No Child Left Behind...for real

I hardly know what to write because I am so busy processing what I have seen.   I will try to capture some impressions from today, while reliving our busy schedule.  After a fairly restless, jet-lagged night of tossing and turning, my wake-up call finally came.  We met as a group for breakfast and then headed to the bank to exchange some money.  I am very struck by how outwardly religious Ghana is.  In the bank, television ministry shows and religious songs play in the background.

Our first stop of the day was visiting Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT) which is the micro-lending organization that supports many of the schools that we will be visiting.  What a fascinating place.  Each of the highly-educated and articulate employees of SAT were passionate about the support of their clients.  Joshua, the Senior Executive of SAT explained how Sinabi Aba means "mustard seed" in reference to the biblical passage.   It is SAT's hope to take something small like a mustard seed and grow something big like a tree.

Joshua with the tree that grows from the mustard seed.

Employees at Sinapi Aba Trust

After a better understanding of how the schools are financed, we set off to visit two schools.  But before we got there, I was excited to capture a photo of one of the thousands of people who carry wares on their head.  I particularly liked this one, because she has Africa on her bag.

As I sit here in my fairly modest, yet air-conditioned room, I think about the neighborhoods in which the schools we have visited are housed.  The first school, Blessed Life School, is literally a bright, inviting beacon in the midst of a very unfinished and frankly desolate neighborhood.  

View of the area around the Blessed Life Academy

The proprietor of this school, Nicholas, is truly an inspiration.  As he described his passion for teaching every student in his school to read, his eyes welled with tears.   Nicholas believes that his business will grow because he teaches using multiple-modalities and by giving strong foundations.  He is excited to expand to a second site for older students.  I was both very moved and also a bit disconcerted by the sign over his school's front door.  

Here, the words "No Child Left Behind" seem to take on a greater and more critical meaning, and Nicholas is striving to make those words a reality.

After leaving Blessed Life, we traveled to another school site.  This site was so much fun to visit because there were children present.  Blessed Life School will resume after Christmas holidays. Help Child Academy had many children there helping set up for the beginning of school today. We were literally swarmed with requests for photographs. I snapped at least 100. I was charmed to be called, "Madame Jennifer."

This morning we were told that in Ghana each day is the only gift we are given and we must live it fully. Having lost a friend very recently in an untimely accident, this struck a chord. The lessons I am learning in Ghana are not isolated to this context. I am even more resolved to be a change agent in this world.