Bedaase and Chirasa visits

Abaa trimming the hedge Ghana style

  

   Opεnimaa (December) 7, 2010

This morning Ben, Emmanuel and I met to work on the computer lab with the new equipment we bought yesterday. Unfortunately we couldn’t get all the computers running and test the internet connection with the broadband USB modem as the power was out again. Emmanuel worked on replacing the defunct hard drives with the new ones (only 40GB each, but at 50 GH¢ -Ghana cedis- each, and needing 3 replacements, that’s the most memory I could afford) while Ben went to invigilate an exam and I left with Prince to visit two other Adumasa Link supported communities: Bedaase and Chirasa. 

 It was wonderful to visit the schools in these communities, which, by car are not all that far away, but, considering many people have to walk (often carrying their wares on their heads and women with children on their backs) between these remote villages, I was amazed, once again, about the vigour and hard working nature of these people. Fei gave a lift to several walking along the desolate stretches, especially sensitive to mothers and mothers-to-be.

Our first stop was to a small junior high school, serving 3 communities, in Aduampong, where we were stopping by to give a boy a bible, then onto Bedaase nursery and primary school, (where a church reunion ceremony took place a few Sundays ago I attended), an Adumasa Link project (well and school) and then Chirasa nursery and primary school, funded by an Austrian Presbyterian charity through Fei and being completed by Adumasa Link. There was also a set of latrines on the outskirts of town which was built by and American Rotary Club in conjunction with Kumasi East Rotary.

 

 Bedaase’s school had such a good “feel” to it, not to mention it was so much quieter than Adumasa, (being such a small and remote community) and the teachers were so friendly. Fei and I interrupted a small staff meeting and then I was introduced to each of the classes by the Headmaster, Daniel. The property is also so clean there and there was obvious care given to the landscaping, being neat, with many gorgeous flowering shrubs and trees as well as having potted plants along the walkways in front of the classes.

The students are expected to stand when we enter, to respond to “Good afternoon” with “Good afternoon sir or Madam” and then to “How are you?”, “Fine thank you and you?” It was charming; some classes were better than others and did you ever see the severe, (what I perceive sometimes as demeaning and aggressive) response of the teachers when the students lagged in standing up, mumbled their responses etc.. The headmaster even smacked a nursery school child behind the head who was sleeping when we walked in. I actually think something was not right with that child as he looked unwell and almost weak and fell right back asleep, poor thing. 

 

I was particularly impressed by a grade 1 class, who were, in the absence of a teacher, were teaching themselves. Each student took turns teaching the class what was on the board; in this case, it was their 2 times tables, which they duly repeated after the student in the front, like, with most of their rote repetition, was almost musical. Apparently, this is expected of students here when the teacher is absent. They would be amazed to see the unruly behavior of most our students when the teacher even leaves the room for a few minutes! After our class visits, we unloaded aluminum for the new kitchen roof being built as well as an old, nonfunctional computer to be used for demonstration purposes, along with computer theory in classes.

The student-to-teacher ratios of the classes in Bedaase and Chirasa were good (even in terms of North American standards) serving such small communities: Bedaase- 150 students and 15 teachers; Chirasa: 120 students and 8 teachers. There is discussion about seeking funding to build or renovate a building to create a teacher dormitory as most, if not all, the teachers are coming from out of town and are having to find places in these miniscule towns of ramshackle houses. These schools are also included in the British Council program which is an exchange program between UK schools and Ghanaian schools. We gave a lift to a courier today who was delivering British Council invitation letters for all their “sister” schools to participate in an Athletics day in Kumasi in January. Imagine being a courier, or “dispatch rider” to be precise (not unlike a European messenger on horseback) who has no car but uses the infrequent trotro transport system to move between these remote towns. When we met him at Bedaase, just before noon, he had just dropped off his first letter, having traveled over a river to get there from his village. 

