Friday, 27 February 2009
Adventures and drumming in Bongo
Baskets, chiefs and drums in Bongo Feb 24th
Sunday
Kim and I spent the morning with Fuzzie and Alnal in Bongo, a small town north of Bolga.
Alnel is a volunteer with VSO working on sustainable livelihoods in Bongo. He is having amazing success working with local women promoting their basket making and ensuring they get a fair price for their work. They would not have the skills or confidence to negotiate with the ‘middle ‘ men in Bolga. Their baskets are really beautiful with vibrant colours. It can take 5 days to weave an intricate basket which then they then sell at 8 cedis (about £4.50). Better to buy at the workshop before the stalls add their mark up- so we did.
I really enjoyed meeting the weavers and telling them about our basket makers from Somerset who weave baskets of willow- all translated by Fuzzzie. They said they would also like to use willow. The process looks very similar; the weavers sit on the floor and use water to soften their materials.
The Bradt guide book suggested that local chief might grant an audience so we set off to his palace. We were really fortunate that he was in and agreed to meet us. We had to remove our shoes in his presence and courtesy when we were introduced. We were shown to nearby chairs but when I explained that I would love photos to show the children at school he invited me onto his platform where I nearly sat on his mobile phone and BlackBerry! It was lovely to watch his wives, children and dogs relaxing and going about their daily chores.
From there we walked in the hot sun through an amazing rocky landscape and climbed up to the special rock that sounds like a drum when it is hit. A bongo drum in Bongo! We had to dance to the rhythm of course.
Teaching!
Just to reassure you that life is not all holiday here.
For the past five weeks I have been working with the head and teachers of another local school mostly observing and discussing learning .I decided to model my ideas through teaching and showing how we make learning more interactive, how to differentiate the activities and use Assessment for Learning strategies.
I taught 64 children in P5 yesterday for 2.5 hours and the same time with 73 children in P4 today. I had forgotten just how much I love teaching and also how exhausting it is- especially in this heat.
My lesson focussed on the similarities and differences between Ghana and the UK. Fortunately a returning volunteer had left me a large world map which was invaluable- especially when explaining about the equator. Initially the children were most reluctant to share their ideas with their neighbour as talking in class is simply not allowed, however they soon got the hang of it and by the end of the lesson could see its value as could their teacher Beatrice. Beatrice was most complimentary and fetched the headteacher to watch the lesson. Beatrice said she is going to use my ideas and that I should be a trainer for others. This positive reaction is great because none of these ideas extra money to implement. The teaching in this school is already good, the classes are well disciplined; everything is in place for the next step.
It is difficult to know how to proceed next and have the most impact. I am meeting the circuit supervisors tomorrow to discuss the options but I shallask to go to more'deprived' school.
Sunday
Kim and I spent the morning with Fuzzie and Alnal in Bongo, a small town north of Bolga.
Alnel is a volunteer with VSO working on sustainable livelihoods in Bongo. He is having amazing success working with local women promoting their basket making and ensuring they get a fair price for their work. They would not have the skills or confidence to negotiate with the ‘middle ‘ men in Bolga. Their baskets are really beautiful with vibrant colours. It can take 5 days to weave an intricate basket which then they then sell at 8 cedis (about £4.50). Better to buy at the workshop before the stalls add their mark up- so we did.
I really enjoyed meeting the weavers and telling them about our basket makers from Somerset who weave baskets of willow- all translated by Fuzzzie. They said they would also like to use willow. The process looks very similar; the weavers sit on the floor and use water to soften their materials.
The Bradt guide book suggested that local chief might grant an audience so we set off to his palace. We were really fortunate that he was in and agreed to meet us. We had to remove our shoes in his presence and courtesy when we were introduced. We were shown to nearby chairs but when I explained that I would love photos to show the children at school he invited me onto his platform where I nearly sat on his mobile phone and BlackBerry! It was lovely to watch his wives, children and dogs relaxing and going about their daily chores.
