Midterms, Independence Day, My PCPP, and Inter-School Athletics


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Africa » Ghana » Ashanti » Akrokerri
March 13th 2010
Published: March 13th 2010
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3/12/10

Lately I’ve been slacking when it comes to updating my blog, and as a result I have also been slacking on my responsibility as a Peace Corps Volunteer to achieve the third goal of the Peace Corps. For that I am sorry. Most of you probably don’t know this, but when the Peace Corps Act was passed in 1961 it outlined three goals for the Peace Corps, and these three goals are:

1. To help people of interested countries meet their need for trained men and women.

2. To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served.

3. To help promote a better understanding of other people on the part of Americans.

In other words, it is my responsibility to share my experiences in Ghana with Americans back home so they can have a better understanding of life, culture, and values of people in Ghana. And this blog makes it very easy for me to do that. As my time in Ghana winds down, I will make a conscious effort to update my blog at least once per month. I don’t know if I’ve just gotten lazy or more busy or a combination of both, but the next few months are about to get extremely busy so I need to focus and finish strong.

As you can imagine, a lot has happened in the last month, but then again, some things haven’t changed. We still don’t have a headmaster at my school, and there hasn’t been any further construction on the new classroom block. The building has walls and floors, but that’s it. Construction began at a fast pace, but there hasn’t been any work done since before Christmas. That’s Ghana for you though. Anywhere in Ghana you can find a building with a foundation or walls up to your chest that has been that way for over a decade. Usually people build when they have the money to build, and then when the money runs out, you stop building until you get more money. Sometimes the money never comes though. At my school for example, there is a foundation laid for a science resource center, and it has been there for years. I’m not sure why the construction stopped, but there is no plan to restart construction or to use the foundation for anything, so the cement slab just sits there. The district is funding the new classroom block so I’m not sure what the cause for the cessation of work is, but I don’t see it beginning again anytime soon. However, the workers might show up tomorrow and finish the building by the start of next term. You never know what is going to happen over here.

We recently had midterm exams, and it painfully reminded me how much I dislike marking papers. I’ve gotten used to this whole teaching thing and I actually like it, but I’ll always cringe at the thought of marking papers. The form 1 students have exceeded 260 with new students STILL arriving at school. Although I have just finished marking their exams and recording their scores, it is now time for me to write their end of term exam. Next week will be the last week of classes, revision week, before end of term exams begin. There will be two weeks of exams at which point we will vacate for the term on the Friday before Easter. On a side note, I don’t particularly like that the week before exams is called revision week. Revision means to change something in order to correct it or make it better, and it stems from the British school system which is used here so I’m not surprised I don’t like it. Instead, I tell my students that they are not going to revise or change anything, but rather they will review the material they have already learned throughout the term so it will be fresh in their minds for the exam.

Last weekend was March 6th, which is Ghana’s Independence Day. I think I mentioned it last year as well, but this year I actually got to see how Independence Day is celebrated. Throughout all of Ghana, students from primary school up to senior high school will assemble at their district capital and they march. I’ve asked several Ghanaians what the significance of students marching is, and all I’ve been told is that it is tradition. Ghanaians take their marching very serious and students will practice for weeks in preparation for the 6th of March. I only wish our athletes would train as hard for sports competitions. To be honest, straight arm/straight leg style of marching that the students perform invokes images of Nazi Germany, Red China, and Cold War Soviet Union. In practice though, the marching was much more jovial with the band playing upbeat music that causes the students to be caught in two minds; one wanting to march seriously and the other wanting to dance. I took several pictures and took lots of video so I will try and post them most likely on facebook. Last year I missed the event so I made sure not to miss it this year. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t take all day and it was a lot more fun than I expected it to be.

Probably the most significant news from the past month has been the progress on my PCPP project to improve the security of my school’s computer lab. Shortly before my last blog entry, the PCPP project had been fully funded. Unfortunately, that was around the same time that Washington D.C. was struck with a massive winter storm and everything shut down for a week or two. As a result, it took over three weeks for the money that people donated to be deposited into my bank account. I have become used to delays like this in my time in the Peace Corps and I am thankful everyday for the amount of patience I have developed in the last year and a half. This past week the welder came to the school and I gave him the money for the materials to start the project. Hopefully the metal bars will be installed around the doors and windows of the computer lab by the end of the term. Thank you again to all of you who donated to this project. I will have before and after pictures posted as soon as the project is complete.

