There certainly are parts of school that are downright depressing to watch and not be able to do anything about it. However, I’m realizing more and more the small bits of hope that the kids are showing me every day.
For the kids’ about the author page in their books I have started “interviewing” them during break time and have found out so much about them. Most of my kids live at the boarding house during the week and then travel home every weekend. Some of my kids go home to 10 people living in their house and some go home to no parents at all. Often aunts and uncles or grandmothers will live in their houses with them. I asked them about their siblings and they can always tell me how many brothers and sisters they have but only sometimes can they tell me their names and ages. A lot of the siblings go to different schools or are older than them. I asked each of them what they wanted to be when they grow up and there were a wide variety from a football player, working at a hotel as a cleaner, to a teacher and a basketball player. Although not all of my kids wanted to be doctors or lawyers, they were all aspiring to be something and that gave me some hope for their future. After all it all starts with a dream right?
I have been asking Godwin, the teacher that usually teaches my class, some questions about the school. Those children who are living at the boarding house have to pay 140 cedi per term, which is about three months. Those who only attend school there have to pay 30 cedi a term. This last statistic was the most shocking to me, teachers at Happy Kids get paid 45 cedi per month. That is about 30 US dollars a month. I don’t think I will ever complain about teachers not making a lot of money in the US. No wonder why the teachers don’t really care too much about teaching.
I am finding that for kids here, education is a means of survival. In order to even begin to break the cycle of poverty, just like in America, kids need to be educated. The frustrating part is, at a school like Happy Kids, the people educating the children are so unqualified that it decreases their chance then of survival and making something of themselves. Parents pay a lot of money to send their kids away to Happy Kids and I think that part of it is the fact that they do have volunteers constantly there – which is a wonderful thing for the kids. However, when there are not volunteers there, or there is not a volunteer in their classroom, then they are not receiving an education.
In Ghana, kids can attend a government run school for free up until P6, After P6 they then have to pay for their education and therefore no many children attend school past P6. Although government schools are free, some parents are still unable to afford sending their kids to school because every school requires a certain school uniform and certain small notebooks. If kids show up at most schools without these, then they are sent back home.
For centers I have been doing matching games with nouns, word families and plurals and hangman based on one of those categories. The kids absolutely love these activities. Even in the past four days I have seen a great improvement in my students increase in word knowledge. They are so excited to play such simple games yet they show me so much of what they have learned. I find myself just sitting back and smiling as they rush to the blackboard during break time to play hangman together and when the younger class rushes over to me so they can finish illustrating their books! I wish you could meet all of them because they really are absolutely wonderful children!
Every day my kids are showing me more and more of their potential and every day I attempt to challenge them and they most certainly challenge me! I love them dearly and just by little things they say to me, like actually asking me every day if I can give them homework, they show me there is hope for their future. I guess, that’s really all I can do for them, and that is all they can do for themselves, is hope that things will turn out alright!
I hope this finds everyone healthy and smiling!
Lots of Love from Africa,
Steph
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Culture, culture everywhere!
This weekend was a very cultural filled weekend! Saturday morning a few of us girls got up early to attend a funeral. Funerals here in Ghana are a community gathering and usually it is a funeral for two or three people. This was one of the biggest funerals to happen in Hohoe, because it was for a very well respected Pastor. Usually everyone wears black and red or if it is an elderly person then they will wear white and black which most people had done in this instance. There are huge tents set up in a square to create a courtyard type deal in the middle. At the front of the rectangle was a huge stage set up and all the district pastors were sitting up on stage. When we first arrived there was a line wrapping all around the tents. We went to the back of the line and asked a man, Albert, what the line was for. He answered all of our questions and actually helped us get a good spot to see the ceremony later on. The line was to view the bodies. Here in Ghana they preserve the bodies, somehow, for months. The pastor passed away on August 28th and here we are in October. We were right about to go into the center of the courtyard to view the bodies when they made an announcement for everyone to have a seat. The chief of HoHoe was entering to view the body and everyone had to make way for him. The chief walked right past us! Once the chief views the body nobody else was able to view them, so we had to then go and find a place to stand, since all the seats were taken, to watch the ceremony.
The ceremony opened with a prayer and several songs. One of the pastors called up each of the different districts and if you lived in that district, you went into the middle and danced. When they called up Hohoe we all went into the middle and danced too! After they called all the districts forward, they brought out the three caskets. One was for the well-respected pastor, one was a woman who died in a tro-tro accident and one was a little girl who had been hit by a car. Then they started the actually funeral part. For each person, there were tributes. First the wife for husband or parents came up on stage and said a something, then the children, then siblings and then there were words from the district pastor on the person. It was really emotional to watch people cry for those people who didn’t even know them. I even shed a few tears myself. Not only are funerals here in Ghana about mourning the loss of a loved one, but it is also about celebrating their life. There were thousands of people there, and many people who didn’t even have any connection to one of the three people who passed away. They were there for community support and to let the family know they were there for them. It was pretty powerful!
After the funeral, another volunteer, Marinda, and I went to her school. It’s a very small school and looks much like mine but with two solid walls and a tin roof for each classroom! It is a private school and with the help of a cellphone company, the headmistress, Suzzy, had the children do an hour long broadcast at the local radio station to promote the school. We went to the school and walked the kids to the radio station and we were able to listen to the broadcast. They had already pre-recorded most of the broadcast, but we were able to listen to it. The kids sang songs, read poems and did their school anthem. It was really cute and to see the kid’s faces when they were hearing their voice on the radio was priceless! The radio station was extremely small and is nothing what you would consider a radio station at home. It had two small recording rooms and a foyer where we waited. My favorite part was after we were done with the radio station, we walked the kids back to the school and then we proceeded to walk home. Two of the kids were walking home the same way we were so we actually walked them to their homes. They ended up living in the Zongo which is on the complete opposite of town from where we live but we went and met their families, saw their community and was welcomed with open arms into both of them!
On Sunday, Isabel and I hiked to the upper falls of the Wli waterfalls, the highest waterfalls in West Africa! It was a very intense hike that took us three hours but the view was wonderful! Although I have grown up and went to college right next to one of the greatest waterfalls in the world, I am still amazed at the natural beauty of this country, especially this waterfall. This will be my third time visiting it!
