Volunteer

Peter, Conscious, Doh, Shalom and Esther after tutoring

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“Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.”

- Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary General, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and famous Ghanaian

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Although our team worked on multiple projects while in Ghana, most of us were placed in one of three schools in Senchi Ferry - Catholic, Bea Akoto, and Methodist. The denominational names are based on their founding years ago by missionary groups - they are now all part of the public system. From first to seventh grade, we were scattered throughout the community based on need and our preferences. I ended up working at the Methodist School, teaching 6th grade with Mr. Daniel Ankamah.

Mr. Ankamah and Bryan

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Mr. Ankamah is a seasoned educator with 35 years of experience teaching in Ghana. He grew up in the region east of Lake Volta, near the border with Togo, but had been teaching in Senchi Ferry for years. Actually, our local group leader, Benjamin, was in Mr. Ankamah's class back in the 6th grade!

I was welcomed into his classroom, and taught all subjects to his sixth graders for three weeks. Mr. Ankamah was present most of the time in the classroom, but on occasion left to attend to other business. My situation was common, in that I was not filling a void in the school's teaching needs, but rather invited in to assist regular teachers already in place. The Global Volunteers model is based firmly on the concept that volunteers work with local partners and participate in a cultural exchange. Thus, none of us was supposed to be working alone. That said, some of our teachers were present less than others.

After the kids got used to me, and I them, I did my best to teach Math, English Grammar, Science, PE, and yes, Ghanaian Citizenship. Each class had a very detailed syllabus, so after studying this and available text-books, I was good to go!

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Hagga poses in front of Senchi Ferry Methodist School

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This is the classroom - tin roof, open to the outside on the sides, chalk board

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Classroom lighting provided by openings in the cinderblock walls

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Each student in Ghanaian public schools is required to wear a uniform, but school fees have been abolished in recent years. Thus any student with enough money for a uniform (about $4) can attend school. That said, there seemed to be lots of a la carte expenses the students had to pay. For example, at the end of the term, in order to take the exams that would secure or deny their promotion to the 7th grade, each student had to pay 20 peswas for the copying of their exam (20 cents).

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Christian and Emmanuel work on their Maths

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Victor stays behind during recess to complete his assignment

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I brought a stack of photos with me to share more about my life in the U.S. with my students. I then used these photos as prompts for a writing exercise. Here Eric writes a paragraph about the photo of my Nephew Jacob eating ice cream

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Gladys prepares to ring the bell (analog) for recess. Gladys was one of the students who was obviously hungry each day. Although very bright, she didn't have much energy. During recess I would share my Cliff-bars with her and she would perk right up.

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Diku relaxes on a bench during recess

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Mavis, Conscious and Abigail

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Priscilla learns to throw a frisbee during recess. I brought a frisbee and soccer ball with me for my students to enjoy. The school had only one ball for all 400 students.

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Catch!

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Helen during break

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The Library at Senchi Ferry Methodist School. The selection of books was very limited, but there were plans to install electricity and install a donated computer. Its a start!

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Patricia reads an old favorite

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After a snack, Gladys reads during library time - she is puzzling over the concept of "Igloo" (she has never experienced a temperature lower than 75 degrees, so her concept of ice is limited to the freezer at the local market).

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Gladys, Esther and Martha

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Another wing of the Methodist School

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I picked up a soccer ball at Target before leaving for Ghana, and I suspect it was the most popular thing I brought with me (including myself!)

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Who needs shoes - that is why they call it football!

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Moro and Diku

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Elijha

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Diku was about 15 and in the sixth grade, so he tended to dominate at recess

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Al-Haji, one of the few muslim students in my class, takes a shot on goal

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Karen, another volunteer on our team, teaches her 5th graders the Hokey-Pokey

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One morning as I arrived at school I saw what seemed like the entire student body in the main yard leaning over. I soon realized that they were "mowing" the lawn... with machettes. Apparently, they do this as a group now and then. And apparently, every kid in Ghana has their own machette (they call them cutlasses). And they can often be seen toting them to school. I am not sure why I was so fascinated by this. It was interesting to see students taking care of their school, but also funny to think that in the Untied States we expel kids for bringing toy guns to school, where in Ghana, kids are required to bring big, heavy, sharp cutlasses to class....

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The girls seemed especially good at it - I suspect they had lots of practice

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Eric mowing

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Hagga takes a break

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Some of our group worked on a construction project in the center of Senchi. The Library was a partnership between the community and Global Volunteers, and the July goal was to complete as much of the roof structure as possible.

Benjamin, Emily and Samuel post in front of the Library

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Anne, India and Shirley take a break (while Brendan, Austin, Mark and Matt toil in the background!)