From there we walked in the hot sun through an amazing rocky landscape and climbed up to the special rock that sounds like a drum when it is hit. A bongo drum in Bongo! We had to dance to the rhythm of course.
Teaching!
Just to reassure you that life is not all holiday here.
For the past five weeks I have been working with the head and teachers of another local school mostly observing and discussing learning .I decided to model my ideas through teaching and showing how we make learning more interactive, how to differentiate the activities and use Assessment for Learning strategies.
I taught 64 children in P5 yesterday for 2.5 hours and the same time with 73 children in P4 today. I had forgotten just how much I love teaching and also how exhausting it is- especially in this heat.
My lesson focussed on the similarities and differences between Ghana and the UK. Fortunately a returning volunteer had left me a large world map which was invaluable- especially when explaining about the equator. Initially the children were most reluctant to share their ideas with their neighbour as talking in class is simply not allowed, however they soon got the hang of it and by the end of the lesson could see its value as could their teacher Beatrice. Beatrice was most complimentary and fetched the headteacher to watch the lesson. Beatrice said she is going to use my ideas and that I should be a trainer for others. This positive reaction is great because none of these ideas extra money to implement. The teaching in this school is already good, the classes are well disciplined; everything is in place for the next step.
It is difficult to know how to proceed next and have the most impact. I am meeting the circuit supervisors tomorrow to discuss the options but I shallask to go to more'deprived' school.
Monday, 23 February 2009
Traditional houses that gave protection from slavers
My friend and his son show how the village people kept safe from slavers and wild animals. Once up on the roof (there were no outside stairs originally) they could pull up the ladder and hide behind the parapet.
adventures in Bolgatonga
Adventures in Bolgatonga Feb 23rd
Where to start! We have just spent an amazing weekend in Bolgatonga; 3 hours north of Tamale in the Upper East.
Kim and I set off on Friday afternoon from the trotro station. We let the first tro go as we waited for the others to arrive; a good decision in the circumstances. This was my first experience of travelling on a trotro (a very basic minibus of variable reliability). It was hot and packed, we had the windows open but this made it feel like being in a fan oven set at maximum. We stopped briefly a few times to pay a toll and were then surrounded by hawkers shouting ‘pure water’ and selling fruit and tilapia and other cooked fish which the other passengers bought and tucked into.
We were nearly half way when we came across the previous trotro minus wheels and windscreen on the opposite side of the road! Phew- that could have been us. Everybody stopped to help and fortunately the passengers seemed to be unhurt.
Eventually hot and thirsty, we arrived in Bolga and found our hotel ‘Comme ci comme ca’- with its thatched hut dining area and noisy, but functioning air con ( at last a cool nights sleep).
Saturday
Up at 7.00 for the usual omelette breakfast then to the tro tro station to meet the others and choose the best taxi. We rejected the ones with bald tyres, no back screen and broken seats and set off to Paga, on the Burkina Farso border, with Fuzzy our driver. And a convoy of motos. Calamity- we hadn’t checked the engine and broke down in the hot sun. We were rescued by one of Fuzzy’s friends who took us to the Chief’s Pool at Paga to see the sacred crocodiles. An ancient story tells how a crocodile parted the river waters with his tail and thus saved a chief from his enemies. The chief then promised that his people would never again eat crocodile. There are now over 200 in this pool feeding on the tilapia and other fish and prowling around the village homes at night!
I shall let the pictures tell their own story. To my surprise I actually did sit on a crocodile but I was certainly the most nervous as I made the elementary mistake of walking in front of King Croc who then lunged at me with his gnashers!
The crocodile is lured from the pool by a whistle, which he thinks is a chicken, and then he spends his time trying to get the chicken from the caretaker of the pool. There is of course more than one crocodile, some lying in the water with open mouths and teeth showing, others disguised as large, mobile, muddy logs that creep towards you. At one time there must have been about10 crocodiles in our near vicinity , kept at bay by helpers with stones. Sadly for the chicken the crocodile eventually gets his lunch.
