After our great weekend in Sewfi Wiawso, we invited some of the kids to come visit us in Accra. Anthony, who is 22, Patrick, who is 20, and Sara who is 17 all made the journey down here last weekend. Patrick had been to Accra once and the other two had never been. They had been to Kumasi a couple of times, which is the second largest city in Accra, but they had never really seen anything like Accra. There are small skyscrapers here and tons of cars and traffic, which is very different than any other place in Ghana.
Also, though they are practicing Jews, they had never experienced an Orthodox Shabbat. We made challah, which they had not seen and traditional Ghanaian food for dinner and lunch. We did all the prayers in Hebrew and helped them to follow along. Also, we sang zmirot (traditional songs sung at Shabbat meals) and they were able to sing with the transliteration. Then, at the end of the third meal of Shabbat, they told us the Hebrew songs they knew and we all sang together. They knew Oseh Shalom, Adon Olam, and a couple more.
During dinner at one point another Jewish, but not observant, girl from CIEE walked in and introduced herself and told Patrick, Sara, and Anthony that she was Jewish. After she left, they questioned why wasn't she observing Shabbat with us, why wasn't she eating and singing with us. We explained that she's Jewish but does not practice the same way that we do. They did not really understand that if she had the opportunity to practice like us, why wouldn't she? Though the Jews of Sewfi Wiawso are not traditionally observant, they uphold certain principles and strictly abide by their practices. They were really baffled by the idea that this girl chooses to not practice; it was almost unfathomable to them.
Since Sefwi Wiawso is landlocked, they had never seen the ocean so after Shabbat we decided to take them there. There was a little restaurant/bar that has chairs on the sand that we went to and just relaxed. At first only Patrick was willing to put his feet in the ocean, but after much coaxing all three of them went in. It was really exciting for them to see the ocean for the first time, though it was at night. Also, for some reason there were tons of pigs roaming the beach. There were families of pigs, babies to old fogies just walking on the sand. As you can imagine, I was not so happy about the pig situation but somehow I made it work. Presumably, someone owns the pigs and lets them walk around at night, but why the pigs would choose to come to the beach is beyond me.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sefwi Wiawso cont.
When we finally arrived at the village, several children came to carry our bags and bring us to where we were staying. We stayed with a large family in their little housing complex. There are lots of bedrooms surrounding a grassy area that has some roaming chickens and goats. There is an area used for cooking with large pots and a little outhouse. The reasons there are so many bedrooms is because there are many people. There is one husband, two wives, and eleven kids, though some of the kids are married so have moved out. I'm not sure how many family units there are like this, but there are about 100 members of the community in general.
We went to the room were staying in, which is also the common room of the house and the father, Joseph, recited the traditional Friday night blessings in English (Kiddish on Coke, motzei, etc) and sang a couple songs in Twi praising God. They did not eat a meal though, they eat just had a bite of bread. Then, they left and we settled in a little bit and ate a gourmet meal of bread and canned food.
The next problem we faced was the bathroom. To begin, it's a stone seat on top of a large hole in the ground. There is no running water. Second of all, we had to walk outside in order to get to it and we had to bring our own toilet paper, but there was no eruv to carry it. We were very creative and made belts, scarves, and necklaces. Also, because of the way the stone is designed, we cannot squat or else we would miss the hole. So we lined the stone with TP and hoped for the best. Later when we returned to Accra we told our Ghanaian friends about this and they were horrified. Apparently you are supposed to stand on the stone and then squat. But no one explained this nuance to us. As you can imagine, we greatly limited our trips to the bathroom.
The next day, we went to synagogue, which was in a small building about ten minutes away. When we finally arrived at the village, several children came to carry our bags and bring us to where we were staying. We stayed with a large family in their little housing complex. There are lots of bedrooms surrounding a grassy area that has some roaming chickens and goats. There is an area used for cooking with large pots and a little outhouse. The reasons there are so many bedrooms is because there are many people. There is one husband, two wives, and eleven kids, though some of the kids are married so have moved out. I'm not sure how many family units there are like this, but there are about 100 members of the community in general.
We went to the room were staying in, which is also the common room of the house and the father, Joseph, recited the traditional Friday night blessings in English (Kiddish on Coke, motzei, etc) and sang a couple songs in Twi praising God. They did not eat a meal though, they eat just had a bite of bread. Then, they left and we settled in a little bit and ate a gourmet meal of bread and canned food.
