International Dinner...

Last night I had a full house for the first time since I have been here. Three of the Fulbright researchers came over to my house as well as the headmistresses son, Akordy. We all had dinner together and talked about a variety of topics. Akordy, prepared traditional Ghanaian fried rice (which was excellent) and I made a simple salad (Ghanaians don’t really eat salad, so although simple, really hit the spot, at least for me). It was a neat experience to be sitting in my house in Ghana, West Africa talking with 3 Americans from all over the US, all researching fascinating and different topics here in Ghana, and a Ghanaian who has had the opportunity to travel to the US. We talked about politics (US and Ghanaian), cultural differences, economics, the bailout plan (the little we know about it), and of course, food. It was a fun evening. I am still not sure that I have fully grasped the fact that I am in Africa! It still seems surrealistic at times. Regardless, I am enjoying it and I hope to share as much with the Ghana as it has with me.

Marathon...

I ran a marathon this morning here in Ghana, and once again, what an experience! I have been training (sorta) for the last few months and was not sure that I would really go through with the actual race until two days ago. When I arrived here and tried to run, it was much harder. The air here is so thick with humidity and with diesel fuel (almost all the cars and trucks run on diesel and there is no EPA so the pollution is bad). Regardless, I thought while I am in Africa, I really should make the most of every opportunity.

I woke up this morning at 3:30 am and took a taxi to downtown Accra where I was supposed to get on a bus just for the marathon that was to leave at 4:30. After some difficulty finding exactly where we were to all meet, I did meet some of the other runners and waited for the bus…and waited….and waited. Finally, at 6 it showed up and we all piled onto this bus that was packed well beyond capacity. A group of runners, for some reason, had decided to bring drums and other instruments and proceeded to play music (that was really good and different from anything I have ever heard) for the next 45 minutes to an hour as we drove to the start of the race. When we arrived, we all got out (in, seemingly, the middle of nowhere, it is actually a little beach town 26.2 miles from Accra called Prampram) and after about five minutes they said “Go!”. We were supposed to have started at 5:30, but did not start until 7, but I think that is good for Ghana ( I am still adjusting to that and am not sure I ever will). I felt great for the first ten miles or so, but then the sun came out and I started to tire. I was still ok by the half way mark, and just kept pushing. Once we hit the half way mark the whole course goes directly along the ocean for 6 or 7 miles, and it was beautiful, even though the sun was HOT by this point. As we neared Accra we ran through some very poor areas but everyone I saw was cheering us on; a neat feeling. However, because these areas are so poor there is no sidewalk and being that close to the ocean, there is no dirt, but rather just sand, so those miles, running in sand, were not all that fun.

With about a mile left I was just trying to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other when I ran up on a kid who could not have been but 9 years old. He was walking and as I passed him, I waved him to run with me and he did. I asked him if he was running the marathon (I am not sure he understood a single word I said), but he shook his head and it obvious that he had been running for a while. At one point he fell back a few yards and I motioned him to keep up, so he did. As we neared the finish line and it was at last in sight, I looked down to notice that he was wearing flip-flops! This 9 year old kid just ran a marathon in the same time I did, in flip-flops! We crossed the line together and it was almost surreal (as many things here have seemed): Here I am finishing a marathon in Africa, running with a 9 year old boy in flip-flops, the finish line is right on the beach overlooking a picturesque ocean and the first thing that happens when I finish is, instead of handing me a bottle of water, someone hands me a coconut! Another guy takes it, cuts it open with a machete for me to drink the water that is inside (there is about a liter), and then I am supposed to hand it back to him and he cuts it open so that I can eat the meat, which is soft and juicy too- not like American coconuts that I have had.

Although, by no means was it fast, I finished a marathon in Africa and it was quite the experience.

Democracy...

