Week 2

 

First a little video for you to enjoy -

http://56.photobucket.com/albums/g176/parkejm/?action=view&current=headsshoulderskneesandtoes.flv

Saturday 20th (Day 8)

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This morning we were all woken by the sound of "Uncle" being smacked, repeatedly, apparently for crying and not stopping - it sounded quite brutal.

Todays itinary was: Cape Coast for the internet, Hans Cottage for Lunch, Kakum for the treetop walk and home.

We booked Osmans taxi for the whole day and set off from Brenu.  The taxi was of the usual type, cracked windscreen, no stereo, only 1 or 2 windows could be moved, no speedo or other dash board functions, horn fully operational, passenger seat belt mechanism stripped to bare bones and rusting.  Thankfully the taxis are all so decrepit that they cannot go fast enough to cause any damage in the event of a crash.  The engine started sounding really rough on the way to Cape Coast - according to Osman fuel was getting into the carburetta.  He managed to nurse the car to a garage which gave me a chance to have a look at the engine (along with 4 mechanics).  In the dustiest, sandiest place I have ever been it was a shock to see the air filter had been removed, along with most of the electric wiring.  Several pipes were just cut in mid air and the pressure release on the radiator was blocked up.  One of the bolts in the carburetta had a stripped thread and was rotating freely and when they checked the spark plugs one of them was about an inch thick in black soot.  Also the fuel guage was faulty.  They changed the bad spark plug and we got going again (somehow).

In Cape Coast it was lovely to be able to chat with Janice over the internet, even though the connection was a bit of a problem.  I had taken my journal on a thumb drive and they were a bit troubled as only a couple of the PC's had USB ports.  They had to share it from the admin PC and were then shocked that I was able to hack to the drive without their help (as they had tried to lock all the machines down) - the joys of being a geekier geek.

After Cape Coast we headed off to Hans Cottage for lunch.  This is a crazy little crocodile farm in the middle of nowhere.  We left Mat and Morri by the pool while Emma, Osman and I went to Kakum, where there is a 7-stage arial walkway through the trees.  The climb to the walkway was murderous - both Emma and I struggled a bit - it was not far, but steep and very opressively hot and we are both less fit than we probably should be.  The walkways are good, although a little wobbly.  One guy in our tour was petrified, but full credit to him he did it.  On the trip around I was a bit shocked because some guys behind us came up to me and called me "Obruni" (white man).  The kids everywhere have been calling us this and I am OK with it, but coming from adults it sounded very offensive.  I think this is just something that can happen and I am not sure if it is meant to cause any level of offense or not.

We returned to Hans Cottage and collected the other two.  On the the way back to Brenu the car started making even worse noises.  Osman checked and cleaned the fuel pump, then decided we had run out of petrol.  He took a while to get petrol but then he had to suck some through from the tank and swig petrol from the can and spit/force it into the engine before he could start it.  Apparently he paid £3500 for this car 3 years ago and is the 3rd owner - and he does not have any money to buy a new one (the money for this one had been earned in the mines).  Therefore it will become more and more hacked about to keep it running.

When we got back there was a boy (Johnson) looking for Estha so he could get her to sign some forms to release payment for an operation on his stomach hernia (apparently the Sabre Trust was funding it).  We told him Estha was not available until Monday but he kept on at us - I am not sure if he was looking for us to give him money.  Eventually he did leave - I have arranged some reading tuition with him, but we did not give him any money.

Ended the day talking to Kwesi about religion.  He believes in God but has not been to church for a while and is starting to feel guilty and he was trying to understand our point of view.  I quite like these grown up discussions - Kwesi certainly makes you think about the world.

Sunday 21st (Day 9)

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Went to breakfast with the others, who were trying to decide how best to cope with their morning in church.  When they left I stayed back and chatted with Kwesi - I wanted to make sure we were not crossing a line with the conversations we have had (like challenging religious beliefs) - but he seemed OK with it.  We spoke a lot about the school and the teaching we are doing - I have offered some help to one of the waitresses to learn to read and write.  Apparently it is hard to get good teachers in Brenu due to the lack of facilities such as running water - although it does have electricity.  He has a very low opinion of the school and the quality of the children's English in particular (at any age).  And we both concluded that the Nursery and Kindergarten teachers need to be trained in teaching children and in English to make the most difference.

