Visit to Ho School - Inspired and scared

Sorry this is a bit long and rambling but I only have a few minutes at the internet cafe and did not really edit much.


Quick background for people who do not know the general gist of what I am doing. Pagus Africa works in two schools here in the Volta region of Ghana. They directly sponsor kids but do other work, like sending volunteers, to support the work of these schools. At the Bishop Forson School in Kpandu, I am going to be helping with some special English classes for some kids that have fallen behind their grade level and also trying to start up an extracurricular girls empowerment program. More on that later when I have actually started working. This week I am setting up my house and traveling to Ho to visit the other volunteers working in the other school.

Algebra with Tracy

I traveled about 1.5 hours south to Ho where two other volunteers, Josh and Tracy are about a month into their two year stay here. They are working at the other school that Pagus helps to support with volunteers and other contributions. They have been running a summer school that includes English, math, biology and chemistry. Today was a review day for the final class and tests tomorrow. Airfield is a newer and public day school so in many ways is different than the established, private boarding school I start at next Monday. I will start with the inspiring. The students were finding atomic numbers, calculating charges of atoms, and identifying mitochondria. Josh and Tracy have done a amazing job taking what started as a summer tutoring gig with 4 kids, to a summer school of up to 20 kids from fifth to 8^th grades. We also have spent many a walk, taxi ride and dinner tonight talking about different ways to teach the subjects and a lot about how to help the kids get beyond memorizing to critical thinking and creative thinking. It was great to have some time in a classroom and bounce ideas off new teachers that  already had a few weeks under their belts.

The terrifying part is realizing that part of my job here is to teach English and while group-reading books with these students, realizing how much work there is to do and how little time I have to try to get the most English challenged students up to a acceptable level for their grade. More than algebra, DNA or the periodic table, English really seemed to be the subject that just was not clicking with the students. From basic pronunciation to reading but not really comprehending the words coming together as a thought. Yes English is an official language here, the language of government and billboards but it is not what students speak 99% of the time. In this region Ewe is the dominant language and based on how hard it has been for me to learn 3-4 words of this language which feels and sounds so different than English or other European languages I really appreciate how difficult it must be to learn English as a native Ewe speaker.

Of course I do not have any expectation that I will leave this country in 3.5 months and suddenly have 4 classes of students perfect English reading and writing. These are also not the students I will be teaching, mine I have not met yet. But it is hard to think about planning a term, and knowing even where to start when many students are severely behind where they should be at their grade level, have very scattered attendance, many start school much later than expected and come from homes that do not speak any English.

So that is my scary challenge that starts next week. On a positive note when I met with the headmistress of the my school she seems really smart, helpful and supportive of trying a girls program. This school is about 70% boys with mostly male teachers. But Mable and past teachers have done one or two days a term extra workshops for girls but this will be the first time having something regular. It is great to have the support of the administration in a place where girls are often not sent to school or supported in the ways boys are in education.And now for some random pictures, I have done a terrible job taking them so far.

Street food, meat on a stick, then covered in hot powder, really good.

My local bike shop