The community does not observe Shabbat like we do, so there were some difficulties with that. They use electricity so when the left our rooms, they left the lights on so we had to sleep with them on. Luckily, they also left on the fans, though.
The next problem we faced was the bathroom. To begin, it's a stone seat on top of a large hole in the ground. There is no running water. Second of all, we had to walk outside in order to get to it and we had to bring our own toilet paper, but there was no eruv to carry it. We were very creative and made belts, scarves, and necklaces. Also, because of the way the stone is designed, we cannot squat or else we would miss the hole. So we lined the stone with TP and hoped for the best. Later when we returned to Accra we told our Ghanaian friends about this and they were horrified. Apparently you are supposed to stand on the stone and then squat. But no one explained this nuance to us. As you can imagine, we greatly limited our trips to the bathroom.
The next day, we went to synagogue, which was in a small building about ten minutes away. The synagogue is a small building with a few rows of benches. There were about eight men, a couple of women and lots of children. There was one man who led the service using a Sim Shalom siddur (Conservative prayer book) in English. He read several psalms and went through most of the service. The whole congregation they recited Shma together in Hebrew. For the Torah service, the leader took out a mini-Torah, like one used in a children’s service and brought it around the room for people to kiss. He then read verse by verse out loud in English from a Hirsch Chumash, explaining in GREAT detail every verse and then he repeated in Twi. He then did the same for Haftorah. As a side note, it was EXTREMELY hot and the fans were not on. I was pretty uncomfortable throughout the service due to the heat. The service was concluded with a song in Twi, which I now know.
We went back to our rooms to find the fans had been turned off, so at this point I was pretty aggravated with heat. We ate our lunch of bread and canned food and we then took naps. I think the sheets were drenched in sweat when I woke up. There was one eight-year-old girl there, named Rachel, who hung around us. She was incredibly sweet and adorable. Rivky taught her to sing a Hebrew song (Modeh Ani) and she sort of taught us a song in Twi. She showed us how she’s learning the Hebrew alphabet and how she can write her name. She was our guide throughout the weekend.
We concluded Shabbat and afterwards, we hung out with all the kids in our rooms. We got to know them well and eventually we invited them to come to us for Shabbat (foreshadowing for the next post!).
We woke up a few hours later (at 4:30 AM) to begin our journey back to Accra, which luckily took only eight hours, as opposed to thirteen. Again there were some problems with chickens. The bus from Sefwi Wiawso to Kumasi was fine. From, Kumasi, we took a deluxe tro-tro to Accra. We had made French toast a few days earlier and were planning on eating it for breakfast on Sunday (it has not been refrigerated for three days and though it tasted a little off surprisingly no one got sick). Anyways, so I had to do a ritual wash of my hands before eating the bread so as I got off the tro-tro to wash, a woman got on with a live chicken in a plastic bag with its head sticking out. She put the chicken on the floor EXACTLY where I was sitting and Rivky told her that I was sitting there, but the woman did not move it. Meanwhile, I had already washed my hands, which means I cannot speak so I’m motioning vigorously to move the chicken, while half laughing half crying. I jump onto Rivky and the whole tro-tro is laughing at me. Eventually, the driver moved the chicken to the back seat (which is where my bag was so I was not too happy about that either), and we were on our way. The driver made it back in what seemed like record time. No exaggeration, he passed every single car in front of him at every single point possible. Luckily, we made it back to Accra okay and when we took the tro-tro from Accra to Legon, the same chicken lady was on it with us!!!! It must have been fate!
We went to the room were staying in, which is also the common room of the house and the father, Joseph, recited the traditional Friday night blessings in English (Kiddish on Coke, motzei, etc) and sang a couple songs in Twi praising God. They did not eat a meal though, they eat just had a bite of bread. Then, they left and we settled in a little bit and ate a gourmet meal of bread and canned food.
The next problem we faced was the bathroom. To begin, it's a stone seat on top of a large hole in the ground. There is no running water. Second of all, we had to walk outside in order to get to it and we had to bring our own toilet paper, but there was no eruv to carry it. We were very creative and made belts, scarves, and necklaces. Also, because of the way the stone is designed, we cannot squat or else we would miss the hole. So we lined the stone with TP and hoped for the best. Later when we returned to Accra we told our Ghanaian friends about this and they were horrified. Apparently you are supposed to stand on the stone and then squat. But no one explained this nuance to us. As you can imagine, we greatly limited our trips to the bathroom.