After breakfast I went to Elmina using the cheap route (Taxi to main road, Tro-Tro to Elmina junction, Taxi into the town) - this cost 13,000 Cedis in total (80p) and saved me a whole £1.40 (on a 30 minute journey).  It was quite fun doing the trip as the locals would do.

Walked around the market and the harbour - from what I saw I really like Elmina (I prefer it to Cape Coast).  I stopped at a roadside bar for a drink and chatted to Vivienne and Jeanette who ran it.  I asked where the Catholic church was (so I could go and meet the others) and had to explain that I was not in church because I did not believe.  Vivienne (the mum) was visibly shocked (almost looking traumatised) by this - it appears that is not something they have heard before.  She was lovely about it and wanted to pray for my soul - we spoke for a while about religion, with her daughter translating, before I eventually had to go - leaving her bewildered.

As I started to walk up the stairs to the church I was approached by a boy of about 12 who was pure muscle - like a lean body builder.  He was carrying a machete and he politely asked me for money.  I politely refused and carried on walking and that was fine - he didn't chase after me and ask again.  To be honest I don't think he realised he had a machete in his hands - he was not intending to be sinister/imposing, just begging some money.  Thats not to say it was not a little bit disconcerting.  In fact, I was approached several times in Elmina for money.

Found the church just as service had finished and joined the others to go to Paddys house.  We met his wife and one son and daughter.  His wife took one look at me and called me "the big boy".  She then continued that I must be rich as I am so fat.  Every couple of minutes she would look at me and mime how fat I was.  We actually think she thought this was a complement (fat = rich and prosperous) - but I can't say I enjoyed it.

Outside Paddys house we met one of his old students who is now a beautician and she joined us for the rest of the day.  She hardly spoke to us and the whole situation was a bit wierd.

We went to the castle - a fairly sobering place when you see the abuses suffered by the slaves.  Went for some lunch and then went to a posh hotel so that we could see the pool (£2 if we wanted to go and swim in the future) and, bizzarly, the door of the room Paddy stayed in for 5 days on a conference (either 105 or 102 if you are interested).  However, we walked out from the hotel and along a dusty road to the salubrious Oyster Bay hotel resort - it was so decrepit it looked to us as if it had been closed for about 10 years.  They have a man made rock pool.  This only cost 20p each to wade in (it wasn't very deep) - so we got a bargain.  The pool was fantastic for skimming stones - I counted at least 10 jumps on 3 or 4 occasions, but all in all I think I would rather have spent the extra £1.80.

When we got back home Johnson turned up for his lesson.  He is about 18, but cannot read or write.  I did the letters s, a, t, i, p and had him more or less reading and writing all combinations of words and sounds.  He took some paper home with him so he could do some homework (he asked for homework!).  The only thing he had trouble with was explaining what the words meant.  He could read the word "spit" and in conversation he knew what "spit" meant.  But he could not read the word and tell me what it meant.  The girls here suggested that understanding will come later.  Johnson is going to try and come around most nights.

After dinner I taught Kwesi phonics so he could help his waitress, and we said we would help as and when we could.  She is always busy when we are available

Monday 22nd (Day 10)

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Today at school we went back to teaching 's' but this time with Aggie teaching the class.  She wrote the 's' words we have used - snake, snail, sea, sun, sand.  I had to correct her spelling of snail (she wrote snial).  She then tried to explain the word sun - it went something like 'sun is sky', 'where sky, sun', 'the sky', and eventually got to 'the sun is in sky' and decided that was good enough and started the class repeating her - I had tried not to interfere, but felt she should include the word 'the' so the children learned the correct way to speak.  She looked a bit confused but then got them to say it properly.  Then she was repeating all the words and getting the children to say them many times off the trot.  Then she would point outside to the sea, sun, sand or sky - so I suggested we went on a field trip to the beach (50 yards away).  It was fairly successful - they behaved OK and maybe they understood more by hearing the sea more clearly and picking up the sand.  When Aggie told them to go back to the class room they started bundling their way back.  I got her to call them back and form 2 lines - 1 for boys and 1 for girls (they sort of got it rightish, but not really - but they made 2 lines, which is a start).  Then I marched the 2 lines back to class - part 1 of my Kindergarten Cop experiment is underway - I want to try and regiment them a bit as everything they do is in a swarm and with no control.