This weekend was wonderful and probably one of my favorite weekends so far. We didn’t travel anywhere but I was able to immerse myself into the culture. I think it might be safe to say that we are changing seasons. We are ending the rainy season and entering the dry season. It will still rain, but mostly at night and the winds from the Sahara will come blowing so loud and forceful that it feels like the house is going to fall over. When it does rain, it floods the streets but has been lasting a very short period of time. It gets cooler at night which is wonderful and the heat in the middle of the day is now a dry heat without the humidity which feels amazing!
I cannot believe that I have 3 ½ weeks of my journey here in Ghana! Time is going by oh so quickly! I hope all is well at home! I still look at the moon at night and think of all of you!
Lots of love from Africa,
Steph
The ceremony opened with a prayer and several songs. One of the pastors called up each of the different districts and if you lived in that district, you went into the middle and danced. When they called up Hohoe we all went into the middle and danced too! After they called all the districts forward, they brought out the three caskets. One was for the well-respected pastor, one was a woman who died in a tro-tro accident and one was a little girl who had been hit by a car. Then they started the actually funeral part. For each person, there were tributes. First the wife for husband or parents came up on stage and said a something, then the children, then siblings and then there were words from the district pastor on the person. It was really emotional to watch people cry for those people who didn’t even know them. I even shed a few tears myself. Not only are funerals here in Ghana about mourning the loss of a loved one, but it is also about celebrating their life. There were thousands of people there, and many people who didn’t even have any connection to one of the three people who passed away. They were there for community support and to let the family know they were there for them. It was pretty powerful!
After the funeral, another volunteer, Marinda, and I went to her school. It’s a very small school and looks much like mine but with two solid walls and a tin roof for each classroom! It is a private school and with the help of a cellphone company, the headmistress, Suzzy, had the children do an hour long broadcast at the local radio station to promote the school. We went to the school and walked the kids to the radio station and we were able to listen to the broadcast. They had already pre-recorded most of the broadcast, but we were able to listen to it. The kids sang songs, read poems and did their school anthem. It was really cute and to see the kid’s faces when they were hearing their voice on the radio was priceless! The radio station was extremely small and is nothing what you would consider a radio station at home. It had two small recording rooms and a foyer where we waited. My favorite part was after we were done with the radio station, we walked the kids back to the school and then we proceeded to walk home. Two of the kids were walking home the same way we were so we actually walked them to their homes. They ended up living in the Zongo which is on the complete opposite of town from where we live but we went and met their families, saw their community and was welcomed with open arms into both of them!
On Sunday, Isabel and I hiked to the upper falls of the Wli waterfalls, the highest waterfalls in West Africa! It was a very intense hike that took us three hours but the view was wonderful! Although I have grown up and went to college right next to one of the greatest waterfalls in the world, I am still amazed at the natural beauty of this country, especially this waterfall. This will be my third time visiting it!
This weekend was wonderful and probably one of my favorite weekends so far. We didn’t travel anywhere but I was able to immerse myself into the culture. I think it might be safe to say that we are changing seasons. We are ending the rainy season and entering the dry season. It will still rain, but mostly at night and the winds from the Sahara will come blowing so loud and forceful that it feels like the house is going to fall over. When it does rain, it floods the streets but has been lasting a very short period of time. It gets cooler at night which is wonderful and the heat in the middle of the day is now a dry heat without the humidity which feels amazing!
I cannot believe that I have 3 ½ weeks of my journey here in Ghana! Time is going by oh so quickly! I hope all is well at home! I still look at the moon at night and think of all of you!
Lots of love from Africa,
Steph
Thursday, October 21, 2010
My class!
My class!
Backrow: Holly, Blewusi, Me, Roland, Amewuga
Frontrow: Porsha, Moda, YaYra, Charlotte
A whole mixture of emotions
Hello from Ghana!
There have typically been anywhere from three to four volunteers at Happy Kids. One or two stay with the nursery class, one was working with the kindergarten class and then I have P2 – P4. However, due to sickness and a change of placement with one of the volunteers I have been the only volunteer at Happy Kids this week. It has been a completely eye opening experience, as every week seems to be here! I have so many mixed emotions on what to even think about Happy Kids.
Seeing how things have been handled with the other classes has truly made me see how dependent Happy Kids has become on the fact that volunteers will constantly be placed at their school. Without anyone else there this week I have witnessed teachers go into their routine of having kids memorize or just sit there and do nothing. Two of the four days this week, a teacher did not show up until it was almost lunch time, both of the classes usually have a volunteer there. The teacher of the kindergarten class didn’t show up on Tuesday and her kids had to just sit there until she actually did show up. The male teachers would occasionally go over and cane a child who was not sitting quietly in their seat or tell all of the kids to put their heads down.
Then on Wednesday the teacher of the nursery class did not show up and when I arrived all of the little ones were running around crying hysterically. I did our usual circle time that I do with my older kids and we sang songs for about twenty minutes. It calmed the little ones down and they were singing right along with the older kids. Then it was time for me to take my class and get to work. I helped get all of the nursery kids into their class and then had to head off for the canopy. However, the kids were all crying so loud it was hard to keep the attention of my kids. I went into the room and saw some of the kids hitting each other. Then one of the oldest girls Lucy was instructed to go into the room and have them all sit on the two benches. She was picking up the crying children and placing them on the bench. My kids were working on something independently so I could stay in the room for a few minutes. Once I left the room she closed the door to keep them all contained and then she had to keep them out of trouble, keep them from crying and running away. She’s 12 and she had to head a whole class of 30 crying children by herself.
I tried to help as much as I could, but I have had to force myself to really just stick to teaching my class. It has probably been one of the most challenging things emotionally for me to have to sit and watch me old class of 6 year olds get taught three digit multiplication and never pick up a book or watch the nursery kids get canned because they don’t want to sit on a bench and be quiet for three hours. As much as I would love to just run the whole school I know that would be stepping out of my boundaries and making Happy Kids even more dependable on volunteers.