At the pool we were befriended by a local gentleman who decided I would be his new wife and have his babies in the traditional maternity hut. He showed around the hut and played the drum so that we could dance as would traditionally happen to celebrate a birth. We were then guided us round the village and shown how the houses were designed to confuse the slavers. My friend then dressed me in traditional fighting clothes and put me on a donkey! After all this excitement we went back to Navrongo for lunch (of tilapia) and visited the local market to buy tomatoes.
We spent the rest of the day at the village of Sirigu, famous throughout Ghana for its pottery and painting. It was amazing, so beautiful, so cool and refreshing. We wished we had booked rooms and an art workshop. Perhaps another time?
The countryside here is full of trees, and far prettier and more varied than in Tamale. There are also more animals- pigs wandering around, a few horses and donkey carts everywhere. Tamale is traditionally short of water (frustratingly we’ve just run out of water again) but Bolga has rivers and pools. It is a bustling and very friendly town,
I shall try to return once I’ve got over the journey!
Where to start! We have just spent an amazing weekend in Bolgatonga; 3 hours north of Tamale in the Upper East.
Kim and I set off on Friday afternoon from the trotro station. We let the first tro go as we waited for the others to arrive; a good decision in the circumstances. This was my first experience of travelling on a trotro (a very basic minibus of variable reliability). It was hot and packed, we had the windows open but this made it feel like being in a fan oven set at maximum. We stopped briefly a few times to pay a toll and were then surrounded by hawkers shouting ‘pure water’ and selling fruit and tilapia and other cooked fish which the other passengers bought and tucked into.
We were nearly half way when we came across the previous trotro minus wheels and windscreen on the opposite side of the road! Phew- that could have been us. Everybody stopped to help and fortunately the passengers seemed to be unhurt.
Eventually hot and thirsty, we arrived in Bolga and found our hotel ‘Comme ci comme ca’- with its thatched hut dining area and noisy, but functioning air con ( at last a cool nights sleep).
Saturday
Up at 7.00 for the usual omelette breakfast then to the tro tro station to meet the others and choose the best taxi. We rejected the ones with bald tyres, no back screen and broken seats and set off to Paga, on the Burkina Farso border, with Fuzzy our driver. And a convoy of motos. Calamity- we hadn’t checked the engine and broke down in the hot sun. We were rescued by one of Fuzzy’s friends who took us to the Chief’s Pool at Paga to see the sacred crocodiles. An ancient story tells how a crocodile parted the river waters with his tail and thus saved a chief from his enemies. The chief then promised that his people would never again eat crocodile. There are now over 200 in this pool feeding on the tilapia and other fish and prowling around the village homes at night!
I shall let the pictures tell their own story. To my surprise I actually did sit on a crocodile but I was certainly the most nervous as I made the elementary mistake of walking in front of King Croc who then lunged at me with his gnashers!
The crocodile is lured from the pool by a whistle, which he thinks is a chicken, and then he spends his time trying to get the chicken from the caretaker of the pool. There is of course more than one crocodile, some lying in the water with open mouths and teeth showing, others disguised as large, mobile, muddy logs that creep towards you. At one time there must have been about10 crocodiles in our near vicinity , kept at bay by helpers with stones. Sadly for the chicken the crocodile eventually gets his lunch.
At the pool we were befriended by a local gentleman who decided I would be his new wife and have his babies in the traditional maternity hut. He showed around the hut and played the drum so that we could dance as would traditionally happen to celebrate a birth. We were then guided us round the village and shown how the houses were designed to confuse the slavers. My friend then dressed me in traditional fighting clothes and put me on a donkey! After all this excitement we went back to Navrongo for lunch (of tilapia) and visited the local market to buy tomatoes.
We spent the rest of the day at the village of Sirigu, famous throughout Ghana for its pottery and painting. It was amazing, so beautiful, so cool and refreshing. We wished we had booked rooms and an art workshop. Perhaps another time?
