Teaching & Touring!!

Team Journal ~ October 14, 2010

Written by: Volunteer Madeleine

Quote of the Day: "Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." ~ Albert Schweitzer


I read the story of the tortoise to the class. We then began discussing the moral of the story: greed and selfishness. A good class discussion. Then we did the recall questions. We also discussed and compared Ghana with the U.S.A., capital, regions, states, and countries. They were quite good in social studies.

Second period there were five questions on the board. They were to choose one and write a paper. This was their exercise. They were given until 9:25 to finish the paper. Then they were collected. I asked the class to help grade. Grading was like 30/30. Nothing was given below 3 ½ over 30. After the exercise and the papers were collected, I stayed in the room with then until the class was over. They came and went. I guess to use the restroom facilities or just visited with other. They were not as loud as some of the other classes.

Third period the science class came in. They were supposed to be studying for their science exam. Their teacher had not yet come in. When he came in, he wrote the exam questions on the board. Most of the students were studying at their desks. Some were at the board working math problems. I guess this is considered study hall. Before the exam, the bell was ringing for the break for 20 minutes.

At 1:00 p.m. the taxi picked us up at the arts and crafts market at Aburi which was about 3 hours away. The drive was glorious through the beautiful countryside as we drove up and up through the mountains. We passed beautiful tropical trees: pineapple, mango, and banana. We passed beautiful churches—Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian,. The missionaries did their job well. Lush grasses, beautiful flowers.

We passed many villages with their share of everyday goods. Some of the roads (highways) were quite good. After about an hour and a half we arrived at the arts and crafts market where there were beautiful hand made carvings. Behind the shops one could watch the artisans as they created their own works of art. They used kisi shoe polish to add an extra luster to the statues. There were beautiful beads all made by the owners of the shops. Bargaining was expected, and prices were quite good. Also, the workmanship was good. The shop owners were very friendly wanting you to look at their wares.

On our way home, we observed on our way home, there were some very beautiful homes and gardens. Probably the rich owned them. There were many people in the villages that we passed. People were everywhere. The Ghanian people were very well dressed regardless of what they were doing. Some were even chopping weeds in their yards in their nice clothes. As we traveled through the countryside we saw the same type of uniforms that we see in our school.