Aggie got them writing the letter 's' again.  Considering they have learned the letter with her last term and practiced last week it is distressing how many cannot write the letter the correct way round (or pick it correctly from 2 letters written on the board 's' and 'a').  Afterwards I started reading them a story and they just would not sit down and be quiet, so I put the book away and read them the riot act with Aggie translating - telling them that we are here to help them get a better future and that if they are good then we can get the boring stuff out of the way quickly and have time for more games - not sure if this what 5 year olds respond to but I am at a bit of a loss as to what else I can do.

I found out some more names today - "Serial Killer" is actually Samuel - a name I have had to use about a million times today, "Gremlin Boy" is Prince (what a cool name) and "Goggle Eyed Big Ear Girl" is Cecilia.  Also there is a boy with a mouth full of teeth and the only way I remember his name is as "Ebeneezar the Toothy Geezer".  Am I a bad man?

Aggy wanted to get the class to practice writing the number 7 after break so I cleverly spent break sharpening pencils to avoid the melee of broken pencils at the start of class.  As I was sharpening the pencils onto the sand outside the classroom (thats where I was told to do it - not my frst choice) I looked down and there was a boy picking up the shavings and eating them - with a huge grin on his face!  I tried to tell him it was wrong but he just picked up another bit and carried on eating.  Also managed to get a blister on my thumb with the amount of sharpening I was doing.

During the writing practice Aggie had to leave the class - complete pandemonium ensued as usual.  The kids crowded around me and would not go away and give me any space - I continued to try the technique of patiently repeating "please go and sit down" but got nowhere.  Then I got punched - not hard, but hard enough to know it was not an accident.  The boy looked up grinning at me and I made a snap decision to stop being nice and absolutely tore him to shreds (I hasten to add I am not proud) but as I shouted at him his grin faultered and then disappeared - I actually think it was the right thing to do because he was completely subdued and the class settled down really quickly.

Aggie is continuing to have headaches so tonight she is going to hospital.  Tomorrow she will bring in her daughters phone number so she can use my phone.  It was a statement not a request - this made me feel very uncumfortable.

After school we had to collect a bowl full of oranges and pineapples which had been given to us by the PTA as a 'thank you' for our help, which was lovely of them.  We also were given a Ghanaian apple by Dorkus (this is a bit larger than a pineapple, green with pointy dimples on the skin).  When we tasted this later it was very wierd, with big seeds, a texture not unlike durian, but it tasted of very little (certainly not apple).

On the way back from school I bumped into Esther and told her about my bad day.  She said the other groups of voluneers have had the same problems with a lack of discipline - at one point the last lot almost quit.  Its nice to know it is not just me, but it would be good if we could sort it out, otherwise all volunteers are going to suffer and will not be able to help the school maximise on their efforts.

It is lovely having the bar, beach and sea after work - I feel sorry for real teachers.  The waves in the sea are huge and good fun to jump through/body surf on (still no boogy board).  A coconut fell very close to me and they decided to harvest the trees around the bar (its amazing to watch the guys shinning up them).  Tried fresh coconut juice - tasted of coconut (unlike lemonade, which is what some people liken it to), although it is clear and not milky.  The flesh also tasted of coconut - funny that.  They thought we were weird in England for eating the brown furry coconuts - which they consider old and well past it.  They will not buy a coconut if it is not green and has been off the tree more than a day.

Spoke to Janice for some sympathy about being punched and my blister and she just laughed - the big meanie :-).  It was lovely talking to her.

Isaac came by to charge the MP3 player and he now wants to buy my CD player (as he cannot charge/update the MP3 player).  I told him that it cost about £20 (about 400,000 cedis) - he said he could afford half that (not sure I believe him).  I may end up giving it to him as he is a lovely and genuine guy.  He also said he has arranged drumming lessons on Wednesday - cool.

Tuesday 23rd (Day 11)

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 Slept badly - awake from 1:30 to 4 - I think I am worrying about school.