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Brendan provides the muscle

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Cleaning valuable tools

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Regardless of where we were working in the community, in the afternoons we all gathered in the yard at Senchi Methodist School for afternoon tutoring. We showed up on first day and were swarmed with kids eager to read and spend time with us. Benjamin, our group leader, did his best to limit our groups to three or four, but there were always extra kids hanging around wanting to join in. Although the afternoon program was designed specifically to help kids with their reading skills, I used the time for Math and Geography as well. I found that my 5th grade boys responded enthusiastically to competition, so I devised geography and math challenges where teams of boys would compete against each other and score points for finding a country on a map, calculating a math problem correctly, etc.

Caleb, Tika and Moses read about Obama from a book on of our team-members brought along

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Nancy works with her girls on their reading

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Anne, Benjamin and Shirley at our tutoring session

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My guys swarm the map looking for Sri Lanka in one of my GEOGRAPHY CHALLENGES!

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Tika, Alfred, Caleb and Moses

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Miss Emily and three of her students. One day she was sick and couldn't come to tutoring and they cried all afternoon...

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Peggy, from San Bernadino, California, works with her group

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One of India's students walks her home after tutoring. Men and women of all ages hold hands in Ghana

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Even with the rough hewn building, the oppressive humidity and the lack of student foot-ware, sometimes, deep in a lesson about descriptive adjectives or translating fractions into decimals, I would forget that I was in Africa, 6,000 miles from home.... Then, I would be reminded...

There were lots of bats living in the rafters of the classroom - a fact that hardly elicited any notice from my students or co-teacher. The classroom is open to the outside all day, all night - if I was a bat I would live there too. One day, a particularly big one was up top and it shit on me while I was teaching. I was disturbed by this.

A bat, minding his own business in the classroom rafters

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My students caught on to my annoyance and during recess they killed the offender and left it on my desk. I was horrified as where I am from, we are taught not to touch bats as they can harbor rabies. My students saw my horror and Akoto said: "don't worry Sah Bryan, it is dead, it will not feces on you anymore...." True enough. I guess I will need to do some more work on nouns and verbs though...

Akoto and the Bat

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On a final note - I plan to continue my relationship with Global Volunteers and Senchi Ferry Methodist school. I hope to help support the school as best I can in the future. If you are interested in going to Ghana through Global Volunteers, I strongly recommend the program. If you would like to assist me in gathering supplies for the school or offering support in any way, please let me know. Even a little bit can help this community immensely!

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Greetings from Senchi Ferry Methodist School!

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Next time - exploring Ghana - Music, dance and markets!

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Billboard in Makola Market, Accra, Ghana

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Now, that triumph must be won once more, and it must be won by you. And I am particularly speaking to the young people. ...
You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people. You can serve in your communities, and harness your energy and education to create new wealth and build new connections to the world. You can conquer disease, end conflicts, and make change from the bottom up. You can do that. Yes you can. Because in this moment, history is on the move.
- President Barak Obama, July 10, 2009, Accra, Ghana

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I arrived in Accra on the 4th of July after an 11 hour flight from JFK. I stepped off the plane into oppressive equatorial humidity and local jubilation at the prospect of Obama's visit the following week.

Although I was not in the Capital during the Presidential visit - I was about two hours away in a small community called Senchi Ferry on the Volta River - everywhere I went Ghanaians were buzzing. When people found out that I was an American they would perk up beyond their normal friendliness and tell me how happy they were that Obama was visiting Ghana and how important Ghana's friendship with the United States was. How refreshing!

Once, while I was wandering through Kumasi - Ghana's second largest city - I was surrounded by a crowd of children. When they found out I was from the United States, they started singing a locally popular song about Obama - see here for the studio version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L85YF0pyPH0

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Even my students, many of which had never seen the Atlantic Ocean (90 kilometers away) knew all about Obama

Conscious, one of the students in my class, shows off his Obama chocolate candy

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But wait, why was I there? As many of you know, I was laid-off from my job in May and I received a modest severance. That and some savings gave me a little breathing room and I decided to explore volunteer opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa. A friend told me about Global Volunteers (http://www.globalvolunteers.org/) which had a program in Ghana in July. After ruminating on the idea for a day or two, I decided to make the trip. I spent much of June networking and sending out resumes, and on July 3rd, headed off to Ghana - first to the capital, Accra, then on to a small community called Senchi-Ferry.

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Downtown Senchi-Ferry one evening

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Global Volunteers runs year round projects around the world, and their work in Senchi-Ferry is focused on education, construction and medical services. Our team of 19 taught in local schools, helped in building a community library, and worked in area medical clinics. We were from all over the United States (and one Canadian) and some of our group had been on numerous Global Volunteer teams before. (Jeanne was up to 17 I believe!)

