Just so you know…this is the SECOND time I am writing this post! I wrote a 2 page long post and then my computer ATE IT! I went to track down my modem so I could connect to the internet and send it and my computer just shuts off, I thought it died because it wouldn’t turn back on. Fear not, it was revived…for the moment…you guys know how me and technology get along so I fear its only a matter of time before it dumps me for good. So after about an hour of yelling and pouting and threatening the Word auto save setting I have accepted fate and am starting again.
I spent this past week in Cape 3 Points working on a world map project at the primary school with my Peace Corps neighbor Jake. I know first thought you may think “she went all the way to Ghana to paint”. Well, like many things in Peace Corps, its not that simple. The schools here get next to no money to operate. When there is money the headmaster has to decide between buying food for the school feeding program and materials, lie textbooks. Needless to say, the feeding program usually wins most of the money. This means that when its time for the students to learn about the world its all done conceptually. Lessons go something like “America is in the northern hemisphere and Ghana is in the southern hemisphere”. There are no pictures or maps to point at to say “look, this is what Ghana looks like and this is where Africa is and here are all the other countries of the world”. As a result the world becomes very small to the students. Its hard for them to see outside of their village when they have never even seen a picture of the world to know there are other places they can even go. It doesn’t help that I’m a white, outsider. I came from this fantasy place they cant even imagine and I look like am alien with my white skin and my funny hair. So even though this map may not seem like a big step I really believe it is planting a seed in a childs mind that the world is a big place and I can be or do whatever I want if I try. I’m not stuck in this village forever if I don’t want to be.
We were getting ready to paint some of the countries in and we only had the primary colors so I needed to mix the paints to get pink, purple and orange. So I put a little red then some yellow into a container and all of a sudden….orange! to the girls that were watching me it was going magic! It was a wonderful feeling. These students don’t even have textbooks never mind an art class. They never had a chance to be a little kid and finger paint and discover that red and white make pink.
The map project is going well. We are using a grid method to draw the countries out. We had some…troubles…learning how to use a straight edge but it was eventually all resolved. The countries are all drawn out in pencil and we’ve started painting the countries in. We didn’t get a chance to finish this week because Jake was traveling to a paragliding event in Eastern region for Easter. I am I giant chicken and need the year to work up to it. Next year.
While I was out in Cape 3 Points the highs and lows were more severe than usual.
On Saturday we spent the morning working on the map at the school. Around 1the sun was really hot, I needed more water, and it was time for lunch so we headed back to Jakes compound for some lunch. We are just finishing up when he gets a call from his neighbor Eddie who is down in the village. Eddie says that a boy has just drowned and that he should come right away (jake having been an ocean lifeguard in a previous life). We get there and it takes some time to get a full story. What happened was the boy, about 12 years old, was playing in the water with some friends. He didn’t know how to swim so he was holding onto a piece of wood and using it as a floaty. His friends went in from swimming and when they left they took the wood with them. I guess the boy wasn’t finished swimming and he thought he didn’t need the wood anymore so he stayed in the water. Eventually someone pulls him from the water. Nobody knows CPR so thy take him to the fetish priest. The priest then has to get possessed by her oracles and they have to speak to her and tell her what to do about the boy. When she comes out of her trace her visions have to be translated and then the actions carried out. When all is said and done this has taken about 45 minutes. In the end the visions told her the boy was dead. Its really a sad story because if they would have just done CPR he would have lived. After that the police had to be called and I don’t even want to get into what scum they are but long story short is that they had to be bribed to write the report saying the boy drowned and someone didn’t kill him.
ANYWAYS, I’m back home for the moment, getting ready to leave for the All-Vol (all volunteers) conference and some relaxation in Accra. Before all this I have to go to warden training in our training hub site. Basically I’m in charge of the Western region in case of an emergency/evacuation (like whats happening to the Mali volunteers).
I hope every ones Easter was fantastic. I’d love to hear about it.
Much love <3
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