Told off 2 kids from Morri's class for fighting in the playground before school.  They ran off and refused to come back to me.  I left and it and waited for the classes to line up and go to the classrooms. The 2 boys waited until the last minute before joining and trying to sneak into class - unaware that both I and Morri were onto them.  Once her class were seated I called the 2 of them out of the class - they looked pertrified.  I gave them some stern words (keeping it short in the hope they would understand something) and then sent them back into class looking very subdued (Morri said they were very quiet for the whole morning).

Aggie has malaria but is still coming to school to teach the class (today was 'a' and 's' again).  Also practiced the number 7 again (it is getting worse not better - one kid wrote it as a backwards 4).  The best student in class wrote the letter 'a' backwards on the board and lots of them still cannot tell the difference between 'a' and 's'.  Helped Aggie spell ant, angry and apple.

Headmaster Paddy told us that a film crew is coming to the school tomorrow as part of an NGO program.  Mat, Morri and I get the privelege of not only being on telly but paying their cab fare home as well!  Great.  Paddy never asks us and never gives us any warning.

After lunch I went to bed and managed to sleep for a couple of hours.  Just after I woke up we had a power cut.  Apparently this occurs every 5 days and is due (as far as I could understand it) to the Ghanaian power company buying some shoddy equipment from a neighbouring country and it has to be shut down and be serviced every 5 days.  Fortunately the bar has a generator so we stayed there and played cards for a while.

On the way home I looked up at the stars.  Unfortunately the Harmattan stops too many stars from showing through, but Orion was beautifully visible (including belt and bow) almost directly overhead.  I waited for the others to go on for a while then turned off my torch and sat on the beach in the pitch dark looking at stars.  It was a lovely moment and, for the first time in Ghana, I said my first real hello to Hermie - its the sort of moment I would have loved to experience with her.

Wednesday 24th (Day 12)

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Due to the power cut there was no fan - and it was the hottest night of the trip so far - slept very badly again.

Got up and washed my towel so it would dry through the day - a different girl came and took the mick this time and then the original girl came by and laughed as well.  That's it - I am paying someone to do my washing from now on.

Not long after the start of school Aggie left the room and once again the kids scrummed around me.  One kid kicked me and I really lost my patience.  I picked him up and carried him the 200 metres to the headmasters office.  He started off giggling and then about half way he realised I was not stopping - he started thrashing and screaming (as I was walking past the Junior School classrooms) and then when I put him down outside the headmasters office he ran off round the corner.  Paddy was busy but Samuel (deputy head) came over and asked what had happened.  He went to talk to the boy and was laughing as he was talking to him and then came and told me the boy was only playing and had said he had actually slapped my hand. He then went on to say that 'he's a Ghanaian child - they are quite stubborn' as if that sorted it all out - and he even suggested the boy did not need to see the headmaster - all the while grinning (although on reflection it may have just been that he was unsure of the situation and it was a nervous grin).  I lost my patience again (I realise I am not looking too good at the moment).  I explained to him in quite strong terms that I had not paid to come out to a school so that children could kick and punch me, that I was giving up my own time to try and help the children and the school progress and do better and that I expected other teachers to actually support discipline - in the UK kicking a teacher is dealt with extremely harshly and I would expect the same level of discipline here.  He lost his grin and then we took the boy into the headmasters office (almost having to pick him up).  He refused to apologise and once again said he had only hit me on the back of the hand.  At that point I did not care that he kicked me - I wanted him punished for lying - as I think honesty is just about the most important thing to expect of anyone (how do teachers normally deal with this kind of situation?).  I left him with the headmaster and returned to class.  To be fair Paddy was giving him a good telling off as I left.

On the way back to class I stopped and talked to the other teachers (who were all in the library instead of in classrooms with the children).  One opinion was "the bible says 'spare the rod spoil the child' and you can see what is happening here".  I refuse to believe the only way to enforce discipline is with caning.  On a lighter note I am playing football on Friday - Teachers -v- Students.  They wanted me to choose between #6 and #8 - how the hell do I know?  I just run around like a lunatic and every now and then kick the ball (sometimes in the right direction).  I didn't tell them this but confidently said I like to play a bit of wing attack so number 8 (whatever all that means) - they looked bemused - maybe I should have said 6 and kept my mouth shut after that.

