School trip – Ghana Style.

Sometime in January while I was facilitating a workshop for a circuit of schools in Bolgatanga a teacher, Joseph, was sharing how important he finds the school trips he runs each year.  I said innocently that I would love to go with him and would be happy to be a member of staff looking after a group of students if he needed me. Six months later he hadn’t forgotten that innocent comment and he phoned me to invite me the following Saturday.  Unfortunately it was not possible as my work commitments had increased 10 fold… trouble is you can’t say no once you have said yes so to speak. They following day he phoned to tell me that they were changing the day of the trip and he hoped I could make the new date!  It still wasn’t ideal timing but I felt compelled to go.  7am Saturday and I was there (having been up since 3.45 to wave off my Upper West friends who had been staying with me and were getting the bus home).  I was knackered before I started.  It was a relatively fast process getting the children sorted and we had left school on two buses having done a vague headcount by 7.40am.  

We visited Navrongo Dam (3 times bigger than Vea our local dam)….

The children quing to have their photo taken

Me with one of the teachers and Joseph (the teacher who invited me on the trip) in the background

The fish ponds and Paga crocodile pond…

No man’s land and Burkina Faso….

And finally back to Ghana in one day with 200 JHS children....





Despite having the official paperwork for the boarder for which I was included they still made an example of the white woman and I got pulled aside at both the Ghana and Burkina border; my teacher colleagues rescuing me in Burkina shouting ‘She is one of us!’

The children loved the trip!  Insistent they wanted to do another one again next week… some had never been on a trip before, many had never travelled further than their local village, let alone gone to another country (albeit for 10 minutes!). 

The journey home was fuelled with excitement from the day.  The children shouted (although some claimed it was singing!) and danced their way home.  Somehow, and given the noise levels, I’m not sure how, I fell asleep.  I remember once a school trip with Parkside to Barcelona with two buses of pubescent year 9’s… after 24 hours on a bus with them the smell was rancid.  Just 8 hours on the bus with this lot and we were in the same position.  It took me the rest of the evening for my ears and nose to recover but it was a great day : )

A bucket full of penises.

The last month or so has been super busy, term is coming to a close along with two big projects that I’ve been working on.  The Practical Science Resource box project is one.  The workshops were completed at the beginning of the year and teachers were supposed to be trying out new ideas and coming to the Science Conference I was organising to complete the project  with tried and tested ideas to share with colleagues.  On the whole it has been a successful 7 months for this project and as a pilot it’s one I hope to roll out into two districts next year in a much bigger way having learnt from my experience this year running the pilot.  It’s clear for example that Ghanaians level things to the last minute (much like myself!)  This has lead to an influx of queries and requests for me to visit schools and support; their work, making of the Teaching and learning resources (TLMs) and implementing ideas in the classrooms.  Not all of my visits were like this one but the very young male, naïve (?) and inexperienced teacher requested that I observe a lesson where he was to put his bucket full of penises to good use.

The premise of the lesson was great…not sure he was so naïve and his choice of TLM design may well have been a joke with his young friends but in the classroom his inexperience was clear – I sensed he was squirming and regretting a little his choice once he was up there! The lesson was literally just the children putting on condoms, the Circuit Supervisor (also observing) was constantly interrupting and extending it into an ethical discussion which negated the need for knowing how to put on a condom.  It was stilted, disjointed, lacking in depth and linked learning.  On the upside the Head Teacher was super happy as he had lost 3 of his girls that year because they had had babies… he felt this could help to reduce the numbers the following year. 

There were many simple TLMs that had been produced for the conference. 

They were definitely the less challenging Practical ideas and I’ll be careful to up the ante next year.   Overall I do feel it’s been a pretty positive outcome with lots of room to improve as it rolls out.  We now have to cross out fingers and hope the funding proposal I’ve written gets 30,000 plus GHC approval I need to roll it out to Talensi and Nabdam.. watch this space.

Kalashnikov rifles and prisoners... the things I do for a new moto licence…

I left my purse in a taxi in Accra.  Then it was stolen by the taxi driver/another passenger, but for those of you who know me well… it’s not a great shock… super surprised I haven’t lost it more than once and the only other thing I’ve lost so far this year was my glasses…. prescription of course… must be a record for the least things lost in a year *pat on back*.

