Some Pictures

My first Day of Senior High School

I’ve been in Ghana for about two weeks now and today was my first day of school.  I am going to West Africa Senior High School, which is located about 10min away from my house.  When I got to school at about 7:15am, I met up with Katherine (the other AFS student near me) and Paul (an AFS volunteer) and we all entered the school together.  Katherine and I were dressed in black skirts and white blouses, because the school was not able to provide us with uniforms before we started, so we really stood out.  As we were walking onto the school grounds tons of kids said “hello” and “good morning” and we had a warm welcome to school.  We all went to the admissions building where the head mistress had told us to meet her, but she wasn’t in yet.  After a bit Paul left and we were directed to a waiting room on the top floor of the admissions building.  Katherine and I waited for about 30 min until the head mistress got there.

When the head mistress came she escorted us to the downstairs portion of the administration building and we were handed over to the sir in charge of the bookstore.  He took us up the school bookshop and we were supplied with some books and notebooks and part of our uniform.  Since everything wasn’t in stock at the time he said to check back in later for the rest of the items.  After that we were escorted to our classes.  I am in General Arts C (class 3).  When I walked to the door of the classroom, I saw about 15 kids in the classroom and they were all greeting me and welcoming to their class.  As soon as I was introduced everyone started yelling out that I should sit near them.  It was great to feel accepted and I enjoyed my peer’s enthusiasm.  The class prefect (the student in charge of keeping order in the classroom) ushered me to an open seat near the back of the class and I thanked him.  As soon as I sat down a bunch of kids came over and wanted to chat.  So I sat around talking for a long time and explaining why I was here in Ghana and what America was like.  It was really interesting to see their perceptions of America and I enjoyed getting to know some of the students.  As I said there were only about 15 kids present that day out of a class of about 40 kids.  I found out that the first week of school isn’t really serious.  Teaching starts the second week of school.  The first week is just used for teachers from the previous year to “pop in” and review last years exams; the students also take their own initiative and refresh themselves on what they learned last year.

I was shown the school cafeteria, which is called “The Canteen”.  It’s really different from American cafeterias.  There are seven different “stations” that serve different foods.  The foods are prepared on the spot so you receive your traditional Ghanaian dishes warm and ready to eat.  This being said, it takes a bit of time to serve people so there are usually long lines.  There is also a drink station (water, soft drinks…) and a snack/dessert station.  It was really cool to see how this cafeteria worked.  I had never experienced anything like it.  For the first day of school my host mother had actually packed me a lunch, so I didn’t buy anything that day but I ate in the canteen with a group of students from my class. 

After that we all went back to our classroom.  In Ghanaian schools the student’s stay in the same classroom for the whole day and the teachers rotate based on when they are teaching your class.  Back in the classroom, I continued to chat with different people and I looked through some of their previous exams and notes (just to get a feel of what school was like here).  At about 2:30pm some of the kids that I had been chatting with suggested that we leave school to go home for the day.  I was a little confused as to why we would be leaving early when school ended at 3:00pm and they explained how no teaching was actually going on so its okay to leave early during the first week.  They wanted to escort me home so I went to get Katherine and we all set off to walk towards the Adenta station (a parking lot where people can catch cars or tro tros to multiple locations around Accra).  As we all walked (about eight of us) we chatted some more and talked about different places in Accra.  Once we got to the station, Katherine and some of the others in our group caught tro tros home.  The rest of us proceeded to turn down the streets leading to our houses.  It just so happened that two of the boys in my group live on the same street as me so we all walked together and they walked me to my house, then veered off to theirs.

All together it was a great first day of school.  Looking back on it I really enjoyed the fact that today was a chill day because I got to know some of the kids before being thrown into the rigorousness of school.  I definitely think I’m going to like West Africa Senior High School!!

A bit of Culture

Power outages: Yep that’s a thing in Ghana.  Ghana Electric is the electric company that provides electricity to the Ghana population.  Their methods right now does not allow them to supply everyone with electricity at they’ve come up with a strategic form of power outages.  Ghana is gridded into sections and every three days certain sections will have no electricity while the rest continue to have electricity.  It rotates day and night: for example if you don’t have power on Sunday night you can expect not to have power on Wednesday morning and Saturday night…  Many people are accustomed to this and just have lanterns and flashlights lying around so that there will be light.  I too came prepared with a powerful LED lantern and flashlights too!  It’s actually not that bad…I’ve experienced about three so far and you just go about your business as usual.  The one downside during power outages during the daytime is it gets really hot and sticky in the house because the ceiling fans can’t run.  The power outages can last from 30 min to a couple of hours.  Ghana Electric is trying to change their methods and supply constant electricity to all and they hope that this plan will go into effect soon.

Water:  Most people do not have running water.  In my instance we have a tank that the water company comes and refills.  There are a ton of buckets in the house so that you can fetch water from the tank whenever you need it.  Since a lot of people use tanks most people’s water bills will show the water they’ve used from the tank.  Although sometimes the water companies are able to have a surge of water flow through the pipes connected to the water sources and this allows for water to flow through people’s taps.  Even though this is rare, when water is flowing through the taps people have to pay for that regardless of if they are not using it (so it’s better to use it when it happens).  The reason why tap water does not run continuously is because the water companies are still working on getting a solid route so water can travel from water sources into the cities and villages so people can get water directly from their taps.  It’s interesting to see how easy it is to manage without running water.  If you want hot water for a shower or bath, you just pour water into a kettle and then mix it with cold water in a bucket and tada!  When using the toilet you just pour water in the toilet to flush it because all you need is water pressure!  These are all things I didn’t think of often before I came to Ghana and now it feels like second nature.

