Atakora D/A JHS

I teach Math to junior high students at the public Atakora school. In the picture above, the three forms(grade levels) of my students occupy the rightmost building, a three-year-old addition to the campus. The six forms of primary students occupy the center building and the kindergarten students occupy the leftmost building, a year-old addition. Upon my arrival to Donkorkrom, the kindergarten building was without a roof; I learned from other teachers that the wind had blown it off during the last school vacation. As a PCV expected to facilitate secondary projects aside from the efforts required of a teacher, I thought reconstruction might be an opportunity. However, being a recently completed public school building, the District Assembly had someone on the job. Walking home from town on the day before the start of classes, I approached a group of men standing clear in the shade looking on at a barefoot and shirtless cohort grinding a large chainsaw away at the base of a five-story tree near the building. Asking for the plan, I was told that the tall threat was being removed before beginning the reconstruction. "Look out," thud, oops. Executive shortcomings landed the massive tree directly on the building that was to be safeguarded. I continued home as the quarreling began. In some light, it's better to have chosen the order 1)fall the tree then 2)build the roof rather than the reverse. Regardless, roof construction and the first school term commenced the next day.

The campus of the school is idyllic, not without help from the students. After an abrupt one week delay of the first term, the students spent the first full week in session cleaning out the building and weeding the grounds by cutlass(machete). After fulfilling their initial obligations as the school maintenance crew, the students sat for promotion exams. The Ghana Education Service mandates that when a student completes a form in a public school they are to advance the next form. And, after completing the third and final form of junior high school each student is to sit for a standardized test, a measure of both the student's potential for senior high school and the school's effectiveness. In practice, students are only promoted through the forms of junior high school if they are viable candidates for senior high school. The first two forms then act as a watershed for repeating students. The school administration prefers to collect school fees from repeating students rather than mar the school's reputation by forcing them through the system. Last week, I was teaching data collection to my form 2 students. To illustrate a bar chart, I collected the ages of students in class. In the equivalent of a class of American 8th graders, the ages range from 13 to 22.

After days devoted to promotion exams, classes began. With two teachers on maternity leave and a third transferred to a different school on short notice, four(myself included) remain; it's safe to say we're understaffed. I started off the year teaching all periods of math, but later gave up some of the form 2 and 3 periods out of concern that my teaching will be attributed to graduating students' performance, good or bad, on the standardized test. After two months on the job, I like to think my confidence and performance has and will continue to improve. Getting up in front of class was nerve-wracking at first, but as the days have passed, routine has provided some stability. In the first weeks, the curiosity of one student or the stubbornness of another could make or break my whole day. The students have a hard time hearing my English and I have to make a conscious effort to adopt their pronunciations and speech patterns. Despite many obstacles, I am fortunate to teach some truly bright yet underserved students. Aside from teaching, adapting to the status quo at school has been equally dizzying. Watching the Wednesday morning worship time, during which all students gather in one classroom to sing, clap, and dance with no assistance from a teacher melts my heart whereas seeing the same students being caned for not providing school fees or for answering questions incorrectly in class breaks my heart. Alas, I don't have similar teaching experience in America to compare my current occupation, but I encounter much that I think would be hard to come by in American secondary schools. For example, it's not uncommon for a disoriented chicken or goat to wander into a classroom as I am teaching. During one such occasion, a student called out: "Sir, it's come to learn."

A bit about DASS

Entrance to DASS

I teach at Donkorkrom Agriculture Secondary School, one of four agric schools in Ghana. One of the perks of working at such a school is the beautifully kept land. The students weed the grounds for the whole first week of each term. The special care of one’s natural surroundings isn’t just particular to DASS. Many Ghanaians wake up at dawn and sweep their house and even outside. The verb to sweep, “pra”, was one of my first vocab words in Twi class. Anyway, the school grounds are very quaint. Students who enter DASS choose one of five programs: General Arts, Business, Agriculture, Science, and Visual Arts. There are 3 terms, with the longest break being from end of July to early September. Students who go to DASS either live in Donkorkrom or board at the school if they are from out of town. They are required to wear a turquoise uniform for school.

