Elmina and Kakum

We woke up early on Sunday (5 a.m!) and began the trip to the west towards Cape Coast and Kakum National Forest.  Here is a map that will show you where we were headed!  Cape Coast was originally the capital of Gold Coast before independence from the British in 1957.  The capital moved to Accra in 1962 and the country's name was changed to Ghana to honor the ancient Ghana Empire.

On our way to the Cape Coast, I immediately noticed that it was much more lush and there was more tropical vegetation.  We finally hit the coast to the west and headed in toward the city of Cape Coast.  On our way, our host, Godwin, took us to see his alma mater, University of Cape Coast.  One of the buildings had this cool mural on it.

Dr. Spencer gets in the mix!

In this area, boats will go out to sea and drop nets.  Then groups of fishermen will bring in the nets by pulling on the ropes.  When we hit the coastline, we saw these fishermen doing exactly this!  The coastline is truly beautiful.  For some reason, I really felt that I was at the end of land, with expanses of ocean spreading out in front of me.  While I know that the beach in La Jolla is the same, the beach is very narrow.  This gives the feeling you are teetering on the edge of humanity.  I realize that sounds a little strange, but I had that sense all along the Cape Coast area.

We headed to the Cape Coast Castle.  On our way, we passed the town of Cape Coast.  This area is a bustling fishing village. 

This brings me to a fascinating, but also very difficult part of our day--visiting the Cape Coast Castle. The Cape Coast Castle was a British fort that overlooked the ocean.  It was the distribution center for goods that would be traded with Britain and the Americas.  This, of course, included slaves.  It was incredibly disturbing to walk down into the slave dungeons and see where thousands of humans were imprisoned and treated like livestock.  While I know that the slave trade was a horrific and terrible atrocity, there is something about seeing the evidence of it in full view that really hits home how barbaric the practices were.  Having also spent a semester thinking about educational equity in the United States and now spending time here in Ghana exploring the same issues, it is clear that many, many of the problems that still exist today are the result of this inhumane treatment of humans. 

The "door of no return" -- entrance to the slave ships

The visit was sobering, but also provided some absolutely stunning views of the Cape Coast city.  I especially enjoyed viewing the fishing boats washed up on shore and the football players playing on the beach.  

We left the Cape Coast shortly thereafter, heading towards Kakum National Forest.  This rainforest has seven rope bridges that allow you to walk through the canopy layer of rainforest.  It is pretty spectacular.  Before we got to Kakum, though, we stopped for lunch at a little hotel/restaurant.  My dining companion (see below) was a mere 5 feet away from us and separated by a low wall.  We were assured he was friendly!

Finally we made it to Kakum!  Here are some photos from our canopy walk.  I was surprisingly brave and zen about the heights.  In fact, the only moment I was panicked, was at the end when I saw the somewhat questionable method of securing the ropes from the bridge.  Good thing that was after I had survived!

We headed back to our hotel after Kakum for a swim in the 80 degree ocean and a walk on the beach.  Elmina Bay was so peaceful--no phones, no internet...just the sound of the ocean waves breaking on the shore.  A great dinner followed by African drumming and dancing (I danced.  There is no photographic evidence to my great relief).   This was a whirlwind tourist day, but it was such a great way to explore Southern Ghana!

The beach at Elmina Bay

Radio Silence Explained

Sorry for the radio silence.  Today is Monday and I have been silent for several days.  We have been providing a massive professional development, traveling to the Cape Coast to be tourists for a day, and visiting more schools. I am going to try to recap these experiences in a blog post or two, because they were pretty spectacular.  Hopefully I can get caught up!

Saturday was a big day!  Over 100 teachers from low-cost sustainable schools arrived at our hotel to receive professional development.  They were lined up out the door!

We had several objectives for this day:  1) we wanted to model engaging classroom management techniques 2) we wanted to inspire relationship building between teachers and children and 3) we wanted to teach inquiry-based teaching methods to these teachers who have grown up in and are practicing more didactic techniques.

Dr. Spencer, our professor, began the day with a session around classroom management.  We have observed that in many Ghanaian classrooms, student responses are not freeform, but rather are recitations of information that has been presented.  It was fascinating to see them respond to the following quote,

“The mere imparting of information is not education.  Above all things the effort must result in

making a man think and do for himself.”  

