Thursday, November 19, 2009

Ghana week 3

Environment
The environment in Ghana is like that in many developing countries. There are some main paved roads but there is way too much traffic for those main roads. There are also many dirt roads or just random places that people drive. Therefore it is very dusty in most places. The dirt is more of a reddish color here. The rain here comes in spurts. There is a rainy season which was just before we arrived. Now we are in the dry season. When it does rain though it absolutely down pours and this causes large potholes and backups in the gutters used to drain away water. There are these gutters all over the place. They are usually a foot or so wide and run alongside most buildings and roads. It is not uncommon to see people urinating in these gutters in the middle of a busy street or town. I believe our count is nearing twenty people for such instances. When there are backups the smell from these gutters is very disgusting. I believe some are strictly used for sewage to flow through so at certain places it smells even if there has been no rain. Another common activity that happens in Ghana as well as many other developing countries is the burning of everything. Trash and other such waste is burned everywhere. Some days seem to be burning days where piles are set aflame. In the U.S. many environmentalists would be pretty upset but here there seems to be no landfills or garbage dumps although some areas sure seem to be looking closer to that. People generally throw trash just about anywhere. There is a good amount of trash on the ground along the roads and just about everywhere through town. In the young kids classrooms my group members have told me that if students have a snack they just all toss their wrappers on the ground outside and it is later swept up or picked up. The SOS village itself is pretty well cleaned up but most areas are littered with trash or burn piles.

Half way point
It is very hard to believe that we have already been here for three weeks. We have had many conversations about how relative time is. It does seem like we have been here forever but it is weird to think we are half way done. The days seem to be long but the weeks are short. At this point many of us have discussed our frustrations with the education system and teachers in general. Most people in our group are not being allowed to teach very much and there seems to be so much miscommunication or lack of communication about what is going on in the classroom all the time. Personally I have been able to teach several lessons and have good feedback from my teacher but that is not everyone’s experience. Many of my colleagues host teachers have not even been in the class to observe while they teach. Some have only taught a few lessons and most of which are unexpected and unplanned for. We as a group are very talented I believe and have many great strategies to share with the teachers here but it seems to be lost on many of them.
Another frustration is that only the elite students seem to move on. What I mean is that the schools we are in are supposedly the best of the best here in Ghana and it is true that many students coming from my school, TIS, and the other high school, SOS College, will go to Harvard and other really great universities across the globe BUT that is only a small percentage of the students in Ghana. We have learned that of the 130 children in the SOS village only a handful will go to the SOS college (high school) and of them only a couple will be included in that group of elite that go on to big universities. There seems to be a lot of falling through the cracks and it appears very acceptable to many of the teachers here. We have talked quite a bit about why this is and how to fix it in our group and we feel that the system here is like it was in the 1960’s in the U.S. Corporal punishment, writing everything on the board and only the elite really learning seem to be the norm and we are hoping to help make that change. Pray for wisdom to know how to help the teachers and the system here, for patience in the process and positive attitudes to make a difference even if it is only by helping one kid be more successful that would have fallen through the cracks.

General Comments
This week has been a good week. I have enjoyed teaching some, eating the food, playing with kids after school, relaxing and playing cards etc with my group. We said good bye to our coordinator, Barbara, whom was here with us for the first three weeks and welcomed the new coordinator, Mike, for the final three weeks. We are going to a beach and possibly Accra again on Saturday. Then we are going to the Baptist Church and relaxing on Sunday. The next two weeks my school has exams so I will not be teaching but I am going to go observe and help in some of my group’s classrooms and help out with exams where I can. So in all honesty I have about three days of teaching left after this week before I graduate! Over the past month or two I have finished reading through Genesis, Romans, 1 Corinthians and am almost done reading Exodus and 2 Corinthians. I have really enjoyed it. I am trying to go over the history in the old testament that I haven’t looked at in a while and everything Paul writes in the new testament is amazing to me. I am also working on notes or a little bit of a curriculum for high school Sunday school in my spare time. I have had many teachers here come and comment either on my reading of the bible or just wanting to talk about church or faith and it is very encouraging. Our group is also fairly Christ centered and we have had some good conversations about different topics which has been a real blessing. Well hopefully that gives you a little more of an idea about what has been going on in Ghana and in my life this week. PS I have many more pictures posted on Facebook if you would like to see those.

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