Volunteering means Experiencing.
- Teaching, learning, and being a part of daily life is what this trip is about. So, here's some glimpses into my Ghanaian life!
Worship means Dancing.
- Religion is everywhere here. So many shops have religious names, I'm constantly asked what church I attend at home, and already had an intense discussion about the importance of religion with one of the other teachers. But it's such a way of life here, and wayyyy more lively than back in Canada. On Wednesday mornings all the students gather for worship, and it really is a dance party. (Honestly, like sooo many things here) Singing, fist pumping, clapping, jumping, and energy, especially from the teachers leading it!!
Cadets means Caning.
- Its the only extra-curricular here, and it's intense. Itl's so disciplined and structured, unlike everything else here hahah. Iti's also meant that I've only been teaching in the mornings so far, because they train in the afternoon for the GNAPS celebrations this week. It'll be interesting to see them march on Friday with all the other students.
Football means Africa. Or, Africa means Football.
- Because there is no field or even PE class ehre I didn't get a chance to experience my first soccer game until a few days ago. Organized chaos, led by the students, in a tiny little area next to the school. And it was amazing. I was on a team with some of my Class 4's, and easily the same level hahah! Nothing like been showed up by little kids... :D I scored a goal and everyone went crazy, it was hilarious. Very cool to see kids with such a love for the game. :)
Students mean Leaders.
- It is inspirational to see the level of dedication, self-reliance, and the leadership qualities from these young kids. I feel like they're taking care of me, not the other way around...
Creative Arts with Basic 6 means Drama.
- Anything that involves acting, talking, or just being outgoing and dramatic is how they could spend every single class.
Creative Arts with Basic 5 means Drawing.
- I could give them a pack of pencil crayons and a pad of paper and they're golden for the hour class. They actually listen to me, and love anything to do with visual arts.
Creative Arts with Basic 4 means Playing Games.
- Again, the enthusiasm. My challenge is going to be getting a variety of everything creative incorporated into all my classes. Luckily for me, the students love the class so it's not too hard. And really, I love being Madam Sarah.
So what does Madam Sarah mean?
So far it could mean glorified babysitter, tutor, teacher, role model, or friend. Or of course, Obruni. But, it's starting to mean more than that. Even little 3 year old Whitney who hangs out at the Dadzie's house with us after school has started calling me Sarah, not Obruni, and in this country that's a bit step for becoming a part of their life!
So, I send my love to all of you back home!!
Sarah xoxox
PS. Went to the supermarket yesterday, was almost like being somewhere magical with all the fancy things there like cheese, chocolate, and anything you could find back home. Missing my snacks of bulk chocolate and brie cheese from Thrifty's... ;)
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Parading through Town
There are some experiences that really make me look around and go "Wow, I'm in Africa". For the most part, everything has been relatively easy to adapt to, and even though it's been almost a month here, so many things are new and exciting every single day.
Everything is easy, until it's not. So what hasn't been easy? Getting sick. After our weekend at Cape Coast both Maddi and I spent a few days in bed sick with everything except malaria it seems. I'm pretty sure mine was food poisoning, and not bad enough to go to the hospital, but bad enough to be incredibly annoying. On the other hand, it's GNAPS week, which means theres no classes at the school so it was good timing to be sick.
This morning we figured we were well enough to go with all the kids into the centre of Sekondi. So, we piled into the schoolbus. That was an experience in itself. Basically athey just try to fit as many kids in the bus as possible, and I was sitting on a teachers lap; that's how little room there was. We arrived, and then the party began. We thought it would be the kids marching, but today was dance-party day. All 300 or so kids lined up in rows of 4 or 5, with a kid carrying the Ghanaian flag in front, and a few kids holding the school banner. We were accompanied by a band of about 6 playing the drums, trumpet, trombone, tamborine, everything. And then we basically just paraded through Sekondi, dancing. It was one of the coolest experiences, and the energy from the students and teachers was incredible. And anyone who knows me knows that it takes a lot to get me dancing. But there I was, dancing (badly, of course) through the streets in Africa.