As I got back to my class Morri kindly came and asked how I was as she had seen me carrying the boy.  She said that my class had all just stopped dead in their tracks as they could not believe I was actually going through with taking him to the headmaster.  We joked that as I had returned without him maybe I should go into class picking my teeth, rubbing my belly and belching :-)

We had double excitement today - Emma came to school to give a handwashing talk/demonstration to each class, and the film crew turned up (with the poxiest hand held JVC home video camera).

Emma started with my class and even with 2 teachers in the room it exploded into mayhem when she asked for a volunteer to demonstrate handwashing.  Afterwards she made me feel better by saying that of all the classes she has done this to (which is about 30) - mine was by far the worst behaved she had encountered.  However she did teach them the handwashing song (shown phonetically in Fante) and they seemed to remember it:

Wo Ho San

Fes A Men Eye Ay

San E Hey

(Wash your hands

Use soap

That is good)  or something like that

Esther also came into my class to be interviewed and afterwards stayed for 10 minutes - it was amazing the immediate difference she made.  She was able to communicate with the children (in Fante and English) and they showed her immediate respect.  Apart from my own failings with the class I think this shows the problems the class faces with Aggie in charge.  She can just about control them, but cannot communicate with them well enough (in either language).

Later on, Aggie once again left the class.  This time Morri came over to try and help (I think she realises how tough I am finding things at the moment).  In the end we both walked out and left them to it - I think she gained a real insight in the hell that is "Nursery 3".

Towards the end of the day I took them out side to play the chasing around a circle game - but every time someone got caught they all had to write a letter in the sand in front of them. This worked quite well (2 even drew a snake in the shape of 's' for that letter - I felt so proud of both of them) - it gave me a chance to see how they were progressing and did not make it a chore for them - maybe I will try that again.  When we got back in class there was only 10 minutes left so I did some singing with the kids and got a video of them doing "head and shoulders knees and toes" and "if your'e happy and you know it" - they are good at this and I enjoy singing with them - it stops them beating me up :-)    On replaying the video there is a classic moment of one of the children using a cane to whip several others on the way back to their desks - such sweet children they are.  I am also trying to teach them "Row, row, row your boat", with a view to getting a full accapella, alternating-start chorus line - so far they best they have achieved is:

Row, row, row ya bow

Genly down the stee

mearly mearly mearly

li sput drim

After school we went to a town called Kissi with Isaac to visit a "Community Centre" for drumming lessons.  About 10 minutes into the lesson the founder (a German woman) came over and interupted the lesson and basically told us to sod off and what did we think we were doing as our drumming was disturbing the childrens dancing lesson and that they don't give drumming lessons.  I got really pissed off with her as she kept looking at me as she said it - so I had a go at her and told we had booked and were paying and she continued to have a go (even though she must have realised that it was her managers that had arranged it for a few extra quid).  I have no problem with her stopping the lesson if it should not have been going on, but her manner was completely out of order.  We left and and would discourage anyone from going there as she was so unwelcoming.  It turns out she has set up a bicycle workshop which is competing with local workshops and the woodworking class is turning out furniture for her volunteers at the moment - all in all we did not like her or her communities values.  Poor Isaac - he looked heartbroken as he had arranged it all in good faith.

We wandered through Kissi - which has an open sewer, lots of ramshackle buildings/shops, possibly typical of a number of towns in the area.  As we were walking around town I bumped into a guy I had met at Hans Cottage (the crocodile place).  The guys with me looked thrown for a second as this guy called out 'Steve' and we exchanged the Ghanaian handshake greeting - its quite cool bumping into someone like that.

When we got home I had some good news - my contract has come through - so I feel more secure about my new job now.

Tonight Francis came round for some tuition.  We started Phonics 101 Intermediate level.  He can read to a level, but cannot articulate the words he does not know (which he should be able to with phonics).  He got on OK and when I had to leave him whilst I got ready for dinner he happily sat there making and reading words using the letter 'flash cards'.

Went for dinner and played cards and then got home at about 10pm to find Johnson on the doorstep waiting for a tutorial.  I told him to come back at a reasonable time tomorrow (he is also pestering Emma and Esther to get an operation for free).

Arranged to get my washing done - the most they will charge (I haggled up) is 1000 cedis (6 pence) per item.

The Harmattan is certainly clearing as we saw the moon for the first time tonight.  Also, todays temperature topped out at 31 degrees and the night-time temperature was 29 degrees (C).

