. The performances involved a lot of cross-dressing (necessary if your skit needs characters of the opposite gender and you are presenting as a single-sex house) - so male students borrowed uniforms from female friends, and vice versa. Ghanaian teenagers seem to find cross-dressing for entertainment purposes just as funny as American teenagers do. Some skits were probably much more amusing to someone who is Ghanaian or knows the school better - there were obviously caricatures of teachers whom I could not identify. Additionally, just like at home, the dancing involved lots of bumping and grinding (see photo below which includes both the cross-dressing and the bumping and grinding).

All three events, although very different, seemed to be greatly enjoyed by the students. The Speech Day prize winners were resoundingly cheered by the other students, including the alum from last year. The students were very involved in the Athletics and the Entertainment as well.

I guess, in closing, that things are different, but not so different here in lots of ways.