Canteen at the center of campus

Form 2 Boys

I am part of the science department and I teach elective physics classes to Form 2 students (or sophomores as Americans would know it) in the Agriculture and Science programs. My first term began three weeks ago, but I’ve only taught for one week. During the first two weeks I did not have a schedule yet. I wasn’t too sure what my presence at the school meant without classes to teach. I still made it a point to visit the school once a day. Each time I went there a couple students asked me to come to their class and teach something. So I taught a few impromptu classes, but I was mainly trying to get to know some students. I asked everyone their names, where they are from, and their favorite thing about Donkorkrom. Some said they like the farming and fishing here, some like the ethnic diversity (Akans and Ewes), and some like school.

Form 2 Science classroom

So far I have just covered some basics to the students, who are learning physics for the first time. Although they all speak English, it’s still very hard for them to understand me, no matter how much I think I’m slowing my speech down. Sometimes I ask the class a question and everyone looks blank and I have to tell them, “I am asking a question.” Then they say, “yes, Madame” even if I was not looking for yes or no. On the first day of class I asked the students if they have learned about scalar and vector quantities. I looked around the class and no one raised their hand. I repeated, “Scalar- do you know that? Vector- do you know it?” And a few kids said no. So I said, “have you heard the words before, but not the exact definition?” “Yes, Madame.” “Okay, well if you had to guess, how would you define a scalar quantity?” After I asked that, one kid raised his hand and gave me textbook definitions of both scalar and vector. I’m left guessing whether or not I’m teaching them the right thing.

This past weekend Joe and I traveled to Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana, to buy bikes with our moving in allowance. There is a lovely hostel-type residence just for PCVs called the Kumasi Sub-Office (KSO) with books, computers, a kitchen, bunk beds, medical supplies and other stuff.

Common Room at the KSO

Our recent purchases will surely open up many opportunities for us to explore Afram Plains.

Holding a little neighbor girl the Ghanaian way

A pinky toe in the door

Joe here with some non-Peace Corps news: Readers of the MAA monthly Mathematics Magazine are encouraged to submit solutions to problems posed in their “Problems” column. I submitted a solution a while back and although it didn’t appear in print, my name was listed as one of the solvers.

Here’s the full column from October 2010 and here’s my solution that didn’t make it. I have two [1, 2] other proposed solutions pending in this and another periodical, but I don’t think they stand a chance for print. For now, my presence in the world of published math is restricted to a blip at the bottom of the last column of an extraneous publication.

Month One: A summary, a few stories, and a picture show

First, a brief summary our lives since the last post:

We arrived in Donkorkrom one month ago during the third and longest public school vacation(end of July through mid-Sept, and counting). At the time some senior students were attending extra classes to prepare for standardized tests. We sat in on a few to familiarize ourselves with local schools. Next to our house is an Electricty Company of Ghana office and next to it, a shop owned by a DASHS teacher. We've gone next door to the employees' canteen weekly to eat Ghanaian chop and to the shop to hang with teachers form DASHS and electricity company workers. We've made a habit of walking to town on the weekly market day to stock up on food where we usually meet up with the two nearby PCVs. We've ventured outside of town on a few occasions to visit one nearby PCV and to attend a meeting of PCVs in our same region of the country. We have regular visitors to our home, mostly students from the neighborhood. We're waiting for the beginning of school which is being delayed because some teachers are participating in a census. I am told that I will teach JHS Math to forms 1-3(6th-8th grade) and Hallie, high school Physics.

Now, story time:

Joe here: Early in the morning following swearing-in, we began our move to Donkorkrom waiting for a trotro(public van) to fill. Hungry and seated in a middle seat next to Hallie, I reached over her to buy us water and bofruit(deep-fried dough balls), as is common, from atop the head of a woman skillfully circling departing vehicles. We scarfed down our food as the tro departed then Hallie's head fell forward onto the seat in front of us for her inevitable in-transit nap. About an hour later, I jostled her awake with the urgent news that my breakfast choice necessitated a second passage through the trotro window. Speeding down the rare paved road in Ghana, I lost my meal to the surprise of those aboard the Metro Mass bus driving behind our trotro. The bus driver honked incessantly to alert our driver, who only got word of what happened a few minutes after the honking had stopped. He pulled over and got out to survey the mess on the side of his vehicle and my intentions for the rest of the trip. We continued down the road. Having eaten the same breakfast, Hallie concluded she was a ticking timebomb. Fortunately, her stomach was able to diffuse. I have been fortunate that my health in Ghana has not been any more complicated than this and I assure you that if it does get more complicated without getting more comical, I won't include the details here.