All in all this was by far my least favourite day so far.

Thursday 25th Jan 2007 (Day 13)

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The day started with Paddy telling me that we were taking his friend to lunch (and therefore paying) as he will be giving us a lift to the radio station later.  I was not tuned in correctly but Mat observed that he probably meant he was joining us as well, but just had not said it.

As I went past Nursery 2 the teacher was ushering the children out and told me that they had been told to join Nursery 1.  This left a room free.  I had a flash of insperation - we could use it for remedial tuition.  Then Paddy spoke to Morri who got to the bottom of the original problem: Ghana's schools commission only caters to 2 levels of Nursery - so Paddy decided to rename mine (Nursery 3) as 2 and join classes 2 and 1 and call it Nursery 1 - therefore they must be in the same room.... It was obviously too hard to leave class 1 split over 2 rooms.  Morri told him to call them 1A and 1B - Paddy loved the idea and the classes were split back into their original rooms with the new names.  I then got Paddy to buy-into my idea and arrange a room for it - we found an abandoned room and Paddy got some Junior School kids to come and clean it out.  We now have a sanctuary where, starting Monday, we can take small groups (up to 5?) of the least advanced kids and give them more personal tuition to get them to a suitable level (drawing 's' the correct way round for instance).  Hopefully this will help focus some of them and allow us to make better use of the phonics method of teaching.  This may also help the teachers as these kids are the ones who usually start the trouble in a group.  Even better though, for me it is a way of escaping my hell hole of 30+ kids.  Once again I had slept badly - a mixture of the heat and dread of going to school.

Aggie had them all writing the letter 't' in their books.  The good pupils always finish about 1hr before the others (they had to write the letter 't' about 20 times). They were getting bored and fractious so I found a pile of wooden jigsaws (there were enough to go around the whole class which was good) and handed them out to people as they finished.  This was working well, as they finished one jigsaw they swapped it for a new one (about 10 different pictures).  Then Aggie had to take the register for Nursery 1 (not sure why). She told me she was going and I asked her to tell the children to behave.  Within 1 minute of her leaving the class exploded again - its always the same; one of the snotty thick ones walks up the front and tries to get something (chalk, jigsaw, pencil) I tell them to stop and go back to their desk, repeating as necessary.  Then one of his mates (they are usually boys, but not always) joins in - while the first one goes back to his desk the other one tries sneaking around.  Then one of the concientious ones 'helps' by grabbing an arm and dragging boy 2 back towards his desk, then boy 1 and boy 2 punch boy 3 and after that its pointless me being there.  So I walked out and left them.  Things seemed to calm down and as soon as I walked in the room it started again.  I told them all to sit down and instead they started to bring the jigsaw boxes to the front (cannot fathom why) - which caused fights because some children wanted to be the ones to put them onto the pile.

I called across to a teacher in another classroom and Maggie came over, told the children off then Aggie came back and explained why she had left.  I then alerted Maggie to the fact that due to her absence her class (with Morri) were now spilling out of the doors and windows, reminiscent of a bar fihgt scene in an old western, and she rushed off.  Aggie then made the children go to sleep.  About 10 minutes later, as I was getting all the jigsaw pieces in the right boxes, she asked me what I was going to do with them next - so I told her I didn't know - it was pointless me trying because it has no effect.  Instead of punishing the children she then sent them to their second break early after their nap, whilst telling me the reason they are so unruly is because I (as in me) had stopped the teachers using the cane.  This is actually a policy of the Sabre Trust - through whom I got this placement.  I must say though that no matter how frustrated I get and how much I might want to give the children a good slap I never will, as it was never done to me and I see no reason for it.  It is a lazy method of discipline.  I have decided I will try and write up some kind of punishment charter - with some ideas of what can be done when to best effect.  For example in todays situation I might have kept them at their desks straight through break and I would have made them sit up, not go to sleep.

This is not an easy thing to solve (at least for my class), and there are a host of pressures that I guess/hope are less common in the UK such as:

- Fatigue - the kids are often made to carry out quite demanding physical chores before school and/or in the afternoons (or even during class if it is their turn to collect drinking water and fill the poly tank)

- Malnutrition - they do not get the food they need, often chewing sugar cane or having maize water or rice for breakfast and having their next meal in the evening.

