June was a good and busy month in which I was feeling like I was making some real progress at work.

Things have been going really well with the District School Management Committee, which is made up of elected community representatives to support improvements in schools. With support it has started to take shape and function like a serious committee. It was agreed that in order to gain office accommodation the DSMC Executive should make formal contact with the three paramount chiefs in the district (traditional leaders elected to rule over other chiefs) to gain pledges of support.

We visited the three paramount chiefs over two days and I was very very excited about our visits to meet with local royalty!!! The three chiefs and their palaces were each very different. At the first two we were met by the talking-drummer who announces your arrival and welcomes you in (it was raining when we got to the third chief so his drummer might have been sheltering). You wait for the chief to get ready then enter the hall where he receives guests. You offer some kola (money in exchange for kola nuts) and your spokesperson speaks to the chief's linguist to explain the reason for the visit. All the elders are gathered on the floor to one side while the chief himself sits on a platform exuding his presence. The Tongo Chief seemed to be the most rooted in traditional beliefs with jaw bones hung all around the meeting hall. After increasing the amount of money collected for his kola he supported the need for education readily enough. The young Nangodi Chief absolutely grilled us. He stated clearly that he is not interested in fancy talk and NGO acronyms emblazoned on cars. He wants to see the impact of the TENI project; the data and the evidence that interventions are making a difference in a place where children go to work rather than school in order not to go hungry. And if the interventions aren't working, he wants to see them change. Brilliant and - though wearing a massive smile - also quite awe-inspiring. The Sekoti Chief was schoolmates with the Chair of the DSMC so the atmosphere was much more relaxed. He has a long history of supporting education and using his position and authority to bring developments in local schools. He spoke about his own schooling and the persistent underdevelopment of northern parts of Ghana in a way that left a lasting impression on me.

Other projects under way include getting community dramas on socio-cultural barriers to girls and disabled children's education recorded as jingles and played on local radio. The idea being that the jingles raise awareness, promote a live performance of the dramas to local chiefs and opinion leaders and generate dialogue within local communities. I've also been talking to District and Regional Ghana Education Service (GES) Special Education Officers and another volunteer, Ellie, based at regional level on mapping children with disabilities, the potential for developing an Upper East Regional assessment centre and improving harmonisation of registration of children with disabilities to receive funds from District Assemblies' Common Fund. It is only in the early stages of development but could become a big project, so may not get underway till next academic year but it is quite exciting. Me, Ellie and the Regional SPED Officer visited a few schools in the Upper East which have an integrated special education unit and it was fascinating to see the different approaches, current assessment procedures and hear about the changes they would like to see.

At the end of June-beginning of July, I had a couple of weeks leave while my mum came to visit! It was fantastic to have her here, to spend some time in Accra (and introduce her to Lambert's parents) and to be able to explore a bit of the coast together. Best of all for me was to be able to show her where I'm living and working and who I am working and spending time with. I couldn't wait for us to get to back home to Bolga and surprised myself to realise how much I feel at home living in a small town now…and how much I missed riding my moto! From Bolga we went over the border to Burkina Faso with my mate Adele and stayed in a village called Tiebele, famous for its painted Kassena houses. We then spent a few days literally eating our way around the very cultured capital, Ougadougou. So good to have proper coffee, pastries and cheese again! Brilliant. I smuggled a bit of cheddar back over the border but sadly it mostly melted on route.

The first week or two since my break have been a bit slow in getting going again with work. Many of the GES Officers have been out in the field making assessments for teachers' promotions and Link were busy preparing for the Comic Relief and TK Maxx visit which went really well. The funders wanted to see for themselves the impact of the TENI project and this visit was a vital opportunity to try to persuade them to extend the project beyond its 5 year life-span ending in March 2014. The days events involved a gathering of community members at Nangodi Primary and JHS School with singing and drama from the Girls' Club followed by focus groups which were a great opportunity for the funders of the TENI project to hear directly from stakeholders and for them to have an open with the donors.

Next week the GES supported by Link will be rolling out the PMT (not the best thought-through acronym…) which stands for 'Performance Monitoring Tests' of year 3 and 6 primary pupils, the results of which should help us to see if TENI interventions are improving learning and performance.

For now, I am enjoying a lazy Sunday, enjoying the fact that the power is back on and sending lots of love and thanks for reading. x