Ipso Fatso

“Holy crap.” These were the first two words issued from me today. Why? Because the horn of the bus I needed to so desperately catch was blaring not too far from my home. Usually, I’m much more composed and am standing by the road. This time though, I was sleeping like a baby at 2AM - 30 minutes before my alarm was to go off and approximately 1.5 hours before I should hear the sound of the bus idling up the severely underdeveloped road that snakes its way past my house. Bleary eyed and shaken, I quickly dressed and stuffed whatever I meant to pack the night before in my bag and ran out to the road. And here I am, in Accra, at 6:20 AM, still bleary eyed and shaken.

Today I have to go back to the doctors because the meds they put me on were making my kidneys go a little nuts on me. My right eye has been twitching for the last two days. I’m a mess, it seems. Hopefully the doctor will have sorted out my jaw situation and I can get back to teaching uninterrupted. Standing in for absent teachers has helped me catch my students up with the work, and now that we have TWO new teachers, things might start to change for the better. Then again, my headmaster and counterpart had to go and find the teachers who hadn’t shown up for two days, and Mr. Bbbbbb (another teacher) and I had the school to ourselves. Later, after the two teachers were retrieved, they just sat in the office and stared at books. They seemed rapt in making lesson plans, so we didn’t talk much. Ostensibly, they will stay at the school and teach maths and social studies, but that was what the last four teachers were supposed to before they mysteriously vanished from our school and Otumi.

Having a new math teacher means I can go from teaching 3 subjects to the much more manageable number 2. Since six 70 minute classes have been excised from my weekly schedule, my life is now unfettered enough to start planning other projects for my students as well as study Twi to the point where I have a good command of the language.

In my last entry, I was in Accra visiting my friend BJ before he leaves Ghana, possibly for good. That was Saturday. We said our good-byes to each other, but now we’ll do it a second time around, since I talked with him yesterday and found out he is leaving Thursday. Today we’ll probably go get lunch if the doc doesn’t hold me too long. When I got home on Saturday from Accra, it was pretty late, around 10PM, and my landlord Kwame and is brother were sitting on my/his porch. This was the first time I met the man, and seeing that I was tired, he told me we would talk tomorrow after our introductions.

Sunday, I went to church in the morning before really sitting down and chatting with my landlord. I hadn’t been to church in almost three weeks, and the last time I was there, I embarrassed myself by putting change in the collection plate when it turned out people were dumping something else in there. But that’s what happens when you leave a Jew to his own devices at Christian church- embarrassments all around. This time I was ready, and made sure the patrons were putting money and not envelopes or notes in the collection plate. Luckily, I get the impression that I’m well received.

After church, I called my host parents in Kukurantumi to see how they were doing and inquire on whether they had a host child from the new omnibus group that came into town. My group, the 2008 PCV education group, was the first to do training in Kukurantumi; before, Peace Corps training was done in Techiman, located in the Brang Ahafo Region. More about training is talked about in my first post, but I did not mention much about life with my host family. I turned out to have an incredibly nice host family, the Boatengs. My large and in charge mom (Mama Agy) was a great cook, but spoke rapid-fire Twi to me without including a word of English. Nana Boat, my host father, likened by many of the people in my group as the “Ghanaian Santa Clause”, was in fact one of the jolliest men I’ve ever met. His English was excellent, and he helped me with almost everything. He not only was one of the sub-chiefs of Kukurantumi, but also an electrician; we would have daily discussions on topics ranging from how the chieftaincy works in Ghana to how to repair electrical outlets. Both of my parents made me feel like I was part of the family, to the point where I would tell them I was going out or inviting them to my soccer games as if I were a teenager. One time some neighbors kept referring to me as Obruni, white man, even though I repeatedly told them in Twi that that wasn’t my name. Even though this didn’t really bother me, my host parents intervened and told them I was an Obibini (African) in heart, which I took as a major compliment.

There were several children and grandchildren who lived at the house as well; unfortunately I later found out that to accommodate for me, the children jammed themselves into two rooms. I became closest to the grandchildren, one in middle school and the other just entering high school (Ema and Kwazi, respectively). They would help me with Twi and we would talk about different things like what cold climates are like. I had a deaf sister who helped me pick up some sign language- I know how to say sit, mother, father, and stupid. I’m digressing. Getting back to the call I placed to my host parents, I found out they did in fact have a host child, and I got a little jealous. We made plans to see each other within the next two months, and I can’t wait for them to visit me at site.

Sorry, the rest of this post might be scatter-brained; I just got back from the dentist with some very bad news. It seems that the infection in my jaw is the result of a botched implant that left a severed nerve and some damaged tissue in my mouth; this means that they need to take the implant out or else the situation will get worse. My body is rejecting the medicine, and they say I’ll need to replace the implant with a bridge.

I’m waiting to see the Peace Corps doctor to find out if they can take care of this here or in S. Africa (where many PCVs go for complex medical procedures). Going back to the States is exciting in a way, but I felt crestfallen when I first heard the news because that means I’m away from my students for god knows how long. I just got to my site, and I feel it’s too soon to leave them, even for a little bit. The semester is almost over, and I need to get them ready for the end of the term final. I’m working out in my head just how to solve this dilemma. If worse comes to worse and I have to be gone for an extended amount of time, I think I might work with a student or two to teach the class for me while I’m gone. The other day I asked around to see which students might want to become educators, and whether or not they would like me to mentor them in becoming a future teacher. I had a about 4 students who were interested, and they are actually some of my top students. If it comes down to it, perhaps the students can teach out of the books while I’m gone. I’m just hoping I can hold out until the end of the term, but the inflammation is pretty nuts right now, so I might have to scratch that idea. We will see. Let’s get back on track.