Today at school I witnessed probably one of the most unbelievable situations at school. My teacher was not there this morning so I was going about business as usual. YaYra, went over to the older kids class, P5 and P6 to get something and all of a sudden I hear her wailing and screaming. I peek under the blackboard and see that the teacher had a hold of her. She comes back holding her head and I asked one of the older boys, Wisdom in the other class what happened. It turns out that the teacher was going around to all of the kids and checking their heads. If they had not had their hair cut down short or shaved, then he was taking a pair of scissors and grabbing their hair and cutting a line down the middle of their head as a way to prove that they needed to get their hair cut. When I told YaYra to lift her hand up I could see that he had cut so close to her scalp that I saw just skin. I gave her a hug to try and calm her down. Then he came into my classroom, cut Roland’s hair and Charlotte started crying and hid under the desk. He pulled her up from the desk but then saw me standing right in front of her and he left the room. My whole entire body was shaking and I could tell the kids could see that I was upset. I was frozen and so upset at what just happened. It was like a scene that I had watch from a movie on the Holocaust. I was horrified at what he was doing but couldn’t do anything about it. I had to snap out of it and continue with the rest of the day and hold in my tears and anger. When I got back to the homebase I was still shaking and I went and told our program managers what had happened. They are talking, and they are going to handle the situation.
On a lighter note! My kids have been amazing me every day! I made individual sight word booklets for each of the kids. I found a list of about 100 sight words they should know and wrote them in the back of the notebooks. Then a few weeks ago I took them one by one and tested the words they knew. After that I created small sight words booklets for them of all the words that they didn’t know. During their illustration of their books time, I have been calling them up one by one and having them go over their sight word books with me. Today, four of my kids were able to read every signal word in their books to me and I am allowed them to take the pieces of paper home! They were ecstatic as I was! If I can give them anything while I am here, I think that giving them the power to read more words is a gift for them! They have been doing so well and I have seen their progress even reflected in their writing! The vocabulary they use to write has become so much more enhanced and it’s so wonderful to see them succeed. They are such hard workers and truly just absorb or try to everything I am teaching them! It’s so wonderful to see their faces light up when they understand a concept!
I know that most of my entries have been about the children, and let’s face it, it’s because they truly have become my life here in Ghana. My heart breaks for them but smiles for them every single day I am here. I have learned so much from them and have loved watching them grow!
The other small bit of life here is Ghana continues to go well. I am resting when I can and making sure I drink plenty of water to avoid the germs and sickness that seems to be milling around the homebase.
I hope you are all enjoying the fall weather at home. I think the cold will be a complete shock to me when I get home, but I’ll be ready from a break from the heat!
Lots of love from Africa,
Steph
There have typically been anywhere from three to four volunteers at Happy Kids. One or two stay with the nursery class, one was working with the kindergarten class and then I have P2 – P4. However, due to sickness and a change of placement with one of the volunteers I have been the only volunteer at Happy Kids this week. It has been a completely eye opening experience, as every week seems to be here! I have so many mixed emotions on what to even think about Happy Kids.
Seeing how things have been handled with the other classes has truly made me see how dependent Happy Kids has become on the fact that volunteers will constantly be placed at their school. Without anyone else there this week I have witnessed teachers go into their routine of having kids memorize or just sit there and do nothing. Two of the four days this week, a teacher did not show up until it was almost lunch time, both of the classes usually have a volunteer there. The teacher of the kindergarten class didn’t show up on Tuesday and her kids had to just sit there until she actually did show up. The male teachers would occasionally go over and cane a child who was not sitting quietly in their seat or tell all of the kids to put their heads down.
Then on Wednesday the teacher of the nursery class did not show up and when I arrived all of the little ones were running around crying hysterically. I did our usual circle time that I do with my older kids and we sang songs for about twenty minutes. It calmed the little ones down and they were singing right along with the older kids. Then it was time for me to take my class and get to work. I helped get all of the nursery kids into their class and then had to head off for the canopy. However, the kids were all crying so loud it was hard to keep the attention of my kids. I went into the room and saw some of the kids hitting each other. Then one of the oldest girls Lucy was instructed to go into the room and have them all sit on the two benches. She was picking up the crying children and placing them on the bench. My kids were working on something independently so I could stay in the room for a few minutes. Once I left the room she closed the door to keep them all contained and then she had to keep them out of trouble, keep them from crying and running away. She’s 12 and she had to head a whole class of 30 crying children by herself.
I tried to help as much as I could, but I have had to force myself to really just stick to teaching my class. It has probably been one of the most challenging things emotionally for me to have to sit and watch me old class of 6 year olds get taught three digit multiplication and never pick up a book or watch the nursery kids get canned because they don’t want to sit on a bench and be quiet for three hours. As much as I would love to just run the whole school I know that would be stepping out of my boundaries and making Happy Kids even more dependable on volunteers.
Today at school I witnessed probably one of the most unbelievable situations at school. My teacher was not there this morning so I was going about business as usual. YaYra, went over to the older kids class, P5 and P6 to get something and all of a sudden I hear her wailing and screaming. I peek under the blackboard and see that the teacher had a hold of her. She comes back holding her head and I asked one of the older boys, Wisdom in the other class what happened. It turns out that the teacher was going around to all of the kids and checking their heads. If they had not had their hair cut down short or shaved, then he was taking a pair of scissors and grabbing their hair and cutting a line down the middle of their head as a way to prove that they needed to get their hair cut. When I told YaYra to lift her hand up I could see that he had cut so close to her scalp that I saw just skin. I gave her a hug to try and calm her down. Then he came into my classroom, cut Roland’s hair and Charlotte started crying and hid under the desk. He pulled her up from the desk but then saw me standing right in front of her and he left the room. My whole entire body was shaking and I could tell the kids could see that I was upset. I was frozen and so upset at what just happened. It was like a scene that I had watch from a movie on the Holocaust. I was horrified at what he was doing but couldn’t do anything about it. I had to snap out of it and continue with the rest of the day and hold in my tears and anger. When I got back to the homebase I was still shaking and I went and told our program managers what had happened. They are talking, and they are going to handle the situation.
On a lighter note! My kids have been amazing me every day! I made individual sight word booklets for each of the kids. I found a list of about 100 sight words they should know and wrote them in the back of the notebooks. Then a few weeks ago I took them one by one and tested the words they knew. After that I created small sight words booklets for them of all the words that they didn’t know. During their illustration of their books time, I have been calling them up one by one and having them go over their sight word books with me. Today, four of my kids were able to read every signal word in their books to me and I am allowed them to take the pieces of paper home! They were ecstatic as I was! If I can give them anything while I am here, I think that giving them the power to read more words is a gift for them! They have been doing so well and I have seen their progress even reflected in their writing! The vocabulary they use to write has become so much more enhanced and it’s so wonderful to see them succeed. They are such hard workers and truly just absorb or try to everything I am teaching them! It’s so wonderful to see their faces light up when they understand a concept!
