Ghana Update Week 15: Hello, Goodbye

It’s too soon to start saying good bye! It seems like I did that a lot last week. On Sunday Sam and Liz Daniels and Tommy returned to the states and by the end of the week, about 7 of our newly graduated JSS3 students returned to their villages. But a new “batch” of visitors balanced out the farewells. On Monday night we welcomed a group from my alma mater. About 20 OC students are visiting for the next 3 weeks, visiting the local villages and holding a Spiritual Emphasis week. They spent Wednesday and Thursday labeling new additions to the library and organizing text books that will be donated to area schools. Then on Friday and Saturday they got to have a break, visiting Kukom National Park and relaxing at the beach before the high energy work begins this next week.

Next week begins the final term of the school year. There are always chores and special projects to be completed around the compound so the children have been kept really busy during their vacation, but we have had some fun, too: lots of football and volley ball, late nights on the porch, letter writing, and drawing. And so many children joined the reading program last week that I could not keep up with the number of children coming to summarize their stories. On Friday I had a swarm of about 25 children surrounding the desk, a queue on each side. It was pretty much craziness for a solid hour and a half. I love that the kids enjoy coming and reading and there is no way I would send them away, but it’s difficult when you cannot give any child individual attention. And how do you teach in that kind of environment? You want to help them retell the stories better and find their words, but you also have to push them through the line or the ones in the back will plot a hostile take over.

It rained really hard on Sunday. Everyone was in the campus center when the storm hit. That makes it sound like we were in a large, closed building.... you should scratch that mental image... It’s a building with half walls, the upper half covered by mosquito netting. This serves very well during the heat, when you have 200 people in the single large room, but it’s not ideal for weathering a storm. It started around 1 pm and lasted for several hours. Luckily, we didn’t stay in the campus center all that time; we ducked out to the houses during a lull. It was wonderfully relaxing to spend the rest of the day lying in bed, reading, listening to the rain. It was a great reminder to take down time. And I think it is safe to say that we are moving into the rainy season.

For a while I have been thinking about getting additional books for the library and our organization this week has reinforced this desire. It’s so wonderful that people have donated so many books to the HCA library and the children love to read so it’s a great combo. But I have been thinking lately about how children’s books are written with an understanding of audience and culture. And some of the books are just so foreign that you spend more time explain cultural differences and meaning of words than actually reading. Here are a couple examples of subjects in these “foreign” books: walking the dog (dogs run all over the street here), fire trucks (we are in a rural area and never see them), hiding Easter eggs, monsters in the closet. But there is a small section of African readers in the library and the kids gravitate to them. The settings, subjects, and names are more familiar to them and, as a teacher, it is much easier to check for reading comprehension. There is a wonderful publisher devoted to producing excellent literature and readers for children in Africa. People are always asking about special needs or special projects so here’s one for you: I am going to try to get about 5 more per grade level for a total of 35 books. Here is a link to the website for the publisher so you can see the kinds of books I am talking about. The website doesn't have as much information as the actual catelogue, but you can still get a feel for what I am talking about.

I think that about covers it for the week. Next week will be crazy, I am sure so I should probably go rest up for it!

Agape,

Alayna