The countryside here is full of trees, and far prettier and more varied than in Tamale. There are also more animals- pigs wandering around, a few horses and donkey carts everywhere. Tamale is traditionally short of water (frustratingly we’ve just run out of water again) but Bolga has rivers and pools. It is a bustling and very friendly town,
I shall try to return once I’ve got over the journey!
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Shea tree
This tree is very important financially to women in the north.The tree grows readily and the women process the nuts and make them into shea butter.This is an important ingredient in moisturising creams and is exported for this reason. However the women have to work very hard and go through many processes to obtain the butter. Unfortunately they are not always well rewarded for their labours.
Mole National Park
Feb 17th
It’s very strange to be so hot and to write the date as February. Temperatures have dropped slightly from the challenging 40+ as last night we had a violent dust storm and then some welcome rain that lowered the temperature. As a result we all slept much better.
I have been unwell- hence the gap in my blogging. Fortunately I am on the mend as a week ago the doctor at a hospital told me I did not have malaria but typhoid! You can imagine my initial reaction! However I knew that I had had every available injection and also that although I was ill, I was probably not dangerously ill. I took advice from Rebecca and had further tests at another hospital which were inconclusive but I am beginning to feel stronger. Although I stoll can't drink beer or coffee. I shall be an even more stringent follower of the local advice for food:
‘Peel it, boil it or bin it!’
Even the bread!
My illness means of course that I am falling behind in my self imposed timetable of school support. Very frustrating! However I had such care and kindness from so many people when I was ill that I feel very lucky. Betty dropped in with bananas, Kim and Tim looked after me and cooked wonderful meals, teachers from Kanvilli phoned and dropped in and Jim sorted out further tests.
I feel almost back on track now especially as I am working with the headteachers in my new school.
Mole National Park Sat and Sunday (7th & 8th Feb)
Liz, Kim and I rented a car complete with Hassan our driver; and spent a wonderful weekend in Mole. Mole was 3 hours drive away so we set off early at 6.00am!
It cost us 120 Ghana Cedi a day (about £40 each) but was well worth it for our air conditioned 4x4 transport and safe and knowledgeable driver. The alternative was to use public transport and to leave Mole at 4.00am on Sunday!
On our way we stopped to visit the famous mosque at Laranbanga, just outside the Park. The architecture is really impressive and in stark contrast to the poverty surrounding it. It is reputedly the oldest building in Ghana and the locals were very keen to tell us its history and charge us fees. At one time we were overwhelmed with offers of help- it was very useful to have Hassan who negotiated a fair price for us.
We set off again for Mole and finally arrived. We changed our booking to air conditioned rooms- (oh bliss); looked across the park and saw our first elephant at the nearby water hole (more bliss)!
We spent the next few hours being entertained by watching gibbons steal food and drink from picnickers around the pool and then whole families came to show off on our veranda. They were accompanied by a charming family of wart hogs (bush pigs) with their four sweet babies.
We had booked a ranger to take us for a game drive at 3.00 in the afternoon. Unlike S Africa and Kenya, Mole has few facilities for game drive unless you have your own vehicle.
James, our armed ranger, had worked at Mole for 30 years and was very knowledgeable. He explained that Mole was wooded Savannah and had been sparsely populated as it was home to the tsetse fly that caused sleeping sickness. He got out of the car to refill his water bottle from a stream and into the car flew a tsetse fly! Apparently the British were in charge at this time and decided to kill all the animals to prevent the spread of the disease. Later it was discovered that the problem was in the tsetse fly itself, not the anilmals, and clever scientists got the locals to catch all the male flies and substitute similar flies which has now eradicated the sleeping sickness parasite- so we were in no danger after all.
I was a bit concerned about James drinking straight from the stream but he assured me that as it was running water it was perfectly clean! James kept us entertained and pointed lots of cob(deer), bush buck(different deer), monkeys, gibbons, birds and a crocodile at the water hole! It was a such a lovely experience.
