Fishing and relaxing

Anomabu is a beautiful beach resort west of Accra.The ocean is full of fish and the waves are safe enough to body board. The ocean breezes were deliciously cool after the intense heat of Tamale.

Pulling in the nets is hard work so everyone joins in. The catch will either be sold at the market or the fish will be smoked before they are sold.

View from the castle and the Door of Return

Cape Coast Castle

This is one of the many castles along this beautiful coast. It contains a museum that outlines the terrible history of slavery that took place over hundreds of years.Our guided tour showed us the dark dungeons where the slaves were kept awaiting transportation and the 'door of no return'.

Happily in the last few years a ceremony has taken place which enabled the door to be renamed as the 'door of return'. This acts as a symbol of hope and a reminder to all peoples that never again should anybody be treated in this cruel way.

Goodbye Tamale Hello Cape Coast

Goodbye Tamale .April 5th
The past three months have been one of the most fulfilling and amazing that I have ever spent.
I have thoroughly enjoyed working in my four schools, teaching the children and sharing ideas with the teachers and heads. It has been such a privilege and I think deeply appreciated on both sides. Getting to know volunteers from so many different countries and backgrounds and sharing a house for 3 months with Tim, Fred, Kim, Nina and others who shared our spare room briefly, has also been a delight; we have all had so much fun together.

I have made some really good friends here and shared amazing experiences so it was always going to be difficult in my final week to say ‘Goodbye’.

Three months just did not seem to be long enough for all I wanted to accomplish and embed and I just ran out of time at the end. Even during my last week I was still delivering phonics training to one school. Time was so tight that Helen, Early Years co-ordinator for the GES, came to my house the day before I left so that we could work together. However I did manage to watch class teachers deliver phonic sessions with the laminated cards I had provided and talk to the staff in each school about any
impact my visit had made. The answers were sometimes unexpected. One HT said that her school now valued punctuality as I was always on time for the training and refused to start until everyone was present. Other teachers told me they now used some of the alternative ways of discipline covered in our workshops, rather than the cane. The two schools I had visited late in my stay said that they needed more time with me. I agreed with them. Next time..?
In my final week I visited my schools to say Goodbye. I had bought them footballs from the UK and other small gifts. The children jumped for excitement when they saw the football. The game was now back on the curriculum! To my surprise and delight the schools also had gifts for me. One school even had a gift for my husband Ken. Eloquent thanks were expressed, not just for me but also for those who sent me including my family and school. It was very emotional and humbling. I shall never forget just how hard life is for many of the people I have met and also just how generous of spirit they are.

I asked volunteers, Asma and her deputy Zanabu to meet for supper at one of our favourite venues the Wednesday before I left. We all had a great time, managed to get home before the electric storm was in full flow but the next day I had food poisoning! .Not quite the exit I wanted from Tamale!

Hello Cape Coast!
The usual way of travelling from Tamale to Accra is by the STC bus which takes at least 12 hours! Fortunately I had decided to fly. This was not without its own difficulties as there is only one, very early, flight a day. Fred nobly got up at 4.30a.m in order to help me ferry my luggage, in the darkness, to the main road so that I could get a lift with the airport bus. He then waited with me until dawn. I was still suffering from food poisoning so everything was difficult.
I then need to get from Accra to Cape Coast, a three hour journey by STC. I wasn’t well enough for this so splashed out on a taxi for the 100 mile journey instead. The only alternative was to stay the night in Accra which would have been more expensive. I finally arrived at my friend’s house and went straight to bed and slept. Bliss!

Patricia and Bill had generously offered me the use of their house at Cape Coast and it has been an unusual experience to stay in a house without the host. However I have enjoyed every minute. The climate here is much kinder than in Tamale. It is still hot but their house is on a hill overlooking the sea and catches the cooling breeze from the Atlantic. The garden is a delight: green grass, birds and butterflies. Such a contrast to the dust of Tamale! There is both a day and a night watch man so I have felt very safe and well looked after.
I have spent the last two days having a wonderful rest at the Coconut Beach resort at Elmina. The ocean here has dangerous currents and a strong undertow so with red flags everywhere, swimming is out of the question. However the beach is enchantingly beautiful; white sands fringed by coconut palms and the food and service are excellent. This is a 5 star resort but the pool and all the facilities are open to all for a fee of 5cedis (about £2.50). Excellent value and a wonderful location for some r and r!

