A week in the life....

This last week has been interesting, exciting and challenging.

The Harmattan wind is still blowing and there is dust everywhere, inside and outside. We even have to dust the papers and booklets before using them at our workshops. It is impossible to keep shoes clean. We were daft enough to bring black shoes and white shoes. The only suitable colour is red/brown.

It is now gradually getting hotter, as the Harmattan season draws gradually to an end. March is likely to be the hottest month of the year before the rainy season begins in April. All this means that the nights are no longer cool, and a cold shower is bliss!

Water is clearly being rationed, and supplies to our tap in the garden are much reduced. Previous volunteers told us that last year in February/March, they had 9 consecutive days without water. It is now Monday evening and we have had no water since last Thursday morning. Fortunately, we still have some stored in our barrels, but we have to count every drop. All of this means that people in the villages are experiencing really hard times, walking greater distances to get water, and getting water from anywhere by any means.

On Sunday 31st January, we started the week by joining a group of Ghanaians in a local Spot (Bar) to watch the African Cup of Nations football final, Ghana v Egypt. Despite losing, we, and most of our local friends and colleagues, were delighted that Ghana reached the final. They are now looking forward to the World Cup in South Africa. Football fans will have noticed empty stadia in this competition. This is no reflection on the enthusiasm of local supporters, just a sign of the impossibility of African people being able to afford to travel to distant lands, let alone pay for accommodation and football tickets.

During this last week, we have had a volunteer colleague from Accra, Jude, staying in Wa. Jude is working on developing the school curriculum, so it is important that he sees the conditions in the schools in the north of the country, as they are so different from Accra. We have spent some time this week taking him round to various schools, so that he can talk with headteachers and observe some lessons.

Last weekend, we spent a great evening with Jude and our VSO friend, Cameron, sharing our experiences and generally having a good time. In the picture, Linda is serving bananas in bright green jelly. Our previous housemate, Mel, sent us a lovely box of goodies from Australia, including 4 packets of jelly. This led the four of us into a whole load of reminiscences about our childhood. We all used to think that jelly only came in the shape of a rabbit and, believe it or not, we all used to fight over getting the tail!!

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this last week, we ran the second of our 2-day workshops with a group of headteachers. Last term, we circulated headteachers with a questionnaire, so that they could identify their development needs relating to leadership and management. We received a huge response. Sixty -five headteachers expressed an interest in attending our workshops. This includes quite a number of headteachers from out in the villages, who have quite a journey on rough roads, in order to get into Wa.

Like the previous week, the first day of the workshop focused on particular aspects of leadership and management, such as leadership styles, team building, developing a vision for the school, time management etc. Day 2 was spent mainly on developing coaching skills, which is what these particular headteachers had requested. Institute of Education colleagues will recognise the activity in triads!

We had a great group of 13 headteachers who participated actively and enthusiastically and we thoroughly enjoyed working with them. (This time, we didn’t forget to start and end each session with either a Christian or a Muslim prayer!!)

We had a number of invitations to visit schools. Unfortunately we won’t have time between now and the end of March to follow up these invitations.

In conversation with one of these headteachers, she told us that the reason that she really enjoys being a head is that she is in charge and can make decisions, whereas at home, her husband is the “master of the house” and she has to do as she is told. She told us that she really liked the way “you white people have equality between the sexes”. She is a really dynamic person who is doing her bit for equality in Ghana.

The next workshop will have a specific focus on accountability and the following two workshops will focus on learning and teaching.

Another of the highlights of this week has been visiting some of the schools and some of the market stall holders to give them printed copies of photographs that we have taken of them. Local people are so delighted to see pictures of themselves and they get so much pleasure out of having a picture that they can keep.

Friday of each week is “dress up day”. This means that we are expected to go to work wearing traditional clothes or clothes made out of the Ghana Education Service material. Our colleagues were insistent that we follow suit, so here we are in our Friday gear!

In the education office, we share a base room with 3 colleagues: Yakubu, Mary and Gladys. In conversation with Mary during the week, she discovered that Linda’s Mum will be having her 90th birthday on 9th April. She immediately told Linda that she must have Ghanaian dress (a bright, colourful long skirt with matching top, called an “up and down”) to wear at her Mum’s celebration, in order to bring her Mum good luck from Ghana. There was no argument to be had. The next morning, she brought in a local tailor to measure Lin (so that didn’t take long!!) We’ve no idea what material she will choose or what design - so look out Mum, Lin will have to wear it!!