James joined us later for a cold beer and sat around the pool sharing our delicious supper of roast guinea fowls. There was so much left over that he took a ‘doggy bag’ for his family We arranged to go on a game walk the following morning at 7.00am.
Sunday
There must have been about 30 people ready for the game walk at 6.30 am and my heart sank at such a large group. To be really enjoyable and to see the shy animals the group needed to be small and quiet.
The first thing to be done was to equip people with large (and notoriously uncomfortable) rubber boots if their shoes were not enclosed. More rangers then arrived and James chose his small group of the three of us, Hassan and Jonas from America. Hurray!
We set off down the rocky escarpment and had an amazing time for the next four hours, watching the animals in their own surroundings, examining different types and different ages of droppings, learning about the plants, visiting the ancient sites of villages that had planted trees to shield them and keep them hidden from the slavers. So much to see but no elephants!
We stopped for a snack of crackers and water and finally arrived with sore feet at the hide over looking the water hole. We sat quietly resting, getting ready for the return uphill trek, when James motioned us to look to the side and magically we saw 2 elephants slowly emerge from the foliage, completely unaware of our presence. They came closer and one changed direction after he raised his trunk and ‘smelt’ us. We then spent an entrancing half hour watching, from very close quarters, as the elephants drank, squirted and just stood still. We then spotted three other elephants slowly coming down the escarpment to meet their fellows and exchange greetings by touching trunks.
It was time to go back. This meant walking around the water hole while the elephants were walking around the other way towards us! Mindful that James had said elephants can travel at 25 mph this was not a very comfortable position to be in. However we got close enough for some good photos and then got back to base safely ready for a long cool drink. What a wonderful experience! We were so lucky!
This weekend we go north to Bolga and from thence to Paga, home of the famous crocodile pool.
It’s very strange to be so hot and to write the date as February. Temperatures have dropped slightly from the challenging 40+ as last night we had a violent dust storm and then some welcome rain that lowered the temperature. As a result we all slept much better.
I have been unwell- hence the gap in my blogging. Fortunately I am on the mend as a week ago the doctor at a hospital told me I did not have malaria but typhoid! You can imagine my initial reaction! However I knew that I had had every available injection and also that although I was ill, I was probably not dangerously ill. I took advice from Rebecca and had further tests at another hospital which were inconclusive but I am beginning to feel stronger. Although I stoll can't drink beer or coffee. I shall be an even more stringent follower of the local advice for food:
‘Peel it, boil it or bin it!’
Even the bread!
My illness means of course that I am falling behind in my self imposed timetable of school support. Very frustrating! However I had such care and kindness from so many people when I was ill that I feel very lucky. Betty dropped in with bananas, Kim and Tim looked after me and cooked wonderful meals, teachers from Kanvilli phoned and dropped in and Jim sorted out further tests.
I feel almost back on track now especially as I am working with the headteachers in my new school.
Mole National Park Sat and Sunday (7th & 8th Feb)
Liz, Kim and I rented a car complete with Hassan our driver; and spent a wonderful weekend in Mole. Mole was 3 hours drive away so we set off early at 6.00am!
It cost us 120 Ghana Cedi a day (about £40 each) but was well worth it for our air conditioned 4x4 transport and safe and knowledgeable driver. The alternative was to use public transport and to leave Mole at 4.00am on Sunday!
On our way we stopped to visit the famous mosque at Laranbanga, just outside the Park. The architecture is really impressive and in stark contrast to the poverty surrounding it. It is reputedly the oldest building in Ghana and the locals were very keen to tell us its history and charge us fees. At one time we were overwhelmed with offers of help- it was very useful to have Hassan who negotiated a fair price for us.
We set off again for Mole and finally arrived. We changed our booking to air conditioned rooms- (oh bliss); looked across the park and saw our first elephant at the nearby water hole (more bliss)!
