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Published: September 23rd 2012
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I would like to start this entry by apologising for the lack of updates over the past three weeks… Adjusting to the life here has been exciting, challenging, at times frustrating and exhausting, but overall I am loving the experience of living in Africa and feel very happy that Accra will be the place I call ‘home’ for the next 10 months!
After spending a lovely week with Florence and Sammy (the headmistress at my school and her husband), and meeting my fellow staff members at school, I moved into my own apartment on Sunday 9
th September. I have a comfortable, light room and I am sharing the apartment with Barbara, who works in the office at school. As soon as I had unpacked my things, she took me out to a few of the local shops and I immediately made friends with some gorgeous local children. It’s so nice to feel part of an African community again, and although it’s not Mozambique (yet!) I think I will be very happy in the community that surrounds our apartments.
Despite being the only foreign teacher at the school, I am finding that Ghanaians share many similar qualities to the Mozambicans
I know; they are genuine, happy, giving people who have made me feel very welcome and immediately comfortable. I also feel that they value my experience as a foreign teacher and are always open to suggestions that may help to move their curriculum, and the school, forward.
Alpha Beta has an interesting history, and Florence and Sammy have worked extremely hard to build a successful school; they’re commitment and perseverance is truly inspiring! In short, the school originated 26 years ago when Florence and Sammy relocated to Ghana from the UK. The school began with six children, aged two to three years under the carport of their home in Dansoman in September 1988, and it was from there that the
Alpha Beta Montessori Learning Centre took off. The school now offers education from a Montessori Nursery, right through to Senior Secondary School Education and is a very popular educational establishment!
Many of the other teachers who work at the school also live in the apartments, either alone or with their families, and some of the children who attend the school and nursery also live here. Although in England I would rarely want to live so closely
to people I work with (lovely as they are!), or the children who attend the school where I work, it is a very different atmosphere here. It’s great to have such a supportive network of teachers around me, and the children are very respectful and will often offer to take my bag if they see me climbing the stairs to my apartment or help me with any shopping I may be carrying!
On Tuesday 11
th September, I finally met the Primary 4 children I will be teaching. They are the equivalent age of Year 5 children in England (9-10 year olds). So, this age group will present new challenges regarding the material I teach as I am accustomed to teaching much younger children, but I am looking forward to pushing them more in their English and building on the wide range of knowledge they already have!
I am teaching two classes in Primary 4 (Primary 4 Alpha and Primary 4 Beta). They are all generally respectful children; very keen to learn and contribute to class discussions, although they also demonstrate more characteristics of English children compared to all the children I have met in Zanzibar, Mozambique and South
Africa. I guess this comes from the fact that they live in a big city, many of them are from fairly wealthy Ghanaian families and also because Ghana was a former British colony.
They seem to be enjoying the ‘novelty’ of having a foreign teacher, and have been fascinated by stories of my other experiences in Africa and travels in Thailand! It feels great to be teaching children who actually want to learn, generally value their education and teachers, and appreciate the importance of respect; they all individually come to greet me at my desk each morning, do as they’re asked first time and will thank me for simple allowances such as being given permission to use the bathroom! As a teacher who has struggled at times to promote to children in England how important their education is and spends half their time dealing with poor behaviour, this experience is extremely refreshing! It certainly makes getting up at 5.15am in order to arrive at school by 7am seem more worthwhile.
The other challenges in daily life that I have encountered, often after a long and tiring day, are issues with running (only cold) water, and power! The power
will often be switched off for either a whole evening or a few hours as part of the ‘power saving’ schedule; different areas of Accra has their power switched off at certain times to save energy. The water is also switched off randomly, and this was particularly difficult during the first week in my apartment as I did not have a fully functioning shower and every time the water was switched on it would pour out of a pipe in the wall, threatening to flood my bathroom!
Rather than becoming stressed and anxious about these issues, however, as one might do in England when we become accustomed to certain ‘services’, I have embraced the challenges and I’m enjoying the adventure! I have found that it is usually simply a case of thinking ahead and being prepared; ensuring the bucket in my bathroom is filled when we do have running water so that I have a store for when the water is switched off, boiling water on the stove so I can have a warm ‘bucket shower’ when necessary etc. Luckily the very warm climate here means that I rarely feel like a wash with hot water!
I have
also invested in ‘powerbright’ lights which can be charged when the power is on and will last for up to 25 hours when the power goes off, so at least I can see! Thankfully, the power has been more consistent the last few evenings and it is often on for most of the weekends. I am thinking more and more, though, that my time at home at Christmas will feel like 5 star luxury!!
I have managed to find my way around parts of Accra fairly successfully so far, and I enjoy the experience of taking the local ‘buses’ (Trotros) or a taxi through parts of the city. Although it is the capital, there is a lot of evidence that Ghana is still a developing country and the divide between rich and poor is very apparent. My route home from school by taxi or Trotro passes through a fairly large slum area which is quite hard to see, but despite the poverty and hardship here, people preserve their happy, giving African spirit.
So, all in all my first three weeks here has been a great experience and I feel excited and ready for the challenges and rewards of
working at Alpha Beta School. I miss many of you, and the very special people I know in Mozambique, but I hope that you will enjoy following my journey during my first three months in Accra, and I will be returning to many of you at Christmas!!
Extra note: If you would like to read more about where I will be teaching for the next 10 months, the website for Alpha Beta School is: http://alphabeta.edu.gh/
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