Day 95

Today, I couldn’t decide what to put photos up of, so I’ve just a few taken from different things that I saw today.

Firstly, the children playing near a friend’s house. You rarely see children with toys in Ghana and I’ve seen few teddy bears. This little girl was delighted to be photographed “backing” her baby. I asked its name – she said Josephine. Then I asked her name, and she said Josephine…!

Next are some Christmas cookies we baked for the little Christmas gathering I had last night, doing my usual of using several different recipes and changing them to suit my Ghanaian ingredients. I don’t think my first time making my own icing was that successful, but the colour of the icing didn’t put people off too much.

We had a go at charades last night, but I realised that this is not my forte when I had trouble with miming Christmas.

And then Laylo the cat – after trying very hard to eat the donkey in the nativity scene, he gave up and slept, while others (not me!) dressed him up for the occasion.

Day 96

One of my favourite things to do is going out for the evening, taking some drinks and some meat with Francis and Michael, two colleagues from the office.

They first invited me for a drink when I’d been in Ghana for about 6 or 7 months, and every few months we go out. Hannah joined our wee posse when she arrived last year.

Francis and Michael are both married and a bit older, so it’s a safe friendship – they are not trying to marry us like some (not all!) men. We can have real, honest conversations about Ghana, often talking about education and the problems of working in the education office in Ghana. Michael and Francis are Circuit Supervisors, so are middle management, often thought of as one of the hardest positions to be in. They supervise the work in a large cluster of schools – kindergarten, primary and junior highs. They have a certain level of authority, but not nearly as much as they’d have in a similar position in the UK.

We’re eating baa neno… and no, it’s not lamb…

Day 97

Working hard at maths

Today I was at Mama Laadi’s with a friend, helping some of the junior high children with maths. We’ve been working with the younger children for over a year with reading once a week, but recently Mama Laadi said that many of the children were falling behind with maths at high school. Some of the stuff they do is tricky – I had a bit of a time trying to remember how to do inequalities today (reversing the sign when multiplying or dividing by a negative number – anyone remember that?!) It’s a bit ad hoc at the minute as everyone tells us what they want help with, but I hope we’re making a difference to their understanding.

You're never to young to start using crayons to have fun... taken a month or so ago.

Day 98

Fried fish for lunch

Yes, I managed to get to day 3 without mentioning food. It is my first but certainly won’t be my last foody entry!

I’ve never been scared of trying new foods,though my time in Ghana certainly wins for some of the stranger things I’ve tried… more on that later. Pictured here is part of today’s lunch – wee deep fried fish – and yes, Sonia, you do eat the eyes - and then oranges – prepared the Ghanaian way where they take off most of the peel leaving the pith and cutting off the top so you can squeeze out the juice. Yummy! It’s surprising how common fish is considering we’re hundreds of miles from the sea here – amini is a very common ingredient in most sauces. Amini are tiny fish, which are smoked then grinded and added as a kind of stock. Surprisingly tasty.

Day 99

Sharing skills, changing lives, drinking tea

A sight you don’t see all that often - 9 sulemias sitting around together on a week day discussing work! We had a TSO (Teacher Support Officer) meeting on Monday and Tuesday this week and discussed all sorts of teaching issues. Although we have lots of informal discussions with each other, it’s important to also share resources, talk about reporting and make sure we’re documenting the work we’re doing properly. It also means volunteers working more remotely can get a chance to see other people!

At our meeting were 5 TSOs, an MSO (Management Support Officer), a CASO (Community Advocacy Support Officer), a STSO (Science TSO) and a… Damien (who does something to do with Inclusion and Girl Child Education.) Most participants are new vols, so there was a lot of going over old ground but also lots of insightful conversation.

The next one is to be held on Day 2 and Day 1 of my countdown… L

Day 100

Football at Sandgardens

Today I went to see a football match. Rachel? Football? Yes, that’s right. I went to see a Chelsea-Manchester City game for the Champions’ League and Chelsea won. I think.

I’ve never been much of a football fan, but Ghana has made me a little more sympathetic to the sport. With the African Cup then the World Cup last year, both hosted in African nations, I ended up along at quite a number of games and even enjoyed some. I didn’t always pay much attention to the screen and asked endless questions about the offside rule, but I really enjoyed being around Ghanaians (mainly men) who were so enthusiastic about football.

…so apparently it was the Premier League…

Commiserating with Ghanaians when they went out of the World Cup in July 2010.

Day 101

Tomorrow, it will be 100 days until my placement officially ends. Therefore, I shall be starting a daily countdown, with a photo and some small writing for each day. Watch this space…