What Joss is up to!: January 2009

Monday 12th January
So, finally made it to Hohoe!!
The drive from Accra was about a 4-hour drive. The change in scenery was really dramatic. Accra was crazy busy, the traffic was worse than New York. The roads varied from dusty bumpy roads to normal typical dual carriageways. At red lights people would crowd around the van trying to sell us all kinds of things. There were women with huge baskets on their heads just dodging around the traffic weaving in and out of the speeding cars. Apparently it is really hard for us to balance things on our heads because our heads are too slippy! I think we are going to try and prove this theory wrong.

The home base via van is down the bumpy, dusty, whiplash-inducing road because somebody discovered they owned the land that road went through and built a house in the middle of it!!

There are 2 houses, the main house that has the kitchen dining room, and about 4 bedrooms in. The other house, which is literally across the road, has a few more bedrooms and the office and resource centre.
The surrounding area is a pretty rural, dusty road, I mean really dusty roads. There is a surprising amount of greenery though.

In the afternoon we went for a brief walk into town. I felt slightly less self-conscious walking through Hohoe, than I did Darkuman.

I was really surprised at how self-conscious I felt in Accra. I have traveled to quite a few places and really happy to walk around a completely foreign place and not even know the language. But being the only white person in a huge bustling market where you obviously stick out like a sore thumb can be a little - not intimidating but makes you very aware of your skin colour. People are obviously staring at you not in a threatening way but out of curiosity. After living in New York, were there are so many different ethnicities and colurs it is certainly going to take some getting used to.

Sunday was orientation and Monday morning also.

Monday afternoon we went to the market, which sold pretty much everything. There were some beautiful fabrics, which I am going to buy and get made into some nice, light airy tops to wear.

When we got back to the home base we had a group come and do some traditional drumming and dancing, which was amazing!!!! They got us all up dancing which went on for longer than I liked considering the heat!!!

The Internet here is rubbish, so I have taken to typing things on one of the other volunteer’s laptop and then saving it to my pen and uploading it like that. I will try and upload photos but it will take hours!

All the other volunteers are great and we are all getting on really well… it is only day 2…!

Tuesday 13th January
First day at placement. Seeing as I am at school I was a lot more nervous than if I were at a daycare centre – I am somewhat responsible for educating these children!!!

I was given P2 which should be about 8-9 but there is a 12 year old and a couple of 10 year olds also. Lucy my teacher has 26 years of experience, so next to here I feel like a bit of a dud and really doubted what I could actually do to help. There should be 20 kids in my class but as it was the first day back from school, there were about 7. They spent most of the day sorting out the classrooms, putting the desk back and sweeping the dirt floors.

That is one things I should try and describe – the classroom. Basically there are about 5 classrooms in a row inside this basic shed like structure, there are walls that separate each class room but do not reach the roof so any and all noise travels from classroom.

There is one cupboard containing a few battered and ripped text books, the blackboard, which does have the alphabet in Ewe and English painted around it then a few basic learning tools like the maths signs, fractions etc. The floor is a basic dusty dirt floor.

Some of the kid speak really good English others don’t it really varies.

There seems to be a schedule and the teacher said she would bring in the lesson plans and syllabus for me to look over tomorrow. So this all bodes pretty well!!!

I said I would be interested in teaching English, creative arts and also IT. Although how I am supposed to teach this without any computers will be pretty challenging!!

Wednesday 14th January
Scratch all that! I walked in to my classroom today and greeted the teacher, only for her to tell me that she was not going to be in until next Monday!!! Slight panic attack. She showed me where there were in their book. I told her I was slightly overwhelmed by all of this and she said ‘it’s ok, you know how to make notes, you area teacher!!!’

So I tried for about an hour to teach them how to tell the time in English. I was trying to get them to draw the clocks in their books and write out the time in English. They did not get what I wanted them to do at all. I just got so frustrated. A couple of the kids are really smart and they did get it, but others did not even understand me. Towards the end of morning I taught them a song with actions, which they picked up straight away!!!

I came away feeling so frustrated and dejected. I know that I am not going to make any major changes and that it was going to be challenging but I was so disappointed. I think I was more disappointed in myself as I really want to be able to teach the kids something but I just felt like a failure. I am not a teacher and I have no idea of where to start when teaching kids how to tell the time, or the best method of teaching.

I didn’t know what sort of level they were at or what they had done before. The kids here learn by rote. They can read you story from their textbook beautifully but point at certain words or ask them to read something and they can’t. They have memorized the whole book. Their learning style is so different they recognize words, they do not learn phonetics or how to sound out the word.

