Ghana – Days 13-15

Note: I’ll be blogging about my time in Ghana over the course of the next few weeks. Some entries will cover the course of multiple days while some will cover the course of only a day.

Ghana trip – Days 13-15

Day 13 (6/25/13) – Day of Preparation

There was no PA system blaring the morning of June 25, so I had my best night of sleep thus far. Even the sheep, goats, roosters and other noises seemed minimal in the morning for whatever reason. As soon as I woke up and began writing, I became conscious of the fact that exactly one week from June 25 I’d be back in Wisconsin. I knew I’d miss the people and place of Humjibre but I was looking forward to returning home to share my experiences and I was also looking forward to moving to Boston.

Since I’d be traveling for a few days before leaving Ghana completely, I was also aware that I only had four days left in Humjibre. Now that the books had been delivered to Sorano, everything seemed to be gearing up towards the Quiz Competition that was taking place on the upcoming Friday.

Because I had put in a considerable amount of time reading and formulating questions for the QC, my workload was pretty light. Therefore, I was able to take advantage of some cool opportunities that aren’t always available to GHEI volunteers. One of these opportunities was to observe teaching in Humjibre, which I wrote about in a previous entry. Another of these opportunities was to tour the clinic in Humjibre, which I’d be doing with Shantie and John on this day.

Road leading into Humjibre (taken from the clinic)

Before going to the clinic, John and I had a conversation about health and education and how they intertwine. I mentioned the fact that some doctors have to give toddlers books to see how they react. Do they throw the book aside and treat it as a toy? Or, do they handle it with care and open the front cover as they may have been taught by a parent? These are indicators that a child is exposed to books before they are school-age children.

This made me think of many things. One, is it the doctor’s responsibility to promote literacy in children before the age of 4-5 years old? If it’s not, whose is it? I know the clear answer is parents but let’s be realistic, not every parent encourages their child to read. Also, will a child’s literacy affect a person’s insurance rate? Will that person pay a higher premium if they can’t demonstrate how to handle a book, identify a cover/author/title/where to begin reading, etc.? I’m willing to bet that if someone can prove that illiteracy to leads to x, y and z (similar to how smoking leads to a different x, y and z), then at some point it will affect insurance.

When we made it to the Humjibre clinic, there was six staff present. One of the nurses lives there, so 24 hour care is available. It is a very small clinic, there is one maternity ward (contains 2-3 beds), one male ward (4-5 beds) and one female ward (4-5 beds). No beds were occupied when we were given the tour. The clinic sees anywhere from 10-30 people per day.

Maternity ward

Since the clinic was so small, the paragraph above pretty much provides the extent of what we saw. The other time we spent there was chatting and joking around with the nurses, who were (unsurprisingly) extremely nice and welcoming. Some were more jovial than others, and it was fun to joke around a bit.

Following our time at the clinic, Lawrence, John and I set off to formally invite each school to the Quiz Competition. We also wanted to get a list of participants so we could verify that students were from the particular “grade” that was listed on the sheet. This didn’t really happen, so a different firm deadline was set by Lawrence. Apparently, many people try to cheat in order to gain a competitive advantage (imagine that).

I also had my second, and final, Twi lesson, in which I learned months, some food, body parts and numbers. Following my Twi lesson, John and I went up to play some football (soccer) to get some extra practice in anticipation of our match tomorrow. Soon enough, we attracted some boys who wanted to play.

We set up a common game that the children play in which two large stones (roughly the size of a cinder block) are placed at opposite ends to act as goals. When space and/or players are limited, this is the form of football that is played. The object is the same, to score goals. Our game started as a 3-on-3 game but eventually grew to 6-on-6. As more players were added we simply put more space in between the stones to give us a bigger playing field.

The ages of the boys playing ranged probably from 8-14 years old. John and I were on the same team and we actually won 8-2. In fact, I scored on a pass from John and John scored on a pass from me. I could skip mentioning the fact that I missed close to 10 wide open shots on the goal but I figure I’ll go for full disclosure here. The game was a lot of fun and it was another good test for my ankle. I felt really limited, as I couldn’t cut or run with ease, confidence or painlessness. This was one of the most discouraging things of my trip: I really wished I was healthy to play without reservation. However, I didn’t let my ankle hold me back from playing, from walking all over town, from farming, and from doing other activities.