When my landlord came back from a funeral taking place in town, which is what brought him up here, we talked for a while about politics in Ghana and the States. Kwame owns a construction company over in Medina, Accra, and only comes up to Otumi every few months for a funeral. He talked about growing up in Otumi, and explained he was happy to put me up in his home to help benefit his community.

On Monday, I went to school, and during morning assembly, found out one of my students might be getting kicked out of the school. He is one of my form 2 students, and although he does in fact disrupt my class sometimes, all I have to do is move his seat and he’s good the rest of class. Apparently, he stole some corn from one of the teachers and was caught, thusly prompting the headmaster to take action. He told me he was held back last year from going to Form 3, and he hung out with a rough crowd. I asked to speak with him alone while everyone else was in assembly.

I had the student follow me to the benches in the sitting area, and we talked for a bit before class started. I pretty much tried to relate to him, since as a kid I myself used to steal lawn ornaments and be disruptive in class. I told him that looking back, it was wrong for me to do that, and that he should catch himself and try to refrain from hanging out with some friends he described to me. I got the headmaster to give him one more chance, and I’m keeping a close eye on him. He’s got smarts, but he definitely has too much mischief in him.

When I got home, I experimented with vegetable oil, brown sugar, and corn kernels to make delic caramel corn which I enjoyed thoroughly. Later, while I was putting the container of corn kernels back on the shelf, I noticed a ton of beetles mixed in with the kernels. More protein! Later, when I went outside to do dishes, I could hear from the mosque across town the calling for prayer on the loudspeaker, and it was at that very moment that it hit me that I was really in Ghana, that I was really doing this. Since I came to Ghana, I hadn’t experienced any surreal moments; living in Ghana has been pretty much natural to me. I’ve wanted to do Peace Corps for well over a decade now, and I finally was a volunteer in a foreign country living the dream. That stuck with me the rest of the day.

Tuesday I got a call from my PCMO that I need to be at the doctors in Accra on Wednesday. Later, during one of my classes, a bunch of the primary school students came close to my classroom and started yelling obruni through the windows; I had one of my students kindly remove them from the area and take them to their teacher. Later, when I saw the primary school teacher, I told them that their kids are disrupting my class, and he just laughed.

This is part of what I mentioned last week. The teachers in my town, save for Mr. Bbbbbb show unabashed contempt for me, and I’m still trying to think of how to react to this. There are about 15 teachers in my town, counting the now 4 at my school, 5 at the primary school, and the rest at the Presbyterian middle school on the northern part of Otumi. Whenever I run into them, I act like I normally do with everyone else, I greet them, and they just laugh at me and put on a nasal whitey tone to mock me. Kids. The teachers in my town are kind of like kids. Which is what kills me about my students- their role models are scarce, and the teachers set incredibly bad examples. For instance, students are taught not to fight or hit one another, otherwise, they get beat. Students are expected to show up on time to school everyday, even though many of the teachers are nowhere to be found. I’m not saying all teachers in Ghana are like this, but I can tell you the ones in my town certainly are, save for Mr. Bbbbbbb. Mr. Bbbbb is alright, he cares about the students and is nice to me, but he canes way to much as well.

I think part of the reason they act this way towards me is because I actually put in work when I teach. The only other people I’ve seen show enthusiasm in class is my headmaster and Mr. Bbbbbb. Yesterday, I watched my headmaster give a lesson on the Twi language, and the students were really in to it. My headmaster told me he used to be a teacher, and missed doing it, though he plans on becoming a farmer once he retires in two years. My headmaster is usually really good with the kids in my town.

After school, since I was going to be gone the next day, I had one of my students stay after school so I could catch her up in science for the test Friday. The girl came from Nigeria about two weeks ago, and she’s one of my best students. I caught her up on the carbon cycle and climate, and a bunch of students ended up staying after as well. I’ve talked to the girl’s father on a few occasions when I see him around town, and I think it might be hard on them since they are so knew and don’t really know anyone. My town is a major produces of palm oil, so we get people from all over, especially from Togo, coming to Otumi for work.

Tuesday was also a close call when I choked on one of the slimy cocoa beans I love to eat. My headmaster gives me a bunch from his farm whenever he goes. I got Jack on board with this popcorn thing. He’s thinking of getting a popcorn maker. That’s not a bad idea….I also talked with one of my friends, who will stay the night next Tuesday to watch and listen for the election results. The next day he’ll observe maybe one of my classes and head back. I’m running out of money, but I would like to get a bottle of champaign for the momentous occasion. Aside from that, mine and Chihiro’s lunch plans were again postponed to this coming Sunday. I need to find mangoes to chill, but they are not in season

Music to complement this entry:

Cruisin’- Holly Cole Trio
Vagalume- The Mosquitos
Waiting for the Man- Nico
Friends- Luscious Jackson
Fortress- Pinback
Tallahassee Love- T-Pain
St. Thomas- Sonny Rollins
Tubthuumping- Chumbawamba
Gnossienne No.2- Erik Satie
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor- Mozart
Hold Your Head Up High- Bloodhound Gang
Isaac- Squeak E. Clean
Falling to Pieces- Faith No More
What You Know- T.I.
Do It- Nelly Furtado
Fire- Ohio Players
Hatchet- Low

Wine to Complement this entry:

2004 Stony Hill Chardonnay

Host family brothers and sisters

My host parents at swearing in

Family photo

At home in Kukurantumi

Kwazi, my host mom, and mom's friend

My headmaster at his well

Some students of mine

Saying Bye to a Friend

I’m back in Accra for the third time this week, didn’t think I’d say that, but here I am. My friend BJ is leaving and there is no way I’m going to miss him before he goes. Coincidentally, the meds the doc has me taking is having a curious effect on my kidneys; they've been tingling a bit since I started taking the medication. Knowing this isn’t right, I’m also going to see the PCMO. I’m starting not to enjoy coming to Accra though; it’s getting expensive, I’ve seen enough for now, and the rides to and from my site are dangerous. After today, I’m going to stop coming to Accra for a while, I think.