I know that most of my entries have been about the children, and let’s face it, it’s because they truly have become my life here in Ghana. My heart breaks for them but smiles for them every single day I am here. I have learned so much from them and have loved watching them grow!
The other small bit of life here is Ghana continues to go well. I am resting when I can and making sure I drink plenty of water to avoid the germs and sickness that seems to be milling around the homebase.
I hope you are all enjoying the fall weather at home. I think the cold will be a complete shock to me when I get home, but I’ll be ready from a break from the heat!
Lots of love from Africa,
Steph
Monday, October 18, 2010
Kids will be kids..
I made the decision to not ask to recombine the classes. I thought about it all weekend and decided that by me going to the headmistress and asking her if I could take over not one, but two classes would seem to them as if I was going in to take over the school. As much as it breaks my heart, I know it will be the best to keep peace at school. I will still continue having them illustrate their books so they will at least have that to take home!
On Friday at P.E. I ended up playing a bunch of games with the girls. They have taught me all of their games and songs in Ewe and I can now sing right along with them! They are so much fun to play with and their energy is endless! I have decided that if nothing else comes from my presence at Happy Kids, I will be completely content with the fact that we have exchanged games and songs. The kids can sing all of the songs that I taught them and probably one of my favorite moments last week was when one of the oldest boys, Wisdom led the group in singing Tarzan!
I have finally figured out lunchtime at school. I never saw half of the nursery class eating at lunch and I couldn’t figure out why. Some of the students actually bring their rice from home, so before the chaos of lunch break starts; the teacher feeds those who brought their lunch so it cuts down on the number of kids running to the food bucket when it’s their turn to eat. However, I have found that those kids who do eat first are the ones that are then stealing the other children’s food. Today after the little ones were done eating and it was the older kids turn, I started singing songs and all the little ones flocked towards me and joined it. It kept them entertained and out of trouble while the older ones were finishing up.
Kids never cease to amaze me. They are always taking care of each other and playing well together (for the most part.) As I was just watching the kids play today I noticed that some of the girls were in the half finished new classroom area of bricks and I walked over and discovered they were playing house. They even use one of the babies, Joshua as the baby of the family! Then, I saw some of the older girls and the boys running around and chasing each other, and they were playing cops and robbers. I love watching the kids play together and it reminds me so much of watching the kids at home play on playground. While I was watching them I couldn’t help but think how no matter where in the world you are, whether in a rural village in Africa or a rural village in Upstate New York, kids will always be kids, using their imaginations to create and take them anywhere, and be anybody they want to be!
I love going to school full time, the kids wear me out and I love being so much a part of their day!
Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend! We have decided to keep traveling close to home. We went back to the turtle beach this weekend – no turtle though this time, but it was so refreshing and wonderful to see my first African sunset over the ocean! I still think of you all often and hope you are enjoying fall!
Lots of love from Africa,
Steph
On Friday at P.E. I ended up playing a bunch of games with the girls. They have taught me all of their games and songs in Ewe and I can now sing right along with them! They are so much fun to play with and their energy is endless! I have decided that if nothing else comes from my presence at Happy Kids, I will be completely content with the fact that we have exchanged games and songs. The kids can sing all of the songs that I taught them and probably one of my favorite moments last week was when one of the oldest boys, Wisdom led the group in singing Tarzan!
I have finally figured out lunchtime at school. I never saw half of the nursery class eating at lunch and I couldn’t figure out why. Some of the students actually bring their rice from home, so before the chaos of lunch break starts; the teacher feeds those who brought their lunch so it cuts down on the number of kids running to the food bucket when it’s their turn to eat. However, I have found that those kids who do eat first are the ones that are then stealing the other children’s food. Today after the little ones were done eating and it was the older kids turn, I started singing songs and all the little ones flocked towards me and joined it. It kept them entertained and out of trouble while the older ones were finishing up.
Kids never cease to amaze me. They are always taking care of each other and playing well together (for the most part.) As I was just watching the kids play today I noticed that some of the girls were in the half finished new classroom area of bricks and I walked over and discovered they were playing house. They even use one of the babies, Joshua as the baby of the family! Then, I saw some of the older girls and the boys running around and chasing each other, and they were playing cops and robbers. I love watching the kids play together and it reminds me so much of watching the kids at home play on playground. While I was watching them I couldn’t help but think how no matter where in the world you are, whether in a rural village in Africa or a rural village in Upstate New York, kids will always be kids, using their imaginations to create and take them anywhere, and be anybody they want to be!
I love going to school full time, the kids wear me out and I love being so much a part of their day!
Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend! We have decided to keep traveling close to home. We went back to the turtle beach this weekend – no turtle though this time, but it was so refreshing and wonderful to see my first African sunset over the ocean! I still think of you all often and hope you are enjoying fall!
Lots of love from Africa,
Steph
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Smiling faces!
Amuwega and Holly during break!
Two of the older girls in the P5 class are standing in the back: Lucy and Comfort
My adorable students in the front: YaYra, Charlotte and Moda!
My whole class plus some of the kids in the younger classes! I will try to get a better picture of just my class - when there were all 16 of them when I get the chance!
Oh, we’re halfway there, Oh whoa living on a prayer…
Although as I post this my time is over half way done, I still thought it would seem fitting to put that as my title. Some days it seems like I have been here for a year and some days it seems like I just arrived. Time certainly is a funny thing that we have absolutely no control over!
Speaking of control…that has seemed to be a bit of a struggle for me lately as I have attempted to talk myself through the fact that I have no control over the culture of the school system here in Ghana. This week has been the start of a new schedule for me that will continue up until my departure. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I have started staying at school all day until it ends at 3:00. Then on Wednesday I am still going to House of Hope, an orphanage right after school is finished. Cat, Piper and I are having the students, after they get out of school, put on a play. We are performing an African Folk Tale. So far we have created a script, casted the parts and had a run through of the lines. It is complete chaos but the kids are absolutely loving it! We are hoping to video tape the performance and then I’ll be able to have a little viewing when I get home! Thursdays I will still be going to school but come home for lunch and continue to go to EPTRA in the afternoons – the micro financing organization. That is something different from working with kids and I get to see the community and really go out there and be in the midst of all the going ons of the people. On Friday I will only be going to school for PE in the morning and returning to the homebase for lunch. It has been a busy week and I have been exhausted, in a wonderful way when I return every afternoon! My bedtime is slowly getting earlier and earlier!
