Ghana Team Journal

Quote of the Day: “What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each other?” –

-George Eliot

Journal by: Sarah Andersen

For me, and I think Will as well, Friday started with mixed feelings. It was the first day of teaching for those of us who were placed in the JHS. When we got to the school Kay, Steve, and George started working on construction; Margaret, Mary, and Tracee went down to the Peace Perfect International School; Laurie and Grace went to teach in the primary school; and Will and I headed to the JHS. I was nervous about teaching since I had no idea what subject I would be teaching and therefore had no lessons planned. Thankfully, we were asked to observe a social studies class so we could see how the teachers taught and what the students were learning.

After the class, the teacher told us the students were going to have a break and when it was over, Will and I would be teaching them more social studies. Since the headmaster told us the break would be ending in 30 minutes, Will and I rushed to come up with some sort of plan for the chapter we would be teaching: Socio-Economic Development: Tourism, Leisure, and Development. I thought it was a little strange that they had asked a couple of American kids to teach this chapter since it was all about why Ghanaians often do not go to the various tourist sites in the country and what people can do to change that.

Will and I went to the classroom about 10 minutes before the break was supposed to end and started writing our notes and references on the board. Once the 30 minute break time had elapsed, there were only a couple students in the classroom. I thought this to be very ironic since in the section the class was learning before the break, the teacher was explaining how Africans were always late and how that had to stop if they wanted to get anything done. Before class started, Will shared some of his American music off of his iPod which the students thoroughly enjoyed. The lesson went pretty well. The teacher who usually taught social studies was impressed with our teaching and I was thankful we didn’t fail horribly.

After we were done teaching, we went outside to meet the rest of the group. I found out that George had been teaching in the classroom next to ours, Grace had walked home with Laurie who wasn’t feeling well, and the rest of the group had gone down to the Peace Perfect International School. We then walked back to the guesthouse and had lunch. I had not been feeling very well all morning so after lunch I decided not to accompany the others to the library and the Volta River walk. My mother kindly recounted the details of the river walk for me so I could include them in the journal. Before they left for walk, three men came into the library to thank them for their work and contributions and one man even remembered the volunteers coming into his school when he was a child. When they left for the walk, they saw a lot of people out in Senchi. Lots of men and boys in kaftans and a few men with head coverings.

As they walked, Amo told them how Senchi had been a vibrant area with a whole line of two-story buildings containing shops and homes and now only uprights and an occasional half walk remained. When the bridge was built across the river at Artimpoku was built, the canoes and large shops and houses along the river were abandoned. Closer to the river, there are tilapia farms and a man resting in a hammock watching over the farms, greeted and they could see a few long canoes paddled by fishermen along the shore. Overall, it sounds like group enjoyed the walk.