Well now that I have internet I should be better about updating everyone! This morning was a pretty interesting one compared to all the others I have had so far. School has started up again and classes are back in session. My counterpart, Amakye, is the assistant headmaster at one of the junior high schools here, and Ambrose, a man living in my compound (also works for my local NGO), is the headmaster. It makes my life a little easier having those two close by.
I went over the school around 830 (I had a late start this morning...I slept until 720...it was crazy) and met Amakye. The first class was being held in what is supposed to be their new ICT center, but it's still in the process of being built, like the rest of the buildings in Ghana. I didn't get the name of this teacher but he was teaching English language. The students were reviewing some of the questions they had on their exams from the previous weeks. I came in as they were practicing writing a informal letter to a friend of theirs talking about an even that happened at school. One student volunteered to read his letter aloud but there was too much chatter going on so the teacher had to take over. I didn't get to witness much of this lesson due to my late arrival so I had to move on to the next class, which was English language again but with another teacher named Awuah John. His class was reviewing pronouns, reflexive pronouns, subjects, objects and all that. Not going to lie, I learned a few things.
When a student answers a question correctly or responds with a pretty good answer, the students all clap in unison. However, one time a boy in the front was clapping obnoxiously loud and didn't stop when the others did, so I witnessed my first cane beating. It was weird. The teacher made the student get up and come to the front of the class and the teacher brought out this cane (it looks like a tiny bamboo stick) and beat him a couple times across the thigh and sent him out. Then class proceeded as if nothing happened. As this was happening I was trying to imagine this same sequence of events happening in an American school. Can you imagine the outrage if a teacher caned a student these days? There would be lawsuits for years. It's kinda funny how things are.
Around noon the class ended and I came out front to sit with another teacher named Arthur. He had just finished teaching Social Studies. We were talking about the education system in Ghana and how he feels education is a big problem here in Afere. He was born and raised here but was lucky enough to attend college at the University of Ghana in Accra. Arthur was telling me that a lot of students feel that they have accomplished so much by the time they graduate JHS (junior high school) and when they go to SHS (senior high school) they think it's all fun and games. Unfortunately I'm not an Education volunteer so I won't always be with the students to help, but I'll do what I can through Health and WATSAN. I asked him, being a native of Afere, what he believes is one of the biggest problems in Afere. He told me Malaria has always been a big issue here and it causes a lot of people to die. I can believe it because I am constantly being bitten by mosquitoes here. But it does seem that a lot of people already know they need to use mosquito nets so that is pretty great. Arthur said the next issue he has noticed, especially being around students so often, is "casual sex" and unwanted pregnancies. We talked about forming some school clubs and discussing health topics so I'm excited to get the ball rolling on that. Apparently there was an abstinence club but it broke up...I can understand why now.
That's all for now folks. I'll see what tomorrow brings me!
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