On the last trip, I made the mistake of not taking the front seat on the tro going back to my site, and had to endure 5 hours of sitting in a fetal position in the back since the floor started where my knees were supposed to be. I didn’t know at the time that the floor was like that, but didn’t want to sit in the front where I can fly out the window if we hit something. This is where my reluctance to come to Accra stemmed from. The good news is the people in Kade, the town I do a stop-over in before going to my site, have stopped calling me Obruni and started calling me Kwazi Boateng (or as some people call me, Boat), my Ghana given name.

Briefly, Obruni (emphasis on the “o” to give a mocking effect) is the equivalent of saying “white man” to someone. Obruni kokou, or “white man with red skin”, is commonly heard from screaming buoyant children or the occasional adult. I usually have a comeback; in fact my students just the other day told me I should say womboadee- “you’re not being respectful”. I used to say Obibini! (African!) or just browbeat the person.

When my tro pulled up to my site, the caretaker and his family were on lawn chairs near the collapsed bridge that marks the beginning of my property. The power was out, and since it was around 9 PM, the only light came from their flashlights. Monstrous sacks of cucumbers were on the ground, and they explained that they were taking them to Accra the next day when the bus comes at 2AM. They offered me a cucumber, which in fact was delicious when I cut it up, chilled it, and had it with olive oil and garlic. We talked for a while, and then the lights came on, which was my cue to get inside and get some much needed rest.

The next day was a challenge; since I missed Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday classes, I used Friday to do some serious catching up. Based on the fact that Mr. Mhm does not show up to most of his classes, I step in for him and teach math, science, or ICT. Students spent the latter part of the day weeding and playing football; I think the teachers were getting bored and eschewed teaching the last 4 periods. The other teacher and I followed the students out to the field, where they spent a good 45 minutes just weeding, and to the students’ surprise I joined them. I’ve gone to farm with my neighbor before, and he showed me how to properly use a cutlass (machete), so I was able to impress them with my mad cutlass skills. I enjoy it, in increments of 5 minute chopping, 5 minute resting. One girl got caned really badly for fooling around, and I glared at Mr. Mhm for hitting the girl so hard across the knees.

Before leaving for school on Friday, Mr. Appiah, the brother of the owner of my house, had some news for me- his brother will be in town this weekend for a funeral in Otumi. Keeping in mind that Chihiro, the JICA volunteer near my site, is supposed to meet me for lunch at my place on Sunday, this kind of throws a wrench in my plans. At the same time, I’m incredibly grateful to the man for letting me stay in his huge house for free. I’m trying to think of how to balance my time between the two.

I’m starting to teach my students how to make cryptograms, which worked out well with my host sister during training, in exchange for learning Twi. So far, I’ve got a few that are pretty good at it. Acryptogram looks like this: YGKSHN GWH KSV PK NHGNSK, ZHV P KHHE SKH VS AWHNHKV VS UTPTPWS VSYSWWSI- good luck to anyone who wants to decode it.

On the ride to Accra today, I noticed an unusual number of winged, ant-like insects all over the bus. I phlegmatically watched as they used my arms, neck, and head as a landing strip. The trip was violently bumpy, like usual, and I unfortunately chose the seat under the speaker blasting gospel music throughout the trip. One woman was reading a newspaper with a featured article on the front cover titled “Woman Turns into Cobra”. The woman gave me a disdainful look when she saw the smile on my face looking at her article. Just the other day I got in trouble when I was making faces at someone’s baby. It’s hard being on your best behavior when crammed into vehicles.

One final note: Flipping through my Form 1 ICT Computer book while planning lessons, I came across this picture of a Microsoft Word box in the Word Processing unit; I noticed that whoever made the book grabbed the wrong picture to display what a Microsoft Word box looks like. The one they have is a parody of the original box, with famous rappers on the front in lieu of plain white. I posted a picture of it below, making most of this paragraph redundant.

That’s it for now. I’ve got to run and eat lunch with my buddies. Next week I’ll go into a situation I have with the teachers in my town, and how I think they don’t like me very much. All else is fine, though.

Music to complement this entry:

The Wind- Cat Stevens
Don’t Worry Be Happy- Bobby McFerrin
Over the River- Jiving Juniors
Daly City train- Rancid
Teardrop- Massive Attack
Smoke and Mirrors- RJD2
Graffiti, Pt. 1- Stereo MCs
Clouds Up- Air
In the Swim- Blank Blue
Two Icicles- Flunk
Handbags and Gladrags- Rod Stewert
Lost Weekend- Brother Love
Mad Rush- Philip Glass
Better Days- Sublime

Wine to complement this entry:

2007 Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc Reserva

My friend BJ (left)

Your Typical Tro

Word!!!!!

BJ!!

I'm an Idiot

I’m in Accra again; I forgot to take my meds with me to my site and had to go all the way back, which means I missed another day of classes, spent ten valuable bucks, and have to languish on a bumpy five hour ride from and to my site. Fun part is I got to see two friends at the office as well as rapaciously eat a tasty meal at the Ghana Army Mess Hall food just down from the Peace Corps office. One of my friends had malaria for two weeks, and she came down with a pretty serious fever. I'm the first non-Ghanaian she's seen since site, and we caught up before I left for my site. Her other friend is coming tomorrow, so at least she'll have good company.

