Today’s post is 1400 words, 31 photos, 2 videos, a 6 minute read. Enjoy!

Hi everyone,

It was hard for me to come up with a title for this week’s blog post. That’s because so much cultural learning happened in such a short period of time that it was mind blowing. There was so much learning that I have to bring this portion of the Ghana journey to you in two parts. Included in this post is a visit to a primary school, a tribal chief, and the beach. Plus a few other things.

If you missed my first four posts on Ghana, click here, here, here, and here.

Let’s get started.

A Visit to a School

We were in the Denu/Aflao area of Ghana located on Gulf of Guinea and near the border with Togo. We were staying at the South Vegas Hotel in Aflao. This area is Papa’s (our Ghanaian guide) home stomping grounds and we were in for a cultural experience treat during our time in his neighborhood.

Papa took us to the school that his children attend, Tublukope Basic School. Our group met with the headmaster and the local school committee (Papa’s a member). After a warm welcome, the headmaster told us about the school that provides learning for kids in the first six grades. The headmaster was passionate about the school and their hopes for the future. Click here for a brief overview of the Ghanaian education system.

They were proud to have a new building that added a couple of classrooms. While the teacher had a white board instead of a slate blackboard to write on, the electricity to power the ceiling fans was not yet hooked up.

Most of the classrooms were “open air” and looked something like this photo. Note that Papa is sitting with one of the kids, I think his son.

Most of the instruction is done by using blackboards. The teachers write down the lessons and the students copy them into notebooks. There aren’t a lot of textbooks. Here is an example of the sixth grade teacher with a lesson on databases. At basic school there is little access to computers but it’s in the curriculum so must be taught. There might be a few students in the class who may have access to computers in their homes otherwise they are learning for future use.

Here’s another example of a science lesson using the blackboard.

And a Ghanaian language lesson.

The teachers had their hands full with a classroom filled with students. Here’s a photo of one of the teachers, one of the only females at this school. The headmaster and school committee raised enough local funds to support an additional teacher. They also want to make a library for the school. My Traveling Partner and I along with several others have donated funds to help that dream come true. It’s becoming a reality but more funds are needed. Let me know if you want to help with this endeavor.

I’m not sharing these photos to disparage the Ghanaian educational system, they are doing the best they can with the resources at hand. In addition, Papa and the school committee are raising local funds and securing grants to supplement what the government allots for educating the youth in their community. Which brings me to the kids themselves. They are so sweet, kind, polite, and full of energy. And there is a lot of them, not only in Ghana but throughout Africa. During our time at the school, we had a chance to interact with the kids. When I used my camera or phone to take photos, they wanted to see the results. They’d often laugh and poke fun at each other or at me. Here are just a few of the photos and a video I took during our time at the school.

In this photo, they wanted me to take a selfie with them in it. There was such a crush I almost fell face first in the red dirt. But we finally got it accomplished without me falling.

Please note the girl in the photo carrying a small table on her head. One of the gifts that we left with the group was a learning game about Africa. Our group leader, Mary showed them how to play the game. They caught on quickly and I’m sure it will be well used by the school.

During our visit, there was a fierce soccer (football) match going on in the hot sun in the large open area on the school compound. I talked with one of the adult coaches, he told me it was the junior team against the senior team. He said the juniors were quicker and faster than the year older boys. Many were playing barefoot but that didn’t stop them from kicking or getting in a scrum to get to the ball.

As we toured the school, a couple of classrooms sang a song for us. Here is an example.

 

At one classroom, the kids sang a song that was very appropriate for their country. I wasn’t quick enough to record it but went something like this: “Row, row, row your boat gently done the stream, if you see a crocodile don’t forget to scream!” It was so cute.

Being with the kids made the stop at the school so worthwhile but it was time for us to move on.

A visit to the Chief

After leaving the school, we visited the local tribal Chief, Torgbui Tortsofia Nyakeli VII of Akato Wudoaba. He lives in the Royal House depicted below.

It’s typical for visitors to meet with the local chief as a sign of respect and to keep him informed on what is going on in his territory. I should mention that the Chief in this case is Papa’s cousin so there was a definite familial connection. You might wonder about the role of the chief. A chief is selected from a family line with the appropriate lineage that goes back hundreds of years. Chiefs perform a variety of legislative, administrative, and ceremonial tasks. The most common tasks are to settle land tenure issues and advocate for things needed by the community. It’s part of the tradition of governance in Ghana and seems to work pretty well.

During our visit, we chatted with the Chief about what we have seen in Ghana and presented him with some gifts. It wouldn’t be the only time we saw the Chief. That evening as we were eating dinner, he walked in with two of his sons. He greeted us and sat the table next to ours.

We would see the Chief the next morning. But first we went to the…..

Beach

After a nice lunch, Papa took us to a beach on the Gulf of Guinea near his home. On the way, I captured what I think is a very funny scene, live goats tied to the roof of a bus/taxi. It was during Ramadan so these goats were likely destined to be someone’s dinner! One of my favorite photos from Ghana.

Papa looks after a house on the beach that is owned by a U.S. professor who visits a few times a year. We relaxed in the house with some fresh water to drink then did a walk on the beach. Below is part of the compound, not the main house.

Note the freighters on the horizon in a cue waiting to unload cargo nearby at the Port of Lomé, the capitol city of Togo. The second photo shows how close we are to Togo, a former German, British, and French colony.

This next group of photos show a couple of fishing boats resting on the beach. Note the religious sayings painted on the side. This is very common.

Near the beach and the professor’s compound were several coconut palms. In short order, Papa and Martin, his cousin, clambered up one of the palms and knocked off down several of the fruits. They then proceeded to use a machete to cut off the husks and open the coconut for us to taste the coconut water or juice and the flesh. I’ve had fresh coconut water before and have to say it’s an acquired taste. Coconut is a regular part of the diets of people in the tropics. It has a lot of uses besides food such as a source of fuel, used to make cosmetics and medicines, and other uses.

When we were at the beach, we attracted a large crowd of young kids. They gladly finished off the coconut flesh that we didn’t eat.

Stay tuned next week for Part 2 of adventures in cultural learning.

Until then, happy travels!

Tom

PS: Click here for a link to the post about my book “Farm Boy.” Contact me if you are interested in purchasing a copy. Thanks to all have plunked down your hard earned dollars and read the book. TM