Adventures with Asmawu

Adventures with Asmawu
Asmawu decide to take me on a cultural tour of Kanvilli village on our way to the Presby Education Office. Walking through the village we could see the women winnowing the rice and gathering around the water pump; interesting for me but very hard work for them. We visited Asmawu’s home so that I could see her flock of goats, her chickens, and unusually for Tamale, her pigs. Primary school teachers are badly paid in Ghana; their monthly pay is 190 cedis (£100) and headteachers only receive an additional £2.00! Even by local standards this is very low and Asma has to sell one of her pigs when school fees are due.
We next visited her bar or ‘spot’ and she showed me the recent storm damage. Cow head stew was on the menu and was delicious although I found the cow skin a bit chewy. We went across the road and I was persuaded to take a calabash of the local brew made of fermented millet. It was generously finished for me by an elderly gentleman and Asma later sent me a big bottle to share with my house mates. I was very popular. We eventually arrived at the education office where I was made very welcome.

The countryside is beginning to look green after the recent rains and blossom is starting to appear on the trees. I hope this continues because since I have been here I have just seen a very dry and dusty Tamale.

Church and the chicken tractor
I have just returned from a 2 hour church service with Moona and it was just like being at a Dianna Ross concert. The music and singing were fantastic; everyone was clapping and dancing and full of joy. This was followed by Bible study groups but I could not stay as I had arranged to see Will and his chickens.
Will is a long term volunteer working with agriculture and I wanted to see his ‘chicken tractor’. The soil here is subject to long periods of very high temperatures and many of the nutrients just vaporise. (It’s currently 47C in our garden). Will’s 5 chickens are enclosed in a pen where they naturally scratch up and turn over the soil, fertilising it at the same time by ‘digging’ in the old vegetables and their droppings. Will thinks the soil will be ready to cultivate in 6 months. Should I try this at home? At night or when it rains Will puts the chickens in their basket and hangs them up in his spare wardrobe!

Work!
I’m continuing to provide whole staff INSET for my schools. The head usually gives me an hour sometime in the day and the children are all told to stay in their classrooms and behave them selves. I’m not sure what they do as they are no books for them to read or games to play but it seems to work. The teachers and heads get very little INSET and appear to be thriving on sharing ideas. We have had some robust discussions on pedagogy and special needs. We have tackled the thorny issues of differentiation and control without the cane! We have also seen the power of sharing the Success Criteria.
I now have less than two weeks here so also want to monitor the impact in the classroom.
PTA
This Saturday saw the first PTA meeting for over 2 years at one of my new schools. The school has less than 200 pupils but there was overwhelming parental support with 60 parents at the meeting. We started and finished the meeting with prayers. This time the meeting was all in Dagbani As before all the teachers were present and I was asked to share the results of my monitoring report with the parents. My address which included observations of the strength of community and family life, the beautiful manners and thoughtfulness of their children as well as recommendations that would move the school forward were warmly received. The teachers appealed to the parents to send their children to school regularly, punctually and well fed. By the end of the meeting a new executive had been elected, a school fund started and a levy of 2 cedis per family that would be used to provide the wood for doors and windows that would keep the animals from using the classrooms as a shelter. It was a very productive use of a Saturday and the headteacher was very pleased with the result.