- Dehydration - Although water is available they do not seem to drink very much at all

- Illness - with the quality of the water, going to toilet in the playground, lack of hand washing, and malnutrition they are more susceptible to illness and this makes them miss school or be ill at school (has happened in Moris class several times)

- Language - the younger children only really speak Fante and the kindergarten and nursery teachers speak English quite badly - so communication is a problem..

- General Discipline - The cane was easy to dish out, so there are no alternative methods of punishment/discipline.  They have not even been drilled into lining up at teachers desks to hand in work (it is always a scrum) and the teachers don't even take a register in the morning so they don't know who is there (one of my current missions with Aggie).  Also the teachers give mixed messages such as, during class, selling seeds to eat, but telling off the children for eating in class.

- Heat - It is often too hot to do prolonged physical activities so the kids have a lot of pent up energy.  But the heat also makes it hard to concentrate for long periods of time.

- Class size - with 35-40 pupils at any one time it is hard to give them the attention you need and there are more friction points available as well.  Also it is often hard to find enough resources and games to meet every childs wants/needs.

- Teaching quality - the teachers do not have teaching qualifications for nursery and kindergarten and I certainly feel there is a lack of quality teaching in my class (myself included).

- Teaching materials - having to use chalk and slate (or even chalk and desks) or inch long pencils that keep breaking must cause the children huge amounts of frustration.  But I was told they had been given donations of teaching materials and not to bring much with me - so I am not sure what is going on there - a question for Paddy when is back in school next week.

After 2 hours of this it all got too much and reduced me to tears during the second break - I have never felt so frustrated and helpless.  Fortunately a call to Janice helped get my head sorted a bit (I am sure homesickness is playing a large part here as well).  I even contemplated jacking it in and either just having a holiday for the last 2 weeks or coming home.  I genuinely feel that if the kids cannot be brought into line then it is pointless volunteers coming here, because so much effort is wasted and I am sure there are other projects that could make more efficient use of our time.  Hopefully the remedial/special classes will provide a route to adding value.  We finished the day with a test - each student writing 's' on the board. 1 failed to write anything and 17 need to go straight to remedial classed as their 's' was backwards.  I would guess a further 10 are bordeline fail as the scrawl was awful, verging on illegible.  Not bad in a class of about 35.  They were taught the letter 's' last term and have been doing it on at least 4 days of this term - bodes well really.

After lunch with Paddy and his friend we were taken to Elmina and dropped off at a Shell garage where we bought a Magnum ice cream each - mmmmmmmm.

Paddy then tried to get us an adience with the regional chief of police (telling the guardsman on duty that we had asked to talk to the chief...), but he was away on business.  So we made our way to the second floor of the third flat to the left and walked into someones living room which had about 8 people watching pap day time telly and listening to the radio.  There was a desk with a computer (but with no cables) and a huge sofa.  All the people were DJ's.  At 4:30 we were ushered through a door marked "Staff Only" past the kitchen and down the hall into what was intended to be a back bedroom but was now the studio for "99.5 FM Friendship Radio" (or something like that).  The DJ was hilarious and we were all trying to avoid eye contact and then I clocked Emma crying into her dress - she had a fit of the giggles and there was no stopping her. Our show started and it was all in Fante.  Then there was a painful silence and we realised we were being introduced (in Fante).  Then Paddy started talking, reading paragraph 22 of the highway code (which I had commented on when he had passed the booklet to me earlier) - which was about the roadworthiness of cars - a bit of a joke in Brenu.  Then the DJ asked Mat and I about our thoughts on the roads/transport - Mat talked about the state of the vehicles and the dangerous driving, I made a point about a lack of crash helmets on motor bike riders.  Paddy and his co-presenter "Uncle British" (I kid you not) picked up on the helmet thing, which was nice.  After 30 minutes the show ended and we left (after Paddy asked me for some money to help him pay the DJ with - can't say I was happy, even if it was only about 70p).

