Ghana's Independence Day

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3/8/09
This was another irregular week as far as school goes. Monday was the last day of the mid-term break, and classes were supposed to be back to normal on Tuesday. I am not scheduled to teach any classes on Tuesdays, but I planned on teaching one of the classes during a free period they had so they wouldn’t fall behind the other class. Most of the students decided to extend their mid-term break and didn’t come to school on Tuesday. When I went to go teach, I found that there were only a handful of students present so I chose not to teach. On Wednesday and Thursday I would say that about 25% of the form 1 students came to school. The classes were so small that I combined all 4 form 1 classes to teach and it was very manageable. We covered a lot of material in just 2 days, and I am concerned about all the students that were absent. If you count all the students who got zero on the mid-term exam, then the average score was less than 30%. I highly doubt all the students that were absent this week are going to take the time to copy notes from someone that was here. The end of term exam is going to be even more difficult than the mid-term, but I hope that since half the exam will be multiple choice, the scores will be better even if they just guess.
Friday was March 6, which is Ghana’s Independence Day so we didn’t have school of course. To celebrate Independence Day, students all across Ghana have marching competitions. All the senior high schools in my district went to Fomena, the district capital, to march. I planned on going with the group of students marching from my school to watch the event. I was told that the students would be leaving at 8am to go march in Fomena. I got up early to workout, and had plenty of time to get ready before they were leaving. When I was sitting down to have breakfast at 7:30am I saw a GES (Ghana Education Service) bus pulling away from the school with our students. After being in Ghana for 9 months, I should have expected the incorrect information on departure time, but I didn’t and missed the bus. I was pretty bummed out that I didn’t get to see the marching because that is all Ghanaians really do to celebrate Independence Day. I walked around town and there was a soccer game between primary schools, but that was the only thing that was out of the ordinary. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought it was just a regular day without school. I will make sure that I go to watch the students march next year no matter what.
The idea that Ghanaians do synchronized military marching to celebrate their Independence Day seems very odd to me. When I think of uniform military marching, I think of communism, the USSR, China, and the Nazis. Had Ghana fought a war to win their independence, then I could understand marching, but they didn’t. As far as I know, Ghana hasn’t ever been in a war. I expected there to be a bunch of big parties with dancing and music that is way too loud, but there was just marching that I didn’t get to see.
On Saturday morning when I went to fetch water I found a surprise at the borehole. I grabbed the lever and started pumping but there was no resistance and no water came. Jason, the PCV that I replaced, told me that about once every year the borehole breaks. I’m not sure exactly how the pump mechanism works, but I believe there is a belt or band that broke. Lucky for me, my water barrel was full when the borehole broke. Currently the top of the borehole pump is laying on the ground next to the pipe, and who knows how long it will be before it gets fixed. It is times like this that the second borehole that was drilled last term would come in handy, but it is still just a pipe sticking out of the ground with a cement foundation around it. The second borehole has been drilled with a foundation poured ready for the pump for over 3 months now, but that is construction in Ghana. This morning I went to fetch a couple of buckets of water from a nearby well, and I gained a new appreciation for my borehole. Not only is it more difficult to fetch water from a well, but the water is not even comparable. The water I get from my borehole is crystal clear. I filter my drinking water, but it is just an unnecessary precaution. The water I got from the well on the other hand was murky to say the least. I had to walk 4x as far to get the well water and it was 100x dirtier. If I had to I would drink water straight from my borehole with no concerns, but if I drank water straight from the well I feel like I would most likely get something I don’t want. I hope it doesn’t take too long to get the borehole fixed because my water barrel full of clean borehole water can only last so long.
I figure I should give an update on the new classroom block. All of the walls are up, but there isn’t a roof yet. It has been 3 weeks since there has been any construction on the building, but I heard a rumor that they were going to start putting the roof on soon. I’m not sure what “soon” means, but I’m not holding my breath.
It is pineapple season, and I am taking advantage of all the amazing fruit that I can get. It shouldn’t be long until avocados and mangos are being harvested. We have a number of avocado trees at the school, so hopefully I’ll be able to spice up my meals with fresh avocados. Apparently mangos are hard to come by in the Ashanti region, but I won’t let that stop me from getting my hands on as many as I can get.
With the change in season have come different birds as well. In the last week hundreds of weavers have showed up around the school. They are busily weaving the most amazing nests I’ve ever seen. Despite the mind boggling craftsmanship these birds exhibit, they are also very annoying when hundreds of them occupy the tree right next to your house.
Thanks for all the comments; it is nice to know people actually read this. On a side note, I can’t believe how many random people read my blog and leave comments. By the way, I guess I stand corrected. There have been tons of millipedes around my house, not centipedes. That is all for this week. Talk to ya soon.

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Comments

[Mandy]

I'm now craving pineapple...delicious! I did a quick search, and Ghana doesn't have much of a military history - so the marching is, indeed, odd. Good luck your borehole - well water terrifies me. Not much is new here...we had dinner @ Ixtapa's last week for Jeffy's birthday and I might have celebrated too much. Let's just say it was a really long day @ work on Friday. :) Take care!!