Hallie and Joe here: One of our PCV neighbors who has lived for a year in Memkyemfere, a nearby resettlement village, invited us for a day's visit. One pre-requisite for the half-hour car ride to her village was waiting two hours at the Donkorkrom station for enough people as is absolutely possible to squeeze into a more-than-worn station wagon. The driver started the car by putting two wires together and surprised us by making it to the village without the wheels popping off. We were instantly approached by a Ghanaian woman who was correct to guess that we were looking for our sister. She led us to the room in an NGO-built community center where Rachel stays. We greeted Rachel's housemates and checked out her accomadations before walking through the village. Rachel introduced us as the new PCV teachers in Donkorkrom to nearly everyone in sight: kids playing, women cooking, men assembling fishing nets, farmers walking between farm and home. Just a short car ride south of our home, Rachel converses in a different language than we do with Donkorkrom locals, Ewe. After lunch and a short rest, we walked through the bush to the nearby Fulani settlement. According to Rachel, the Fulanis are a nomadic tribe originating in Nigeria that established this particular settlement about two years prior. They have an appearance distinct from their neighbors in Memkyemfere. They have tall, thin frames and round eyes(Ghanaians have more almond shaped eyes and thicker frames) and they scar and tattoo their faces. Their jewelry, clothing, and hairstyles are really wild, too. The women style their hair into two tightly wound ropes that explode into tufts lying on either cheek. They dwell in one-room two-story-tall dome huts made from bush. Some Fulani people entertained our visit by coming out of their dwelling. They looked at us and touched our arms while talking to each other in a language we didn't understand. We tried to get any message across in all of Twi, Ewe, French, and English to little avail. They reminded me(Hallie) of Native Americans, only from 200 years ago. We took some pictures and felt like reporters from National Geographic. Some dwellings in the settlement were visibly vacated. Apparently, they are being coerced from the land due to complaints that they let their cattle roam freely to eat other people's plants. For the time being, we continue to see the Fulani in Donkorkrom where they come to sell cow's milk and deep-fried milk curds on market days.

On the way home from a meeting with the other PCVs in our same region of the country, Rachel and we made a brief pit stop in Akosombo to tour a major hydro-electric dam. Along the way we gained some insight into why Peace Corps has decided to place us PCVs in the Afram Plains. In the 1950s, foreign investors bade for a job, the construction of a dam at the southern mouth of Lake Volta, that would supply Ghana with the majority of its electricity. Perhaps the Italian investors that won the bidding meant well for the development of Ghana or perhaps they were seeking to return a big profit from a big project. Whatever the case, their and Volta Lake Authority's shortsightedness or carelessness became apparent when the completion of the dam drastically raised lake water levels well inland of shore. Farms and livestock were drowned in a region whose economy is primarily agriculture based. 80,000 Ghanaians were driven from homes that washed away between the old and new perimeters of the lake. Road flooding made access to communities such as Donkorkrom more difficult as is evidenced by the view from the ferry that crosses into the Afram Plains: branches of mature trees protruding just above the surface of the lake. Today, Ghanaians boast by a false sense of pride that Lake Volta is the largest man-made lake in the world. Ghanaians affected by the flooding moved into 52 resettlement communities and lobbied for relief. Judging from billboards erected around the lake that document monetary and infrastructure donations from the US government, the EU, and NGOs, their cries were heard from the western world. Notwithstanding, Peace Corps has donated six living, breathing contributions(thats us) to the area in the last four years.

Now, a picture show(Click to enlarge):

On the way to Donkorkrom, we crossed Lake Volta from the east. The boat ride is over an hour long. A man spent the whole ride bailing water coming through a crack in the boat.

We live in a walled compound with a dozen incessantly 'baa'-ing goats and sheep that will try to eat anything including laundry soap. Our only neighbor is the headmaster to the high school across the street.

The compound security guard and shepherd slaughter and prepare goats in our backyard.

Like I said, we have regular visitors from the neighborhood. Coloring books and computer games, could you think of a better way to spend an afternoon?

Hallie poses with an unwelcomed visitor, it's harmless.