The next day, we went to synagogue, which was in a small building about ten minutes away. When we finally arrived at the village, several children came to carry our bags and bring us to where we were staying. We stayed with a large family in their little housing complex. There are lots of bedrooms surrounding a grassy area that has some roaming chickens and goats. There is an area used for cooking with large pots and a little outhouse. The reasons there are so many bedrooms is because there are many people. There is one husband, two wives, and eleven kids, though some of the kids are married so have moved out. I'm not sure how many family units there are like this, but there are about 100 members of the community in general.
We went to the room were staying in, which is also the common room of the house and the father, Joseph, recited the traditional Friday night blessings in English (Kiddish on Coke, motzei, etc) and sang a couple songs in Twi praising God. They did not eat a meal though, they eat just had a bite of bread. Then, they left and we settled in a little bit and ate a gourmet meal of bread and canned food.
The community does not observe Shabbat like we do, so there were some difficulties with that. They use electricity so when the left our rooms, they left the lights on so we had to sleep with them on. Luckily, they also left on the fans, though.
The next problem we faced was the bathroom. To begin, it's a stone seat on top of a large hole in the ground. There is no running water. Second of all, we had to walk outside in order to get to it and we had to bring our own toilet paper, but there was no eruv to carry it. We were very creative and made belts, scarves, and necklaces. Also, because of the way the stone is designed, we cannot squat or else we would miss the hole. So we lined the stone with TP and hoped for the best. Later when we returned to Accra we told our Ghanaian friends about this and they were horrified. Apparently you are supposed to stand on the stone and then squat. But no one explained this nuance to us. As you can imagine, we greatly limited our trips to the bathroom.
The next day, we went to synagogue, which was in a small building about ten minutes away. The synagogue is a small building with a few rows of benches. There were about eight men, a couple of women and lots of children. There was one man who led the service using a Sim Shalom siddur (Conservative prayer book) in English. He read several psalms and went through most of the service. The whole congregation they recited Shma together in Hebrew. For the Torah service, the leader took out a mini-Torah, like one used in a children’s service and brought it around the room for people to kiss. He then read verse by verse out loud in English from a Hirsch Chumash, explaining in GREAT detail every verse and then he repeated in Twi. He then did the same for Haftorah. As a side note, it was EXTREMELY hot and the fans were not on. I was pretty uncomfortable throughout the service due to the heat. The service was concluded with a song in Twi, which I now know.
We went back to our rooms to find the fans had been turned off, so at this point I was pretty aggravated with heat. We ate our lunch of bread and canned food and we then took naps. I think the sheets were drenched in sweat when I woke up. There was one eight-year-old girl there, named Rachel, who hung around us. She was incredibly sweet and adorable. Rivky taught her to sing a Hebrew song (Modeh Ani) and she sort of taught us a song in Twi. She showed us how she’s learning the Hebrew alphabet and how she can write her name. She was our guide throughout the weekend.
We concluded Shabbat and afterwards, we hung out with all the kids in our rooms. We got to know them well and eventually we invited them to come to us for Shabbat (foreshadowing for the next post!).