I found out yesterday that another one of my friends in my group is ETing (early termination, which puts the number at 6 people from our group. I heard he’ll be here tomorrow, so I’m missing him by one day. I can’t even call him. I happened to be in Accra to bid farewells to my other friends, but I’m missing this guy by one day; I can’t even get a hold of him by phone. I learned Tuesday that our country director is leaving as well in mid-December. I really look up to this guy, and we had some good conversations; I’m going to try to get in a game of tennis before he leaves. He’ll be replace by an ex- Marine/ Peace Corps Volunteer who we’ll meet in a few months.

On to lionizing my friend Jack- We were talking on the phone yesterday and I heard all this commotion like students fighting over something in the background. Apparently, Jack has night classes from 8-9 everyday, helping students with test-taking & computer skills. I don’t do anything but teach. I haven’t really done anything yet with my students, and I’m jealous every time I here all the great things other PCVs are doing. I’m still trying to figure out what my students can benefit the most from before I announce anything. For now, I just help the Form 3 students after school with whatever questions they have.

Another bat flew into my home yesterday, the second one this month. Again, like the last one, I had to get a chair in between me and the winged rodent so that it safely flies out of my home. I’ve also had to chase some chicks out of my home, as well as some pesky goats I alluded to last time. This morning, as I was rushing out of my home at two AM, I noticed a communion wafer-sized spider come out from under my bed. I grabbed one of my Tupperware containers, caught it, and released it before catching the bus bound for Accra.

When I get back home today, my neighbor’s kids and I are making peanut butter using the grinding bowl (see below). Per usual, I’m loading the mix up with tons of sugar. Then, reading time with the kids IF it is not too dark out. I'm still working on getting my dog to at least play fetch, and I might squeeze that in too if I have the time.

Music to complement this entry:

Help!- The Beatles
Kola Kola- The Clash
A Well Respected Man- The Kinks
Gone- Kanye West
Soul Call- Soul Rhythms
Ghost Town- The Specials
Rosa Parks- Outkast

Wine to complement this entry:

2005 Ravenswood Zinfandel

The Country Director for Peace Corps Ghana

Jack and I

My friend Jen (far right) who I saw in Accra

Ma Dog

Making Peanut Butter

My front porch where the children and I read

Mr. Darren Goes to Town

I spent the past few days typing up what I’ve experienced since swearing in, as well as some back stories to go along with whatever needs to be elaborated on. By page 30, I stopped, realized no one is going to read that much drivel, and scrapped the whole thing; instead I’ll hark back to last Tuesday and proceed from there. In fact, events that took place last Tuesday are a major reason why I’m sitting here now in the Accra Peace Corps Office today and not teaching classes at my site. It stinks that I’m leaving out a ton of stories I have from the past several weeks at site, but I hope to make up for it in my later posts. This one might be alright, but I’ll leave that up to the reader.

Quizzes and Caning

Last Tuesday, the year of our Lord October 14, 2008, was what one could call a typical day for a Peace Corps Volunteer: went to school, chased goats out of my home, and went to the main market a ways away from my site. My Form 1 and 2 students took their first test in my class, and cheating wasn’t too bad, though after grading the tests, I found some awfully similar incorrect answers on students who sat next to one another.

Cheating is prevalent in most Ghanaian schools, and is sometimes even encouraged by some of the teachers since it makes them and their schools look good if the student does well on high stakes tests like the BECE. Cheating goes on in my classroom, but it’s been on the decline since I usually just stand there, arms akimbo, quietly telling the student to go to the front of the room where they can sit and take a zero. Some students do really well on the tests and quizzes I give, while others seem to do poorly for one reason or another. I’m still trying to get to know each of my students on an individual level, so it’s tough for me to see who is studying and putting forth an effort while others might have learning disabilities. Many of the students, after school, do a long list of work for their parents, many of them being farmers. I don’t blame the students for being exhausted when they come to class, which is why I try to make my lessons as enjoyable and insightful as possible.

Word of mouth is pointless; the teachers at my school are out of touch with the students. Case in point, we had a new student come in, and my headmaster told me she is known to be shy and probably won’t participate in class at all. So far, she’s volunteered more than most of the class in providing answers. Almost all my students are still conducting themselves very well, taking notes and coming to class on time. I’m still working on getting them to be more open and comfortable during class discussions.

Student performance is alright in my classes. Since I’m teaching Math, Science and ICT to the Form 1 and 2 students, it’s sometimes hard to step back and evaluate things when so much is going on. Basically, I’ve found that both forms do well with attendance and effort in class. I try to keep my classes interesting, but I’m still finding it hard to get many of the students past just waiting for the answer or reciting in verbatim the definition for something. This is just how they learn from their other teachers, so I’m hoping with time and effort I can help students move away from this type of learning and actually understand what they are studying.

I’ve noticed with the teachers at my school is that they have very little confidence in their students, and they think caning is the end-all solution to dealing with students who misbehave or don’t know the answer to sometimes cryptic questions. On top of working with students, I’m putting some effort into getting the two teachers at my school to realize that the students are not hopeless and need to be hit to behave. All I hear from them, and this is no joke, is that students are “stubborn” and need more discipline. I feel they are just middle school students with tons of energy and frustrated with such a heavy workload at school.

One teacher at my school, we’ll call him Mr. Mhm, evades classes at all cost, and shows up late on a regular basis; but if one students does something minor, they are punished severely, I’m talking punches them hard in the arm in a non-playful way. These are my students, and I really don’t know how long it will be until I lose my cool on him, though first I need to talk to him alone. I really don’t like him though, and these probably won't be the last pejorative statements I make about the guy. Thus is the situation at my school.

