Ghana Team Journal

The morning started with an egg and toast again. At breakfast, it was obvious that Judy was still not feeling well. She laid back down in her room and would be going to the hospital around 11am. The team has been concerned about her as this trip can be difficult even when feeling well. We all went to our respective schools and started in on another hot and muggy day in our open-air classrooms.

My class started with some marching practice for the independence day festival. Next, we moved into mathematics. We worked through some long division scaffolding problems, and then went for break. During our break, the children enjoyed some soccer and taking pictures and the occasional wrestling match. The weather has been becoming increasingly hot and humid. Everyone was sweating after our break, but no one more than myself! The people here are certainly more accustomed to this type of weather.

After returning to the classroom, our class gathered and walked to the library to work on the computers. However, when we arrived at the library door, we realized no one was home and we could not get in to have our ICT class. So, after cooling off in the shade of the library’s front patio, we hit the road again and walked back to our classroom.

Since ICT was canceled, I decided to hold a competition of board games. We divided the children into two separate groups and then one child at a time from each group would come to the blackboard to write the answer to the question I gave from our various lessons. The kids were shouting, screaming, jumping up and down and trying their hardest to cheat so that their team may win. I realized, as did my teacher, that competition was quite a powerful motivator. It was sad, however, that most of the children could not spell Senchi-Ferry, their teacher’s name, or Akosombo. Yikes!

After class, we returned to the guest house for lunch – rice again, sheesh! – and soon after lunch Judy returned from the hospital with what sounded like a clean bill of health. We are all glad that it was nothing really serious, but she will be taking it easy to err on the side of caution. The afternoon was another hour at the library reading and working with the children from various schools around the community. My class from B’Akoto decided to come for some ICT practice in the computer room. Unfortunately, our class teacher decided not to come, and without her, we could not proceed into the computer room. It was nice to see some of my students reading and being able to hang out with them outside of the p5 classroom. I decided to try to convince our teacher to attempt to come back for ICT class the following day. The children had only one thing on their minds for the next day’s class however – board races again! I told them I would try to host a rematch on Friday due to their extreme enthusiasm. Upon returning to the guest house, we cleaned up and changed and caught a tro-tro to the Continental hotel for dinner and relaxation along the Volta River. We enjoyed a diversified menu and a few beverages with good conversation. The group feels pretty ready to head home on Saturday. We tro-troed back to the St. James guest house and went to our rooms. There is only one day left of service here in Senchi-Ferry and our group went to bed as visions of returning home danced in our heads.