We spent the next few hours being entertained by watching gibbons steal food and drink from picnickers around the pool and then whole families came to show off on our veranda. They were accompanied by a charming family of wart hogs (bush pigs) with their four sweet babies.
We had booked a ranger to take us for a game drive at 3.00 in the afternoon. Unlike S Africa and Kenya, Mole has few facilities for game drive unless you have your own vehicle.
James, our armed ranger, had worked at Mole for 30 years and was very knowledgeable. He explained that Mole was wooded Savannah and had been sparsely populated as it was home to the tsetse fly that caused sleeping sickness. He got out of the car to refill his water bottle from a stream and into the car flew a tsetse fly! Apparently the British were in charge at this time and decided to kill all the animals to prevent the spread of the disease. Later it was discovered that the problem was in the tsetse fly itself, not the anilmals, and clever scientists got the locals to catch all the male flies and substitute similar flies which has now eradicated the sleeping sickness parasite- so we were in no danger after all.
I was a bit concerned about James drinking straight from the stream but he assured me that as it was running water it was perfectly clean! James kept us entertained and pointed lots of cob(deer), bush buck(different deer), monkeys, gibbons, birds and a crocodile at the water hole! It was a such a lovely experience.
James joined us later for a cold beer and sat around the pool sharing our delicious supper of roast guinea fowls. There was so much left over that he took a ‘doggy bag’ for his family We arranged to go on a game walk the following morning at 7.00am.
Sunday
There must have been about 30 people ready for the game walk at 6.30 am and my heart sank at such a large group. To be really enjoyable and to see the shy animals the group needed to be small and quiet.
The first thing to be done was to equip people with large (and notoriously uncomfortable) rubber boots if their shoes were not enclosed. More rangers then arrived and James chose his small group of the three of us, Hassan and Jonas from America. Hurray!
We set off down the rocky escarpment and had an amazing time for the next four hours, watching the animals in their own surroundings, examining different types and different ages of droppings, learning about the plants, visiting the ancient sites of villages that had planted trees to shield them and keep them hidden from the slavers. So much to see but no elephants!
We stopped for a snack of crackers and water and finally arrived with sore feet at the hide over looking the water hole. We sat quietly resting, getting ready for the return uphill trek, when James motioned us to look to the side and magically we saw 2 elephants slowly emerge from the foliage, completely unaware of our presence. They came closer and one changed direction after he raised his trunk and ‘smelt’ us. We then spent an entrancing half hour watching, from very close quarters, as the elephants drank, squirted and just stood still. We then spotted three other elephants slowly coming down the escarpment to meet their fellows and exchange greetings by touching trunks.
It was time to go back. This meant walking around the water hole while the elephants were walking around the other way towards us! Mindful that James had said elephants can travel at 25 mph this was not a very comfortable position to be in. However we got close enough for some good photos and then got back to base safely ready for a long cool drink. What a wonderful experience! We were so lucky!
This weekend we go north to Bolga and from thence to Paga, home of the famous crocodile pool.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
My birthday!
Yesterday was my birthday and it really was a wonderful day.
I had arranged to buy some food for break for all the teachers at school and it became a really lovely party. The tables were set outside and laden with guinea fowl, fried rice, noodles, salad and baked beans but before we could tuck in Madam told everyone how old I was and they all sang 'Happy Birthday'. Their version has 4 verses. They have the same tune as us- the second verse is'How old are you...' V3 was my response- sung of course and they finished with v4 'May God bless you..' We then had prayers thanking God for the food and asking for blessings and good health for 'mother'-me!(Mother is a term of respect- due to my great age!) I was then presented with a card and gifts of cloth that I can take to the tailor- I was completely overwhemed with their generosity and kindness. The children also sang to me- all four verses.
I then had lunch of delicious ground nut (peanut)soup and chicken with Kim at the chop bar opposite our house.