After our community visits, Fei and I tried another computer store, suggested by Emmanuel (senior school IT teacher. It was, obviously, a newly opened store and reminded me of another in Kumasa, called Apricot, we had visited on our search for a all-in-one machine. Both the stores look very “high-end”, clean, spacious, air-conditioned, modern, and both, are owned by East Indians. I have heard that India has spent a lot on educational resources in training their youth in ICT, and have, subsequently, becoming leaders in the field. I believe it. It is no wonder there might be entrepreneurs traveling to other countries, with just as much popular drive and demand for these products, but lacking the knowledge and the infrastructure. 

We still have hit roadblocks with getting the machine unfortunately, finding only printers too small for a school setting or, as in today, too expensive (2600 GH¢). I have asked for a phone book to call around and reduce the driving Fei has to do, but no one seems to know where I might find one! I asked about calling the operator to ask for numbers and no one seems to know this either (maybe they don’t have such a system?).  I looked online and found a business directory for Kumasi and found all of 4 businesses listed. One was a computer store which I called, only for the phone number not to work. Aaugh! Oh yes, it dawned on me last night as Ron and I were trying to figure out what to do about the printer situation (researching ones available here, can we have one shipped from inside Ghana etc..), that Fei is all excited to have the faxing capability, but they don't even have a LAND LINE going to the school; everyone has cell phones and land lines are just too costly. Duh! They will have to get comfortable learning to scan and email their documents then, when, and if, we can finally arrange this whole thing!

I had several visitors tonight and the timing was such that I could spend time with them. Cassandra, my niece, now has 2 pen pals writing to her. Abigail came over with a letter for her. Joel and Derek, her brothers, also came (Joel continued to impress me, that cool kid, as sharp as a tack, yet soft spoken), along with Linda (the “Kym, Kym, Kym… “ parrot) and one of my JS 1 girls. We made some corrections to Abigail’s letter, they did some drawing, and then we attempted to play a junior card version of the Cranium game, which did not go all that well considering the ESL factor impeding the overall understanding of the rules.. These kids went home to dinner and I received a few more visitors (one of whom was one of Abaa’s son, Samuel, who, apparently, has a letter for me tomorrow! He’s such a good boy, so polite, wanting to practicing his English with me) whom I read a cute story (I found story books in one of the rooms here, along with a scrabble game, which is great). I don’t know how much they actually understood, but it was, I think, enjoyed nonetheless.

Samuel Appiah (I feel like I am repeating myself, so many of the names are the same) is about to come over so I can help him with his study skills and for an exam tomorrow. It is unfortunate he can only come over late as he has his water duty at the school. Even at 8:30 he has to ask another student to cover for him. I get the idea, often, that he is used a little too generously, by Julianna, Fei and others in the school community, with Samuel being asked, even during a school day so he must miss classes, to take buses to go pick items, or to do things for people. I am often told, “Appiah can do that for you” or “Appiah will take care of that” etc.. This makes me even more bent on trying to help him get the most out of his schooling and complete his degree. Unfortunately, the distance learning centre in Alberta I had checked out charges $500-600 per course, so this is just not an option at this point. Too bad. I'll keep looking but think this is a dead end. Homeschooling prices were what I was looking at when I began to investigate this possibility and those were reasonable. It does make sense that distance learning with qualified teachers, administrators etc.. would cost significantly more.

Off to shower off today’s sweat and grime (it has rained here two days in a row though so there is no dust and the air is somewhat cooler and fresher). 

Appiah just came by to inform me (he's tried to call but, well, like most technology here, it's been finicky, and he hasn't been able to get through) that his exam tomorrow is Twi and, well, I cannot help him with that at all. 

I get to go to bed earlier than expected; nice.

Oh yes, a thought...having to deal with your own garbage disposal makes you very aware of the packaging you create and what you purchase, knowing that you will be basically staring at it on your property afterward. I do wonder what people do who live in shanty town shacks in the middle of the cities where there is no property or even ground to bury their waste...

Link to today's pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/kpedicelli/BedaaseAndChirasaVisit?feat=directlink