Hello to all!
I have been in Nkwanta, Ghana for nearly a month now and would love to share my experience with you. I am currently volunteering at God's Eye Orphanage, home to 62 children, and am also teaching English to Primary Four, Five and Six students at Nkwansec Primary School. I will be in Ghana until the 21st of July then head back to the U.S. to spend the remaining month. Currently, there are 9 other volunteers who are in the same program as I am. Volunteers come in year-round and their volunteering durations vary. Most of them stay for about a month.
I don't even know where to start. Nkwanta is a town in the Volta region of Ghana, and is also the district capital. People live a labor-intensive lifestyle, with many spending most of their day working their farms. There will never be a day where you wouldn't do miles of walking. The roads aren't paved here. In fact, the drive up here from Accra took around 7 hours, and the road varied between tarmac and dirt. (there is one main road that goes across Ghana) At times we drove along a road that was part cement and part dirt. Needlesstosay the ride up was extremely bumpy and the van maintenance costs are proof of the effects of such poor roads.
The conditions at the orphanage are desperate. The children sleep on concrete floors every night, take bucket showers on a concrete slab outside and have only one source of 'clean' tap water- which is only to be used for cooking and drinking. Each morning, we wake up round 530am and are at the orphanage by 6am to help the kids get ready for school. I cannot even describe in words how difficult it is to co-ordinate 62 children (many of whom find bathing a chore) to take a bath. Fights frequently break out, there is a shortage of buckets, soaps and towels etc. Furthermore, they must collect the water from a nearby river every morning. Collecting it takes about 20 minutes so there's always a long waiting line. After bathing, they get maize porridge every morning before heading off to school. Although we try to get them there on time, there have been days that the morning scene has been crazy and every moves along at snail's pace. The children come back around 2pm every day and that's when the volunteers return to the orphanage too. We'll spend the afternoon with them, sometimes just playing games, doing their laundry, reading, teaching english, etc. Anything goes really, until dinner time round 630pm. The children definitely do not get enough protein in their diet, but they do have plenty of food. Well, plenty is a relative term. They have plenty in comparison to the rest of the community.
Although living standards here are low compared to my life back in Japan/Singapore/U.S., the standard of living is uniform here. That's a huge difference that I've been understanding more. Wealth disparities here aren't as drastic as in the various countries I've lived in, and though they do not have much, people here are happy. The media images of Africa (representations of AFRICA always just lump the continent into a country) tend to focus on the poverty and suffering (and yes, there is plenty of that)but what they often miss out is how society still functions and the beauty that comes with the place. People are not constantly starving or suffering, even in rural areas such as Nkwanta. There is a greater story behind the one off images.
School here is interesting to say the least. Teaching has been quite a challenge as there is no real set structure or efficient organization at the school. Furthermore, there are only six teachers... for more than 400 students. Each class has between 75 and 80 students. Every morning, I go in not knowing for sure which class I will be teaching. I'm allowed to simply pick and choose. This serious lack of organization is extremely inhibiting. How can a school be run effectively if the macro-level organization is not there?
Another huge problem that I have come across is that though all classes are taught in english, many of the students can't even read and understand sentences such as "The boy is big". how are they to understand the material that they cover in their other classes? The teaching/learning style here is one of rote-learning. Whatever the teacher writes on the chalkboard, you copy down. Forget actually understanding the lesson, just copy. The foundation english is not there. The regular teachers are aware of this, but nothing is done. My heart breaks for these students who sit in class for hours, not understanding a word of what is being said to them.
I have a lot more to share, but this entry is definitely long enough. Take care everyone and I miss you all very much!
Love,
Yukiha