Shalom and Jeanne after an afternoon tutoring session

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After an initial orientation session with our local leader Benjamin, we were formally introduced to the community chiefs and the next day we got to work. My job was to serve in one of the local schools - Senchi Methodist - where I taught sixth grade for three weeks (more on this later).

I organized my blog entries into this first one 1) an introduction and look at the community, 2) more detail about the school where I worked, and then 3) my explorations around Ghana - mostly in markets!

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One caveat - all of my blog entries are my own photos, observations and thoughts - they do not necessarily represent the opinions of Global Volunteers or any of my team-mates.

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My students from Senchi-Ferry Methodist School and I

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Me with the local Chiefs of Senchi-Ferry at our going away party at the end of our visit

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Senchi-Ferry

Ghana is a country of about 22 million people and is roughly the size of Oregon. Its neighbors are Togo, Benin and Nigeria to the east, The Ivory Coast to the west, and Burkina Faso to the north. It is a peaceful and stable country that was the first West African nation to achieve independence from England in 1957. Although seen as an African success story in recent years, Ghana is poor with a per-capita GDP of $2,480 in 2007 compared with $41,890 per head in the United States. 57% of Ghana's adult population is literate, and life expectancy is 60 years. For comparison, the literacy rate in the United States is 99.8% and life expectancy is 79 years.

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A few gentlemen in the community grab a lamb for me to photograph - yum!

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I was told that the conditions in Senchi-Ferry were average to slightly below average for Ghana, and that most of the residents were employed in subsistence farming as the primary source of their livelihood. They raise corn and cassava, gather snails and fruit in the jungle and raise goats and chickens around their homes. There is piped water in the community, and some homes have electricity, but very few. The school where I worked has no electricity, running water, or even walls - the classrooms were open to the outside.

Animals wander freely in Senchi, sometimes into class, but apparently at night they always go home - like house-cats. Some residents find work selling things at the market in nearly Akosombo, and some also work in local banana and pineapple plantations (owned by foreign interests and produced for export).

Goats and chickens everywhere!

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Corn growing near Senchi

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Even though most Ghanaians are of modest means, I found the people to be friendly, welcoming, and overwhelmingly generous. It was truly eye-opening to meet people with so little, yet so intent on sharing what they did have with me.

A woman in Senchi prepares Banku - a white yam that is a local staple

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We all walked from our guest house to our various work-sites each morning and passed through the community. I tried to learn as much of the local language (Twi) as I could. Even though almost all Ghanaians speak English, a little local language goes a long way and I was able to make many friends!

Desmond greets me on my way back to the guest house where we stayed

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The Banana Plantation

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Organic Bananas protected from bugs with blue plastic

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The Pineapple Plantation

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Pineapples!

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Many structures in Senchi was constructed of earth bricks - this is a kitchen

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A commercial building being built in a traditional manner - earth bricks

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Another view of a local street

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A home we visited one afternoon

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A girl in Senchi selling her catch - a plate full of big snails!

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Close up of local snails

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The Eye Clinic in Senchi

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Our team, accompanied by many of our students, pay a visit to a local home

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One of my student's courtyard (Caleb) - main house, apartment, kitchen

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Caleb helps his grandmother make Fu Fu - a mash of yam, plantain and/or corn - that is a local staple

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Caleb cleans the kitchen

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Caleb poses proudly in front of his wash-room

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Two neighborhood kids play on the only piece of equipment at the school

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There were lizards everywhere in Senchi - this one was at least 10 inches long

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Another, small orange guy

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Emily, Benjamin and Samuel at the Library - one of the projects our team helped with

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Some local guys play checkers in the community common

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This guy was relaxing on a sand pile and I told him to hold up his cutlass and look tough...

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The main road in Senchi leads down to the Volta River, where there used to be a ferry about 40 years ago

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Down at the river's edge, a small Tilapia farm

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Down by the river, a burned out church awaits rebuilding - it has been waiting for decades

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Anne, Benjamin and Shirley pose after one of our afternoon tutoring sessions

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A couple of friends pose on their porch. I asked them what was for dinner and took a closer look.

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Now, before you freak out, know that many residents of Senchi would find our love of Pork distasteful - many consider pigs unclean. In Ghana, many rodents are a delicacy

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The local diet is consists mostly of corn, yam, plantains, and a little meat. This treat was captured earlier that day over by the Banana Plantation

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Moses, Caleb and Alfred take a break during our regular afternoon tutoring sessions

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I hope you enjoyed your haphazard tour of Senchi-Ferry, next time I will share more about my teaching in Senchi-Ferry!