Dr. Carter G. Woodson

Nicholas, one of our favorite resident educators, talked about how we should not give students information

but allow them to make discoveries and become self-sufficient.   It was inspiring to see many of the young

Ghanaian teachers listening to Nicholas and nodding their heads in agreement.  We believe that Nicholas is an

example of an untapped resource for educators here in Ghana. 

Nicholas explains how he teaches students to "think and do" for themselves.

The session also modeled assertive discipline, the writing of respectful and clear discipline plans with carefully constructed rules, policies and procedures.  We modeled popular methods such as "Think, Pair, Share," "Shout Outs" and "Gallery Walks".  Our goal was to show the teachers through our own methods that having students move, think, respond and work collaboratively will enhance learning. 

The remainder of our day was spent in break-out sessions.  I taught 5 sessions about Language Arts focusing on questioning and cooperative groups around reading.  During these sessions, I had an "A-Ha" moment-- it is clear that while English may be the national language, the teachers have highest proficiency in their local languages.  This really changed my perspective about how we should be instructing teachers around reading comprehension.  I was really excited to share some of the methods I remember learning as a young teacher--things like building a print-rich environment with environmental text, how to read aloud to students and engage them with the book through questioning, QAR model of questioning and Literature Circles.  It was also fun to model classroom management with them.  I had to keep reminding myself that these teachers were just out of secondary school.  Some had only been teaching for 2 months!  Even with their short tenure, the teachers were very responsive and seemed excited about what they were learning.  They even showed me some Azunto (Ghanaian dance) moves!

At the end of a long day, Dr. Spencer awards certificates.

After the day was complete, Dr. Spencer awarded each student with a certificate from the University of San Diego.  The teachers were very excited and kept asking when we would meet up with them again and provide more training.  I can't count how many asked for my email address or wanted to become Facebook friends.  I believe I will return to Ghana and see these friends again.

It is very late here, but tomorrow I will share our beautiful and relaxing day at Elmina on the Cape Coast and our final school visit.  Believe it or not, I only have two more days in Ghana!

One remarkable man

I could write this blog about ME issues (no internet, mind-numbing fatigue, jet-lag, loss of appetite, etc).  I am going to write this blog instead about Nicholas.  Nicholas pretty much ignores his own "ME" issues every single day and I am incredibly inspired by him.

Nicholas is the proprietor at the Blessed Life Academy that we visited a few days ago.  We went back to spend some intense time with Nicholas and his teachers yesterday.  Nicholas has a really fascinating story.  He is Ghanaian, however he spent many years in Nigeria seeking out a more stable life financially.  He began his time in Nigeria making luggage and doing leatherwork.  He was then hired to teach in a school under a master teacher.  During this time Nicholas was informally trained on how to teach and a gifted and intuitive educator was born.  He is passionate about early childhood education and literacy.  Nicholas returned to a economically depressed area in the Kasoa area just outside of Accra.  He is determined to build a school here that gives hope to the families who live in bleak and desolate environment. 

The road to Nicholas's school

 One of the things that immediately stands out when you enter Blessed Life Academy is that students are extremely engaged in learning.  They are also joyful.  Here, more than any other school we have visited, children smile and play.  Nicholas explained to us that he believes that learning through playing is very important.  In some of the other schools we have visited, teaching practice is centered around lecture and note-taking.  Nicholas and the teachers at Blessed Life seem like they are ripe and ready to learn from td he inquiry-based teaching professional development we have prepared. 

Nicholas also believes in having recess to motivate and invigorate his students during the long morning of learning.  Children roll tires and play on a small play structure he has found.  They laugh and play and although the materials are quite different than those found on a playground in the U.S., the sounds of the children are the same.  Having seen many other schools this trip, I can say that this is not the usual picture.  

Teachers at Blessed Life also seem more connected with children.  Part of this is because Nicholas models this.  He is very connected with the community.  Children and adults in the neighborhood know and love him, even if they are not part of the school community.  He is known and belovedly called "Big Daddy."  Teachers like Justice (see above) have learned to connect with students from Nicholas.  I was very moved when I saw Justice comforting this student with such compassion. 