Walked back to the homebase feeling extremely dejected and had lunch.
After lunch we went to Wli Waterfalls. It was about a 45 minute walk through the forest, then you come to this 400m high waterfall, it was so beautiful! All down the side of the waterfall were thousands of bats, it took me a while to realise they were bats as the sounds they were making just sounded like a flock of seagulls.
I went for a swim in the waterfall, near the base there was this beautiful rainbow and it was sooo windy! We braved walking through the actual waterfall and managed to touch the back of the rock behind it. I now know what it feels like to be in a monsoon!
I just sort of stood there in the waterfall which this water beating down on my back not really being able to see anything but thinking oh my goodness, I am standing in a waterfall and I am in Ghana! It was such a stunning once in a life time experience, that I know for certain will never happen again… well maybe who knows!

The only bad experience was that in all the excitement, I bashed my toe and nearly ripped the whole nail off. Not what you really want in such an environment where your feet are constantly caked in dirt but hey ho!

In the evening I set about furiously planning to do something with the kids for tomorrow, I know I shouldn’t have such high expectations but I just want these kids to have the resources to learn as some of them are so intelligent.

Thursday 15th January

Ok so the game plan was:

• Word of the day – Happy
I got them to tell me what the word meant, what makes them happy and then to write a sentence that makes them happy. (Side note, dancing, birthdays, going
to school, and being with friends makes children from class P2 happy!)

• Alphabet
I spent the night before cutting up 26 plastic bottles and collecting objects that started which each letter of the alphabet. I got the kids to each draw one letter and then attached it to the bottles. I then got them to place the objects in the relevant bottle.
SUCCESS!! They loved it!!
They all got it and could recognize the letters out of order, apart from one girl. This lasted for about an hour. Some of the kids are just so eager to learn and to please you, it’s great!!

We then had break where we did some skipping with a rope that was for the letter R.

Then I tried them with Bingo, this took some explaining as they thought they had to write all the numbers out. Then they finally got it and we muddled through. When they realized they had to shout bingo, they all began shouting it, so much so that the teacher in the next room came over and told them to be quiet.

We sang the song I had taught the day before – this they had actually remembered! So at least they have learnt one thing from me!!!

I can also get them to be quiet when I want. I put my fingers on my lips and just stand there looking angry. And they all mimic me, and sit down! Whohoo!!

I came away feeling so much happier than yesterday. I now have an idea who knows what, what sort of level they are at, who are the trouble makers, who are the clever ones.

Friday 16th January

Today I tried to teach the kids about space and different planets, not quite as successful as yesterday.
Note to self a little bit more harder than yesterday but not as hard as today!!

We all decided to go away for the weekend to Cape Coast. It was about an 8 hour drive. We had to go through Accra and we got stuck in traffic for about 2 hours!

The Hotel we stayed at was called Coconut Grove and is was sooooo nice. It was right on the beach and had a pool. We managed to cram 7 of us into a family room.

Saturday 17th January
We went to Kakum National Park and did the canopy walk. It was about a 20 minute walk and then there were 7 rope bridges from different trees about 14 metres in the air. I am not scared of heights but this was a little bit nerve wracking!!! You are literally on a bridge that is the width of a plank of wood with ropes up to about your chest.

In the afternoon we went to Cape Coast Slave fort and had a tour of the dungeons and castle. It was eerie and beautiful at the same time. I t was hard to believe that such a beautifully place had such horrible history. There were dungeons that would hold up to 400 people with 3 small windows for ventilation and light. There was also a cell for the condemned which had no windows and the people in those cells would receive no water or food. There would be 50 people that would be in the cell and it would be the slaves who tried to fight for their freedom. They would then all be locked in the cell and the door would not be opened until all 50 of the slaves were dead.
It was a pretty eye opening experience and extremely educational.

It was Heathers Birthday so we went out to a sort of club/resort and danced up a storm.

Sunday 17th January

We went to Elmina Castle which was another slave fort. The original use for the caste was trading so the conditions were not as horrendous as the Cape Coast one which was built for the purpose of trading slaves.

We then started the 4 hour drive back to Accra, stopped off a mall – with air conditioning and got pizza!! It was then another 4 hours back to Hohoe.

So it is 5.30am and I am up sitting on the terrace listening to the hundreds of cockerels and chickens that surround the neighborhood. There are so many. I seem to t be waking up at about 5.30 most days, so I normally get up and potter about a bit, watch the sun rise and sort of my lesson plans for the day.
I knew the internet was going to be bad but I did not expect it to be as bad as it was. It literally took me 45 minutes to send 2 emails. Hence why I just started to avoid the internet and have not checked facebook at all despite the mound of notifications I have been sent.

So the update so far…..

Monday 18th January

My teacher was back at placement today, so when I walked in she was teaching them maths. I took this as a really good sign! She then told me she would be in this week and next Monday but away again! I was glad that she was back this week but actually more nervous teaching in front of her than the kids!!! They have a timetable so were doing maths, which was first on the timetable, PE was next so I said I would do PE with them. I am guessing that the timetable is not stuck to as the kids were really excited for PE. I took them outside and played a couple of balls games with them and skipping. Obviously they got excited and got a bit rowdy which is so difficult when all the classrooms are linked and open air and is disturbs the other children.