I was looking forward to our highly anticipated football match that was to take place the next day. We were going to be playing on Humjibre’s main pitch and there was even going to be an announcement on the PA system. I had two goals: the first was to not fall down (so I could avoid gravel, razors, rocks, etc.) and the second was to score a goal, as I was positioned as the striker. This goes without saying, but I also wanted to win the game.

At night, I observed a very clear sky and saw the brightest stars I had ever seen. If I had known what constellations to look for I bet I could have found them all. It was a really pretty sight.

Day 14 (6/26/13)

The morning of Day 14 was similar to many other mornings. I walked to town to get some bowl fruit and then I came back, had some coffee with the bowl fruit and started reading. I was really getting hooked on The Joys of Motherhood and wrote down a quote from the book that I think is true:

“Yes, life could be at times so brutal that the only things that made it livable were dreams.”

Following breakfast we had an education team meeting where we discussed the Quiz Competition. All of the questions at that point were finalized and I then created a scoring sheet that would be used. We then met with the GHEI staff to brainstorm ways to attract volunteers to GHEI. I mentioned that we should work to attract other teachers because not only did I (hopefully) do a service for GHEI and Humjibre but the education I gained from my experience is something I took home with me and it’s also something I will use in my teaching to help my students. I truly believe that the education “expertise” I brought to GHEI pales in comparison to the education I received just by being there.

In the afternoon we played our football match and won 2-1. We played a team from Humjibre of people who were probably 18-22 years old. The game attracted probably close to 50 people, if not a little more. It was truly a blast playing. Probably because of my ineptitude for scoring, Coach Alfred put me in as a defenseman, which I appreciated. This resulted in much less running around on my ankle and just less running overall. I thought I did pretty well, as their only goal came on a penalty kick. Our keeper, Mensah, had some pretty incredible saves, too.

Football match

Our team was clearly anchored by the Ghanaians on our team who work and volunteer for GHEI. Afterwards, we went to Sister Comfort’s for our victory drinks. Everything tastes better after a win. Also, I had to shift my goals since I no longer had much of an opportunity to score a goal. I focused on not falling down and winning and I’m glad to report that I/we achieved both goals.

Ankle disparity post-football match

GHEI team picture

At night, because JHS students had finished up with a week of standardized tests (for SHS placement) the week prior, there was a dance party in the community center, which is located about 30 yards away from where I slept. The music was blaring and was so loud that our windows and walls were rattling. This made sleep impossible so I went outside to play with some children.

In fact, this decision to go outside and play was one that resulted in something truly impactful, which I’ll save for a later blog entry. The music ended at about 1am and I was able to fall asleep around then. I then woke up at 6:30 to begin my second to last day in Humjibre.

Day 15 (6/27/13)

When I woke up I started doing my laundry almost right away in hopes that it would dry in the morning in case of rain. Although there was some sort of weird satisfaction in hand washing, I knew I’d appreciate a washer and dryer more when I got home.

On my way to get my morning bowl fruit, I was pulled aside by a middle aged gentleman who was seemed drunk. It was about 7:30 in the morning. I used my limited knowledge of Twi to ask him his name and to ask him how he was. Quite frankly, he told me he was not happy because he was so poor. This was pretty surprising to me because it was the first person I had met who was openly unhappy about being impoverished.

Since I had been buying bowl fruit on a near daily basis, the lady who made and sold the food and I had developed a bit of a rapport. We began conversing in Twi first but I became lost after about two exchanges. We then switched to English but she struggled a bit with the language. However, she did say she wanted me to learn her language so we could talk more. I told her I was leaving in two days and she didn’t seem pleased. She asked me if I would take some bowl fruit with me to the U.S. and I told her I would (but I didn’t…because I ended up eating it).

The majority of the morning and afternoon was spent preparing for the Quiz Competition. We wrapped dictionaries and pencils that were prizes to be given to each participant. I also created a document of teaching ideas and literacy strategies that had worked for me in the past. I put the document on the GHEI education computer. Hopefully the team can look it over and see if anything is of use. I made sure to let them know that they can throw it away if they want. My intention wasn’t to tell them what to do, rather, it was to give them some ideas of things that have worked for me.