I am very glad to be in the classroom and teaching, it is, however, very differnt here than in the US. Not better or worse, but just different. In the Government class that I am teaching we have started talking a lot about the election in Ghana. The students seem very knowledgeable (at least in comparison to me) and I have been genuinely impressed. I have also talked about the election in the US and the students know about both the canidates and seem pretty informed about our democratic system. Ghana is one of the few African countries that is a democracy and has a history (all be it short) of peaceful elections. In discussion I asked them, if they were of eligible age, would they vote. I was shocked when more than two-thirds of the students told me very honestly: "No". They had a myriad of differnt reasons, but they all ended with; "so that is why I will not vote". I tried to enphasize the importance of participation in a democratic society, but I am not sure if I got my message across or not (I had anticipated teaching that). I guess I expected that democratice participation would be a honor of sorts here, maybe even more than it is precieved in the US. It goes to show what expectations in Africa, are out the window. I hope to be able to teach these students, but as of right now, I am the one going to school and learning from them.

Slavery...

This week is the first week of classes where I am able to actually begin teaching new material. In the social studies classes I have begun with giving a very brief history of Ghana focusing on geographic factors of development. It is impossible to discuss the history of Ghana and West Africa though, without discussing slavery. Discussing slavery is a difficult, but interesting, topic in a US classroom that is predominately white-European. Here, there are so many more dimensions to the topic and the discussion that follows. I am the only white-European in the room, and for that matter, the school. These students may have ties to slavery of some kind. How, as a teacher, do I teach this coming from such a background? I have had absolutely no problems in the classroom, but it is just a very interesting topic, in a very interesting place and really does give me pause for thought. Not sure how I feel about it at the moment, just trying to absorb everything, journal it, and take it in stride.

P.S.- The "chalk/candy" is actually something that is edible! It is, however, only something that pregnant women eat. Why did the lady sell it to me?

"Candy"...

Today I had about a 25 minute break in my teaching this afternoon, so I decided to walk just off campus and get a pop. On my way to get a drink I saw a lady selling candy so I decided to stop on my way back to get a piece. Keep in mind that the candy here is, for the most part much different than US candy, it is often homemade, and even if it is not homemade, I have never heard of most of the brands. After I got my pop, I came to the candy lady just in time to see her packing everything up (it looked like it was going to rain) She had one container left out of this powdered football shaped thing. I asked her what it was and in Twi she told me, so I had absolutely no idea. But, I thought, it is candy, how bad can it be. I asked her if it was good and pointed to my mouth and she just smiled and nodded. So I gave her 10 pesewas (cents) and she gave me six pieces! AS a walked away I looked at them and realized that they really had a lot of powdered sugar on them. I took one and bit into it only to realize that the white powder on the outside was the entire thing, and it was not powdered sugar. It was chalk. I then proceeded to spit and spit and spit and rinse out my mouth with the pop I had just bought, but for the rest of the day my mouth has had a bit of a gritty feel. Live and learn, I guess, but, in the future, I may be a bit more discerning as to what kind of “candy” I buy.

Lost Email Contacts...

Due to a server crash last week, I lost almost all of my email contacts. If you emailed me within the last week or so and I have not responded, please resend it. Also, to anyone who wishes to get in contact with me, I have no way of reaching you. Please send me an email at coryell@shg.org so that I may a least have your contact info. Any of the old contacts that I had, including students and staff, have been lost. Sorry for any inconvience and hope to hear from you soon!

Beginning of School...

School started on Tuesday! The students began to arrive Monday evening and then Tuesday morning we had our first assembly at 7 and then the students cleaned the campus until 11AM. (As the students cleaned the campus I spoke with another teacher and he asked me if we did the same type of thing in the US and I said no, that most of the students probably would not clean the school. He looked at me shocked and said who cleans. I told him we have a maintenance staff and he was amazed.) Classes then began and I stood in front of an African class for the first time! It was fun. I have been ready for classes to begin for awhile so I was excited for school to start. However, this week we are still using the schedule from last year because the new one is not yet ready. Therefore, many of the classes I am supposed to have now I will not have next Monday. Also, the Form 1, or first year students will not arrive until the first week of October, so for now, things are beginning, but they will change in the next few weeks. Regardless, I did get to teach one class yesterday, one class today and, I think, three classes tomorrow. Something that I am finding to be very nice and interesting to me is that (even though it is early) despite how different the two cultures are, the students are remarkably similar. The same things that I say in the states that the students laugh at, the students here laugh. The same things that I use at SHG to get students attention, work here too. Granted I have not been in the classroom long, but I thus far find it neat that the cultures are as about as opposite as can be, but that the students are so very similar. I am excited about the teaching and am anxious to really get into in the weeks to come.