For those of you that wanted to donate to the project, but weren’t able to do so before the project was fully funded, or those of you who are just feeling extra generous and would like to make as much of a difference as you can in Ghana, fear not because I have another project for you. This PCPP is not in my name, but I am very much involved in the project. This link will take you to the website to Donate to the 2010 Ghana STARS Conference . Last year I wrote a lot about the STARS Conference, and this year I am one of the lead organizers. You can read more on the donation page, but the STARS conference is a weeklong youth leadership conference for 60 senior high school students. Here is a link to the 2009 Ghana STARS Conference Blog . Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated.

Since I wrote last, my school competed in the zonal inter-school athletics competition at Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi. (For all you Americans, I’m talking about Track and Field.) This is the same stadium where I’ve watched the Black Stars, Ghana’s Men’s National Soccer Team, on two different occasions. This stadium is world is world class and it’s an amazing experience for the students to go from running barefoot on dirt, grass and rocks, to running on a proper track. The best part of going to the stadium is watching the student supporters from various schools. In Ghana, there are no divisions for schools of different sizes. As a result, my school of less than 700 students competes with schools with well over 2,000 students. Some of the larger schools get huge numbers of students to come support their athletes. All schools in Ghana through senior high school have uniforms, and I’m sure most of you wouldn’t want to wear uniforms at high school, but it looks good when they’re all together in one place. One school in particular was entertaining to watch because they had well over 2,000 student supporters and they filled and entire section of the stadium. Even more, is that it’s an all girls school and they had some of the best female athletes. As a result, every time one of their girls won a race the entire section exploded in cheers. The fact that all these girls were wearing the same uniform made it quite a spectacle. The first day their uniform was maroon and the second day their uniform was sky blue. Most of the girls also had white towels which they were spinning over their heads while simultaneously jumping up and down or swaying from side to side. These girls would make the Gonzaga basketball students section look like amateurs. They were on their feet ALL DAY from 9am to 6pm in the sun and 100 degree heat and never stopped singing or cheering. By the end of the day I was exhausted just from watching them and they were back in full force the next day. To show appreciation to their athletes, all the supports would throw Fan Ice onto the track for their athlete if he or she performed well in an event.

I know what you’re saying, what on earth is Fan Ice? It’s only the most wonderful thing ever invented. If I brought it back to America, I’d be a millionaire guaranteed. I’ve written about Fan Ice before, but here’s a recap for those of you that missed it or have forgotten. Fan Ice has three different flavors: Fan Milk, Fan Choco, and Fan Yogo. Fan Milk is vanilla ice cream, Fan Choco is frozen chocolate milk, and Fan Yogo is frozen strawberry yogurt. Yummy. The best part about Fan Ice is the packaging. Fan Ice comes in a plastic wrapper which is perfect for portability. The corner of the package can be easily bitten off for a no mess, no hassle frozen slice of heaven while the equatorial sun beats down on you. Perfect for hot and sweat tro rides. Seriously though, Fan Ice could put ice cream trucks out of business in America. I digress though.

The athletics competition at the stadium was LONG but two days full of entertainment. Despite my schools poor showing, we had more student spectators this year than we did last year. We were no competition for the supporter sections of the big schools from Kumasi though. The zonal competitions had around 30 schools each competing to qualify for the super zonal competition, which is analogous to State Championships in the America. There were four zonal competitions and 6 schools qualified from each zonal competition to go to super zonals, or super duper zonals as it’s notoriously dubbed. With only one athlete placing throughout all the events, ABSEC didn’t qualify for the super zonal competition. I’d be curious to see what the enrollment is of the smallest school that qualified for the super zonal competition though, because small schools like mine really don’t have much of a chance against schools 3 and 4 times our size.

As many of you know, my parents are coming to visit me in Ghana next month. If you would like to send anything to my school (i.e. soccer balls, chalkboard erasers, etc.) or to me (i.e. various cheese products, propel powder, snacks, or candy) this will be an excellent opportunity to save on shipping costs. This is probably long enough for now, but I will try to update my blog more frequently from now on. I hope you are all doing as well as I am. Until next time, yebehyia bio.


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4th April 2010

stay well!
hi there. we don't know each other. However, I was in Ghana in 2008 as a student and when I would create my own blog posts, your picture would show up in a group of other current bloggers. Anyway, this evening I was growing nostalgic of my Ghana time, logged back onto my blog, clicked the Ghana link to check out the new obrunis, and noticed that you were still blogging Ghana. "Holy Cow," I thought, "Dude has been in Ghana for a long time." So, I clicked on your latest blog to see what you were doing. Long story short, I can't wait to find the time to read through some of your experiences. After volunteering in some schools in Accra I decided to get my secondary English teaching certification, and am in the last month of my student teaching. My students here love hearing about students in Ghana. Anyway, don't feel like you have to respond, just wanted to let you know that I found your blog and was thankful. Stay well.

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