After break I read them Dumbo and got them to draw some pictures. I don’t think they fully understood the story but definitely got a laugh out of Dumbo’s big ears.

One thing that did happen today was that I saw my first caning. Over here they still use caning, for some kids jus the sight of the teacher banging it on the table is enough to make the all sit down. My teacher only half heartedly caned them but it was still shocking. The boy knew what was about to happen so ran around the classroom away from her while she chased him with it. He was laughing as he ran so it seems my class does not really fear the cane, as from what I saw they put their hand up in the air and she attempts to hit them.

Still it was shocking to see and definitely not something I will be doing!!!

In the afternoon I went to the internet to try and send emails but gave up after only being able to send 2 in 45 minutes. I was looking at a small stall on the side of the road which had some jewelry and a drum for sale. One of my personal goals this trip is to learn to drum. I asked the guy who owned the store if he knew anyone who could teach me drumming and he said he would! Score! I am on my way to achieving one of my goals!

Heather, Emily and I then went for a fanta at a chop bar. There was a man who must have been about 50ish in there. He asked if I was married. This is a very typically question. I said I had a boyfriend and said I needed a man-friend not a boyfriend and went off to prepare. Fortunately he didn’t come back!!

Tuesday January 20th
Placement went really well today. I had some maths colour by numbers for them. The sums were a little too easy for them but the concept of doing the sums and what ever the number was corresponding to a certain colour got a little getting used to for them but they seemed to enjoy it. They knew most of the colours but did not know grey – they kept saying green, or purple – they call it violet.
I then tried to teach them the simple present tense. Some kids got it, some did not at all.
I think if everyday at placement could be like today, it would be good. It was just the right amount of challenge, frustration, achievement and fun that made me come away feeling happy and motivated.
Liz had also decided to get her hair braided to I dropped her off at the salon I had mine done.

In the afternoon I went for my first drumming lesson! Excitement! Jojo my drumming teacher took me to be introduced to his mum at her shop then we went back to his house. It went pretty well. I can do the beats, but then when I change the beat and rhythm I found it really difficult to do the previous beat! I was talking to Jojo about when I would have lessons, how long they would be and how much they would be. He would not accept any money at all for the lessons!

His mum was back at the house when we had finished and she was telling be about how I think it is her brother who has died and it is his funeral this Saturday. She invited me to the celebrations on Friday. They were going to pick the body up on Friday and then the actual funeral is on Saturday. Because her brother was only young, on Friday I have to wear red. If it is an elder then you wear white. The funerals in Ghana are more like celebrations of the persons life and Jojo said there would be drumming and dancing. I am really looking forward to seeing the differences.

I went to check on how Liz’s hair was getting on, she still had a fair amount to do, so Jojo, Alex his friend and I just chilled at the salon. They put the inauguration of Obama. Who can say that they saw the first black president of the US being inaugurated while sitting in a hair salon in Ghana!!!

In the evening we had High Life dancing which was a bit like basic salsa steps to lively African music.

Wednesday January 21st

At placement today, I went over the colours and did bingo with the kids. I also finished of the simple present tense.

I then taught them about information as part of their Information Communication Technology class. Again this was on the timetable but the kids had never been taught it as the teacher had no idea about any of it. This was a success. They got everything!!! I was so proud! Whether they remember any of it is another thing but I will test them all on Friday!

I went for my second drumming lesson. Jojo gave me some banku and pine nut soup. Banku is like a slightly sour tasting uncooked dough, that you dip in the soup. It was pretty good, an acquired taste but good. His family is so lovely and so welcoming. They ask all about me and my life. I also found out that a family member who is in the UK is coming back for the funeral so that should be interesting also.
Everyone is so friendly here. I love it! Everywhere you go kids are shouting ‘Yeovu’ and waving it you. When (if!?) if come back I will be waving at the kids and asking people how they are and know I will get no response and just be glared at, as if I am a crazy women. The children will come up to you and ask your name, how old you are, where you are from. Where as the adults ask where are you going, where are you coming from. I love it. I love the fact I can walk into town by myself, make 4 new friends and just chat to random people. I think we all know this is my specialty!

Thursday January 22nd.
We didn’t go to placement today, we went to Lipke Caves instead. It was a pretty arduous hike up to the caves up pretty steep hills. What made it worse was the fact that come of the local community practically skipped past us on the way up in their flip flops!

There were 7 caves in total, I was going to opt out of them and just sit and take in the scenery however we followed them down to some of them and had to go as there was no other way out. So after a lot of scrambling, climbing down rope, up ropes along cliff edges holding onto nothing but a wire, we were done.