Thing is, I had a lot of stuff in that lovely purse (which I’ll never find again, I know because I've searched on line already : ( )… some I can’t replace; like business cards I’ve collected from colleagues here, some things I can but they’re a pain to replace; like the VSO ID card and Ghanaian drivers licence…  Still, I swallowed that sour pill and trudged off (on my now illegal moto) to the DVLA to replace my driver’s licence.  If you read about the hassle it was to get it in the first place will you understand the anguish of simply thinking about having to go through it again… Of course, the process is slightly different as the circumstances are, a perfect opportunity to bump up the bureaucracy!  The slimy DVLA boss told me that I needed a police report before they would produce the paperwork for it to be reissued.  The thought of the police bureaucracy was too much for me to deal with on the same day so I headed over the next day only to be faced with a very helpful man (tall, dark, handsome and in a uniform… ahem… [be still beating heart]), who past me over to the most surly, uncooperative, miserable Ghanaian (police)woman I have ever met to date standing behind a tall countertop in the police station.  My sickly sweet charming replies just seemed to piss her off even more which was the ammunition I needed for full out sickly sweet word war! I wasn’t in the mood to be pissed off myself much better for me that she was.  Whilst waiting for the report, when I wasn’t annoying the police woman I was having a nose around the room and  it was clear that not only was there a great big jail house door … you know like the ones you’d see the sheriff sitting in front of in an old western film…. But it was full of half naked men, [rewind]… barely clothed men.  Two reasons for this lack of clothing became apparent.  One; it was damn hot where I was standing under a fan, let alone stuck in a small, dark, fan-less room with a jail door and barely any standing space. And two; they were in effect prisoners and not allowed to wear anything that could conceal a weapon… That became apparent when two newly arrested prisoners (arrested for impersonating a priest and extorting money) were dragged in by two dashingly handsome plain clothed detectives (to be fair one was a bit porky but let’s keep this fantasy running).  They ordered these two men to strip down to their underwear in front of me. As one wasn’t wearing any underwear (that fact was translated through sign language even I could understand) he [no peeking between those fingers…]kept his trousers on!  The thing is the naughty boys in ‘jail’ just wanted the white woman’s attention and it was difficult not to respond given the surly responses from Mrs Happy Policewoman.  After getting the naughty boys told off and threatened with some lashings from the cane (how bad did I feel?) I became surrounded on either side by two large uniformed officers who were wielding Kalashnikov rifles (scared? Me? Errr… let’s just say not entirely comfortable).  After a brusque exchange in local language with Mrs Happy Policewoman she literally threw an unknown number of cartridges on the counter top in front of me that promptly rolled along the counter and over the edge on to the floor, into my helmet and onto my bag.  Some ended up in my hands as is the automatic reaction to catch things that are falling, albeit this was a slightly delayed reaction given that catching a rolling Kalashnikov cartridge in a police station needed some thought as to the ‘right move’…  No one battered an eyelid of course and I spent the remaining few minutes helping the policemen fill their magazines before the remaining cartridges were scooped into a pile and left on the counter top and the men reported to duty with weapons fully loaded.  Not long after the report had been written stamped and signed.  The following day at 8am, after a 45 minute unusually efficient visit to DVLA I had my temporary licence once more.  It would seem once more that it is best not to second guess anything in Ghana, especially whether or not the rifles are loaded…

Mama Laadi's....

This blog has been a long time coming.  I know why I've put it off... by the end of it you'll  realise why if you haven't guessed already....Today I want to introduce you to Mama Laadi's... the Foster Home in Bolgatanga where I live.  Mama Laadi is an extraordinary lady who started her working life as a nurse and through her work took on children who had lost their parents at the hospital and had no relatives to take care of them... after a short time her own home was becoming over crowded and money was very short, which is where Afrikids a local NGO started by another extraordinary woman from the UK stepped in.  They heard about this amazing woman in the brink of time, Mama was beginning to think she would have to send the children away as she had no money to feed them but Afrikids saved the children, provided money and built a beautiful home.  It is now home to 45 children ranging from under one year to teenagers and Mama Laadi is employed as their full time carer.  These are the people that made it possible....

Josiah helped us with our bags

The children welcomed us with smiles, questions and open arms...

They loved the gazillion pencils sent by Sally Matthews....

The girls braided my hair and the Chelsea supporters enjoyed wearing the Chelsea cap from Ali Helm...

.... they couldn't wait to play the Chelsea CD Ali : )

We read books.... So many people have donated books!

....more books

Some even read themselves...

...others  slept!

The older boys so enjoyed receiving their football shirts from the Heaney family...

We played on the swings...

...with old tyres

...on the roundabout with little Alisha...

Then Mama received the money from Hannah Martin, Rachel Campbell, Rachel - Hannah's sister and her new husband Nik aka BIL (nicked from me ; )) which they raised at their wedding reception recently...

It came just at the right time. Mama and all the children were so happy. I know you want to know what it was spent on Hannah, Rachel, Rachel and Nik.... so here it goes; A party for all to celebrate the school holiday!  Watermelons and chicken specifically....much more food... 

....and 60 GHC worth of nappies for Peter...  

Peter has had a very tough start to life, it was because of this terrible experience (too terrible to blog about) that his development was affected and he is way behind his peers.

but look at what a happy chappy he is!

All the children want to thank Sally Matthews, Ali Helm and the Heaney family for their kind gifts. All those who donated books over the past year (Gill Hervey-Murray, Carol Webb, Heather Fell to name just a few.... so sorry I have forgotten everyone who sent them - terrible : ( ) and Hannah Martin, Rachel Campbell, Rachel and Nik for the generous donations.... The children want to do it with smiles to show how happy you've made them... 

Why smiles?  For those of you who don't know it's quite a challenge getting a Ghanaian to smile when they are 'snapped'.  Not for these children, their natural smiles and genuine happiness shine through, with the thanks to some incredible people... Mama Laadi of course, people like Hannah Martin and Rachel Campbell who regularly went to Mama Laadi's supporting children with reading and maths (they all wanted to greet you both by the way) and those that donate...  however small, it really makes a difference to these children. Such a happy bunch of 45 children made all the more unbelievable given their individual and challenging journey's to the home for such young people... the truth is, they are pretty extraordinary themselves...so here are a few smiles.... just for you. x x x

So why have I put it off; this blog... this visit.  I know myself pretty well... kids get under my skin... particularly kids in these circumstances. My excuse of course was work - perfectly valid but I could have squeezed it in if I'd tried harder.    

Visiting Mama Laadi's on the day my sister gives birth to my very first beautiful, gorgeous niece, Eadie Rose - aka Button, in hindsight, wasn't the best idea given my emotional state. You see I want one..or two... or three kids of my own. Ten years ago it was eight (I like to think I'm a realist!)  Trouble is my biological clock is ticking, my ovaries are emptying and I'm sure the amount of heavy metal I'm consuming in the water in this country isn't helping my waning fertility... The solution - become Mama Laadi! Take all the children home! (Bugger it - the very response I was trying to avoid!)  One things for sure Helen and I will be coming back regularly from September.  I'll toughen up... I have to... for now I'm going to spend the next 10 days looking forward to meeting little Button before I start thinking about how to become a Foster mum for real ; )