We woke up a few hours later (at 4:30 AM) to begin our journey back to Accra, which luckily took only eight hours, as opposed to thirteen. Again there were some problems with chickens. The bus from Sefwi Wiawso to Kumasi was fine. From, Kumasi, we took a deluxe tro-tro to Accra. We had made French toast a few days earlier and were planning on eating it for breakfast on Sunday (it has not been refrigerated for three days and though it tasted a little off surprisingly no one got sick). Anyways, so I had to do a ritual wash of my hands before eating the bread so as I got off the tro-tro to wash, a woman got on with a live chicken in a plastic bag with its head sticking out. She put the chicken on the floor EXACTLY where I was sitting and Rivky told her that I was sitting there, but the woman did not move it. Meanwhile, I had already washed my hands, which means I cannot speak so I’m motioning vigorously to move the chicken, while half laughing half crying. I jump onto Rivky and the whole tro-tro is laughing at me. Eventually, the driver moved the chicken to the back seat (which is where my bag was so I was not too happy about that either), and we were on our way. The driver made it back in what seemed like record time. No exaggeration, he passed every single car in front of him at every single point possible. Luckily, we made it back to Accra okay and when we took the tro-tro from Accra to Legon, the same chicken lady was on it with us!!!! It must have been fate!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Journey to Sefwi Wiawso
This weekend, Rivky Zahava, Zahava’s friend and I went to visit our fellow Jews in Ghana in a village called Sewfi Wiawso (pronounced Seshwi Wiawsho, but the sh also includes a whistle noise…as you can imagine, when we were telling people where we were going, they had no idea what we were saying so we have a piece of paper with the name written down). This village is not predominately Jewish, but does have several families and is the largest Jewish community in Ghana (apparently there are others…)
The journey was a long one to say the least. It took us almost 13 hours to get there. We left our dorm at 6 AM, got to the bus station at 7 AM and waited. There are no schedules here; you just need to wait for the buses to fill up, so we ended up waiting about three hours. Keep in mind that it’s Friday so we were concerned about making it in time for Shabbat. Anyways, so after the long wait and the traffic we arrived in Kumasi (one of the biggest cities in Ghana) more than 7 hours later, a trip which should take 4 hours. We got off the bus and were immediately surrounded by people who wanted to carry our bags or take us in their cabs. We hurriedly got in a cab that took us to the next bus station. At this point, time is definitely of the essence. The driver guarantees us that he is leaving in 10 minutes, which of course did not happen. We board the bus to take us to the village, filled with Ghanaians and a live chicken (there are tons of chickens always walking around and I strongly dislike them, so on the bus, Zahava stood next to the chicken as I passed it on the bus.) About 30 minutes later, we left only to turn around again. Everyone was screaming in Twi so we had no idea what was going on. Turns out, one person did not pay so we all had to go back. Meanwhile, the sun is slowly getting lower and lower and it becomes pretty clear that we will not be there before Shabbat.
In the meantime, the people of the village are consistently calling me to ask where we are but they do not speak English well, my phone is really bad quality, there’s music blasting, and everyone on the bus is screaming. As you can imagine, this was a slightly stressful situation.
Eventually, we arrived in the village, about 20 minutes after Shabbat had started. Surprisingly, there is no eruv and we have bags to carry. (On Shabbat, you cannot carry bags in a public domain so we could not carry our bags off the bus). Rivky had called her rabbi and he told us to carry the bags, but don’t stop walking with them; we needed to be continuously walking. So we got off the bus and began to walk in circles. Not only are we the only white people, but we are literally in the middle of the street walking in circles. Everyone was shouting at us “Oboruni, what are you doing?!” (Oboruni means white person). Taxi men were grabbing us and we just kept walking. There was one persistent guy who kept grabbing us and we kept walking away from him, but turns out, he was the person from the village who had come to take us back. I’m pretty sure EVERYONE thought (and maybe rightfully so) that we were absolutely insane.
TO BE CONTINUED!!!
The journey was a long one to say the least. It took us almost 13 hours to get there. We left our dorm at 6 AM, got to the bus station at 7 AM and waited. There are no schedules here; you just need to wait for the buses to fill up, so we ended up waiting about three hours. Keep in mind that it’s Friday so we were concerned about making it in time for Shabbat. Anyways, so after the long wait and the traffic we arrived in Kumasi (one of the biggest cities in Ghana) more than 7 hours later, a trip which should take 4 hours. We got off the bus and were immediately surrounded by people who wanted to carry our bags or take us in their cabs. We hurriedly got in a cab that took us to the next bus station. At this point, time is definitely of the essence. The driver guarantees us that he is leaving in 10 minutes, which of course did not happen. We board the bus to take us to the village, filled with Ghanaians and a live chicken (there are tons of chickens always walking around and I strongly dislike them, so on the bus, Zahava stood next to the chicken as I passed it on the bus.) About 30 minutes later, we left only to turn around again. Everyone was screaming in Twi so we had no idea what was going on. Turns out, one person did not pay so we all had to go back. Meanwhile, the sun is slowly getting lower and lower and it becomes pretty clear that we will not be there before Shabbat.
In the meantime, the people of the village are consistently calling me to ask where we are but they do not speak English well, my phone is really bad quality, there’s music blasting, and everyone on the bus is screaming. As you can imagine, this was a slightly stressful situation.
