A Transformation in the Students at ABSEC

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10/9/09
How’s it going everybody? I’m doing great incase you were wondering. This past week has been pretty relaxed. As I mentioned last time, I’m teaching the form 1 students again and they aren’t at school yet so I didn’t teach this week. This week we did receive the list of students placed to our school though, so that’s a step in the right direction. They haven’t given a date for the form 1s to report to school yet, but it should be within the next two weeks. In reality, I’ll probably start actually teaching after the midterm break. Along the lines of people not yet at school, the new Headmaster still hasn’t arrived. I’m not sure if GES (Ghana Education Service) has failed to hire someone yet, or if the person is just hesitant to move to Akrokerri. Either way, it should give you an idea of how the educational system works in Ghana. Can you imagine a high school in America starting a new school year without a principal and the position remaining unoccupied for a month?
Although I didn’t have any classes to teach this week, I still had responsibilities to tend to at school. This week I was scheduled to be one of the masters on duty. Whether I have classes or not, I have to be at school the entire day and make sure students are doing what they are supposed to be doing. To my complete amazement, there has been an enormous transformation in the students at ABSEC. The new prefects have initiated a “silent hour” before the start of school. This entire week the students have arrived early to school to do the general cleaning of the campus in time to be in their classrooms an hour before the start of classes. It is one thing for the prefects to say that there is going to be a “silent hour” but it is another thing for the rest of the students to actually adhere to it. I commended the students at morning assembly and told them that they have set the bar high for the rest of the year. I challenged them to continue being punctual, especially when the form 1 students arrive so that a new standard will be set for ABSEC. Last year when I was the master on duty I spent most of my time disciplining students for being late to school or out of their classrooms without permission. This week there were only a handful of students that were out of class when they shouldn’t have been. Needless to say, I am very impressed with the conduct of the student body and I hope the teachers react in a similar way. If the students are able to keep this sort of discipline the entire year, I know it will have positive effects on their grades.
The other big news around Ghana has been the U-20 World Cup. I doubt many of you are aware, but the U-20 World Cup is taking place right now in Egypt. The USA was in it, but they were eliminated in the group stage. Ghana, on the other hand, has advanced all the way to the semifinals. You might remember me mentioning that Ghana’s Senior Men’s National Team is called the “Black Stars.” Similarly, Ghana’s U-20 Men’s National Team is called the “Black Satellites.” The Black Stars comes from the black star in the middle of Ghana’s flag. Naturally, the U-20s are to the senior squad as a satellite is to a star. On a similar note, Ghana’s U-17 Men’s National Team is called the “Black Meteors,” and Ghana’s Women’s National Team is called the “Black Starlet’s.” I’m pretty sure every national soccer team in Africa has a name or mascot that they go by other than the country name. Most countries have an animal that is associated with their national team, but Ghana is a little unique.
Twice this week the Black Satellites played at 2:30pm, which is during school. The problem is that it would be impossible to have a productive class while one of Ghana’s National Teams is playing. As a result, the students moved the tv from the computer lab down to the dining hall so they could watch the games during the last period of the day. Most of the teachers watched the games in the staff room. Both games this week were close, but the Black Satellites came out victorious both games. First, they beat South Africa 2-1 in extra time in the round of 16. Then, they beat South Korea 3-2 in the quarterfinals. With the U-17 World Cup starting in a couple weeks, the African Cup of Nations in February, and the World Cup in June, I have a feeling we are going to have a lot of classes cancelled on account of soccer, and I have no problem with that whatsoever.
It’s been a while since I’ve told a lizard story, but I have another one for you. Last week, I had just finished using the toilet, and since I don’t have running water I needed to fill the tank up with a bucket of water. Little did I know that a lizard was hiding behind the lid of the tank, and boy, was it surprised when I pulled the lid off to fill the tank. Without the lid to keep the lizard firmly wedged against the wall, the lizard promptly fell into the tank. Since I had just flushed the toilet, the water in the tank was low, but it wasn’t low enough for the lizard to reach the bottom. The lizard frantically began swimming and trying to secure a grip on the side of the tank to crawl out. Since the walls were wet from where the water had been moments earlier before I flushed the lizard was unable to get any traction to pull itself out. I felt no urge to stick my hand in the tank to fish the lizard out so I just poured the bucket of water in the tank anyway. Luckily for the lizard, pouring water in the tank raise the water level high enough that it could grasp dry tank and pull itself out of the water. The lizard was hesitant crawling all the way out of the tank with me right there, so I replaced the lid on the tank so it was ajar enough that it could climb out later. Since there isn’t a dead lizard in my toilet tank, I think it’s safe to assume it got out of the near death experience unscathed. I’m not sure if I should feel bad, but watching that lizard freak out for 20 seconds swimming around the tank of my toilet was very entertaining. No harm, no foul.
That’s all I got for this week, so I’ll talk to you later.

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