The Unbelievably Long Speech Day - Shama, Ghana
Shama, Ghana
Where I stayed
Camping!
What I did
Stumble Inn beach bar
A lot has happened since my last post! Although the main chunk of it involved working (toiling, labouring and sweating more like!) towards the opening of Sabre's third and newest school, Amenano Kindergarten, in Shama district.
But first, there were 40 boxes to pack, ready to be distributed to the schools on the teacher training program next week. The whole of Thursday, Cathy and I worked flat out to pack a box for each classroom, to enable the trainees to put into practice what they have learned in the week of training. The schools are not equipped with resources to carry out learning through play, since it is such a new concept in Ghana, so absolutely everything, from colouring pencils to plastic bottles, must be provided. Thanks to the efforts of Sabre staff members in saving recyclable products, and the generosity of donors, we managed to gather enough essentials to prepare the kindergartens for the start of term. It was an absolutely exhausting day, and we have tried our best to block it from memory!
On Friday and over the weekend, Cathy and I continued preparing learning resources for the new school. I felt bad that we were doing so much for one school, when there are 20 others all on the program, but Cathy explained (and I saw for myself when I visited) the Amenano is much bigger than the others, and has not yet had the time to gather resources itself, making it 3 very large, very bare classrooms. Sabre did their best to provide everything the school might need in the first few weeks, before the teachers have had a chance to collect things of their own.
When making the resources, we focused on using materials and techniques that the teachers could replicate - after all, if you give anything to a class of 40 four-year-olds, it won't last all that long! We recycled bottle caps to make counters, by sticking paper on top with numbers, shapes, letters etc and putting PVA glue over the top to protect them. These can be used in matching games or to learn the alphabet/numbers. We also cut and laminated some fish, then attached paperclips to them and made 'fishing rods' using magnets and sticks to help the children learn hand-eye co-ordination and motor skills. These, combined with a few other 'arts and crafts' projects, took up the bulk of the last week. (Although there was time for a trip to the beach on Sunday!)
On Monday and Tuesday, the whole Sabre staff headed to Shama, in the Western district, to prepare for the opening ceremony on Tuesday. After piling off the bus, it was all-hands-on-deck to clear the site of any rubbish and set up the classrooms into a productive learning environment. It was lovely to see all the hard work Cathy, the rest of the team and I had put into making Amenano a model KG finally begin to materialise and come together. We were pleased when most of the setting up was completed on Monday morning, meaning the team took a trip to a local beach for a beer, a game of football and some chilling out.
After that, it was off to the volunteer house; we had acquired use of the front garden as a campsite for about 15 people. Nana, a Ghanaian member of staff, did a great job cooking dinner and breakfast for so many people, and the rest of the team chipped in with washing up, pitching tents or, in my case, making rice balls and slicing bread. (Note to the Smiths: we will be having rice balls on my return!) It was a really fun evening, and a good opportunity to bond with my colleagues and a new volunteer, Ella (who was lovely but will sadly only be here for 18 days!) However, sleeping just under pop-up mosquito nets no longer seemed such a good idea when it started to rain at 3am!
Our unfortunate 3am relocation to the porch meant that, on Tuesday, we were not bright eyed and bushy tailed. This was a shame, since it was a really exciting day - the inaguration of Amenano. The whole community was invited, and speakers from the Ghana Education Service, the District Assembly and the University of Cape Coast all attended. The very long list of contributors, such as donors and the local authority, meant that the speeches took a very, very long time! When the first speaker began, and he was talking in Fante, our hearts sunk to think we might sit through an hour and a half in a foreign language. There was relief, however, when most of the subsequent speeches were in English, yet another reminder of how the rest of the world is better at languages than we are!
Although the ceremony was a nice occasion, and a great way to include the community in the event, it was a relief when the event was over, and we could all go inside the school to present it to visitors. I couldn't believe how many people had come from such a small village! A lot of the feedback was incredibly positive and it was great to see the children having their first opportunity to engage with the resources and building. As at the training day, the music centre was by far the most popular, and the sound of drums was background music to the day.
We were shattered by the time we made it back to the office on Tuesday afternoon, but the whole two days were a great experience. I hope the the community of Shama can make the most of the school, and that the trainee teachers, along with their experienced counterparts, will be able help the children reach their full potential. It was encouraging the listen to the speech by the District Executive at the inauguration, because he spoke of the need to create and maintain the best learning environment possible, in order to create the best possible start to a child's education. We were filled with optimism after the trip, and I am looking forward to revisiting Shama over the next eight weeks to see how they are getting on.
Thanks for visiting, lovely readers :) xx