In the few days that I have stayed for a full day at Happy Kids my eyes were opened to a whole new world. On Tuesday my class of 16 was cut in half as they decided to make a new class of P1’s. Now my class consists of P2, P3 and P4. So on Tuesday as I was be bopping around my classroom doing all the activities with my kids, I had to sit and watch the other half of my class stare at me helplessly as their teacher was making them repeat a poem over and over again until they had it memorized. I think that a little piece of my heart actually broke as I watched them run over to me during break and ask if they could work on their books that we have been writing. After break that day I asked if they could come over and we just finished writing the whole entire book since I didn’t know when I would be able to work with them again. I’m going to continue having the come over for a half an hour every day so they can at least finish their books. I’m going to talk to the Head Mistress and see if she would allow me to keep the classes combined at least while I’m there, however, it might have a negative effect on them when I do leave and could possibly put them further behind, but we shall see.
Lunchtime at Happy Kids is quite the ordeal. I have been taking my traditional peanut butter and jelly and a banana for lunch every day, since I am not sure what food they will be eating and I would probably get sick off of it. They are given an hour break from 12:00 – 1:00. The other teachers go and hide in a secluded area and the older girls are left to go and fetch lunch from the boarding house. Meanwhile, the rest of the older kids are laughing, running around playing football and just being kids which was wonderful to see. However, the younger kids are running around, unsupervised, hitting each other with sticks, pushing each other off the brick piles and running away to the park. It was like I was trying to control a circus the first day I was there. I am going to try and start having a few games to play with the younger kids during this time starting next week. I am still unsure of the whole lunch situation. The youngest students are allowed to eat first. They get a bowl, get a little pile of rice and run off to eat it with their hands. Not all students are given bowls and they run over to the kids who do receive food and try to steal it from them. I am not sure why some kids do not receive food and some do. Then the older students are allowed to eat. It seems that everyone is content by the time lunch is over but my head is always spinning.
After lunch, its back to work for my kids! I have now started doing math and have attempted to be creative with using some manipulatives. It’s a bit challenging when the resources are so limited but it seems to be working out alright. As I am again having my kids doing all kinds of work, the P1 class is being ordered to put their heads down on their desk and take a nap, the Nursery kids are all sprawled out on the concrete floor sleeping, my old class is still repeating the same poem or being asked to do two digit multiplication, and the oldest class P5 and P6 is copying down notes from the chalk board while the teacher is on his cellphone. It is so frustrating and heartbreaking to see what goes on in the other classes after the volunteers have left. It makes me wonder what is going to happen to my class the rest of the year.
There are about 25 kids living at the boarding house that stay after school to help clean up. They have to put all of the desks and chalkboards into the classroom that gets locked at night. Then they have to carry over the bowls and tubs from lunch. Almost all of my kids live at the boarding house and as I was watching them get ready to go “home” I could help but tear up and think about what they do every night. It always amazed me how close the kids in my class were and how they always looked out for each other but fought like brothers and sisters as well. I wasn’t sure if it was a cultural thing, and I’m sure it is partly but after watching them all walk together down the dirt road, I couldn’t help but think that to each other they are more than schoolmates, they are family. I’m sure not all of them are orphans but they don’t live with any family so really they are all each other has. They have slowly stolen and captured a piece of my heart and every day I become so much closer with them and I would love to just love to keep them. So as impossible as that really is and instead of trying to find a way to bring all of them home, I have started saying a prayer for each of them at night.
So as I am ending my seventh week here in Ghana I am asking all of you before you go to bed tonight to just say a short prayer for all the children at Happy Kids and that God will guide them and look out for them. Thank you for your prayers for me while I have been here. It’s been so comforting to know that I have so many wonderful people in my life!
I hope this finds you all smiling and healthy!
Lots of love from Africa!
Steph
Speaking of control…that has seemed to be a bit of a struggle for me lately as I have attempted to talk myself through the fact that I have no control over the culture of the school system here in Ghana. This week has been the start of a new schedule for me that will continue up until my departure. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I have started staying at school all day until it ends at 3:00. Then on Wednesday I am still going to House of Hope, an orphanage right after school is finished. Cat, Piper and I are having the students, after they get out of school, put on a play. We are performing an African Folk Tale. So far we have created a script, casted the parts and had a run through of the lines. It is complete chaos but the kids are absolutely loving it! We are hoping to video tape the performance and then I’ll be able to have a little viewing when I get home! Thursdays I will still be going to school but come home for lunch and continue to go to EPTRA in the afternoons – the micro financing organization. That is something different from working with kids and I get to see the community and really go out there and be in the midst of all the going ons of the people. On Friday I will only be going to school for PE in the morning and returning to the homebase for lunch. It has been a busy week and I have been exhausted, in a wonderful way when I return every afternoon! My bedtime is slowly getting earlier and earlier!
In the few days that I have stayed for a full day at Happy Kids my eyes were opened to a whole new world. On Tuesday my class of 16 was cut in half as they decided to make a new class of P1’s. Now my class consists of P2, P3 and P4. So on Tuesday as I was be bopping around my classroom doing all the activities with my kids, I had to sit and watch the other half of my class stare at me helplessly as their teacher was making them repeat a poem over and over again until they had it memorized. I think that a little piece of my heart actually broke as I watched them run over to me during break and ask if they could work on their books that we have been writing. After break that day I asked if they could come over and we just finished writing the whole entire book since I didn’t know when I would be able to work with them again. I’m going to continue having the come over for a half an hour every day so they can at least finish their books. I’m going to talk to the Head Mistress and see if she would allow me to keep the classes combined at least while I’m there, however, it might have a negative effect on them when I do leave and could possibly put them further behind, but we shall see.