The farming that is done here is slash and burn agriculture. In that during the dry season they will burn all the old crops to make way for the new ones in the wet season. So when we finally came out of the caves. There was this horrendously loud crackling that sounded like gun fire. When I looked out across the hills slightly closer than I wanted were huge flames and smoke where they were burning the crops. So we made a hasty retreat back down the hill. We didn’t want roasted Yeovu for dinner – the other white meat!

I went into town to find some wood to do printing with my kids tomorrow. I met a few people knew, then bumped into Jojo and went back to his house and had a chat with his mum where she fed me plantain chips. They are so welcoming, its lovely.

On the way back to the home base, there were 2 kids aged about 7 and an adult singing songs. This particular song they were singing was…... jingle bells. The kids were drumming using sticks and the adult had a huge upright stick of bamboo and was banging it with the side of his machete!! Only in Ghana will you see people playing jingle bells in January with sticks, bamboo and a machete!!!

There are some kids that live in the house behind the CCS house that I have been helping with their reading. Peace is 16 and her brother God’s Way is 15. God’s Way wants to be a Doctor and has his exams in April, so I will be helping him with maths and science…. Well, I will try to!
I have been helping Peace with her English, we normally sit and she reads out loud to me, any words she doesn’t know she writes down, I tell her the meaning and then test her on them the next day. It is so great to be with these kids who actually want to learn.

Quite a few of the volunteers are leaving tomorrow, so there will only be about 12 of us in the house as opposed to 21 which there has been… oh the sadness……

Friday 23rd January

I was sooo proud of my kids today!!!! I went over the stuff I did with them about Information and they remembered it all!
I was teaching them about patterns. I was drawing things like square, circle, square circle etc and they had to tell me if it was a pattern of not. It really took them a while to get it. With there only be a 50% chance of then getting it wrong, I kept thinking they understood it but then realized they were just good guesses! I was getting them to draw their own pattern and they were just copying the patterns I had done off the board.

After they had finished the worksheet, we made printing blocks. It was basically a block of wood and I had cut out some shape that they had to glue on. They loved it!!! I have never had my classroom so quiet because of the concentration they all had. There were kids from other classrooms peering in the windows watching what they were doing!

Towards the end of the lesson, I was drawing patterns on the board and getting them to shout out what I should draw next and they were shouting out the right answers!!! I was so proud of them! I was so excited that they understood and they got excited because I was excited!

In the afternoon I met up with Jojo, my drumming teacher. His Uncle had died and the funeral was to be on Saturday. This meant they had to pick the body up from the mortuary. Because he Uncle was only 37, everyone had to wear red. If is an older person, then everyone would have had to wear white. We walked down following the stream of ‘friends an sympathizers’ in red dresses, t-shirts, bandanas, pretty much anything and everything. When we got to the mortuary there must have been at least 200 people milling around. Then a brass band appeared, there were drums, people ringing bells, the atmosphere was so chaotic and noisy, full of people laughing, dancing and singing. It was a very stark contrast to a UK funeral. The body was put in a ambulance and taken through town to where he lived. The noisy stream of people danced through the town with the body, collecting more people.

Before this, I liked Ghana, but going to this funeral has really made me fall in love with Ghana. I was so amazed by the way that Ghanaians embrace life with so much enthusiasm and passion. Everyone was waving to me and welcoming me into the parade. I did not see one person crying, they were truly celebrating his life. When I die I want a funeral like this!!!
W walked back to his house, where I got hauled in to the back of a pick up truck and we drove back to JoJo’s house. At his house there were marquees and chairs put up on the street with a huge sound system and photos of his Uncle.
It was such an amazing and unique experience and a fantastic insight to Ghanaian culture!! Definitely the best funeral I have been to!!

Saturday 24th January
We went to the bed factory to make our own beads. We made one out of powdered glass and 2 out of transparent glass. It is not as easy as it looked!! It was really good fun though and interesting to watch the whole process! It was even more fun to buy the necklaces and bracelets afterwards!

We then went to our hotel that we had booked by Lake Volta. Lake Volta is a manmade lake. Our Hotel , despite being in the moderate section was definitely not as nice as Coconut Grove, from last weekend, so we went for a wander round and went for drinks and dinner at some other hotels that were right on the lakeside.

We made some friends and went to a bar called Last Hour!!! It was full of guys dancing - I mean seriously dancing, they were amazing, this one guy was doing a mixture of break dancing, vibrating, traditional dancing everything. Unfortunately he took a bit of a shine to me and insisting on leaning over my chair, talking to me and dripping his sweat all over me! Ergh! It was good fun though!

Sunday 25th January
We had a super relaxing day, We went back to Aylo’s Bay and sat on the deck on the lake. We pretty much just ate, drank, read and relaxed.

Then Heather, Isaac and I went for a canoe along the lake and around an island.