Blogs from Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana, Africa - page 2

Today, we were taking the kids from school to the beach. At least, that's what we thought (damn translation issues). Turns out that even though we were going to Kokrobite beach, we weren't actually going to the beach. It's also the name of a place. So we got to school at 9am, ready. The kids were practising their drumming and dancing they'd be doing. So cool. In typical Ghanaian fashion, the bus didn't turn up until 11am though. We all piled on. Now bear in mind that this bus was the size of a very small van, and there were 40 or so children with us....everyone was crushed up and sitting on laps. Georgina, one of the 11 year olds at my school sat with me, and she is now my new buddy and won't leave ... read more

This morning I went to school as usual. Lucy, the teacher I work with was off, as her son Elijah (who is 2) is in hospital. He has malaria. So there was a teacher in there from the nursery, setting work. Except the students didn't have books or anything. I helped as much as I could, based on what we'd been doing the last few days. Breaktime came as a welcome relief, as the kids weren't getting much done, and we couldn't find half of the stuff they needed to do their work, so they were just sitting there annoying those who were working. Alfred actually wrote a whole word, copied from the board, which was a vast improvement from normal At breaktime, I got out my camera. The kids were so excited and they wanted ... read more

We are already two weeks into my final term of teaching in Ghana, and I already can’t believe where the time is going! It’s lovely to be back with the children and all the friends I have made here, and we’re all making the most of the time I have left… We finish our term here in early July, so there’s really only about 2 months left of my amazing and life-changing experience of teaching and living in Accra. I will be extremely sad to leave, but after a brilliant trip back to Vilanculos during the Easter vacation, I am more motivated than ever to start a life there later this year. I had the best possible two weeks with everyone there and, as always, I was welcomed back in such a way that it feels ... read more

It has been a busy, but successful month at school, and I really can’t believe we only have a week and a half until the end of this second term! The children have been working hard for various monthly tests, and also completed their end of term exams this week, so next week we are going to enjoy getting started on our class project; making volcanoes and creating lava! The children are particularly excited, as they don’t often have the opportunity to be really creative and ‘hands-on’ in their learning (mainly because of limited resources and the structure of teaching at the school), so it will be great for them to get a bit messy and make paper mache etc! On the 1st March we launched the celebrations for the 25th Anniversary of the school. It ... read more

This very morning I almost stepped on a dead, squashed into the ground, teenage chicken (that in between what’s considered a chick and a chicken). I started to laugh hysterically as soon as I looked down just in time before getting dead chicken on my shoe. It was a sad sight to see but not the first or the last. At that moment, it was just the most shocking thing to wake up to on my walk to the University. It takes 30 minutes to walk from my host family’s house to the North gate of the University and then another 10 roughly to get from the gate to the CIEE office, but I ended up getting a ride from a faculty member at the gate. So far, my class times have not been posted, even ... read more