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What I think I'm Doing in Ghana

12th May 2006
I know how I feel about going to Ghana, but I'm not 100% sure about what I will actually be doing when I get there! It will interesting to look back at this in three months time and see how expectations match up with reality.

The information pack I have received states that none of the projects are full time, so I should be prepared to help out in many areas. It also states that there will be a two day orientation which will give me a good chance to suss out exactly what areas I want to get involved in.

Those areas are:

Education
I lurved teaching in the Philippines. The kids were just great and I miss them terribly. The balance between respect for the teacher and a fun learning environment was just about right.

Children Better Way (CBW) is GVN's partner organization in Ghana. CBW has a Pre-Primary school and a Primary school in the Camp.

I shan't be teaching in the Pre-Primary school. I'm just no good with young children. When young kids turn into crying and blubbering messes I turn into an awkward mess myself. I am much better with children aged older than ten.

I am very patient man. This is my greatest educational gift. I think this allows me to particularly excel with children who want to learn. It doesn't matter what level they are at. I'd happily spend an afternoon with a kid who wants to know how to apply partial differential equations to resonating strings as I am with a kid struggling with their one times tables.

One of my absolute highlights in the Philippines was the fifteen minutes I spent with thirteen year old Karen teaching her the one times tables. The pattern is obvious to most, 1 x 3 = 3, 1 x 6 = 6, 1 x z = z and so on. But Karen just didn't get it. We got there in the end though with patience on my part and concentration on hers. The smile she gave me was reward enough.

Teaching in the Camp may be a little different. I am little bit concerned when I read volunteer journal entries like this . An exert of the entry follows:

And the kids...well, they're great as long as they're outside of class. Imagine trying to teach 51 2nd graders of a completely out-of-whack range of ages (8-13) and skill levels (some can't even read a single word). Try getting their attention for one moment among the yelling, the fights (which happen every second or so), and the kids that run out of the room the moment you turn your back. Kids jump on desks, walk to the other side of the room to talk to friends, or more likely, beat one of them. The violence is ridiculous. Rock throwing, punches, kicks, and crying re [sic] frequent. Also note that it is not at all bizarre for a 14 year old boy to hit a 8 year old girl, or a 12 year old girl to steal from a 4 year old boy. In fact, this is more frequent, as it seems more "fair" to the opressor [sic].

I want to make two points about this. One from a personal point of view, and one from a Liberian kid point of view.

The Malcolm Point of View
As stated above, I love teaching kids who want to learn. I'm sure there are kids who want to learn, but might they get lost in the numerous disciplinary problems? I hope not, but I suspect it is true.

I am desperate to teach. I am not desperate to become a glorified baby sitter breaking up fights.

As always, the experience has to be a good one for me as well.

The Liberian Kids' Point of View
Life cannot be easy for the kids in the camp. Many are orphans. I imagine most of them can use words like "Rape" and "Senseless Murder" to describe their pasts. Just horrific stuff really.

So I can understand the disciplinary problems. Kids tend to go wild when they have no good role models. Particularly true with the orphans for obvious reasons.

Education is such a key to these kids' futures. I just hope I can get the message through to them in spite of the discipline problem.

Adult Literacy Program
Adult literacy is something that really interests me. It suits me pretty well. It would require a lot of patience, the adults would be keen to learn and there would be no discipline problems. Perfect!

The literacy rate for Liberian women is less than 50%.

There are adult literacy programs in the camp. The adult students practice their skills by writing in the dirt with sticks.

Many of the women (I see no men in the photos or videos) are using the opportunity to up skill themselves so that they are better equipped to earn some form of income when they return to Liberia.

Unfortunately, CBW does not run an adult literacy program. I am going to write some emails to various people and see what the chances are of me starting up a program.

The only down side to all this is that I wouldn't be able to hang with the kids as much as I did in the Philippines.

IT Center
CBW offers computer literacy programs do both young and old.   I'm sure this is something I could get involved with.

I can't remember where I saw it and I'm starting to doubt whether I saw it at all, but I think I read somewhere that the camp has an IT department which keeps track of what's happening in the camp. Refugees coming in, refugees going out and the associated demographic information.

Once again, I'm sure I could help out with this area and really get there IT department humming. I am little hesitant to get involved with an IT project though. Click here for a previous discussion on this.

Recreation
CBW offers recreation program for the children. This includes an in school P.E. program, an after school recreation program and organized sporting leagues.

The after school programs in particular help keep the kids out of more unsavory activities, such as prostitution and drugs.

I'd love to help out in this area as it would give me some good contact times with the kids.

HIV/AIDS
"Penis", "vagina", "menstruation" and "anal" are words that will soon take a more prominent place in my spoken dialog.

HIV and AIDS have ravaged Africa. Last year, HIV/AIDS caused between three and four million deaths. That's the population of my country. Most of the deaths were in Africa. Some countries in Africa are 75% HIV positive.

Scary stuff.

Dr. Robin - of the aforementioned plastic Santa fetish - volunteered in Uganda as a doctor prior to coming to the Philippines. He had some truly sad stories. He told me about whole villages being infected. A situation which is not helped by everybody bonking everybody else in the village. He told me of the times he treated young children for HIV/AIDS, only to be told the next day that they had passed away.

One of the annoying things about HIV/AIDS is that we know how to prevent it spreading: Condoms. But, alas, condoms are not worn nearly enough due to - as far as I can see - three main reasons:

The Catholic Church
I mean seriously, what the fuck is the church thinking? I fail to see why they push the contraception issue so hard.

Time for the Church to wake up methinks.

Men don't like wearing them
Many Filipino guys in the Catholic dominated Philippines use the reason listed above for not wearing a condom.

"I'm sorry, I can't wear a condom honey as that is a mortal sin and I don't want to go to hell."

One suspects some of them were just using it as an excuse and weren't that concerned about their immortal soul.

Education
Some guys are - of course - very responsible but just don't know about the importance of wearing a condom.

This is where I can help out.

You hear stories about locals thinking a hot bath after sex will keep you safe. I'm not sure if this is true or not but I have also heard about men thinking that having sex with a young virgin will cure them of HIV/AIDS.

Apparently, the volunteers wander around the camp in rather fetching red suits prepared to give a lecture on HIV/AIDS to anyone who will listen. The locals seem to very open about discussing sex.

One lady I was talking to told me an interesting story. She had just finished giving the talk and the condom application demonstration and ask the locals if they had any questions. One guy piped up and asked if you needed to wear one while having intercourse with a goat. She was suitably annoyed and asked the gentleman to shut up and stop asking such stupid questions. The guy persisted though and insisted that he was being serious. Her annoyance soon let way for embarrassment and shock...

I am in the process of collecting a lot of condoms to take with me to Africa. I have 144 so far and am aiming for a thousand. I have the phone number of the people who import Durex condoms. I am hoping they will give me a whole lot for practically nothing.

Water and Sanitation
Volunteers also help with keeping the camp clean. Clearing drains, emptying rubbish bins and spraying dumpsites all figure prominently.

More than happy to get my hands dirty and help out here as well.

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