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…

How did the chicken cross the road?

As the dry Harmattan season falls upon us, the roads in Ghana are becoming increasingly awash with stray animals trying to find scraps of food.  Discussion with a VSO friend tonight has made us decide that VSO motorbike training should include a section on how the animals cross the road…

Cow – if you are unlucky enough to be faced with a cow… beware.  A cow standing stationery on the road may all of a sudden decide that as you ride towards it, it really wants that specific piece of grass that happens to be across your path.  Or it might just stay still…

Either way, see a cow – slow down.

Donkeys – the thing about being as stubborn as a mule isn’t a joke.  Donkeys are stubborn.  They will cross if they want to, avoid you if they want to, and possibly run towards you if they feel like it.  Little ones like to lie on their backs in the middle of the road.  Rather cute, a little dangerous.

If you see a donkey… reverse.

Sheep – sheep are stupid.  If a sheep is crossing the road in front of you, chances are that it’s mother, father, sister, brother, cousin and great aunt will also be following.  Sheep like to do that – follow one another, like…erm… sheep.  If you beep at them, they will stop and look at you… and become even more of a hazard as they are confused as to whether to run away from you, towards you or just try and stare you out. 

So if you see a sheep, slow down, don’t bother beeping, and watch out for the rest of its village.

Goats – goats are significantly cleverer than sheep.  If you beep at a goat, it will move out of the way. 

The biggest problem is telling the difference between a sheep and a goat.  “What?!” I hear you ask – “difference between a sheep and a goat – isn’t that primary school knowledge?!”  It’s not.  Ask my sister, who spent several happy hours when she first visited saying “that one – is it a sheep or a goat… what about that one?”  The answer, I have discovered, is in the tail.  Stubby tail points up, it’s a goat.  Longer tail points down, it’s a sheep.  Probably.

So if you see something that looks like a goat… or a sheep… slow down.

Dogs – dogs are fast, but sometimes come from nowhere.  Dogs are in many ways one of the worse offenders as you have no idea where they’ve appeared from.  They also get scared quite easily, so may well cross your path, see something coming from the other direction and cross your path again.

So if you see a dog... get the brakes on fast.

Pigs – pigs are supposedly intelligent creatures.  My experience with pigs is that they might sometimes react to a horn, but rarely stray from their path.  So if you see a pig, it’ll almost certainly keep going.  Pigs seem to like moving in size order, so watch out for Big Pig, Medium Sized Pig and Very Little Pig following on behind Enormous Pig.

So if you see pigs – get behind the last one as they probably won’t turn back.  Probably.

Chickens – chickens are just suicidal.  There’s really no argument.  They see you coming and decide that they want to be run over… until you’re almost there, then they freak out, flap their wings everywhere then decide that now’s the time to see if they are capable of flying.  The good news is that if you hit a chicken, it will die and you might not notice.  So if you see a chicken, have space to brake and had a big lunch, try and avoid it.  If there’s something coming towards you or you just had a Coke, just keep on driving.

Guinea fowl – you thought chickens were stupid?  Then try guinea fowls.  They are the combination of the crazy chicken and village of sheep… also rather tasty.

Frogs – nice as it is to avoid a frog (well done Rachel!), it’s really not necessary to do an emergency stop when you see one.  Even if you thought it was a cat.