School:  It’s interesting to see the amount of kids that go/want to go to boarding school.  In Ghana, going to boarding school is the norm and most kids want to leave home and have fun in boarding school.  It’s a way to leave your parents and get involved in more school related activities and clubs since you will be housed at your school.  Sometimes kids who go to day schools but don’t live close by may not have the urge to get involved with school activities and clubs because by the time that finishes and they travel home, it’s pretty late and they still have to do schoolwork—boarding school affords them the luxury of staying on campus.  Here they have primary school, junior high, and senior high.  High school is the equivalent to Senior High here.  It is broken up into four “paths” you can take: Science, Business, General Arts, and Visual Arts.  Based on what path you decide to take, it restricts what electives are available to you.  For instance if you do the Science path you can have the options of elective Physics, Elective Biomedical…  Visual arts would be Computer graphics, photography…General Arts would be government, economics… Business would be marketing, public speaking…

First Week!!..Loving Ghana

Hello All, I’ve been in Ghana for about seven days!  For those of you who don’t know, I am studying abroad with the department of state’s program called the YES program.  This program is apart of the AFS International Exchange Programs, which sends high school students from all over the world to different countries and states.  When I, along with four other American girls landed in Ghana after an 11-hour flight, we were met by AFS Ghana staff and transported to the University of Accra to have orientation for five days.  The orientation was very helpful and we were ushered into Ghana’s culture and introduced to the Ghanaian way of life.  We did several activities such as going to the mall, the market, and taking a tro tro (a very crowded mini van which shuttles people to various destinations-if you don’t have a car this is usually your form of transportation).  We also had some Twi language lessons (a common Ghanaian language).

On Tuesday, I was dropped off at my host family’s house.  My host family lives in Accra (the capitol of Ghana), but a quieter region, called Adenta Municipality.  I live in a four-bedroom house.  I have my own room with a bed, a chair, a refrigerator, and a table.  Two of my host siblings live in the house (my host sister and host brother).  The other three host siblings (1 female, 2 male) have kids and live in their own homes, although I see the older host sister and her two kids almost everyday because she’s just down the street.  And then there is my host mom and dad.  My host dad works in the city of Accra and my host mom runs the shop in front of our house, which sells beverages, toiletries, gifts, cards, and several other items.  My host family is very welcoming and loving! 

Ghana is similar to America in some ways and sometimes I forget I’m not in the US.  But there are plenty of differences.  One in particular is GMT.  GMT is “Ghana man time”.  It’s actually quiet funny—many times a Ghanaian can say that we are leaving in 20 minutes or they are coming at 10am and they will show up 2 hours later and not think anything of it.  As opposed to America where everyone is on a schedule and is moving constantly, Ghanaians are relaxed and have no sense of time.  Often if someone wants another person to meet them on time they will say “meet in 1 hour American time”.  Another difference is the sunrise and sunset.  The sun rises and sets at six, so it will be pitch dark at 6pm yet everyone is still up having fun and hanging out.  Furthermore the driving in the city is different from America.  Many times there will not be lane markers and cars, buses, tro tros, and motorcycles will weave in between cars not caring if pedestrians are in the street.  Cars are also constantly beeping.  Beeping can signify several things such as: telling a pedestrian that they are behind them, announcing that they can pick up a pedestrian, telling a car that they are going to cut them off, alerting a car that they are behind them, and also avoiding accidents.

It is interesting to notice some slight differences in things that the younger generation value as opposed to the older generations.  For instance my host family is pretty well off, they own their house, and another house right next to ours (which houses other family members), and a shop along with growing their own plantain trees and cassava plants out back.  They do not have running water, but there are huge tanks in the yard that gets filled with water from a water company and you fetch water from the tanks and can heat it up if needed.  They have electricity and a television and stereo system.  These are things they value and have worked very hard to get.  They pride being able to take care of their family and help out their extended family.  On the other hand, the younger generations sometimes seem to value more materialistic things: having the latest iPhone, or Galaxy, having a nice car (which are very expensive in Ghana) and being able to hang out with their friends after their jobs.  Because of the Internet and social media, a lot of the younger generation watch and follow American shows and celebrities, and dress like Americans too.

Right now school has not started, I will probably start in the middle of next week.  So a typical day for me so far is waking up whenever I want (usually 8am) and then taking a shower and getting ready.  By the time I’m done my host mom has prepared me breakfast (usually an egg sandwich with vegetables and fruit on the side).  I have my choice of tea or Milo (Ghanaian hot chocolate).  Then I go to the shop and sit with a boy in the shop who is 16 and say hello to the customers.  Usually my older host sister will be over and have her little baby boy (he’s 10 months) and I will play with him.  Then there’s lunch and then I might go walk with my older host sister and get her oldest daughter from kindergarten.  In the evening my other host sister and brother come home and we all just sit around outside and talk and hang out.  People will stop by and just sit around the shop and talk about the latest news in Ghana.  Then I will have dinner and then go back out to sit around or relax inside.  Afterwards I help close up the shop.  Then my host dad gets home from work and the socializing is moved indoors while he eats dinner.  Finally I get ready for bed and then go to my room and go to bed.

So far Ghana’s is pretty cool.  I love talking to people and learning about the culture!!