Eventually, we arrived in the village, about 20 minutes after Shabbat had started. Surprisingly, there is no eruv and we have bags to carry. (On Shabbat, you cannot carry bags in a public domain so we could not carry our bags off the bus). Rivky had called her rabbi and he told us to carry the bags, but don’t stop walking with them; we needed to be continuously walking. So we got off the bus and began to walk in circles. Not only are we the only white people, but we are literally in the middle of the street walking in circles. Everyone was shouting at us “Oboruni, what are you doing?!” (Oboruni means white person). Taxi men were grabbing us and we just kept walking. There was one persistent guy who kept grabbing us and we kept walking away from him, but turns out, he was the person from the village who had come to take us back. I’m pretty sure EVERYONE thought (and maybe rightfully so) that we were absolutely insane.
TO BE CONTINUED!!!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Purim in Ghana
The Fast of Esther was on Thursday, which was also the same day as my Twi final and I had to teach in the morning. I was slightly nervous about fasting in the 90+ degrees weather with all this activity, but I knew that if I didn’t feel well I could break the fast. Luckily, I made it through the day with no water and no food.
On Thursday night, Rivky got a call that there was going to be a megillah reading in Accra on Saturday night! We knew another girl who was going so immediately after Shabbat, we rushed to hear the megillah in a random neighborhood. I cannot even tell you where we were, whose house we were at, who even read the megillah. All I know is that I showed up at some random guesthouse, which used to house the KJB, and now a random secular Israeli lives there. There were about twenty people there, mostly secular Israelis, a few Ghanaians, and some university students. A British man read the megillah and our mission was complete.
Meanwhile, we decided to host a Purim party that we called for 9:30, but we didn’t even get back until 9:30. Luckily, no one is ever on time in this country so people ended up coming closer to 11. We made TONS of Hamenstachen (I didn’t actually partake in the making because I was at my internship so props to all of Pentagon who helped!) of really creative fillings including pineapple and mango. The pineapple was surprisingly really good! Anyways, the party was a great success, with lots of music and people (though nothing could come close to comparing to Ghanakah). And I forgot to mention, that on Saturday during the day, we had no water and no electricity so we were worried that we were going to have to cancel the party, but the electricity came back, though we had no water for three days.
Anyways, the next day we attempted to make a gourmet breakfast in honor of Purim, but it didn’t come out so well. Our program had arranged to take us to the beach for the day, which was really nice. Rivky had arranged with her rabbi that we would call into his megillah reading in Baltimore and listen over the phone. But the problem was that we were on a beach with blasting music, wind, and waves so hearing was a potential problem. But have no fear, because Rivky found the ideal place for a megillah reading. There was this makeshift wooden bar that was not in use, so we sat under the bar to protect ourselves from the wind. As we were waiting for the reading to begin, a host of fishermen came pulling in their nets shouting, as Rivky was on the phone with the rabbi’s seven-year-old son trying to coordinate. He asked what the noise was and Rivky tried to explain that we were on a beach with fishermen. Our perfect place wasn’t so perfect anymore. As we were searching for an alternative location, the fishermen left, so we got our bar back! Our little shack protected us from the wind and we miraculously could hear every word of the megillah and we even booed at Haman’s name.
On Thursday night, Rivky got a call that there was going to be a megillah reading in Accra on Saturday night! We knew another girl who was going so immediately after Shabbat, we rushed to hear the megillah in a random neighborhood. I cannot even tell you where we were, whose house we were at, who even read the megillah. All I know is that I showed up at some random guesthouse, which used to house the KJB, and now a random secular Israeli lives there. There were about twenty people there, mostly secular Israelis, a few Ghanaians, and some university students. A British man read the megillah and our mission was complete.
Meanwhile, we decided to host a Purim party that we called for 9:30, but we didn’t even get back until 9:30. Luckily, no one is ever on time in this country so people ended up coming closer to 11. We made TONS of Hamenstachen (I didn’t actually partake in the making because I was at my internship so props to all of Pentagon who helped!) of really creative fillings including pineapple and mango. The pineapple was surprisingly really good! Anyways, the party was a great success, with lots of music and people (though nothing could come close to comparing to Ghanakah). And I forgot to mention, that on Saturday during the day, we had no water and no electricity so we were worried that we were going to have to cancel the party, but the electricity came back, though we had no water for three days.