In the afternoon, I went to a funeral with some GHEI staff. Funerals are a pretty big deal in Ghana, as there is a get together the day after death, one week after death, and two weeks after death. GHEI usually sends a person (or people) to every funeral to offer support to the community. I think this is a really nice gesture and probably one that the community appreciates.

We were at the funeral for about 45 minutes and it wasn’t like a traditional U.S. funeral. When we arrived, people were seated in a square while there was a chair with the deceased person’s picture on it. Music was playing and people were making donations to the family. Unlike the Catholic mass, donations were publicized, so there was some sort of pressure to give a decent amount. We shook hands around the square and then took our seats while other arrivals went around the square and shook hands. GHEI did donate money to the family.

After the funeral, we began setting up the community center for the Quiz Competition. The big day was finally only hours away and everyone was getting excited. The following day was also going to be my last day and night in Humjibre, which was saddening yet exciting. I was looking forward to traveling with Happy and John but I knew that I was really going to miss Humjibre.

Ghana – Day 4

Note: I’ll be blogging about my time in Ghana over the course of the next few weeks. Some entries will cover the course of multiple days while some will cover the course of only a day.

Ghana trip – Day 4

Day 4 (6/16/13) – First full day in Humjibre

Late in the evening of Saturday, June 15, John arrived in Humjibre. Although I wasn’t expecting him until the following day because of a funeral it was nice to get him there and to meet him for the first time. John was going to be the man with whom I was going to live with for the next two weeks so I was anxious to meet him and get to know him a bit. We had exchanged a fair share of e-mails leading up to the trip to Ghana and we already had a connection in that we are both from Wisconsin. Although John no longer lives in Wisconsin, we have the whole Midwestern roots thing going on.

John and I only talked for a brief moment the night of the 15^th before going to bed. I usually have trouble sleeping in new surroundings so it wasn’t a surprise that the first night in a new country, under a bed net, sleeping on an incredibly firm mattress with a pillow that contained something akin to a wooden spoon (seriously Abby, Elena and Shantie: if you read this go check it out) that I had a struggle with sleep. However, once I fell asleep I was out until about 5am when I received a wake-up call.

Since I had arrived in Humjibre the day before I had never experienced a morning in Humjibre. Turns out the 5am wake-up call is the norm. There are three public announcement systems in the small village of Humjibre. A person pays a flat rate and can get on the PA system to announce something, try to sell something, etc. The message is broadcast village-wide at an alarming level of noise. I see the value of having something like this to alert or inform people in the village but it became quite a nuisance at times. This type of PA system would never work in small Midwestern town. Can you imagine people walking home from the bars at 3am and trying to broadcast some idiotic message that wakes up the whole town? This would cause an uproar, but Humjibre isn’t a small Midwestern town. There are more similarities than one may think but the PA system actually serves a valid purpose (depending on who you ask).

PA system in Humjibre

In addition to the 5am wake-up call via the PA system, roosters started doing their thing shortly thereafter. This made it almost impossible to fall back asleep but I tried and succeeded in sleeping on and off until about 8am. I then walked over to the employee house where I saw John, Elena and Shantie. We chatted for a bit and it was then that I tasted the magic that became my near-daily breakfast: bowl fruit. Bowl fruit is basically a donut hole but about 100x better and is one of the many things I sorely miss now that I’m back home.

Bowl fruit

Sundays in Humjibre are pretty laid back unless you attend a church service. Depending on the church, services could range anywhere from 3-7 hours or more (if you attend for the duration of the service). I did not attend church my first Sunday in Ghana but I did the next week, so I’ll save that space for my church experience.

After breakfast, John and I went up to the football (soccer) field to watch a pick-up game played by some young men probably between the ages of 17-24 (I found that guessing the age of people in Ghana was a really difficult task for me). One GHEI employee, Saga (short for Sagacious), played in the game and was really impressive to watch, as were the others. I’m as big a fan of sports as anyone I know so I’m used to watching athletes play at a high level. However, these guys blew me away.

Pick-up football match

The football pitch is basically comprised of dirt and loose gravel. The footwear worn by players ranges from rubber shoes, flip flops, or no footwear at all. The body control, speed, dexterity (of the legs) and athleticism of the players was astounding, especially considering the terrain and the footwear (or lack thereof). The players also constructed their own goals using tree branches and their machetes, which made this scene all the more impressive.