It took up the whole morning, and I was absolutely exausted by the end of it. Exausted, with a smile on my face.
More later!!
Love, Sarah
Everything is easy, until it's not. So what hasn't been easy? Getting sick. After our weekend at Cape Coast both Maddi and I spent a few days in bed sick with everything except malaria it seems. I'm pretty sure mine was food poisoning, and not bad enough to go to the hospital, but bad enough to be incredibly annoying. On the other hand, it's GNAPS week, which means theres no classes at the school so it was good timing to be sick.
This morning we figured we were well enough to go with all the kids into the centre of Sekondi. So, we piled into the schoolbus. That was an experience in itself. Basically athey just try to fit as many kids in the bus as possible, and I was sitting on a teachers lap; that's how little room there was. We arrived, and then the party began. We thought it would be the kids marching, but today was dance-party day. All 300 or so kids lined up in rows of 4 or 5, with a kid carrying the Ghanaian flag in front, and a few kids holding the school banner. We were accompanied by a band of about 6 playing the drums, trumpet, trombone, tamborine, everything. And then we basically just paraded through Sekondi, dancing. It was one of the coolest experiences, and the energy from the students and teachers was incredible. And anyone who knows me knows that it takes a lot to get me dancing. But there I was, dancing (badly, of course) through the streets in Africa.
It took up the whole morning, and I was absolutely exausted by the end of it. Exausted, with a smile on my face.
More later!!
Love, Sarah
Friday, 22 February 2013
2 day week, 5 day weekend
For those of you that think my life is difficult here, it's really not. Yes, there are challenges. Yes, it can be hard. But in different ways than I would have thought. Easing into the school life has been a breeze. So here's what a few of my typical days have been so far:
Up at 6am to go for a run. All the locals look at me like I'm insane, it's actually quite funny. But, the temperature is perfect in the early mornings, and it's a neat way to see the neighborhood. Our area is quite nice, and it seems like we're the only white people. Actually the other day I saw some missionaries from the US and the UK, and it was litterally a shock to see other Obrunis in my area!!
We go to school at about 8am, and I'm usually teaching for most of the mornings. My Class 4 loves playing games. Class 5 loves to draw. And Class 6 is all about the drama. So I'm trying to find a balance of what to teach in all the classes! When I'm not teaching I'm helping Maddi's younger kids, playing in the creche, or yesterday I sat in on a french class.
Afternoons have been no classes this week because a lot of the kids are in Cadet Rehearsal. Next week theres no classes because it's a big Cadet thing that we're going too. (Life is really relaxed hahaha). So I've been spending lots of time just hanging out with the students.
It turns out a lot of them our Mr. and Mrs.Dadzie's (Our hosts) grandchildren, and they were all over yesterday. A bunch of them helped me handwash my laundry. Mom I got pictures because I know you don't believe that I can handwash laundry!!
After school we either relax, go into town, go to the beach, or just go for walks. It really is like living at home. So this week is midterm holidays, so we had wed/thur/fri off. 3 other volunteers and I travelled to Cape Coast yesterday, and the rest are joining us today. It's a beach resort type weekend, with visiting the town and the Cape Coast Slave Castle today, very interesting!
Not much else to report for now, hope this gives a sense of my life here so far!
Sarah xoxox
Up at 6am to go for a run. All the locals look at me like I'm insane, it's actually quite funny. But, the temperature is perfect in the early mornings, and it's a neat way to see the neighborhood. Our area is quite nice, and it seems like we're the only white people. Actually the other day I saw some missionaries from the US and the UK, and it was litterally a shock to see other Obrunis in my area!!
We go to school at about 8am, and I'm usually teaching for most of the mornings. My Class 4 loves playing games. Class 5 loves to draw. And Class 6 is all about the drama. So I'm trying to find a balance of what to teach in all the classes! When I'm not teaching I'm helping Maddi's younger kids, playing in the creche, or yesterday I sat in on a french class.