Anyways, the next day we attempted to make a gourmet breakfast in honor of Purim, but it didn’t come out so well. Our program had arranged to take us to the beach for the day, which was really nice. Rivky had arranged with her rabbi that we would call into his megillah reading in Baltimore and listen over the phone. But the problem was that we were on a beach with blasting music, wind, and waves so hearing was a potential problem. But have no fear, because Rivky found the ideal place for a megillah reading. There was this makeshift wooden bar that was not in use, so we sat under the bar to protect ourselves from the wind. As we were waiting for the reading to begin, a host of fishermen came pulling in their nets shouting, as Rivky was on the phone with the rabbi’s seven-year-old son trying to coordinate. He asked what the noise was and Rivky tried to explain that we were on a beach with fishermen. Our perfect place wasn’t so perfect anymore. As we were searching for an alternative location, the fishermen left, so we got our bar back! Our little shack protected us from the wind and we miraculously could hear every word of the megillah and we even booed at Haman’s name.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Internship cont.
Though this could come across as a shock, I LOVE my internship. I love teaching and getting to know the kids and the other teachers. So far, it has been a great experience. I've taught several classes by now on informal letter writing. We practiced writing thank you letters and a letter to someone in America. The letters are HILARIOUS to read. I crack up the whole time in the corner while grading. First of all, almost every sentence mentions God or the Lord or something related. Ghana is an EXTREMELY religious country so it fits. Also, they have really funny/cute expressions that they use. They often write, "I hope you're fit as a fiddle," meaning I hope you're doing well. I was so confused when I first read this. Also, when the kids were writing letters to "pen-pals," I told them to pick one specific cultural difference and explain it. In Ghana, everyone is named after the day that they were born. I'm Tuesday born, so my name is Abena. One kid wrote, "The common names in Ghana are Abena, Kofi, Ama, (etc. these are all day names). The common names in America are Bruce, Yamit, and Richard." I died when I read this. If only he knew that there are no other Yamits in America.
Another really cute aspect is how this kids ask to go to the bathroom. They generally say, "Can I go urinate?" which was unexpected. Sometimes the boys ask to go to the gents. I had to go to the bathroom the other day for the first time so a teacher sent a student to go show me the teacher's bathroom. I was really impressed that they have their own bathroom because it's not uncommon for schools to have no bathrooms at all. So we go in the regular bathroom (which is co-ed) and she just points to a specific stall and tells me that's the teacher's bathroom. It wasn't any different than any other stall. And then of course, the sinks didn't work.
Another really cute aspect is how this kids ask to go to the bathroom. They generally say, "Can I go urinate?" which was unexpected. Sometimes the boys ask to go to the gents. I had to go to the bathroom the other day for the first time so a teacher sent a student to go show me the teacher's bathroom. I was really impressed that they have their own bathroom because it's not uncommon for schools to have no bathrooms at all. So we go in the regular bathroom (which is co-ed) and she just points to a specific stall and tells me that's the teacher's bathroom. It wasn't any different than any other stall. And then of course, the sinks didn't work.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Cape Coast
Water update: We have not had water for almost four days now. I cannot do laundry and we cannot wash dishes. People have been buying bags of water that are meant for drinking (like choco b'sakit) and using them to bathe. Bottom line, we need water need water.
Anyways, last weekend we went to Cape Coast, which is about 4 hours away. Rivky, Zahava, and I were taken a day early and we got a private tour. We took a van that seats twelve people and schlepped our food for three days.
One of the most popular tourist sites is there- Elmina Castle, which we visited. This is one of the main forts that the Europeans used to keep the Africans in, before they boarded the ships to the New World. Generally, the slaves would stay in the "castle" for about a month in dire conditions before they were transported. The castle was fairly small and not much remains there. Our director was with us and asked how it compares to concentration camps in Europe. (Many people draw comparisons between visiting the camps and the castle because many African Americans are descendants of people who once inhabited the castle). The two experiences are completely different. Not much is known in terms of numbers regarding the castle and it's very small, as compared to the camps, which are massive. The camps are have extensive collection of artifacts, whereas the castles were basically empty rooms. However, many of the same emotions are felt at both types of cites and the focus on how humanity could have watched idly.
Afterward, we returned to the hotel and ate shabbos dinner, which could have been better, and just relaxed on Saturday.
On Sunday, we went to Kakum National Park, which has a canopy walk. It's basically a series of bridges that are high above most the trees. The bridges connect from tree to tree and are basically made from ropes with narrow wooden slates to walk across, so it feels very unstable. But, since the canopy walk was build in '95, no one has fallen off. Supposedly there are animals there. We saw ants. I really enjoyed the walk, though if you have a fear of heights, you may have a heart attack. My director says it's therapy for those who fear heights--so Mom, I think this is your excuse to come to Ghana.