I might be having some sort of affect on my headmaster, because he told me and the rest of the students and teachers during morning announcements the other day that “caning is no good, and that it will hopefully be done away with soon.” I’ll have to see it to believe it, but for now I’m just going to continue doing what I’m doing and try to convince the teachers that there is a better way.

From the Ghanaian teacher’s point of view, I’ve been told that being a teacher here is frustrating, that students get little discipline at home and must cane or they would have little power in the classroom. Another source of frustration comes from the low pay for teachers and in many cases extremely late payments into their accounts. I’m ignorant as to how many of the teachers are trained, and I’m slowly learning about the teacher-placement process as well as many other aspects of the Ghanaian education system.

This week I’ve been collaborating with teachers about how we can deal with the teacher shortage at our school as well as more effective methods of classroom management. I’ve seen little results this week, and I still hear the terrible sounds of students getting caned in the next room over. I caught myself glaring at the primary school teachers going nuts on their students with the cane. My students know how much I hate the measure since I openly protest to it when we chat after class.

Chihiro and the Problem

So Friday an odd but wonderful thing happened- I was asked to go home to collect some of the extra class money I was responsible for holding for the school, and on the way to my home, thought about how great it would be if my friend Jack came with me to Japan after we finish Peace Corps. Jack and I share a similar interest in Japan, and he can speak the language pretty well. I reminisced about the two years I spent there on the return back to my school, and when I entered the staff common room to count the money, not a minute later this Japanese girl is there before me. This might sound mundane to most people, but when I am the only non-Ghanaian in my town and don’t normally see any foreigners, it’s a big deal. If I had a tail, it would have been wagging.

My headmaster introduced her as a Japanese volunteer belonging to JICO (can’t remember what this stands for), and I remember him mentioning something about her a while back. The girl is about my age, beautiful, and has worked at a hospital not too far from my site for about a year and a half. Her name is Chihiro, and I took great pleasure in surprising her that I lived in Japan and could speak the language pretty well. As part of her work in Ghana, she would go around to schools teaching about AIDS/ HIV and other diseases. That day she made plans with my headmaster to come back Tuesday to educate our students. We chatted it up for a bit, with the end result of her planning to come to my house for lunch on Sunday.

Later that day, though, I was eating dinner at school while the students worked on this science poster I asked them to make, when my mouth suddenly started to swell up precisely in the area where a year earlier a dentist had accidentally severed my nerve. A little panicked, I asked my students if they noticed anything wrong with my face, with which they replied they did, and I looked a bit weirder than I usually do. The past few days, I’ve been having some strange sensations in that area, and even felt like my salivary glands decided to shut off. I’d get dizzy some days, and there was a level of concern that entire week. I figured it was a new allergy that might have cropped up, though I’ve only ever been allergic to plutonium isotopes. I called the PCMO (the Peace Corps medical officer), and he was under the impression that it might be an allergy and I should go on anti-inflammatory for a while until it clears up.

Friday, though, it was serious enough to get a hold of my dentist stateside and find out what he thought. He was under the impression that I had a mouth infection based on my history in that area and what I experienced the past few days. He gave me a list of medications, and I called the PCMO again to see her Saturday. If you could picture it, here I was with a swollen mouth in pitch black (my power was out and it was night time), writing down fantastic prescription names and packing my stuff for Accra. I did not find the humor in it at the time.

When I got to Accra Saturday, the PCMO looked at what was going on with my mouth, saw there was some inflammation, and put me on meds. She told me I need to stay in Accra until Monday to see the dentist. I told her maybe it would be best if I went back to my site, which was about four hours away, and come back bright and early Monday morning. She told me no. I looked at her incredulously; on any other occasion I would love to stay the weekend in Accra with Peace Corps’ permission. I usually spend my weekends taking a brief sojourn in Accra to visit friends and surround myself with all things familiarly Western, including shopping malls, pizza, and ice cream. A while back I had to cajole my APCD into letting me stay in Accra so that I could watch my friends compete in a marathon, and from that conversation I acquiesced to not coming staying in Accra again until the end of the term.

Any other weekend would have been brilliant, but this one was no good. The PCMO asked me why I needed to get back so badly, and I let it out that this beautiful Japanese girl was coming over to my place at noon on Sunday to eat lunch, and that I really had no choice but to go back to my site. No go. And here I am in Accra typing this up.

The weekend wasn’t so bad though. All in all this turned out even better. I texted Chihiro that I wasn’t going to be able to make it Sunday, and asked if we could maybe move the lunch to Saturday or Sunday of next week. She took that well and so next Sunday I plan on doing something really special, which I’ll elaborate on in a second. So with that matter resolved, I walked again with some panache in my step to the mail office to get the package I heard came for me the previous day. Signing for it, I noticed my friends Chris and Tammi from my group had also picked up a package not too long ago, and Sammy the mail guy told me they might still be in Accra. I gave them a call immediately and learned that in fact they were still in Accra and would stay the night.

We met up at a great Italian restaurant called Mama Mia’s, which I had previously went to with my friend Stephen. My friend Ming, a PCV from the education group before us was also there. They all came to Accra to vote as well as run other minor errands, and we got to spend all day together. We caught up, and even though I had talked to Chris and Tammi numerous times on the phone before, it was great to see them in Accra. They are a great couple, and part of the reason I enjoy Chris’ company so much is because he towers over me like a sky scraper, reminding me of such wonderful cities as NY, Chicago, Tokyo, and San Francisco.

After lunch, we stopped by the Asian marketto look at squid in a bag and get some dried plums. I bought up some soba, green tea cakes, and something else for lunch next Sunday when Chihiro comes over.