If the spirit of the school is different, there are also differences in pedagogy.  Rather than teaching children the alphabet (A = aay, B = bee, C = see), Nicholas uses a rich phonics program beginning with 2-3 year olds that uses 46 different sounds, much like we see in US early literacy programs.  He learned this in Nigeria.  We have observed that this is not a practice widely used in the schools we have visited.  He also recognizes the individuality of children and that they require differentiated instruction.  Nicholas described using "a little of this and a little of that" in order to meet the needs of a student. 

[I want to write more about Nicholas and will, but must go to bed.  Stay tuned for "One remarkable man Part II, tomorrow]

Down to Work

Today was a different day.  The past few days we have been visiting lots of different schools.  Today we went narrow and deep in one school.  We went back to the Help Child Academy that we visited on the first day.  We were given a very warm welcome there.

It was amazing to be with the teachers directly.  I felt that the opportunity to talk with them frankly and openly about their practice was a wonderful opportunity.  It also highlighted one of the greatest challenges for private schools.  While in the United States, private school teachers are usually very well-educated and trained as teachers, in Ghana, private school teachers are often eighteen or nineteen years old.  They have graduated from secondary (high) school, but are unlikely to have been trained at the university level.  Some of the teachers we met with have only been teaching for 3-7 months.  The most experienced teachers we met had been teaching for three years.  Many are saving money in order to attend the university.  These efforts are in search of better jobs.

We had the experience of talking with a small group of teachers about their needs in schools. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to hear what their desires and needs were for their practice.  Through this work it became apparent that one issue was the lack of reading resources.  Fortunately, we had obtained donations of  Reading A-Z subscriptions prior to coming to Ghana.  Unfortunately, internet connectivity would prove to be a huge issue.  The school's computer lab did not have a working server.  Thus began my adventure in seeking out internet connections.

Help Child's Technology teacher

Two teachers, a student (can you imagine leaving school with a student without parent permission!!!!) and I walked out of the school and left to go down the street to an internet cafe.  When we arrived the internet cafe did not have internet connectivity.  The teachers told me that we could go to another internet cafe, but it was a taxi ride away.  At this point, we all piled into a taxi cab and headed back to the more busy center of the city to find internet.  I will admit I felt a little nervous leaving the school in this way.   We did safely arrive at the internet cafe and were able to view the materials and even print some out.  We then returned to the school without issue.  My slight discomfort was completely unfounded.

I am going to pause and talk about safety in Ghana.  I feel very safe here.  Ghanaians are very friendly people and are extremely helpful.  That being said, there are very few Caucasian women walking through these neighborhoods and so there is a lot of interest and attention given to me.  Even if the looks are friendly, there are always eyes on me.  I feel very welcomed, but I also feel very conspicuous.  Even in the classroom it is difficult for me to become invisible enough to observe.  Children want to talk with me and stare and giggle at me when I am in the classroom.  So while I am exercising great caution, there are times when I feel a bit uneasy. The trip to the internet cafe highlighted this for me.

Another observation...to this Westerner, schools are really, really noisy.  When I think about how hard it is to learn and the cognitive load of this type of noise, it is difficult to imagine learning and teaching in this environment.  The noise is inevitable.  Classrooms are crowded, close together and fairly open for ventilation.  Our team worked hard to provide some classroom arrangements that might mitigate the noise, while encouraging student-to-student interaction and student-to-teacher interaction.

I could spend hours writing about all of the differences we have observed.  However, it is familiar to see children laughing, playing and enjoying their friends and being at school.  We are learning a lot about this context and revisiting our preconceived recommendations.  I am trying to keep my eyes and ears wide open and gain an understanding of what I am seeing--particularly when it includes views like the following photo:

Finally, we will see these teachers again on Saturday at a massive professional development conference we are running.  I am looking forward to seeing, Paa (featured on the right of the photo below).  He is a very instinctive teacher and his instincts are good.  However, he is not sure he wants to remain a teacher.  I hope we can convince him to become a trained educator.  These schools need teachers like him to act as mentors and lead teachers.

All in all this was a very inspiring and tolling day.  As one of my team members pointed out, this is what life in Africa can be.  Ghana has contradictions, it has both beauty and bleakness with hope and defeat.  I hope that we can navigate these strange dichotomies and actually make a difference here.  If nothing else, my eyes continue to be opened every moment!