Anyways, last weekend we went to Cape Coast, which is about 4 hours away. Rivky, Zahava, and I were taken a day early and we got a private tour. We took a van that seats twelve people and schlepped our food for three days.
One of the most popular tourist sites is there- Elmina Castle, which we visited. This is one of the main forts that the Europeans used to keep the Africans in, before they boarded the ships to the New World. Generally, the slaves would stay in the "castle" for about a month in dire conditions before they were transported. The castle was fairly small and not much remains there. Our director was with us and asked how it compares to concentration camps in Europe. (Many people draw comparisons between visiting the camps and the castle because many African Americans are descendants of people who once inhabited the castle). The two experiences are completely different. Not much is known in terms of numbers regarding the castle and it's very small, as compared to the camps, which are massive. The camps are have extensive collection of artifacts, whereas the castles were basically empty rooms. However, many of the same emotions are felt at both types of cites and the focus on how humanity could have watched idly.
Afterward, we returned to the hotel and ate shabbos dinner, which could have been better, and just relaxed on Saturday.
On Sunday, we went to Kakum National Park, which has a canopy walk. It's basically a series of bridges that are high above most the trees. The bridges connect from tree to tree and are basically made from ropes with narrow wooden slates to walk across, so it feels very unstable. But, since the canopy walk was build in '95, no one has fallen off. Supposedly there are animals there. We saw ants. I really enjoyed the walk, though if you have a fear of heights, you may have a heart attack. My director says it's therapy for those who fear heights--so Mom, I think this is your excuse to come to Ghana.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Start of my Internship
I started my internship this week, which entails teaching composition (aka writing) in a private school to upper elementary (8-11 year olds). So far, I have just been observing, but starting on Tuesday I will begin teaching.
Needless to say, this school (as are all schools in Ghana) is extremely different than in the States. The most notable difference is the use of caning. The teachers all have sticks that they hit the children with, which is really hard to watch. If a child doesn't listen or disrespects the teacher or any other number of offenses, s/he will most likely be beaten with the cane. On top of that, it is not just one or two smacks; rather the teacher generally beats the child several times. When this happens, I generally look away, literally holding back my tears. I was discussing this with my supervisor upon being asked some of the differences between Ghanaian and American schools, I told him about this difference. He basically just nodded and asked, "Well how you do discipline kids who do not listen?" And I told him that we have other forms of punishment, that does not involve physically hurting someone.
Other than this, there are tons of other differences. Whenever I enter the room, the children all rise and recite in unison, "Hello madame. We welcome you to our class" (or something to that effect that is a little longer). Also, though this is a private school where most of the children come from wealthy homes, the classrooms are pretty basic. They are basically a square room with old wooden desks and a chalkboard. Basically, the room looks like how I would picture a classroom in the early 20th century.
On Tuesday for my first day of teaching, we will focus on informal letter writing. I was basically given a syllabus and told to teach it. There is not much room for my personal creativity, but we'll see what happens.
Despite the differences, I enjoy the school so far. I really like the other staff and feel very comfortable there. I have a lot of leeway in terms of my hours and what subject to teach, which is great.
Needless to say, this school (as are all schools in Ghana) is extremely different than in the States. The most notable difference is the use of caning. The teachers all have sticks that they hit the children with, which is really hard to watch. If a child doesn't listen or disrespects the teacher or any other number of offenses, s/he will most likely be beaten with the cane. On top of that, it is not just one or two smacks; rather the teacher generally beats the child several times. When this happens, I generally look away, literally holding back my tears. I was discussing this with my supervisor upon being asked some of the differences between Ghanaian and American schools, I told him about this difference. He basically just nodded and asked, "Well how you do discipline kids who do not listen?" And I told him that we have other forms of punishment, that does not involve physically hurting someone.
Other than this, there are tons of other differences. Whenever I enter the room, the children all rise and recite in unison, "Hello madame. We welcome you to our class" (or something to that effect that is a little longer). Also, though this is a private school where most of the children come from wealthy homes, the classrooms are pretty basic. They are basically a square room with old wooden desks and a chalkboard. Basically, the room looks like how I would picture a classroom in the early 20th century.
On Tuesday for my first day of teaching, we will focus on informal letter writing. I was basically given a syllabus and told to teach it. There is not much room for my personal creativity, but we'll see what happens.
Despite the differences, I enjoy the school so far. I really like the other staff and feel very comfortable there. I have a lot of leeway in terms of my hours and what subject to teach, which is great.
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