Afternoons have been no classes this week because a lot of the kids are in Cadet Rehearsal. Next week theres no classes because it's a big Cadet thing that we're going too. (Life is really relaxed hahaha). So I've been spending lots of time just hanging out with the students.
It turns out a lot of them our Mr. and Mrs.Dadzie's (Our hosts) grandchildren, and they were all over yesterday. A bunch of them helped me handwash my laundry. Mom I got pictures because I know you don't believe that I can handwash laundry!!
After school we either relax, go into town, go to the beach, or just go for walks. It really is like living at home. So this week is midterm holidays, so we had wed/thur/fri off. 3 other volunteers and I travelled to Cape Coast yesterday, and the rest are joining us today. It's a beach resort type weekend, with visiting the town and the Cape Coast Slave Castle today, very interesting!
Not much else to report for now, hope this gives a sense of my life here so far!
Sarah xoxox
Friday, 15 February 2013
Madam Sarah
"So, what do you want to teach?" Was our first interaction with our hostdad, and headmaster of the school, Mr. Dadzie. About 20 min later, he comes up to us, and says "Well, actually, we have a problem with creative arts. There's no teacher. Can you guys teach that?" So, I decided to take Basic 4, 5, and 6 which is about 8 to 11 year olds. Maddi is teaching Basic 1,2, and 3 and I'll help her whenever I don't have class, as one of her classes has 45 kids!!
So, for my first class I thought I was just observing, and as soon as I entered the class (basic 4) the teacher told my it was Library Class. She gave me a book and told me to read it to the class. So, for half an hour I just read stories, and I'm assuming this is what Library Class is. I've found so far that no one, including the teachers, are telling us what we should be doing. But, the kids know what is happening. They're the ones that are taking us in, and teaching us what we should be doing. The self-reliance that these kids have is amazing, and it's reassuring that they really do appreciate having us here.
So, my biggest challenge so far? The fact that what I'm teaching is Creative Arts. It's basically elementary art class, mixed with a bit of drama and singing, and games. Because all they want to do is play games. I've already run out of new ones... I think I need a tad bit more of creativity myself!! So, coming up with what to do during lessons is going to be difficult. I feel like if it was anything academic, then I would know what I'm doing, but there's no criteria for what I should be teaching these kids.
So my first day was playing name games, like when you say your name and the name of an animal that starts with the same letter, and you have to repeat all of them. We then played Stella-stella-hola, and I taught them the french version which they absolutely loved. Then they made nametags, and I've also played games like Scatagories. Luckily the ages are similar, so I've been doing the same type of thing with all my classes.
But, nothing here goes as planned. Whenever I think I have class, someone else is teaching a different lesson. And whenever I think I have free time, a kid comes and gets me saying "Madam, we have class!" So, whenever I don't have class I help out in Maddi's younger kid classes, and they all love me in there. Especially when I bring my coloured pencil crayons which they don't have themselves, so my supplies that I brought are absolutely getting good use. So when I'm not teaching I can go hang out in the creche with the little kids (1-2 yrs old), or if I even just walk around the school once someone will get my attention and there will be somethng to do. I was helping a group of JHS1 (about 13 years old) with math homework, and it was one of my favorite parts of being here so far. Finally, some math! They really are so enthusiastic about learning, and it was the first time that my academic skills came in use. The other neat thing was talking with the French teacher, and all the kids think it's really neat that I can speak french. Basically my ego is just getting way bigger, because whenever they see me I get compliments. It will be very interesting to see how they interact with us once the novelty of us wears off a bit.
It will also be nice to get into a bit of a routine, but I knew the first week would be overwhelming. But whenever Maddi and I go to town and come back to our little pink house, it is like coming home/
So sorry for rambling, and I'd love to hear from you! And if you contact me with art ideas, or games for kids then you can be my best friend.
