I am happy to report that I am well and truly settled in here in Community 25. It’s actually hard to believe that I haven’t even been here for two weeks; all the basics are becoming routine. For those of you who aren’t fully aware, I’m working as an Educational Consulting for an NGO called World Partners in Education (WPE for short). WPE is based in the US, but partners with various schools in Ghana to promote quality education, by inspiring informed action. Basically, I’m here to help one particular school access its own resources and channel them into effective programs. I’m working (at least temporarily) with a partner, Jamie (fellow Dartmouth ’10) at Manye Foundation School, a local NGO that provides low-cost schooling for children living in and around Community 25 and the Kpone Barrier just outside Tema. Here's a link show you exactly where I’m living and working: Manye on Google maps
Technically, my position is an unpaid fellowship. Luckily, however we do get some benefits. WPE covered the cost of our flight over to Ghana and is also paying for room and board for us to live in the house of Manye’s headmaster, who is called Mr. Kabutey. Jamie and I are sharing a cozy room (with electrical outlets and our own fan). Each of us has a set of bunk beds: we sleep on the bottom and have used the top as a makeshift shelf or closet, since we don’t have one. Aside from the bed, the room is equipped with a small laundry line (at least, we’ve turned it into a laundry line) and a small hand mirror on the wall. We’ve tucked our suitcases into the corners, but are also still using them for storage. Here’s a picture of my half of the room:
And this is what Mr. Kabuety’s house looks like from the outside:
As a consultant starting a new project, I have two main responsibilities: relationship-building and information gathering. Specifically, I’m trying to get to know management (aka Mr. Kabutey), the teachers, parents, students, community members… pretty much everyone in the area. I’m also trying to learn as much as possible about Manye: what is their daily schedule like; what problems do they have; what challenges have they overcome; what are relationships like between students, teachers, management; what behaviors characterize education in Ghana; how does Manye compare to other private/public/rich/poor schools. I’m basically trying to get a crash-course on what are all the influences affecting a student’s education at Manye. What this means for my day-to-day schedule is that Jamie and I have spent a lot of time observing, taking notes, and asking question.
One particularly interesting (and often entertaining aspect) of this assignment has been attending at least one class taught by each of the teachers. We’re still not quite through it (we have 2 more tomorrow, and maybe more next week as well), but we have some fond memories already. With the KG/Nursery classes, we learned song and dances like “Shoe Fly, Don’t Bother Me” and “Every Little Cell in my Body is Happy”. The moves to these dances would have been quite a challenge for American students, but Ghanaians seem to learn how to use their hips from a very young age. There are many other differences as well. One of the most shocking things that Jamie and I witnessed was the following story, which was told to Class 4 (equivalent to US 4th Grade) during their Citizenship Education:
“One day, three men went walking through a forest. They came upon some cannibals, who demanded to eat them. When the men begged for mercy, that cannibals said, ‘OK. What each of you must do, is bring us a fruit. We will then do something with that fruit, and if you can manage to keep a straight face, you will go free.” So the first man came back with an apple. The cannibals pushed it into his anus [direct quote], and the man’s face changed as he let out a scream of pain. So the cannibals ate him. The second man saw this and so he brought a bunch of grapes. This time, the cannibals had no problem pushing the fruit into the man’s anus, because the grapes were so small. But all of a sudden, the man started laughing; because his face had changed, the cannibals ate him. These two men met up in heaven, and first man said to the other, ‘Hey! Why are you here man? The grapes were no problem – you shouldn’t have made a face.’ And the second man replied, ‘I know. It was fine, but then all of a sudden I saw the third guy coming back from the forest – and he was carrying a pineapple’. [Here the teacher paused for a minute before saying…] and that is the importance of education".
Needless to say, Jamie and I were flabbergasted. It was inconceivable that 1) that story would be told by a teacher to students and 2) would be told to a group of 10 year olds! But like I said, some things are just different here, and our first couple weeks are purposefully designed to help us adjust to that.
wow, that's quite an introduction to the school! lol. sounds like you're having a good time in ghana! maybe i'll even be able to swing by for a visit sometime!
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