Lunchtime at Happy Kids is quite the ordeal. I have been taking my traditional peanut butter and jelly and a banana for lunch every day, since I am not sure what food they will be eating and I would probably get sick off of it. They are given an hour break from 12:00 – 1:00. The other teachers go and hide in a secluded area and the older girls are left to go and fetch lunch from the boarding house. Meanwhile, the rest of the older kids are laughing, running around playing football and just being kids which was wonderful to see. However, the younger kids are running around, unsupervised, hitting each other with sticks, pushing each other off the brick piles and running away to the park. It was like I was trying to control a circus the first day I was there. I am going to try and start having a few games to play with the younger kids during this time starting next week. I am still unsure of the whole lunch situation. The youngest students are allowed to eat first. They get a bowl, get a little pile of rice and run off to eat it with their hands. Not all students are given bowls and they run over to the kids who do receive food and try to steal it from them. I am not sure why some kids do not receive food and some do. Then the older students are allowed to eat. It seems that everyone is content by the time lunch is over but my head is always spinning.
After lunch, its back to work for my kids! I have now started doing math and have attempted to be creative with using some manipulatives. It’s a bit challenging when the resources are so limited but it seems to be working out alright. As I am again having my kids doing all kinds of work, the P1 class is being ordered to put their heads down on their desk and take a nap, the Nursery kids are all sprawled out on the concrete floor sleeping, my old class is still repeating the same poem or being asked to do two digit multiplication, and the oldest class P5 and P6 is copying down notes from the chalk board while the teacher is on his cellphone. It is so frustrating and heartbreaking to see what goes on in the other classes after the volunteers have left. It makes me wonder what is going to happen to my class the rest of the year.
There are about 25 kids living at the boarding house that stay after school to help clean up. They have to put all of the desks and chalkboards into the classroom that gets locked at night. Then they have to carry over the bowls and tubs from lunch. Almost all of my kids live at the boarding house and as I was watching them get ready to go “home” I could help but tear up and think about what they do every night. It always amazed me how close the kids in my class were and how they always looked out for each other but fought like brothers and sisters as well. I wasn’t sure if it was a cultural thing, and I’m sure it is partly but after watching them all walk together down the dirt road, I couldn’t help but think that to each other they are more than schoolmates, they are family. I’m sure not all of them are orphans but they don’t live with any family so really they are all each other has. They have slowly stolen and captured a piece of my heart and every day I become so much closer with them and I would love to just love to keep them. So as impossible as that really is and instead of trying to find a way to bring all of them home, I have started saying a prayer for each of them at night.
So as I am ending my seventh week here in Ghana I am asking all of you before you go to bed tonight to just say a short prayer for all the children at Happy Kids and that God will guide them and look out for them. Thank you for your prayers for me while I have been here. It’s been so comforting to know that I have so many wonderful people in my life!
I hope this finds you all smiling and healthy!
Lots of love from Africa!
Steph
Monday, October 11, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Rain, rain go away, I really want to teach today!
So a few blogs ago I mentioned that it was near the end of the rainy season and that it was starting to get drier and therefore hotter and hotter…well apparently that was a small joke on my part! It has been anything but the end of the rainy season, I am afraid we are smack dab in the middle of it! A day that it doesn’t rain is a beautiful hot day! Now rain doesn’t really bother me too much while at the homebase, we will once in a while play volleyball in the rain or when I awake to the rain pounding on the roof it is actually quite calming and peaceful! It’s a little annoying when I have to keep my clothes on the line for days because the rain keeps getting them wet and they never seem to dry, but other than that it’s not horrible.
However, when it rains at school, it is a completely different story. If you have seen the picture of my classroom, you will notice that it has a straw roof. Here’s a small hint – the straw does not keep the rain out! There is one classroom that has a canopy but has a tin roof and one actually building where the nursery class is. For the past two days, right after break (halfway through the morning) it has started to torrential down pour. Let me paint you a picture. The kids are out running around, one of the babies, usually Joshua is fast asleep in my arms, and it starts raining. I hurry over (with the child still asleep in my arms) and gather all of their notebooks and papers from the chair, since I don’t have any other place to put things besides the floor and the kids all drag their desks over to the small “porch” of the one solid four wall classroom. The porch is just wide enough for two desks to fit right next to each other. However, there is a slight overhang and the person sitting on the far left gets completely soaked as well as the second desk because the water drips off the roof. On my left side is the K and P1 class attempting to learn and in the classroom where the windows are opened are the nursery kids usually screaming or singing. With the rain pounding down, all of my kids completely soaked, it is nearly impossible to teach. Lately I have been allowing them to start illustrating the book we are writing together, but some of their papers get wet and they are devastated. So, as the other teachers just allow their kids to sit there, I have started story time. I try to be as productive as possible and they love just sitting there and listening to the stories. Although I would love to continue with my lessons, I just remind myself that this is Africa and even just reading a story to the children is better than nothing!
Yesterday I attempted centers again and it worked very well until the rain hit. I have a notebook for each child in my class and I write out their worksheets in the notebooks. I spend my entire evenings creating centers and writing out everything in their notebooks. My favorite moment of the week was when I handed them each their own notebook with their name on it and just saw their faces light up! The notebooks are wonderful and the kids are really starting to like my style of teaching. It takes less time to explain things and they are enjoying the hands on activities that I am presenting them with. I think they may even be learning a few things here or there! I adore them and enjoy my time at school immensely!
I hope all is well at home and you are enjoying some fall weather!
Lots of love from Africa!
Steph
However, when it rains at school, it is a completely different story. If you have seen the picture of my classroom, you will notice that it has a straw roof. Here’s a small hint – the straw does not keep the rain out! There is one classroom that has a canopy but has a tin roof and one actually building where the nursery class is. For the past two days, right after break (halfway through the morning) it has started to torrential down pour. Let me paint you a picture. The kids are out running around, one of the babies, usually Joshua is fast asleep in my arms, and it starts raining. I hurry over (with the child still asleep in my arms) and gather all of their notebooks and papers from the chair, since I don’t have any other place to put things besides the floor and the kids all drag their desks over to the small “porch” of the one solid four wall classroom. The porch is just wide enough for two desks to fit right next to each other. However, there is a slight overhang and the person sitting on the far left gets completely soaked as well as the second desk because the water drips off the roof. On my left side is the K and P1 class attempting to learn and in the classroom where the windows are opened are the nursery kids usually screaming or singing. With the rain pounding down, all of my kids completely soaked, it is nearly impossible to teach. Lately I have been allowing them to start illustrating the book we are writing together, but some of their papers get wet and they are devastated. So, as the other teachers just allow their kids to sit there, I have started story time. I try to be as productive as possible and they love just sitting there and listening to the stories. Although I would love to continue with my lessons, I just remind myself that this is Africa and even just reading a story to the children is better than nothing!