Sunday I bid farewell to Chris and Tammi, and I spent the rest of the day lounging at the Peace Corps office with my friends Ming and Ira, as well as some other people I met over the weekend. While at the office, I saw an article featured in the San Francisco Chroncile about Ralph, one of the PCVs in my group; he is currently the oldest PCV, and one of the most amusing in my opinion. I also met this one woman who had volunteered as a PCV in Ghana, but was now stationed in Afghanistan as an engineer for the Army. We talked for a bit, and Sunday she and the rest of us went to the officer’s mess hall just a few meters away from the Peace Corps office. The food there was amazing and affordable.

Monday I got to vote, which felt wonderful in many respects. For one, we voted before any state-side suckers could, and two, this is by far the most exciting election that Florida will NOT screw up, so help me god. I also spent Monday going to the dentist’s in Osu where the doctor checked out the inflamed area, which ballooned up the previous night while chowing down dinner; the doctor told me to go to Korle-Bu, an area about 30 minutes by taxi from where we were, to get an X-ray. It was a scenic ride to the office, where we passed long stretches of beach. I would recommend though that anyone who visits the beach to plug their nose

When I returned to Osu to show the dentist my X-ray, he pointed his finger at my chest and said “Son, you have a mouth infection.” Really though he told me this news like a normal person. He wrote me a prescription, but before going back to the office to give the prescription to my PCMO, I stopped in an actual bookstore I had noticed on the way to the dentist’s. Actual bookstores are a rare site in Ghana, and I being the avid reader cannot escape bringing everything to a halt to check out what was in the shop.

The bookstore had a decent selection of books, all used, and I picked up maybe $35 worth of books even though I had only $20 and needed the rest to get back to site. Since I thought I was going back to my site the same day I left for Accra, I didn’t bother taking things like extra underwear or money. The result was me standing in the bookstore with an armful of books, smelly clothes, and a defeated look on my face. The guy at the register ended up giving me such a good discount that I got to take almost all the books home and had enough to return to the office, where I would later be reimbursed for food and travel.

When I got back to the office, I entered the computer room to find three girls I was all too familiar with: two of them I’m enamored with, the other knowing about these attractions since I confided this fact to her a while back. The two I liked were staying in Accra at the same hotel I was to take the GRE the following day. Excellent, although I think any interest in me by other of them is nil. They went to dinner while I worked on this entry; later I met up with another friend at a restaurant across from our hotel before meeting back with the two I adored.

Today, being Tuesday, four of us had breakfast at one of my favorite restaurants, and we headed back to the Peace Corps office. We talked for a bit in the computer room before they left and I got back to work on this post. I also picked up my medication, and plan on coming back here for a check-up next week. I’m really upset I missed two classes, and I hope this doesn’t put my students too far behind in the curriculum.

While putting the finishing touches to this entry, my friend Ira and I, the only two PCVs at the office at the time, were invited to pizza, which happened to be on my mind all day. Soon I’m taking off, though, so I’ll leave you with an address to an Amazon Wishlist I’ve created. I’m not saying I’m book deprived per-se, but I would greatly appreciate if you send any of the items on the list my way. My next entry should come next week, if anyone is at all interested.

Music to complement this entry:

Johnny Appleseed- Joe Strummer
People- The Oscar Peterson Trio
The Good Life- Kanye West
Senorita- Puff Daddy and the Family
Outversion- Mark Ronson
Photograph- Def Leopard
Around the World- Red Hot Chili Peppers
Flutter- Amplifico
You Can’t Hurry Love- Diana Ross and the Supremes
Living in America- James Brown
You Sexy Thing- Hot Chocolate
Fly- Sugar Ray
Jump- Van Halen
Ooh La La- The Faces
Flower- Moby
Raspberry Beret- Prince
A Little Less Conversation- Elvis Presley
Yay Area- E-40
Passing Me By- Pharcyde
Dark Eyes- Ramsey Lewis Trio

Ming and Chris and Squid at the Asian Market

Sunset at my Site

The Inquisitive Goats

Packages!

Mama Mia's

Chis, Tammi, Ming and I

Stephen and I

Jack

Ralph and Squinty McGees

Chris and Tammi

Pizza!

The Story So Far

I’ve been in Ghana close to four months now, and it’s about time I started an online journal as a means for reflection, catharsis, and cutting down costs on phone bills and postage. For this first post, I’ll attempt to summarize everything that’s taken place from the time I left the States to the present, where I’m currently racing against time to finish this entry and get back to my site post-haste.

Quickly, though, if asked if I was happy, I would respond “Yes” and “What’s it to you?” I have great friends here, I’ve integrated well with my community, the students are excellent, there’s plenty of delicious food, and I live in a castle. I also share my neighbor’s dog, which I’ve grown to love, and I’m pretty sure won’t be killed. I cannot believe my luck that things are so good for me here.

Ambitions:

The trick now is to accomplish and learn as much as I can in a two year period, without getting seriously ill or majorly offending anyone. For my students, I would like them to: be able to think and learn on their own, have pride in themselves, treat other people with respect, have a sense of compassion for animals, make well thought out life choices, value education, and read more. I don’t think this is too much to ask. My students are great when it comes to carrying my things and getting me complimentary food. Yesterday I scored some nkyeree (pronounced encheriyay), which is like peanut brittle, but with maize in lieu of the peanuts.

I also want to have a positive impact on the teachers. Caning has gotten way out of hand at my school, and I can’t even teach at times when I hear a student getting punished for probably nothing in the next room. I don’t think the teachers I work with believe in their students, nor do they understand that they are just kids. Flailing them for the smallest things doesn’t teach anyone anything. I still have a lot to learn about how schools operate here and where educators’ frustrations stem from, although I have some theories on this. As of yet I’m not too sure what I’d like to work on with my community; I’ve only been in town for maybe a month.. There was a good turnout at the last PTA meeting, so I think there’s at least a sense of concern from the parents for their children’s education.