Love,
Sarah xoxo
So, for my first class I thought I was just observing, and as soon as I entered the class (basic 4) the teacher told my it was Library Class. She gave me a book and told me to read it to the class. So, for half an hour I just read stories, and I'm assuming this is what Library Class is. I've found so far that no one, including the teachers, are telling us what we should be doing. But, the kids know what is happening. They're the ones that are taking us in, and teaching us what we should be doing. The self-reliance that these kids have is amazing, and it's reassuring that they really do appreciate having us here.
So, my biggest challenge so far? The fact that what I'm teaching is Creative Arts. It's basically elementary art class, mixed with a bit of drama and singing, and games. Because all they want to do is play games. I've already run out of new ones... I think I need a tad bit more of creativity myself!! So, coming up with what to do during lessons is going to be difficult. I feel like if it was anything academic, then I would know what I'm doing, but there's no criteria for what I should be teaching these kids.
So my first day was playing name games, like when you say your name and the name of an animal that starts with the same letter, and you have to repeat all of them. We then played Stella-stella-hola, and I taught them the french version which they absolutely loved. Then they made nametags, and I've also played games like Scatagories. Luckily the ages are similar, so I've been doing the same type of thing with all my classes.
But, nothing here goes as planned. Whenever I think I have class, someone else is teaching a different lesson. And whenever I think I have free time, a kid comes and gets me saying "Madam, we have class!" So, whenever I don't have class I help out in Maddi's younger kid classes, and they all love me in there. Especially when I bring my coloured pencil crayons which they don't have themselves, so my supplies that I brought are absolutely getting good use. So when I'm not teaching I can go hang out in the creche with the little kids (1-2 yrs old), or if I even just walk around the school once someone will get my attention and there will be somethng to do. I was helping a group of JHS1 (about 13 years old) with math homework, and it was one of my favorite parts of being here so far. Finally, some math! They really are so enthusiastic about learning, and it was the first time that my academic skills came in use. The other neat thing was talking with the French teacher, and all the kids think it's really neat that I can speak french. Basically my ego is just getting way bigger, because whenever they see me I get compliments. It will be very interesting to see how they interact with us once the novelty of us wears off a bit.
It will also be nice to get into a bit of a routine, but I knew the first week would be overwhelming. But whenever Maddi and I go to town and come back to our little pink house, it is like coming home/
So sorry for rambling, and I'd love to hear from you! And if you contact me with art ideas, or games for kids then you can be my best friend.
Love,
Sarah xoxo
Arriving in Accra
Week One has been at the Lattitude Country Managers Henry's house with all the other volunteers. I arrived with 13 other volunteers at night, so waking up the next morning was like waking up in a whole new world. I was up super early because of jetlag, and we had bread with nutella for breaky.
This whole week has been about orientation, so we've been going to a hotel conference room in the morning to get told all sorts of information, and a teaching skills course. The afternoons have been about taking it easy, and it's really hard not too nap as there's basically nothing to do. I'll share some of my highlights from this week, as already I've had a couple of really cool experiences.
Day 1: All of the volunteers piled into a tro-tro (small bus) and drove through the area where we're living this week. It was our first chance to experience Africa, and all the locals would wave at us, especially the kids. We get "Obruni!" (Means white person) shouted at us constantly, but always in a positive way. It's quite funny, and especially the kids love seeing us here.
Day 4: I was walking with a few of the other girls and a woman named Happy introduced herself to us. She is a teacher at a small school that she and a few other young woman opened. It is run as an NGO for the children in the community that cannot afford to go to school. About 50 student attend, ahd she asked if we could come the next day to see it. So, the next morning about 6 of us went, and met the kids. Happy told us it was Math/Science day and as I was chatting with some kids, she handed me a small book, and told me to take this class. So, without having any idea what I was doing, I started teaching about 20-30 kids, ranging from 3 to 9 years old, some math. It was shapes and counting, and I loved it. It's hard to gage their understanding and whether whatever we were saying was the right level for them. It was an excellent preview for teaching for us.
