My English lessons went very well. I taught American phonetics,
since they learn to pronounce the British way. They thought it was hilarious
the way I said some words like "can" or "totally" and would
repeat and laugh. We had a lot of fun. Many Americans (me for one) would be
very surprised, after the way we stereotype about gender roles and education in
Africa in general, to know that at least where I am in Ghana the main
differences I am seeing when I attend the classrooms is a difference in
aesthetics. Their buildings are crumbling, the doors and windows are open so
bugs and bats and whatnot can freely fly in. They have worn out chalkboards and
no electrical technology to speak of, except for a small lab at the senior high
with some very old computers that do not have modems. But besides these
materialistic differences, kids laugh and joke and cajole their teachers and
the teachers often joke along with them. The girls are as vocal as the boys.
One spunky girl, Monica, asked me to come in a class while their teacher was
out. I asked her to teach the class, including me, so she went right along with
the joke saying "quiet down! quiet down! I am the teacha!" She then
would ask me questions like my age, if i had a boyfriend, she told me the
entire class owed 2 cedi each and that I had to cough up first. It was very
funny. She also brandished the stick and said "don't make me use
this!" the way teachers do. She had me put out my hand and gave me a smart
tap!
I made good friends with the teacher staff at the
junior high. One sweet girl named Pat had her birthday yesterday. This morning
I woke up and made crepes to bring to her as a present. I filled one with
nutella, one with peanut butter, and one with jam, then cut banana slices over
them. She was very happy and grateful, and tried to eat the. She said they were
nice, but that she could not take bananas haha. The other teachers tried bites,
but did not like them and would not eat any more, they were obviously too
sweet. It was funny because they were crinkling their noses at yummy crepes,
but right after were eating a whole fish, head, tail, scales and all, and could
not understand why I thought it was so disgusting. They also showed me pictures
of a field trip they had taken the kids on to Cape Coast. One of the teachers
was dressed very nice, and I said, "Oh I love his outfit!" His wife
apparently was one of the teachers looking with us and she said "you
cannot have him! I will beat you with this stick" Which made me laugh and
I tried to explain I did not mean it like that at all.
Last night, I Natalie and I headed up the hill to the village square
because some Presbyterians had come to have a big religious save-your-soul-type
thing, and I had been invited by some university girls who could speak English
very well. When we got there, the children would barely let us be, grabbing our
arms and hands, so we try to high five or shake hands with each one so that
they do not feel left out. There were people singling gospel songs, and a whole
band set up and speakers. However, the ominous thunder rolls and lightening
started, which always means there will be some very hard rainfall. They started
packing up everything, but the people singing stayed put. All the villagers
started running to the outlying shops and the power went out, leaving things
pitch black. I had my flashlight, and Natalie and I took shelter under some
shop covers with some of the villagers. Kids surrounded us, waiting out the
rain, and one fell asleep on Natalie's shoulder. It was really an experience
standing there in the dark and thunder and rain with the villagers. The
university girls I had met said they would still pray, so I followed them out
into the rain, into the middle of the square where a small circle of
Presbyterians stood praying. Some had their arms raised to the heavens, and
some were mumbling their prayers, while one man yelled out praising God.
Another man even dropped to his knees in the mud. It was quite a moment to see,
standing there in the mud in Wiamoase, Ashanti, Ghana, hearing my brothers and
sisters raise their own types of prayers to God while the rain and lightening
came down. I realized these types of moments are of the sort that I will rarely
have again.
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