Yesterday I attempted centers again and it worked very well until the rain hit. I have a notebook for each child in my class and I write out their worksheets in the notebooks. I spend my entire evenings creating centers and writing out everything in their notebooks. My favorite moment of the week was when I handed them each their own notebook with their name on it and just saw their faces light up! The notebooks are wonderful and the kids are really starting to like my style of teaching. It takes less time to explain things and they are enjoying the hands on activities that I am presenting them with. I think they may even be learning a few things here or there! I adore them and enjoy my time at school immensely!
I hope all is well at home and you are enjoying some fall weather!
Lots of love from Africa!
Steph
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Warthogs, Monkeys and Elephants OH MY!
Greetings from Ghana!
School continues to challenge me but is rewarding all in the same breath. My class has increased to now 13 students which has been wonderful and thus bringing on more challenges! There are so many more girls in my class now and they make me laugh just with their interactions with each other. My whole original differentiating plan has now changed as I have added many new students and I have one student, Dora who does not know how to spell her name. I originally was starting to teach them some of the basic phonics still that are taught in Kindergarten in the United States but soon realized that they aren’t taught phonics here for a reason. How they pronounce the letters and words do not match up with the sounds that we are able to produce, so therefore, teaching them phonics has been a bit of a waste, but a nice attempt to see what they can actually do.
So, my new approach has been to do projects with them while teaching them a little bit along the way. Recently, together we chronologically organized what their daily routines are. I talked about ordering and how important it is to look at the activity and then see if it truly is the next thing on their daily routine. We did this together and I wrote it on the chalk board, I still have to do sort of a fill in the blank for the younger kids where I write some of the sentence and then they write the most important words. I allowed the older kids to go on their own and they seemed to do pretty well with the activity. I kept their sheets and we are now in the process of turning them into a book titled “A Day in the Life of ______.” We are writing the book together but the students are each writing their own book. We have been working on writing a complete sentence and they have done well showing me that they can do that! I have been very proud of them! Some of my students, especially the older ones do not understand the whole spacing between words so I have to draw lines for each word to show how the words should be spaced. I am often running around the canopy, not that it’s that big, and modifying for all the students – I love it! After we get done writing I am going to have them illustrate them and I’m going to think of some creative way to bind them and have them take their books home! I think projects like this will be a whole lot more beneficial than attempting to teach them the nitty gritty of our language. If anyone has any ideas – I would love them!
This week I took a long weekend and two other girls (Cat and Piper) and I traveled to Mole National Park. We left, along with Alexa and Isabel at 3:00am Thursday morning on a bus set for Kumasi. It was about a 9 hour bus ride and we arrived in Kumasi at 12:00pm Thursday. After the long trip, Alexa and Isabel decided they did not want to continue the journey to Mole any farther – so we said goodbye to them and waiting for our next bus to Tamale. The man sitting next to me on the first bus, was so nice and helped us find the right place to buy our tickets and waited with us the whole time. I know I say this often, but it still amazes me how out of the way some people go to be nice and help out. I think we could use a little more of this daily random small acts of kindness in America. We finally arrived in Tamale at 11:00pm and had to take a taxi still to our hotel room. Then early Friday morning we got up and finished our long 25 hour journey by taking a final three hour taxi ride to Mole National Park. As soon as we entered the park and started driving towards our hotel we saw a whole bunch of baboons just hanging out in the middle of the road. Right outside our hotel room were warthogs and antelope that we could just walk past and they didn’t care.
Friday afternoon we went to an Eco-Village just a short ways away. This Eco-Village was set up by a Peace Corps volunteer who wanted to give the opportunity to show people the way of life in an African Village. The guide that drove us there, walked around the village and we met the chief, played with the kids, watched a woman make shea butter, climbed on top of a roof and saw the whole village, visited the herbalist and just walked around the village. The village has about 600 people and can run independently off the land. I had several mixed feelings as I was walking through the village. Part of me felt a bit intrusive on their life and made it seem like we were going to a zoo or something. Part of me was so interested in seeing their way of life and how they are content in just living off the land and content with everything they have in their village. It was interesting to see the different roles of the village and who plays which part. Since it is in such a remote area they literally have everything they need right there. Part of me thinks it is incredible that they are able to truthfully live off the land and enjoy their life. However, another part of me is sad, because they have no way of advancing their life either; they have no desire to change any part of their life. I am not saying they should go and become westernized or go and buy cellphones, but even just in cleanliness, they are not allowing their lifestyle to change slightly in order to become more aware of good hygiene. It was pretty emotional as I was walking around and think of all these things – and such a joy to play with the children!
Saturday morning we woke up at 6 in order to be ready for our 6:30 walking safari. I brought along my Keen sandals thinking they would be an excellent pair of walking shoes; however, the guide was not convinced that these would properly protect my feet, so I had to rent a big pair of rubber boots to wear, without socks. That was an experience all in itself! At first we started walking down a small dirt path and the guide was telling us about the park and all that it offers. Then we go off the path and just start walking in the bushes and it was at that point I was so grateful to have on the big boots so my pants wouldn’t get wet and so my shoes were not muddy! We saw a tree full of monkeys and watched them play around for a while, and then saw a small family of warthogs trot on by. Then the guide found a fresh elephant footprint, so we started to follow the path. We started actually tracking down and elephant. We followed the footprints, looking for feces, chewed up parts of trees, and even saw the spot where the elephant has laid down for the night. After about an hour of this, I was getting a little discouraged and we had been walking in circles it seemed. We stopped at a Salt Lake, basically a big mud hole that has natural salt the elephants like to stop there. A bit to the left of the Salt Lake, in the trees, we saw four huge gray legs! Finally we had found our elephant! The guide made us wait and see, and then he took us through the woods so we were about 20 feet from the elephant. She (I’m calling it a she, not sure if it was!) was absolutely beautiful to watch. No this isn’t my first time I have ever seen an elephant, but watching her interact in her natural environment was pretty magical. She would take her trunk and just shed an entire branch of leaves and put it in her mouth. At one point she turned and faced us and it really startled me. I didn’t realize how powerful they truly are until I was standing not behind a fence and right face to face with an elephant! I was able to get some amazing pictures but also just stood there and watched her! Wildlife is so miraculous, especially, in their natural habitat! We stayed and watched her for about an hour and then it was time to make our way up the huge hill right in front of our hotel. It was crazy to think that the hotel was right in the forest below our hotel!
