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Volunteer Bootcamp is what we were calling it on saturday... we arrived at our homestay on friday and went to the land (the site of the building project) to put in a few hours work on saturday. We only lasted a few hours seeing as how we were lifting 40lb blocks of cement and carrying them over rough ground to place them beside the dug-out foundations where they will eventually be laid.
The family that I am living with is incredible: Botche (12) and Jima (8) do more housework than an 18th century housewife and Nana (4) and Mamaqua (3) help out as well. Only Jamena (7 months) gets spared. Bea and Ababio are also wonderful: Bea is an incredible cook and her jollof is to die for.
The house has electricity which seems to stop working most days around 8 (or any time it rains) and it has running water though we have never seen evidence of such. We are doing bucket showers with rain water... best experience ever, and carrying buckets to flush the toilets. They have a well in the front yard but we drink only bagged filtered water that we buy in town.
Yesterday was my first day teaching and today I'm in Kumasi taking a mental health day... there were 33 students aged 6-8 in a room about the size of a north american bedroom. There was not enough room for me to walk between the desks, the kids at the back and sides are against the walls, and there is about 2 feet at the front for the teacher to walk and teach.
The language barrier is actually much greater than I thought it would be... the kids speak broken english that is derived from their native Twi, so they have trouble understanding what I would call proper english (or the type we speak back home). The range of experience in the class is also quite severe, two kids were there for their first day of school ever, and some of them know division. Also, while some can't write their name, others read. The noise level is also unheard of: there are no window panes or doors between classes so everyone can hear everything that is happening in every class... making it very difficult to conduct a lesson. There are also not enough exercise books for each kid. Ababio told me that over 300 kids showed up to school yesterday and the school is not as big as the main floor of most canadian houses. There is also no electricity or washrooms on the property, so the kids ahve to go to the bathroom in the yard.
The kids are also used to being disciplined with a cane and the common line is "don't do that or I'll beat you". And to be honest, they barely touch them with the cane, it's just that the culture is so different where the kids are being threatened all of the time and that's what they are used to and the only thing they respond to.
I'm also apparently the first volunteer to be given a class for the full day on their first day, so I told them that I need to be eased into it and so Ababio wants me to teach french since my accent is better than his so I'm going to start working on teaching materials for their french curriculum (since Ababio is the only one who knows how to speak it/teach it) and teach that plus some other stuff.
The other thing I was informed of when I arrived with my massive suitcase of donations was that they would have to be left at home and have me just take in what I need for the day because there is nowhere at the school to put them (people can climb into the school through holes in hte walls and steal anything valuable). They have one locked cupboard in which htey keep exercise books, so ababio and I spoke to a carpenter today to get another one made... it'll cost me about $80 US but atleast then they can store everything at school.
Offinso (the town where I am staying) is awesome though... really small town with kids shouting out Oboruni Father whenever I pass (oboruni means person from the horizon and father refers to the original white people in ghana: catholic priests). There are babies being bathed in pots outside and chickens and goats running wild everywhere.
So to sum it up because this is getting long: life here is different but wonderful but the teaching will likely be the greatest challenge. Hopefully they'll be able to understand me more as time goes on.
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it all sounds so incredible lindsey. I can imagine everything in my head so clearly, because its not tht much different from some of the small villages i've visited in india. lol, ive dealt with no "light" consistently (which is what we call electricity back home), and also have had the pleasure of bathing with bucketed water, though not rainwater. =) Keep smiling! and you'll do beautifully at teaching. I just know it.