Tomorrow I leave this lovely house and move further down the coast with my HT friend Maddy at Anomabu. I haven’t seen Maddy since she dropped me off in my house in Tamale in January. She has been staying in Wa in the Upper West; eight hours by bus from Tamale. She leaves Kumasi, where she has visited friends, on the 4.00am bus tomorrow and we meet at eight. We will have lots to talk about.

From there we travel to Accra for our exit interview and then home for Easter. What does chocolate taste like- and bacon again!

Winnowing the rice

When I explained that I was a teacher and the children at my school would be interested the ladies were happy for me to take their picture.


Ghana grows its own rice and the quality has improved which reduces the need for expensive imports.

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.

The chicken tractor in action

The chickens can rest in their baskets during the day and then at night they are hung up in a wardrobe in the spare room.

I am still living out of a suitcase and waiting for my promised wardrobe ..........

Did VSO have the correct delivery address?

Feeding time for chickens

Chickens are ideal for recycling all the kitchen waste- its either that or burning as rubbish collections are rare and expensive.

Attempted robbery and meeting my boss

Attempted robbery and visit from my boss!

Tamale is usually a peaceful and crime free town but it seems as if a criminal gang have recently moved in. There are thirteen VSO volunteers here and so far 3 of us have been targeted by thieves on motos. Tim and Will have had their lap tops stolen from their shoulders and last week it was my turn to be mugged.
On Sunday we visited Liz, (we came to Ghana together), at a local hotel. Unfortunately she has been very poorly and was passing through Tamale on her way home early with malaria, typhoid and anaemia!
We all ate supper together and I left with Tim at 8.00. As we didn’t manage to get a taxi straightaway we decided to walk. We walked side by side along the main road in the cycle lane that is bordered by a deep storm drain. With no noise, lights or warning a thief on a moto drove between me and the storm drain and grabbed the bag from my shoulder. Instinctively I hung on tight and….. ….the strap broke leaving me shaken but holding my bag!
A taxi picked us up and took us home safely but I spent a restless night. I have since reported it to the police who say we should stay home at night. Others including my work colleagues, locals and taxi drivers say we should have shouted and then the thieves would have been killed. I though this was just exaggeration but was assured by all that instant justice is very effective and a good deterrent! It does happen; so thieves take a big risk. It’s a real concern as there have also been 6 robberies among the Dutch volunteers, one with violence. In future I shall carry a ‘decoy’ shoulder bag with my valuables in a concealed money belt and avoid being out after dark; which means home before 6.30.

Visit from my boss
My programme officer, Patience, arrived from Accra for my assessment meeting last week. I asked Asma the Kanvilli head and the circuit supervisor to attend and we had a very productive meeting. I now have lots of thinking to do and forms to fill in before the meeting in Accra at the end of my placement.
VSO are trialling the use of short term headteacher volunteers and we had a useful discussion on what to do next time; ideas included heads having their own moto, training teachers during the holidays and providing the necessary funding for the training. At the moment all photocopying, refreshments and other training expenses are paid for by me.

(As I sit on the veranda this Sunday writing I can see the guinea fowl flock which have just arrived to graze our garden)
One of the delights of being here is just watching all the animals, the cows, goats, sheep, chicken and guinea fowl wandering though the villages and gardens while they search for food. They all seem to find their way home at night where they are given water and very few of them are run over when they amble across the busy road. I’m not quite so keen on the stray dogs that raid our rubbish pit.

Kanvilli Presby Marches

The school looked so smart as they marched past us managing to keep their eyes straight ahead.

