Ghana Update Week 1: 06.15.2007

Dear friends and family,

Things are great here in Ghana. The weather hasn’t been too bad. Very humid but really not that bad. Since it is the rain season, we enjoy showers several times a day so that keeps things fairly cool. There is a hill we walk up on our way to the beach and the view is amazing. We can see Accra in the distance to the east, the ocean to the south, and lush, rolling hills to the north. The view to the west is just the side of the hill we are walking up but if you know what you are looking for, you can see these huge termite mounds peeking over the 12 foot trees… Not sure whether that falls into the amazing category, but it sure is something to write home about.

We are staying in a house with 14 other people. Some of them are here to do some painting and others of them are here as interns for the summer. The interns organize the children in to reading and homework groups and step in for any teachers that are absent. Living in a house with 14 other people during sporadic electricity and water outages is quite an adventure. It can get pretty animated around here. We joke about the outages, share stories about interactions with the kids, and some even quote scenes from their favorite shows. It’s interesting all the ways you find to entertain yourself without electronic devices. Another common topic of conversation is food… Ruben and Latisha are our excellent Ghanaian cooks while we are here and all meals have been wonderful. I am considering asking them to write down a couple of the recipes so I can share them with everyone when I get home. They try to keep a good mix of local and American foods but there are still things you miss. The foods I am missing the most right now are chocolate and cheese. Chocolate is probably the food that everyone misses. I purchased an issue of Gourmet magazine for the plane ride over here and a couple of us were drooling over it last night. I think we will be trying to make one of the recipes in the near future… It will definitely be an adventure and a good source of entertainment.

Before I got here, I knew that Ghanaian culture would be different from American but every day I have an experience that helps me grasp that as a reality instead of just an abstract truth. If you venture outside of the Village of Hope, the children come out of their homes to watch you pass as they shout “obruni, obruni”, “white person, white person”. Addressing people by the color of their skin isn’t common in the states. And here it’s not considered rude or discouraged like it would be in the US. So that bluntness and being the center of attention takes a little getting used to. There are other examples too, but that’s the easiest one to put in to words right now.

It’s been a lot of fun to play with the children and tutoring them during the evenings. They really like stories so we have been taking turns telling each other folktales when I take them home at night. They are also really fascinated with my digital camera and like to take pictures of themselves. Last night some of them decided to add to our evening ritual of storytelling by taking several silly pictures. They all want to see themselves so they make a mad dash for the camera, putting their hands everywhere. So far I have been successful in breaking them of the habit of touching the lens. (I told them that it was the eye of the camera and they shouldn’t poke it or it will not be able to see. So now when they pass the camera around, I can hear them saying, “Don’t poke it in the eye!”)

The children are also very amused by all the “normal” things we cannot do. One of the games that the little girls like to play during recess is kind of a combination of “rock, paper, scissors” and “odds or evens”. It involves jumping and clapping and kicking your feet in odd directions. And if successfully doing all three of those things at once is not difficult enough, there is also the element of timing which I still have not managed to catch on to! They are also amused by our inability to dance and try to teach us different moves but so far that has been equally as unsuccessful. Not wanting to feel completely inept, some of us decided to test their balance and flexibility with some ballet and yoga positions. That seemed to even the score a little bit but I still think it is in their favor.

My days are full of restructuring, condensing, and supplementing the 1-6 grade syllabi for 5 different subjects so I don’t see the kids very much during the day. But they are busy with school, too, so it’s really okay. A couple days ago the second grade teacher asked Jessica to introduce base ten blocks in his class so she has been teaching a couple of lessons this week and really enjoying herself. We have been using the manipulatives with the students during homework time and they have really been enjoying them so that has been exciting for us. Reading all the syllabi, teaching schemes, and text books gives some interesting insight into the culture; its history and values and direction. I am still digesting and trying to put into words my observations, so maybe I will save that for a different email.

Thank you all for your encouragement, support, prayers, and friendship. You are on my mind and in my prayers often but especially on days like Sunday and Wednesday when I would typically see so many of you.

Agape,

Alayna