The makeshift football pitch was actually a big area between two school buildings, so I got the chance to tour the school and see classrooms for the first time. The windows provide the lighting, as there is no electricity. The individual rooms are cramped with desks, which makes me wonder where the teacher instructs. The chalkboards are concrete painted black, but there was clear writing on it so it must be effective. I’ll have many more notes on education in Humjibre and Ghana in a later blog post because I was afforded the opportunity to tour schools and observe teachers.

Following the football match, John and I walked back to the GHEI compound (the area where all GHEI housing and buildings are) and started played a game that uses five rocks. Apparently it’s called “Aba” which means “stones”. The game is essentially the same as jacks. You throw one of the rocks in the air and have to swoop down to pick up a specific number of rocks and then catch the airborne rock before it hits the ground. There are varying steps, levels and scoring methods that go into the game. I guess I wouldn’t really know about those levels because I was terrible and progressed past the first stage maybe once or twice.

Playing Aba

After Aba, we began playing with an American football. The game was simple: keep away. We played this throughout my two weeks in Humjibre and the children absolutely loved it. Actually, how fast some kids were able to learn how to properly throw and catch the American football was rather impressive. The football was found by John only a few weeks prior so the oblong-shaped ball was completely new to the children in the village.

Following keep away, John took me on my first village tour. John was a volunteer for GHEI during the summer of 2012 and was brought back this summer to serve as my Volunteer Coordinator. Usually the Volunteer Coordinator oversees a group of 6-8 volunteers at a time but since I was the only volunteer I hope John’s life was a little easier. I was actually glad to be the only volunteer because instead of hanging out with numerous people who were not from Ghana I was able to truly integrate myself in the community and work closely with the local staff, which was very important and beneficial to me.

Since John knew his way around Humjibre he showed me the basics. Lawrence took us on a lengthier and more thorough village tour later on during my stay in Humjibre so I’ll save some in-depth village notes for that entry. However, it was during this first village tour that I heard the common name given to foreigners: “Obruni.” I’m pretty sure “obruni” translates into “foreigner” but I think it might be synonymous with “white person.” It’s not derogatory at all and I didn’t take it as such. But if you’re one of two white people wandering about the village, people become curious. So, it’s common for many people to shout, “Obruni!”, and inquire about where you are headed. That being said, all of the people were very welcoming and accepting of our presence in the village. There was not one time that I felt even remotely unsafe.

In the afternoon I started a list of reading and teaching strategies I planned on giving to the GHEI education staff in hopes of leaving something of use behind. Throughout my time in Humjibre I thought of how to leave a lasting impact because I knew two weeks in the village was going to be a very short time.

Later that evening John and I had a discussion about western influence on developing nations. We are in agreement about not pushing our opinions on others because it’s imperative that you respect the local tradition and culture. So, how do you initiate change? We agreed GHEI was doing a great job largely because of the local staff that is mostly comprised of people who were born and raised in Humjibre or nearby villages. It’s important to give these people options from which to choose and then allow them to make the best choice for their people.

At about 5:30pm John and I went up to Sister Comfort’s spot (a “spot” in Ghana is a bar). Sister Comfort is a well-known and involved member of the Humjibre community. She is a kindergarten teacher of more than 20 years, owns and operates her spot and also serves on the Library Board. She also is another welcoming member of the community and one with a vibrant personality and a beautiful, wide smile. John and I both had two mini Coke’s that are served in glass bottles and are a lot better than the high-fructose Coke’s found in the U.S. Once Shantie and Elena arrived I had a Club beer, which is a Ghanaian beer that is brewed in Accra. It’s a lighter beer that is refreshing during/after a hot Ghanaian day.

Dinner that Sunday night was an egg sandwich, which was delicious. Everyone raved about the sandwiches and they did not disappoint. We then walked back to the GHEI compound where I showered and chatted with John a little bit before starting to write in my journal. I made notes about how I felt like I adjusted without a glitch to life in Humjibre. I attributed this to the fact that people in Humjibre, especially the GHEI people, made me feel so welcome. I then made a note about how I missed Rach, family and friends. It was tough to think of Rachael all alone in a new city but there wasn’t really anything to do about it now. Still, I looked forward to the day where I would be joining her out in Boston.

The last note I made the night of Sunday, June 16 was that it was 10:05pm and the Anglican Church service was still ongoing.