Dried beans are cheap in market, but some are home to weevils(bugs). Take a closer look, the smaller sorted pile has been infested.

Some Africans praise Obama. The only other name I know of that personifies wine is "Jesus."

Swearing-In, Moving In, and much ado about fufu

Joe here: On a rainy August 12th, 72 Peace Corps trainees in Ghana, including Hallie and myself, were sworn in as Volunteers. Facing a stage in the parking lot of a senior high school in Kukurantumi were seats to accomadate the trainees, their homestay families, and a brass band. Atop the stage sat the Eastern Regional Minister of Ghana, the U.S. Deputy Ambassador to Ghana, PC Ghana Country Director, PC Ghana Program Training Officer, and the PC Training Manager, beside the stage, the remaining 20 or so trainers. The ceremony started early with the arrival of trainees, homestay families, and current or past Volunteers in Ghanaian dress. The night before, our host mother had surprised Hallie and me with matching shirt and dress. The ensuing events consisted of speeches by the aforementioned important people, rewarding of certificates to the new Volunteers, a Ghanaian drum and dance performance by new Volunteers, skits in various Ghanaian languages by the new Volunteers, and a vote of thanks to the homestay families.

Photo: Our homestay mother Maame Doris



Hallie and I replaced a PC Volunteer couple, Chris and Tammi, in Donkorkrom. They lived in the same house that we do now and taught at the same school that Hallie will, Donkorkrom Agric SHS (DASHS). Chris was given the assignment of teaching Art and Tammi, ICT. Among secondary projects they facilitated were establishing a library at DASHS and starting a program at DASHS to recycle plastic water sachets(More prevalent than bottled water, bags of water are widely available in Ghana for about 4 cents a piece, just bite off the corner and drink) into pouch wallets. Before joining PC both were employed by Iowa State University. You can read more about them and their experience on their blog, http://www.chrismartinfurniture.blogspot.com/.

Photo: Mural in our backyard




The method of preparing fufu may be difficult to transport across the Atlantic but, as per reports from our hostmother, microwavable just-add-water packets of fufu powder are sold at some African grocery stores in the US. The only ingredients you need for the actual fufu are cassava, plantain, and water. Allow one tuber and one plantain per person. Peel and chop into large pieces then boil until soft. Place cassava piece by piece into a mortar and turn it by hand, adding water as needed, as a partner pounds with a pestel. Pound until elastic consistency. Remove from the mortar then repeat with the plantain. Re-add the pounded cassava then pound and drive until well mixed. Form into balls and serve in bowls.



Generally, your choice of meat(chicken, beef, goat, snail, grasscutter) and groundnut or palmnut soup, though tomato soup makes a simple alternative, is served with fufu. The soups are made from groundnut paste(peanut butter) or palm oil, tomato, onion, garden egg(eggplant), and garlic with crushed red pepper and a bouillon cube to taste. Mix the groundnut paste or palm oil with water in a pot over medium heat. Meanwhile, chop then saute the onion and garlic, and boil then mash the tomato and garden egg. Mix all ingredients into the pot and cook for some time.

Site Visit, LPI, and the Light at the End of Training

In the latter part of July, Peace Corps hosted our group of trainees as well as Ghanaian teachers working in schools to receive volunteers for a weekend of lectures and group activities. Shortly after sunrise Monday, one teacher from each of our schools, Hallie, and I were driven by Hallie's headmaster's to our new home. Our drive was interrupted, as expected, by a half-hour ferry ride across a portion of Lake Volta. Beneath us on the third and highest level of the pontoon were vehicles packed three rows wide, students, farmers, workers, and casual travelers heading to the the district capital of the Kwahu North Region, Donkorkrom. Around noon, one hour after arriving at the walled compound we share with Hallie's headmaster, we crossed the street together to visit Donkorkrom Agric SHS. We met a few of Hallie's future co-workers before our presence was requested aside an ensemble of student drummers and dancers. For the next hour female students sang traditional Ghanaian songs and danced in formation while male students thumped out drumbeats and handclaps. For the last number, Hallie and I were invited and obliged to join the dancing. Afterwards, we traveled a few minutes down the road towards town to Atakora JHS. We greeted my future co-teachers as the 120 students convened in one classroom. Hallie and I sat in front of the students as one teacher prepared our introduction. When it was my turn, he simply said "This is Yaw," (Twi-speakers assign names to eachother based on their day of birth, I was born on Thursday) and the classroom erupted with cheer (I hope they carry that same enthusiasm into long division). Only after they quieted did he explain that I will begin teaching late September at the start of next school year. We spent the next few days meeting two nearby Peace Corps Volunteers, visiting the orphanage in town, exploring the market, and paying additional visits to the schools before returning to Kukurantumi. Sunday morning, we began our trip on the daily charter bus that departs around 5, then to the speedy motorized canoe crossing Lake Volta, and last taxis. The focus of training for the following week was language, six hours per day, in preparation for the language proficiency interview. The interview was essentially a fifteen minute conversation in Twi with a PC trainer recorded on tape to be sent to Washington. We were given such prompts as: "Tell me a little about yourself"; "I want to visit your site, how do I get there?"; "Pretend you are in a market, approach a vendor and buy ingredients for dinner." With testing completed, we are preparing to be sworn in as volunteers this week and move to Donkorkrom next week.

