Ghana Update Week 4: Long Time Traveller

This last week was full of traveling. On Tuesday I travelled to Accra
to see Tommy and Sam off at the airport. I stayed the night in Accra
and the next day travelled up to the Eastern Region. After a rather
noisy bus ride to Nkawkaw, I took a taxi to Hope Christian Academy,
Nkwatia Campus -- or at least that is what it will be called very
soon, once the paper work goes through.

This campus is very different from the one in Fetteh. In Fetteh the
orphanage and the school are right next to each other. Visitors stay
on campus in guesthouses near the orphanage and work with either
organization. As a visitor you could stay for several months and
never leave the campus. You wouldn't see what life is like outside
the campus or be touched by the need. But it's not like that in
Nkwatia.

In Nkwatia you stay at a guesthouse close to a local church. Although
you have to take public transportation to travel from there to the
school, you pass through a number of communities on foot. As you pass
the children shout "obruni" -- "white person". They will shout and
shout until you turn and wave at them. Even at the school the
children shout and wave at you. It takes some time to get them to
switch to calling you "Madame". Although the children in the village
of Fetteh will shout at me when I pass on my way to the beach, I
usually don't have issues with being a Madame at the school where many
of them attend. It's a noticeable difference when you are trying to
maintain order in a classroom.

But the shouting isn't the most striking difference. This area of the
country breaks my heart at times. It's in the mountains and the views
are just beautiful. The climate is very cool and every day there is
either rain or dark clouds teasing those below. Many wealthy people
from Accra build summer homes in the area. The landscape is dotted
with huge stone homes with large gates and barbed wire. And very
close to these homes are entire families living in one room.
Honestly, it's hard to process that. I want to get mad at these
people. But I'm not sure how different I am from them: building up
and protecting my wealth. It's something I wrestle with and haven't
quite figured out how to express. I'm still trying to discover what
God wants my response to be. I think he wants my heart to be broke by
these things -- it's so easy to harden your heart when regularly
encountering that dichotomy. But I think he requires more from me
than simply a broken heart. But perhaps this subject is another blog
in and of itself.

The Nkwatia campus was formerly under a different organization, so HCA
inherited a building as well as grounds. In the last year they have
added three new classrooms and are making plans to construct a
separate nursery section. Personally, I am most excited about their
plans for a library which would house many of the teaching resources
sent since last summer. As of right now all the resources are stored
in trunks in a small room off the side of the headmaster's office. As
far as I can tell, many of them have not been used in the last year.
And while I find that to be rather frustrating, it's also
understandable. There really is no other place for these things to be
stored. And just a few days of training isn't sufficient for these
teachers to become proficient in using the resources newly at their
disposal.

Hopefully that last bit is about to change. The current headmaster
will soon take a new post as the curriculum coordinator and resource
manager. Part of his job will be to train the teachers in the
resources, making recommendations for new resources and further
training. I am really excited about this post and the appointment.
Sir Richmond has been very enthusiastic about his new job and we have
had many great discussions over the past few weeks.

As for the library, I don't yet have an estimate but when I do I hope
to be instrumental in helping raise funds for that construction
project. I don't yet know how that will unfold, but I am confident
that God will exceed all expectations as he always does.

Here are some pictures of the school as it is now. I'll see if I can
put up some more shots later.

(Song Title: Long Time Traveller by The Wailin' Jennys)