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This week was the volunteers first few days in community.
It took 13 hours and 8 pee stops to get 19 volunteers to Jirapa using versus my 10 hours and 0 pee stops when I did it alone on public transport. Anyone who has travelled with me knows how I hate frequent rest stops and we'd blew through my '3 stop rule' within about 2 hours where all the volunteers would then pile back onto the small bus drinking another litre of liquid which would surely require us to stop again in 30 minutes.
I'm all for rehydration and drinking 10 litres when you're actually in the sun - an air conditioned bus is the time for restraint!
We arrived later than planned and stayed for 1 night in St Mary of Passions Guest House ran by the Sister who runs the Catholic Church next door and the bar opposite (I wouldn't be surprised to see her on The Apprentice next series) and all of the volunteer enjoyed their last night of luxury (aka a bed, toilet and shower) for the next 2 months.
The next morning we invited all of the host parents to a meeting and introduced them to their new lodgers and also shared what each parties concerns and worries were. A funny one from the host families was 'we know it's hot - stop talking about the weather'. Obviously the last cycle made an impression!
It is hot though, most of the time I grin and bear it but the roof in my room is made of corrugated iron so it takes in all of the heat in the daytime and pretty much never cools down. It also makes it sound like Armageddon during rainstorms.
A huge part of any Team Leaders job is relations between the volunteer and the host family. The volunteer is meant to raise any issues and attempt to resolve them but ultimately if that fails then it's my job to step in and have awkward conversations and try and smooth the way for everyone to be able to live together for the next few months and for the host family to enjoy it enough to offer to do it again the next cycle.
Therefore I am thrilled that we are one week in and so far there have been no major issues. Obviously everyone wishes their long drop was closer (or wasn't a long drop), school was closer, town was closer etc but the families seem to meet everyone's approval.
Wednesday was the first day of school for the volunteers. For this week they just had to observe for 2 days to get used to the students and staff but also to see what the main issues are and how best they should spend their time here. For example, how many girls have attended lessons?, are those records accurate? how many questions were asked by the teacher? How many children put their hand up to answer? Are there any learning aids used during lesson?
These are 2 of the hardest days of the programme as it's always an eye opener even for volunteers who have worked elsewhere in the world. As one person put it 'I thought the schools were good and we were just coming here to encourage girls to come to school and help parents support them but.. the schools are awful, they aren't taught anything' and the sheer size and depth of the education Ghana becomes apparent.
Some are understandably down and feel like they've failed before they've even started which is when I remind them then we didn't come here to revolutionise Northern Ghana's Education system, we came with a specific focus to aim young girls within the area of Jirapa to get a better education and to attend school regularly and every improvement in life often comes in painstakingly slow increments.
From 7am-2pm Monday-Thursday they will be working in the schools in whatever capacity they see fit, whether as teaching assistant, or by giving 1-2-1 focus to specific children or by creating Teacher Learning Materials for lessons and classroom decoration (think large labelled drawing of reproductive system for science class).
It's not uncommon for teachers to not turn up or to teach for 20 minutes of an hour lesson then leave and not return (even when being observed!) and I'm sure at least 2 of the teachers changed what they were doing as soon as we came in.
On the board was composite factors and the teacher was engaging, not using the cane (or threatening to), asking lots of questions to the children and was generally engaging them which was great and gave hope - or would have done if he'd have kept doing that when we entered the classroom. Instead he changed to 'what is an odd/even number?' when the material he'd been doing was plainly harder and the children were around 10 years old. The temptation to revert to easy answer teaching when being observed is common and highlights the huge political backdrop to us being there.
Many teachers fear that we are there to spy and that they will be redeployed elsewhere if we give a bad report of them. Many teachers are there having already been redeployed from the South, the North being seen as a punishment for teachers and are worried we will move them again. Although we are not there to do this, we do have a Mid-Phase Review halfway through the programme where we take the volunteers out of community and they give us feedback on the major achievements and challenges that they have faced and inevitably teaching standards comes up.
Since last cycle many teachers have been moved and some feel it is as a result of our report even though it is not directly sent to anyone who would have the power to do that. It's also hard not to feel that if you are a good teacher then you don't have anything to fear.
This is not something I would agree with in the UK and support teachers not being observed and pressured etc but this is because teachers have huge monitoring and pressures already in the UK where when I say good teaching in Ghana I mean someone who stays for the whole lesson, every lesson and actually teaches what they are meant to in a manner that doesn't threaten children and encourages them to try.
A few volunteers were really upset to witness caning of the children and I remember how much I hated it when I first went to Nigeria. Arguably I think it's better here than in Nigeria (though can there ever be 'better' child abuse?) in the sense that I witness parents being openly loving to their children and giving them hugs and being gentle and it feels more like a throwback attitude in schools than an attitude that is prevalent towards children.
The law states that only the head teacher is legally allowed to cane a child and it must be documented in a book that can be viewed at any time by inspectors. I am told this is how it is done in Southern Ghana, if at all and most parents would be appalled at a teacher for caning their child and it's not uncommon for parents to go to the police if the law has not been followed correctly.
However… this is the North. The law is disregarded, any teacher canes and canes with a force that I feel is totally disproportionate to what a child could handle even if you believed in corporal punishment. I feel for the volunteers who are witnessing this for the first time and I have little to offer them in advice. Yes it is appalling. No, it shouldn't be happening.
I remember getting back to the UK and feeling physically sick when anyone spoke harshly to a child fearing it was going to lead to a beating. It's the UK so likely not but I'm sure we've all seen the a stressed mom in Asda give her child a swift bum slap and even though they are extreme opposites I still have zero tolerance for it. You wouldn't do it if it were an adult, therefore you are only doing it because they are a child and therefore you are only doing it because you know that person cannot fight back. What part of that doesn't sound like a cowardly bully? You're the parent - parent them, teach them. Your frustration is your own thing to deal with.
A positive response to this is the variety of after school clubs that the volunteers will be running which include Reading, Writing and Spelling Club, Health Club, Girls Club and Fun Club!
These clubs are the volunteer's best way at changing the attitude of the school as they will be working with a smaller amount of students and any improvements that are made will be using different methods to the ones the teachers use and using absolutely no corporal punishment.
We hope to put on the equivalent of a school assembly towards to end where the students can show the teachers and parents everything that they have learned and everything that they are capable of so the hard work starts now!
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