Pictures from top to bottom: wooden crests of Atakora JHS and Donkorkrom Agric SHS carved by a student from Atakora JHS, Hallie eating fufu(mashed plantain and cassava), our host brother Kwame displaying his excellent balance

Reflections on Practicum and pictures

Joe here: Back in mid-June we Peace Corps trainnee (PCT) teachers began practicum, eight days of teaching in schools near our home-stay. Another PCT, Kristian, and I taught JSS form 1 and 2 (7th and 8th grade) math and science at a Catholic school. I began the first half of practicum teaching science while Kristian taught math and vice versa for the second half. We taught such topics as pressure, light energy, rounding numbers, and interest rates. The timing of practicum felt sudden having had only a few discussions about how to teach and having observed only two JSS class periods in Ghana, but it was necessary considering school schedule. Nonetheless, the experience and feedback(the permanent teacher and a Peace Corps trainer sat in each period to critique our performance) is valuable as I ponder my next two years at site. To follow are just some observations about the school in which I taught, some bearing stark contrast to schools in which I was taught in the US. The quality and amount of resources available to students and teachers could be improved. Although I wouldn't argue it a necessary component for an education, the school lacked electricity and running water. Students fetched bucket-loads of water from a borehole and stored it in a barrel in the headmaster's office. Students did not have textbooks, hence the only way to, say, assign homework problems was to spend class time writing and copying from the chalkboard. Students arrived before class to maintain the grounds; boys mowed the lawn by machete(or "cutlass") while girls swept the classrooms with brooms that are dried stems from palm leaves tied together. At the start of the school day, the class prefects(students elected by the class to be their first line of communication with the teachers) led an assembly outside during which students in unison recited prayers, sang Ghana's national anthem, and marched into the classrooms. During class, student behavior varied between classclown to teacher's pet with some students cracking jokes in Twi to nearby friends whereas some students copied notes feverishly and had hands raised to participate at every oppurtunity. The teachers and headmaster were very open and unanimously enthused to welcome Kristian and me into Ghana's education system. With that said, Hallie's and my collaborating teachers from our schools in Donkorkrom will come to Kukurantumi in about a weeks time to meet us. From there, we will travel to visit our future schools and home before returning to Kukurantumi for the second month of training.

Below is an outline of a school calendar for 2010-2011 that I copied from a volunteer teaching in the Western Region. I believe the dates apply nationwide:
Term 1: September 15 - December 16
Term 2: January 11 - April 14
Term 3: May 10 - July 28

Even further below are some pictures. From top to bottom: cocoa beans being dried at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana; Hallie and Nick in a cocoa field, those green and yellow pods keep cocoa beans; PCV Alex and his dog Herbert building and lounging under furniture for a school; Alex's showering innovation; kontommire stew, among the ingredients are leaves from a cocoyam tree and smoked fish; Hallie and I hanging out in a cave near Boti Falls

Pictures

Joe here: posting some of the first pics, from top to bottom: 1)The staff and I at the Roman Catholic school in Kukurantumi 2)the JSS form 1(7th grade) class I taught for a week and a half, look for me in the middle 3)The whole group lined up at the site announcement ceremony, notice the map of ghana in chalk on the ground. they had us come stand on our future site. 4)the classroom where we observed Ghanaian teachers 5) the quad arrangement at valley view university, where we spent our first week in ghana