I was so proud of them

Arrival of the chiefs

The chiefs are a very important political and social force. They are very powerful. Here they arrive at the parade with geat ceremony from their supporters.

Independence Day

March 6th
Independence Day
Every child in Ghana knows that Independence Day is 6th March; they sing this as part of their morning routine. They also all recite their pledge with their hand on their heart; a powerful way of reinforcing their pride in their national identity.

National Pledge
I promise on my honour
To be faithful and loyal to Ghana my Motherland
I pledge myself to the service of Ghana.
With all my strength and with all my heart
I promise to hold in high esteem
Our heritage, won for us through the blood
and toil of our fathers;
And, I pledge myself in all things
To uphold and defend the good name of Ghana.
So help me God

March 6th is a public holiday; marked by parades and a public reflection in the press of how much has been achieved in the last 52 years together with the challenges ahead. Britain ruled Ghana for about 60 years and has been independent now for 52 years. I am still often introduced to classes as a headteacher from Britain ‘they used to be our colonial masters’ the tem makes me feel uncomfortable but seems to be used as a term of affection.
was thrilled when Kanvilli Presby (the school I have been most closely working with) was chosen to march in the parade.
I met the HT, Asesumawu, at Jubilee Park at 7.00am. Quite an early start for me! We assembled the excited children, chosen both for their marching prowess and to represent each class. Teachers, Robert and Moona, were also there to march with the children. They all looked very smart and wore white gloves for the occasion.

The parade ground was spotless and had been sprayed by the Fire Brigade to keep the dust down; even so I was covered in a thick layer of brown dust when I arrived home.

The Anniversary parade started promptly at 8.00 in the presence of the new Regional Minister A splendid military band led the military and police contingents march on parade. This was followed by the colourful arrival of the Chiefs (a very important political and social group). Their cars drove onto the parade ground covered with their followers; drumming, singing, crouching in homage and swirling enormous ceremonial umbrellas. Wonderful!
There were speeches and awards, followed by a march past that included the chosen schools. Although the ceremony finished at 10.30it was still a long very hot wait for all the participants. The First Aiders were kept busy with their stretchers.

Afterwards the town was thronged with people but I made my escape to recover in an air conditioned restaurant.

Daily Life

Daily Life
How do I spend my weekends?
This Friday evening we ate at home and then met two new volunteers for a drink and a chat at the ‘King David’ spot. They bought with them some American friends who had interesting tales to tell. They had been camping and hiking in Burkina Faso and also been to the African film festival in Ouagadougou. Burkina Faso is extremely poor, probably one of the three poorest countries in the world. Their guide had taken them back to stay at his small village and they had bought rice (an unaffordable luxury) for the whole community. They had slept outside under the stars and many people had come to welcome them. Their guide had been the first to be educated in his village. He had had to walk the daily 12 mile round trip to go to school; through his passion for education and determination he had mobilised the villagers and had raised enough money to build a school within the village with dormitory huts where the pupils could sleep if they lived far away. Don and Kerry had promised to do what they could to help and also send much needed clothing. It was such an interesting evening and meeting new people is one of the pleasures of being here.

On Saturday I got up early and cycled down to talk to the local carpenter to discuss moving the frame for my mosquito net. He sent his apprentice who managed to move the frame onto the new bed, change the curtains and mattress and hang pictures. I now have a new and hopefully cooler bedroom. It had been Kim’s room but she’s returned to Wales. My original room was south facing and always very hot. Everything was hot, the walls, my face cream, my books, everything! It was at the front of the house so I was always woken up at 5.30 when the jogging club went by shouting and drumming! It was bliss to wake up on Sunday slightly cooler and to look out onto the trees of the back garden. I spent the rest of Saturday sorting out my new room and writing and posting my blog.