For myself, I would like to become fluent in Twi and maybe French, and maybe even pick up some sign language. I’d also like to be able to run a marathon, do electrical work and home improvements, use a slingshot accurately, and play soccer. I tried to build a robot out of bamboo, mud, wiring and a motherboard, but the ants got to it before I could see if it works.

The first three months I’m going to only focus on teaching, learning about the school system and the town’s resources, speaking Twi, and learn about the people in my town. Once I feel like I have a handle on things, I would like to begin working on some secondary projects, for instance maybe painting with my students a giant periodic table, double helix and world map on the side of our school building (The World Map Project). Other projects I have in mind are: an email correspondence program between my students and their American peers, field trips, and STARS (more about that in another posting). By the time I start any secondary projects, though, I’m hoping the students come up with something they might want to do.

In a year from now, I want to work with teachers in and around my area so that students are provided with quality education receive less draconian measures of discipline. I also plan on learning from books and perhaps university professors about the education system in Ghana. If possible, I would even try to work with government officials about the state of the education system in Ghana, though it sounds too lofty an idea at the moment. I’ll just see how things go for my first term as a JHS teacher.

The Job At Hand

Some background into what I’m doing in Ghana. About a month ago I swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer to teach science and math at the middle school level. My site is in Otumi, a small town located in the Eastern Region. I’ve been teaching now for three weeks, and because of the teacher shortage at my school have been asked to teach a computer class to my Form 1 and 2 students; so to sum it up, I’m teaching science, math, and ICT to Form 1 and 2 students (think 6th and 7th graders), and I am in charge of the Form 2 students.

My students are excellent, almost everyone shows up to class everyday and are eager to participate and help me out with things. They seem to understand what I’m saying, but a lot of work needs to be done when it comes to students expressing themselves. Talking to the students after class, a lot of them said they are shy or don’t know enough English to participate in class discussions.

I teach a combined total of 85 students, and by now I’ve remembered a majority of their names. I’ve made two books where each student is designated 4 pages; in the pages, I document the students’ performance, attendance, and personalities to better handle each student on a case-by-case basis. I can tell which students can be the trouble-makers, but once being one myself, I’m pretty fast in shutting any mischief down. The students are doing well policing themselves, and classes are rarely interrupted, except on the occasion that a teacher or a student’s family member comes in with something bogus. The best part is all of them try in my science, math, and ICT classes; I just have to maintain their determination to learn and do well.

The students do not have any books to take home, and the ones they do have do not go at all with the new syllabus that I have to some how cover in its entirety. Copying important information on the board takes some time, but I manage to get in a few good activities in many of the classes. It’s still taking some getting used to in both covering the material and building students’ critical thinking skills. In fact, I’ve been dwelling on this issue for a while now, and it occupies a lot of my thinking time. The time tables aren’t really followed by teachers, and sporadically classes are cancelled. Since the students sit around in some classes because the teacher is out, I usually sit in and have the students work on practice math problems with each other while I plan the next week’s lessons.

Caning is the biggest problem for me right now. My headmaster does not like caning, but the two other teachers do it constantly. My counterpart is gone for registration, so it’s just been me and this other teacher (Mr. Baku). The teachers are both my age, and although Mr. Baku is pleasant to me, he is way too harsh on the students.

Since I’m head of Form 2 students, I think I’m going to request that none of the teachers hit them; instead, I want them to come to me if there’s a problem. My students behave very well in my class, and whenever I do catch something, I can shut it down right away without wasting any time or hurting the student in the slightest. The worst that happens is I have them sit on the floor for a small period of time, depending on the incident. They are kids full of energy, though, so good planning and fun lessons sort out most of students’ anxiousness.

The Community

Otumi is a small rural town in the Eastern Region, about 3.5 hours north of Accra and 3 hours slightly north-west of Koforidua. There is no high school, but there are two middle schools. I teach at Kwaebibirem Model Junior High School (KMS), and across from this is the primary school. So far as I know, most of the people are farmers or traders, and the main crops grown in my town are cocoa, oranges and palm oil. The funny thing about palm oil is that it gives off the strongest odor during the manufacturing process- this odor can very easily be mistaken for the smell of burning pot. In fact, the first time I smelled it, I thought that’s what it was, until someone told me that smell came from the palm oil.

The school is about a 5 minute walk from my home, and the town market is about 10 minutes away. I’m not sure how many people are in the town, but everyone seems to gather in the market square or at church on Sundays.

The roads are rust red and extremely underdeveloped. Houses range from large compounds to small mud structures. Some of the houses and buildings have electricity; my school does not. There is also running water in some of the homes and facilities. Power outages do occur, though, and I just got through a three-day black out.

When I’m not working on school plans, I try to go out and talk to the people. I still have much more to learn about the community, and I would say everyone I’ve talked to has been kind and affable. I get many requests to sit and eat with my neighbors, and I’ve taken a few of them up on their offers. I have to admit, the food is good, but it’s kind of gross when I’m expected to share the same bowl with three other people using my hands, which is customary here. I try to put everything I learned about Biology out the window when I partake in whatever is in the bowl. The first time I told them I had a cold and I shouldn’t share from the same bowl. That was nonsense, they told me, and so I ate.
I’ll go more into the food in later entries I’m sure, but to give you a sense it’s usually a ball of some starchy treat surrounded by a soup of some sort. Fufuo is my favorite, but my stomach goes ill on me every time.

I met the chief, subchiefs, and the elders of the community. They all seem to be very supportive of my mission there, and the chief offered to take me around the Eastern Region when we’re on break. Currently, the chief is working on getting computers for our school, so we’ll see how that plays out.