The day finally finished with another party at the Jungle Bar with VSO buddies, games and even more gifts! I am so moved by everyones kindness and all the birthday messages I receieved from home. Huge thanks!
Today is another day and very different. I taught Maths again and borrowed some slates from KG1 which I used to teach a small group outside the class on the veranda - they really loved hiding their answers and then showing me. Two of the circuit supervisors happened to be there as they had come to see how I was getting on. I shall go to the office next week as I need to have some access to local heads so that we can discuss and share ideas.
Liz (HT support like me) is coming from Bolga tomorrow and we are going to share training ideas. Despite the 39C I cleaned away the cobwebs swept and washed the floor, removed lizards and spiders and then went for a cold shower. NO WATER! So lets hope there is enough for a 'bucket bath' and if it does not come back we will have to buy some. Tamale has plenty of water there just seems to be a problem gettingit in the pipes. Appparantly the whole area was without water for quite a while in Novemeber.
We have hired a car and driver to take Liz, Kim and I to the Mole National Park this weekend. We should be able to see elephants and other animals- I can't wait!
I had arranged to buy some food for break for all the teachers at school and it became a really lovely party. The tables were set outside and laden with guinea fowl, fried rice, noodles, salad and baked beans but before we could tuck in Madam told everyone how old I was and they all sang 'Happy Birthday'. Their version has 4 verses. They have the same tune as us- the second verse is'How old are you...' V3 was my response- sung of course and they finished with v4 'May God bless you..' We then had prayers thanking God for the food and asking for blessings and good health for 'mother'-me!(Mother is a term of respect- due to my great age!) I was then presented with a card and gifts of cloth that I can take to the tailor- I was completely overwhemed with their generosity and kindness. The children also sang to me- all four verses.
I then had lunch of delicious ground nut (peanut)soup and chicken with Kim at the chop bar opposite our house.
The day finally finished with another party at the Jungle Bar with VSO buddies, games and even more gifts! I am so moved by everyones kindness and all the birthday messages I receieved from home. Huge thanks!
Today is another day and very different. I taught Maths again and borrowed some slates from KG1 which I used to teach a small group outside the class on the veranda - they really loved hiding their answers and then showing me. Two of the circuit supervisors happened to be there as they had come to see how I was getting on. I shall go to the office next week as I need to have some access to local heads so that we can discuss and share ideas.
Liz (HT support like me) is coming from Bolga tomorrow and we are going to share training ideas. Despite the 39C I cleaned away the cobwebs swept and washed the floor, removed lizards and spiders and then went for a cold shower. NO WATER! So lets hope there is enough for a 'bucket bath' and if it does not come back we will have to buy some. Tamale has plenty of water there just seems to be a problem gettingit in the pipes. Appparantly the whole area was without water for quite a while in Novemeber.
We have hired a car and driver to take Liz, Kim and I to the Mole National Park this weekend. We should be able to see elephants and other animals- I can't wait!
Starting to teach
Monday 2nd February
I started teaching the 60+ children in P1 today. I wanted to show the teachers how to make it interactive by using ‘thinking partners’ but the children are so used to learning by rote that it is going to take some time to get them used to it.
Its very hot today- even the Ghanaians say that its hot. Its 38C and tomorrow will be even hotter! Help!
I arrive home from school and put my feet in a bucket of water and then try to drink lots of sips of tepid water. If it’s too cold it can give you a tummy upset. Even just sitting writing this the sweat is dripping off my chin!
I started teaching the 60+ children in P1 today. I wanted to show the teachers how to make it interactive by using ‘thinking partners’ but the children are so used to learning by rote that it is going to take some time to get them used to it.
Its very hot today- even the Ghanaians say that its hot. Its 38C and tomorrow will be even hotter! Help!
I arrive home from school and put my feet in a bucket of water and then try to drink lots of sips of tepid water. If it’s too cold it can give you a tummy upset. Even just sitting writing this the sweat is dripping off my chin!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