I also caught up with my washing. No machine of course. I hand washed sheets, towels and clothes in various buckets of water. It all dried quickly on the line and then needed ironing. Everything dried outside needs thorough ironing to kill any eggs laid in the damp material by parasitic flies. If the eggs are not killed then the larva hatches and burrows into your skin. It lives there under a raised spot until it breaks out as a fully formed fly! Which horror film borrowed that idea? Signs to look for are a raised spot with an off centre mark. If you find one of these you need to smother the larva by covering the spot with Vaseline. Then when it’s dead you remove it. Needless to say I press my clothes with a very hot iron.

March is such a very hot month!
At 4.30p.m today the temperature was 40C in the shade and 45Cin the sun! It only drops a few degrees in the evening. No wonder I am so hot after I cycle home from school. The heat is completely exhausting and, although I long for a brisk walk, any kind of exercise is out of the question unless it is at dawn, so on Sunday I went swimming with friends.

The one public swimming pool in Tamale is run by the River Volta Authority and is quite close to where we live. I splashed out 2 cedis on a ‘drop off taxi’ which meant the other passengers had to get out when my road diverged from theirs! Flora, Rona, Paul and I spent a really lovely afternoon swimming, picnicking and singing to Flora’s guitar (very 60s). By the afternoon it was standing room only in the pool and although the pool was very warm it still cooled me down a little. Fred took me home on his motor bike. It was a great end to the weekend and I have a new Islamic school to look forward to visiting on Monday.

Food
Unless we eat out, our food usually involves frozen chicken pieces, tinned tuna or corned beef flavoured with herbs and chillies and served with pasta or rice. It is the season for potatoes now but yam is a very good substitute- I particularly like deep fried yam chips!

I haven’t been brave enough to buy beef yet. The butchers slaughter the cattle early in the morning and its then on sale. There are huge slabs of beef in the market or on stalls beside the road; often with the large horned white heads and white feet of the cows arranged elegantly on a nearby table.
I really enjoy Ghanaian food and had lunch at the Goil petrol station restaurant last week. I chose banku (fermented millet) fried fish and okra soup. The okra soup must be an acquired taste because it was just too slimy for me. The waiter said I couldn’t possibly eat it without something moist so he gave me a hot pepe sauce which was much better. I ate it like the locals with my right hand; a sensible way of eating fish as you can feel the bones. A finger bowl and washing up liquid is provided for the clean up. The children at school love TZ and fufu so I must try them before I come home. The portions are huge so sometimes we have one meal and two plates.
The fruit here is a real bonus it’s so delicious and, like the vegetables, is seasonal. Mangos, avocados, tomatoes, oranges, pineapples and pawpaw are in season at the moment so I chose the right time to come to Ghana.

Water arrives!

We can finally have a shower again!

Street Children

March 4th

‘Street Children- do not despise them’

These sad words are written on a huge hoarding in the centre of Tamale to try to change the attitudes of local people. But just imagine- you are a child, alone, possibly abandoned by your parents and now also despised by the people around you. When I go into the central market in Tamale I see wary, shabby children selling fruit, trying to earn money when they should be in school or in the heart of a family.

This week ‘The Chronicle’ paper highlighted the plight of such children. According to the paper there are nearly 4000 street children in the Tamale Metropolis. Boys and girls from the ages of 5 to 18 who sleep on pavements or at the main lorry station with homeless adults. Nobody cares if they eat, sleep or have access to health care. In addition local people feel that the lack of family support makes the children a threat and so they in turn intimidate and harass the children. According to the report most would like to go to school. This is impossible as they have to earn their living and, although education is free in Ghana, parents are expected to provide books, pens, pencils and uniform and food to be eaten at school. All this is out of reach if you live on the streets.

On a more positive note the Tamale ‘Youth Idleness Control Centre’ has pledged to provide skills training for as many children as possible. There are also different charities that try to help these vulnerable children including ‘Street Child Africa’. This charity led a powerful assembly during our ‘Black African Week’ and explained that as the children cannot come to school, the school comes to them on the streets and street corners of the cities of Ghana.

Our school raised £2000 for them and I can now see for myself just how desperately that money is needed.

Visiting the chief of chiefs of Bongo

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.

Art and design at Sirigu village

Market day at Navrongo