It was a fantastic trip and for sure worth all of the traveling! I am excited to get back to my kids and see them again!
I hope all is well at home! If you get the chance, watch the Lion King sometime, with all this wildlife I’ve been seeing, I have been dying to see it!
Lots of love from Africa!
Steph
School continues to challenge me but is rewarding all in the same breath. My class has increased to now 13 students which has been wonderful and thus bringing on more challenges! There are so many more girls in my class now and they make me laugh just with their interactions with each other. My whole original differentiating plan has now changed as I have added many new students and I have one student, Dora who does not know how to spell her name. I originally was starting to teach them some of the basic phonics still that are taught in Kindergarten in the United States but soon realized that they aren’t taught phonics here for a reason. How they pronounce the letters and words do not match up with the sounds that we are able to produce, so therefore, teaching them phonics has been a bit of a waste, but a nice attempt to see what they can actually do.
So, my new approach has been to do projects with them while teaching them a little bit along the way. Recently, together we chronologically organized what their daily routines are. I talked about ordering and how important it is to look at the activity and then see if it truly is the next thing on their daily routine. We did this together and I wrote it on the chalk board, I still have to do sort of a fill in the blank for the younger kids where I write some of the sentence and then they write the most important words. I allowed the older kids to go on their own and they seemed to do pretty well with the activity. I kept their sheets and we are now in the process of turning them into a book titled “A Day in the Life of ______.” We are writing the book together but the students are each writing their own book. We have been working on writing a complete sentence and they have done well showing me that they can do that! I have been very proud of them! Some of my students, especially the older ones do not understand the whole spacing between words so I have to draw lines for each word to show how the words should be spaced. I am often running around the canopy, not that it’s that big, and modifying for all the students – I love it! After we get done writing I am going to have them illustrate them and I’m going to think of some creative way to bind them and have them take their books home! I think projects like this will be a whole lot more beneficial than attempting to teach them the nitty gritty of our language. If anyone has any ideas – I would love them!
This week I took a long weekend and two other girls (Cat and Piper) and I traveled to Mole National Park. We left, along with Alexa and Isabel at 3:00am Thursday morning on a bus set for Kumasi. It was about a 9 hour bus ride and we arrived in Kumasi at 12:00pm Thursday. After the long trip, Alexa and Isabel decided they did not want to continue the journey to Mole any farther – so we said goodbye to them and waiting for our next bus to Tamale. The man sitting next to me on the first bus, was so nice and helped us find the right place to buy our tickets and waited with us the whole time. I know I say this often, but it still amazes me how out of the way some people go to be nice and help out. I think we could use a little more of this daily random small acts of kindness in America. We finally arrived in Tamale at 11:00pm and had to take a taxi still to our hotel room. Then early Friday morning we got up and finished our long 25 hour journey by taking a final three hour taxi ride to Mole National Park. As soon as we entered the park and started driving towards our hotel we saw a whole bunch of baboons just hanging out in the middle of the road. Right outside our hotel room were warthogs and antelope that we could just walk past and they didn’t care.
Friday afternoon we went to an Eco-Village just a short ways away. This Eco-Village was set up by a Peace Corps volunteer who wanted to give the opportunity to show people the way of life in an African Village. The guide that drove us there, walked around the village and we met the chief, played with the kids, watched a woman make shea butter, climbed on top of a roof and saw the whole village, visited the herbalist and just walked around the village. The village has about 600 people and can run independently off the land. I had several mixed feelings as I was walking through the village. Part of me felt a bit intrusive on their life and made it seem like we were going to a zoo or something. Part of me was so interested in seeing their way of life and how they are content in just living off the land and content with everything they have in their village. It was interesting to see the different roles of the village and who plays which part. Since it is in such a remote area they literally have everything they need right there. Part of me thinks it is incredible that they are able to truthfully live off the land and enjoy their life. However, another part of me is sad, because they have no way of advancing their life either; they have no desire to change any part of their life. I am not saying they should go and become westernized or go and buy cellphones, but even just in cleanliness, they are not allowing their lifestyle to change slightly in order to become more aware of good hygiene. It was pretty emotional as I was walking around and think of all these things – and such a joy to play with the children!
Saturday morning we woke up at 6 in order to be ready for our 6:30 walking safari. I brought along my Keen sandals thinking they would be an excellent pair of walking shoes; however, the guide was not convinced that these would properly protect my feet, so I had to rent a big pair of rubber boots to wear, without socks. That was an experience all in itself! At first we started walking down a small dirt path and the guide was telling us about the park and all that it offers. Then we go off the path and just start walking in the bushes and it was at that point I was so grateful to have on the big boots so my pants wouldn’t get wet and so my shoes were not muddy! We saw a tree full of monkeys and watched them play around for a while, and then saw a small family of warthogs trot on by. Then the guide found a fresh elephant footprint, so we started to follow the path. We started actually tracking down and elephant. We followed the footprints, looking for feces, chewed up parts of trees, and even saw the spot where the elephant has laid down for the night. After about an hour of this, I was getting a little discouraged and we had been walking in circles it seemed. We stopped at a Salt Lake, basically a big mud hole that has natural salt the elephants like to stop there. A bit to the left of the Salt Lake, in the trees, we saw four huge gray legs! Finally we had found our elephant! The guide made us wait and see, and then he took us through the woods so we were about 20 feet from the elephant. She (I’m calling it a she, not sure if it was!) was absolutely beautiful to watch. No this isn’t my first time I have ever seen an elephant, but watching her interact in her natural environment was pretty magical. She would take her trunk and just shed an entire branch of leaves and put it in her mouth. At one point she turned and faced us and it really startled me. I didn’t realize how powerful they truly are until I was standing not behind a fence and right face to face with an elephant! I was able to get some amazing pictures but also just stood there and watched her! Wildlife is so miraculous, especially, in their natural habitat! We stayed and watched her for about an hour and then it was time to make our way up the huge hill right in front of our hotel. It was crazy to think that the hotel was right in the forest below our hotel!
It was a fantastic trip and for sure worth all of the traveling! I am excited to get back to my kids and see them again!
I hope all is well at home! If you get the chance, watch the Lion King sometime, with all this wildlife I’ve been seeing, I have been dying to see it!
Lots of love from Africa!
Steph
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