First World Problems

A good friend of mine jokes about "First World Problems."  This is when we are complaining about something like the bugginess of an iPhone app or the problem getting a reservation at Cucina Urbana.  Today, my problems are truly First World Problems.  You may have noticed that I have not been posting photos.  To someone for whom photography is a major form of expression, this is almost killing me.  I am promising that I will upload photos soon.  For now, I will have to narrate our experiences, because I am hardly able to access spotty wireless.  While I can access the internet and check email, it is only sometimes supporting Skype and photo uploading.  This would clearly fall into the First World Problem category.  In fact, if I wasn't so worried about communicating with my children, I think I could do okay without the constant connection.  This trip may very well cure me of my Facebook habit.

[Interent back up...so photos to follow!]

On a less light note, today was hard.  There were hopeful moments as well.  We began our day with Ken, the CEO of a series of low-income, low-fee private schools that are currently growing.  Within 11 schools there are approximately 4000 students.  The fee for schooling a child there is approximately $.75 a day.   Ken is passionate and clearly has a vision to bring affordable schooling to Ghana.

Ken, while describing his school system

With Ken and his team, we visited 4 of these schools.  All were in economically depressed areas.  However, the facilities, by Ghanaian school standards, were quite developed.  All of the schools possessed computer labs and had larger and more developed facilities.

Part of our work here is to assist these already functioning schools to become even better at providing high quality education to their students.  We have noticed that a huge challenge is providing the print-rich environment that is so essential to developing literacy.  Often reading materials are posted on the walls and are not placed in the hands of students.

My mind is already spinning about how to access my connections in publishing to gain more resources for these schools.   One obstacle that must be overcome is that books are very precious here....so precious that they are often protected under lock and key.  As a Western educator, this is difficult for me to observe...we are trained to want books in hand.  One of our challenges and goals is to find a way to make print more accessible in a less precious format.

The final school that we visited was the most powerful visit of all.  We were essentially in the most economically depressed area that we have seen.  By the coast, this seemed to be a primarily a fishing village.  I can't put into words what I viewed today.  I am still sobered and quite frankly dumbstruck by the extreme poverty by which this community lived.

It was hopeful to see children in this community in school.  It was clear that this school is determined to provide a leg up to these students, who otherwise have a very bleak future.  I was incredibly struck by the young students that are the same age as my own children, who clearly are suffering from disease and hunger and yet, sit in uniform and work for their teachers.  I hope you will join me in lifting up your thoughts/prayers/good intentions/[insert your belief system] for these people and especially the young people of this community.

If people in Ghana believe that every single day is a gift,  then I hope to use this gift to make meaningful impact in the world around me beginning with these schools.  My own community has great need, but I am struck by the raw human need here in Ghana. Today I saw people who are struggling for survival.  It is hard for me to understand the balance in the world between those that have and those that do not.   I hope all of you "haves" that I know will join me in committing to making the world a better place by making a  meaningful impact.

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.

On the Ground in Ghana

Well, after a thankfully adventureless flight, we arrived in Accra around 1:40 p.m. (5:40 a.m. PST).  We stepped off of the plane onto the tarmac where we were herded onto buses.  The buses took us to the customs building.  We were greeted with a red carpet and twinkle lights!

Strolling the "red carpet"

Customs was a breeze and we got our bags easily.  We were greeted by Godwin, a gracious and helpful representative of Edify, the nonprofit partner with whom we are traveling.  We boarded a coach that would take us to our hotel.

Team Ghana on the coach!

The coach ride took almost 2 hours, mainly because of road construction and traffic.  Thankfully it was air conditioned, because it is at least 90 degrees and very humid!  Looking out the window I got my first impressions of Ghana.  I couldn't get a good picture from the car, but I knew I was in Africa when I saw women carrying and selling goods from baskets a top their heads.  That was when this trip became real to me.    

View from the drive!

We have already seen some wonderful signage including, "Peace, Love and Salvation Chop House" "Oxford Brains Academy" and my favorite, a sign for a school that teaches, "Certified Ethical Hacking".  It is so amazing to be on a new continent and all of these sights and sounds are reminding me of my love for traveling our planet!  Will fill you in more tomorrow!