Roger is the caretaker at my place; he and his family live in back of my house and we often talk when we see each other. The entire family is from Togo and they primarily speak Ewe and Twi; but Roger and his 13 year-old son speak pretty good English. He also has an 8 year old son and an 11 year old daughter. Almost everyday the kids and I do some reading on the front porch, then about 15 minutes of jumping rope, followed by weight lifting (buckets filled with rocks), and pull-ups on the orange tree outside the house. By the end of it we get a spectacular view of the sunset on a lush tropical forest, and then I eat and wash dishes outside.

Training

Training took close to three months to complete. First, all of us met up in Philly as part of the staging process. There, I met the 35 people belonging to my group, all educators in Ghana. There were four different sectors of education: science, math, ICT, and art. Funny enough, my friend Stephen and I belong to three of those sectors now. We had 3 days of orientation and ice-breaking sessions in Philly, then flew from NJ to Amsterdam, to Ghana.

Arriving in Ghana, we were greeted by current Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) and our future trainers for the three month training process. We were escorted by police vehicles to Valley View, a college in Accra. We spent a few days doing more Peace Corps introductory sessions there and visited Peace Corps HQ, among other things. I became pretty close to the people in my group, though I liked everyone from the get-go, and still do actually.

On our last day at Valley View, we were to head out, on our own, to visit a current PCV’s site as part of Vision Quest. Each of us were paired with a PCV and spent 5 days taking notes and seeing what life is like as a volunteer. I visited two people in the Volta Region- Phil and Beth in Guaman and Logba Tota, respectively. Their sites were magnificent- both volunteers lived in a mountainous region surrounded by thick tropical forests. I had a good time with both hosts, and afterwards had to leg it to Kukurantumi for the next part of training: site interviews and placements.

My group members slowly trickled into the Peace Corps hub site in Kukurantumi as they were returning from all parts of Ghana. Some people spent the good part of two days on the road getting to their Vision Quest sites. I was fortunate to only have to travel 8 hours, though I thought I was going to lose my life on the drive up to the site. The next two days we were interviewed about site preferences: I wanted to teach middle school science somewhere south and surrounded by other volunteers. The day after my interview, I got precisely this, and as fate would have it, I was paired up with my host family, the Boatengs, in Kukurantumi. In fact, all JHS volunteers stayed in Kukurantumi, while the other volunteers teaching Senior High School went to the towns flanking Kukurantumi- Suhyn (pronounced Sushyen) and Old Tafo.

Without going into too much detail, we spent two weeks getting field experience at a selected school. I taught at a Presbyterian school not too far from my home, and taught there with my friend Jack. Also during training and continuing after the two week practicum was language and technical training. For language training, there were 5 people in our group and we were all learning Twi. There were other Twi groups as well as Fanti, Dongbe, etc. But our group was the best.

Technical training consisted of teaching methods and procedures in Ghanaian schools. The group members in my town would get together for these sessions on weekdays. On weekends, everyone in our group would meet up at the hub site in Kukurantumi. Aside from technical training, we also had sessions on Ghanaian culture, which was kind of fun for me but monotonous for others.

I’m skipping over a lot of events and info, but during training a few people sadly had to go home, I had a brief, tempestuous relationship with someone in my group I think I might have loved, I had a brilliant time with my host family, and splitting with everyone after swearing in was tough for me. When I got to my site after swearing in as a PCV, I had three weeks before school started. I spent most of this time preparing for teaching, though I frequented Accra weekly to see a few friends.

From Here On Out

I’m in Accra itching to get back to site, so that's it for now. I plan on posting the past week's worth of events tomorrow sometime soon. Know that licorice, rainbow sprinkle cake icing, Gatorade dry packs, mac-n-cheese packets, and other provisions would be greatly appreciated here. I'll also have an Amazon wish list up soon (I'll let you know when). Letters are also cool. I’ll leave my address below. Pictures are available at this address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29504710@N02/

Music to complement this entry:

Hot Pants- Bobby Byrd
Rock Island Line- Sonny Terry
Blue in Green- Bill Evans Trio
Summer Samba- Ramsey Lewis
Rocky Raccoon- The Beatles,
Je Te Veux, Valse- Erik Satie,
Mandolin Concerto in G Minor- Johann Hummel
Doo Wop- Lauren Hill

Natural One- Folk Implosion

Making Time- Creation

Security- Thane Russel

All Right Now- Free

Back in Black- AC/DC

My Hero- Foo Fighters
Country Grammar- Nelly
Summer Love- Justin Timberlake
Inversion- Mark Ronson
Bhindi Bhagee- Joe Strummer and the Mescalaros
Evenflow- Pearl Jam
Bohemian Like You- The Dandy Warholes
Alone- Brother Love
Strictly Bongo- Bent
Leave Home- Chemical Brothers
Build Me Up Buttercup- Dance Hall Crashers
Downtown Venus- P.M. Dawn
Can’t Wait- Hepcat
Paths- Robert Miles
From Me to You- Bobby Mcferrin
It Was a Good Day- Ice Cube
Morris Brown- Outkast
Werewolf in London- Warren Zevon

Otumi

First Days in Ghana

My Host Family

After Swearing In

Fufuo in Peanut Soup

What we lack here in Ghana

Otumi Market Square

Kwaebibirem Model Junior High School (KMS)

My Palatial Home

My Classroom

Some of My Students

The Chief, Elders, and Subchiefs of Otumi

The Caretaker (Roger) and his Family

My Dog Spike (who will not be killed)

Peace Corps Ghana

Darren Fleischer- PCV

PO Box 5796 Accra North, Ghana

West Africa