Site Description

Joe here: We found out where we will be staying for the majority of our time in Ghana. Part of my site description sheet reads as follows:

Name of School: Atakora D/A JHS
Postal Address: PO Box 42, Donkorkrom
Region: Eastern
District: Kwahu North
Major Language: Twi

The Peace Corps gossip is that we are replacing a couple in Donkorkrom, and that they have nice housing and amenities: tap water, electricity, private bath and kitchen, and spare bedroom. Hallie's school is about fifty meters away from our future home and mine's a bit further. Last, to get to Donkorkrom from points east, south (i.e. Accra), or west you must cross Lake Volta on a pontoon.

So, Ghana has advanced to the next round of the World Cup where they will face the US. Trash-talking has been pretty heavy from some Ghanaians namely my fellow teachers, of course all in good fun. The game begins tomorrow, Saturday, at 630 our time, so about 230 or 130 yours. Watch and keep us in mind.

About our arrival

Joe here: Here's what I had written earlier, read it as my first post from Ghana:

Upon landing in Accra, we were taken by charter bus to the main Peace Corps office very close to the airport. We 73 trainees sat beneath tents and a 'sun hut' in the rain for self-introductions by PC staff and an arrival blessing by local religious figures. One priest stood gesturing a primative looking shot glass back and forth while speaking rapidly in foreign tongue, the words "Obama' and "Peace Corps" interspersed. After the ceremony we were bused to Valley View University on the outskirts of Accra. We spent day and night on the campus getting to know our fellow trainees and Ghanaian trainers. One night a talent show was put on, and I am proud to say that I am part of a very entertaining group of singers, musicians, dancers, and comedians. To say more about our group, we span about forty birth years with Hallies and mine among the most recent and three in the 1940s. We are scientists with higher degrees, artists and art teachers, mechanical engineers, farmers, a cowboy, a somelier, a former marine, a couple repeat Peace Corps volunteers, and more. On a different occasion, the teachers in the group, led by a couple Ghanaian PC staff, took a tro-tro from Valley View to a nearby market to practice some few Twi phrases: Way-yeh dee-en (What is this?), Sen, sen? (How much?). Being the first time, aside from the airport, that we 'obronis' had ventured out into public, sensing the staring adults, the giggling children, and the sunscreen-stinking trainees, I couldn't help but have the realization "Whoa, I'm really in Ghana."

Fufu, mm

Joe speaking here:

It's been 16 days since we left, but it's felt like much longer. Hallie and I moved in with our host family this last weekend in Kukurantumi. Our host mother Mama Doris has fairly strong ties to the PC: she started and NGO that trains young adults to cook and those that attend her cooking school serve their food to PC trainees during the initial weeks of training and has hosted PC volunteers for the past three years. This past weekend we watched as her tenants and cook-steward pounded cassava and plaintain into a doughy mixture called fufu. Hallie, Ma Doris, and I then ate fufu in ground nut soup with lamb at her nicest table.

I had just written much more than this but the connection timed out when I was trying to post... I will be back soon with more.

Earlier that day, Hallie and I accompanied Kwame for Sunday mass at the Community Methodist church. Ma Doris being pretty involved in the church, Kwame thought it fair to mention that at some point during the service, the pastor is going to request our presence in front of the congregation for to introduce ourselves. When the time came, Hallie and I mustered up our best Twi to state our names, where we're from, and that we are Peace Corps teachers(Kwame filmed it with Hallies camera).

First Post

I write this first post to commence a blog that will document the experiences of Hallie and I as Peace Corps volunteers in Ghana. We are set to leave the US and head to the Ghanaian town of Kukurantumi via Accra on June 2nd. We'll be stationed here for ten weeks in pre-service training. If you'd like to write us mail during this time, our addresses will be Joe McKenna/Hallie Boyer, PCT Peace Corps/Ghana P.O. Box 5796 Accra-North, Ghana West Africa. We hope to update the blog regularly from now until the end of our service though obviously this may be more difficult when we arrive in our assigned community. Last, for the interested reader the Peace Corps provides future Volunteers information specific to Ghana.