On our last day most of us,
Friday, 1 February 2013
Putting the pieces together
Tomorrow I'm off to the other side of the world. Still doesn't feel real, but I'm sure it will hit! Bags have been repacked countless times, I've accepted my residence offer for Carleton next year, and I'm trying to clean my room. For anyone that knows me: it's a big job!! (As I sit on my floor writing this instead...)
The nice thing about cleaning is finding things that you've forgotten about long ago. Like little bits of your past that have made you the person you are. I found one of my social studies projects from grade 7. We were all assigned one African country, and had to write about it's geography, trade, history, government, culture, etc. I've always loved projects like this, and I had forgotten that my country was Ghana. So to my grade 7 self: First of all, writing about all the different type of monkeys in Ghana is NOT exactly culture... And thank you for teaching me some basic Ga, but Fante and Twi are the languages that would be more helpful. And where I got the fact that they speak 16 languages there I have no idea?! But my grade 7 self did deem Ghana" une bonne place, et un des meilleures pays en Afrique". So, now it's time to go live it. Experiential learning at it's best!
My favorite part of that project was making a 3D map of Ghana. Being given a cardboard cut-out and needing to fill it in with paints, modeling clay, and real sand for the coastline. Every kid in both classes did a country, and we put together an incredibly cool map of Africa. I never would have imagined that I would be going to live in my country for 5 months.
Everyone asks me if I'm nervous to be teaching in another country, and I'm sure I will be once I'm there. I have had the most incredible and inspiring teachers, and if I have even a fraction of that in me, then I think it will be okay :)
Despite researching, talking to previous volunteers, and getting advice from others, I really have no idea what to expect. (My grade 7 report wasn't as informative as I thought it would be... :P) But as I walked around Fairfield on my last late-night walk with my sister, I realized I'm ready for this.
To everyone that has wished me good luck, to stay safe, and a goodbye: Thank you. To anyone that sees me in the next few days: I'll be the one with the giant purple duffle bag, and attempting to carry my Lattitude tote bag, a soccer poster about English grammar, and a polar bear stuffie for my new school. And of course, bouncing off the walls in excitement.
Love you all,
Sarah
The nice thing about cleaning is finding things that you've forgotten about long ago. Like little bits of your past that have made you the person you are. I found one of my social studies projects from grade 7. We were all assigned one African country, and had to write about it's geography, trade, history, government, culture, etc. I've always loved projects like this, and I had forgotten that my country was Ghana. So to my grade 7 self: First of all, writing about all the different type of monkeys in Ghana is NOT exactly culture... And thank you for teaching me some basic Ga, but Fante and Twi are the languages that would be more helpful. And where I got the fact that they speak 16 languages there I have no idea?! But my grade 7 self did deem Ghana" une bonne place, et un des meilleures pays en Afrique". So, now it's time to go live it. Experiential learning at it's best!
My favorite part of that project was making a 3D map of Ghana. Being given a cardboard cut-out and needing to fill it in with paints, modeling clay, and real sand for the coastline. Every kid in both classes did a country, and we put together an incredibly cool map of Africa. I never would have imagined that I would be going to live in my country for 5 months.
Everyone asks me if I'm nervous to be teaching in another country, and I'm sure I will be once I'm there. I have had the most incredible and inspiring teachers, and if I have even a fraction of that in me, then I think it will be okay :)
Despite researching, talking to previous volunteers, and getting advice from others, I really have no idea what to expect. (My grade 7 report wasn't as informative as I thought it would be... :P) But as I walked around Fairfield on my last late-night walk with my sister, I realized I'm ready for this.
To everyone that has wished me good luck, to stay safe, and a goodbye: Thank you. To anyone that sees me in the next few days: I'll be the one with the giant purple duffle bag, and attempting to carry my Lattitude tote bag, a soccer poster about English grammar, and a polar bear stuffie for my new school. And of course, bouncing off the walls in excitement.
Love you all,
Sarah
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