B*****r me but the first 2 vehicles we saw outside were motor bikes and both riders were wearing helmets - it must have been a good show :-). Up to then I had only seen 1 crash helmet between about 50 bike riders.  We waited for a taxi and one that was going in the wrong direction did a u-turn, kicked out its fair and picked us up as the driver had been listening to the radio station and had then seen us 4 "Obrunis" come out of the road from the radio station and wanted to have us in his car.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful thankfully - spent a lot of it thinking about the whole school situation and trying to keep things in perspective:  This is a fantastic opportunity that few people get, the kids are actually quite adorable on the whole, I am probably making some difference because the teachers are being supported and we are helping the quality of the English in general.  Also outside of school there are quite a few children who are being tutored.  Even this diary may help future volunteers to this kind of project be better prepared (hopefully not put off).  I am staying in a beautiful village by the sea - something that few volunteers get to do whilst on their projects.  Certainly more positives than negatives.

As we were leaving to come home from dinner Mat and I were commenting on the state of our matresses and I asked Kwesi about the typical bedding for a Ghanaian in Brenu.  The majority use mats on the floor, some people have straw and a couple may have a matress.  He went on to say that as this is a fishing village and does not have a lot of wealth, most people would have had a mat for most/all of their lives and because they rarely leave the village and so few people have a TV they probably don't even realise that matresses exist and even if they did they could never afford one.  It is easy to forget just how sanitised our view is - we live about 30 yards from the start of the village, in a compound with electricity, proper toilet and a water tank.  Quite basic by our standard but a world apart from the people living so close by.  We interact with so many members of the village quite closely every day and I find it easy to believe that I am living as part of a rural community, but this is not quite true.

Friday 26th January (Day 14)

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The day of the big match - started well with a stomach upset and a painful ankle.  We were told to be ready for 8am, the match ended up starting at 9 - just as the sun was really starting to beat down.  The pitch was a bit of the beach with different stripes of hard and soft sand and large furrows and holes.  All in all not like a grass or astroturf pitch in England.  Did not run around like a loon as it was too hot.  I managed to miss a penalty I was ordered to take (but then so did Mat). In the end though I gave a good account of myself.  The Ghanaians seem to like kicking the ball at each other instead of into space to run onto and also do not like to dribble (although that may be local knowledge due to the state of the pitch).  They seemed to appreciate my efforts of running with the ball and passing into space.  Between us Mat and I drunk about 3 litres of water during the 1hr match.

After we had cooled down and showered we all went into Cape Coast.  We had to stop on the way to buy coach tickets to Accra for Emma and Esther as Emma is leaving tomorrow.  At the shop there we bought Salt and Vinegar Pringles and a Twix - food has never tasted so good.

I went to Cape coast primarily to use the internet to chat to Janice but I also needed to change money, look for a wallet (to stop mine being ruined with the mountain of notes and the heat/sweat) and try and find some speakers for my cd player.  I quickly looked in one shop for speakers then bumped into Agre (project manager for the new school buildings  being built in Brenu with the help of the Sabre Trust).  I told him had just been looking for speakers and he immediately route marched me around town to find some.  He did not seem to listen when I said I was happy to give up and speak to my wife instead.  It was good of him to put himself out and try so hard to help but I ended up absolutely drenched in sweat with the heat, my 'football legs' hurting and only 10 minutes on the internet.

When we got back to Brenu Estha had Fu Fu waiting for us - this is a traditional dish made by pounding boiled casava or Yam to the consistency of bread dough (ish) and then served with a sweet and savoury broth/gravy - in our case with chicken.  The Fu Fu is pretty much flavourless, but is a good carrier for the broth.  We also had rice balls to mop up the left over broth and then later some of the best spring rolls I have ever tasted.  Esther is hopefully going to give me the recipe for the broth - yum yum.

We then went to the beach with the boogie board that Morri had found in Cape Coast - it is amazing fun.

Spoke to mum before dinner - with a trail of children constantly clinging onto me or following me - it can get a bit tiring after a while - even if they are cute.

Went for our beach party for Emma.  There was a lovely bonfire on the beach and buffet.  Isaac and Esther came along and it was nice to sit and talk to them for more than just 5 minutes.  Ether was saying that Brenu is the only school she knows of in the area with the discipline problem - and was happy to take a look at any ideas I drew up.

Came home and swapped photos between cards (Emmas camera had started playing up during the holiday so she picked her favourites from mine and Morris cameras).  This set me off looking at all the photos I have on the laptop - it was nice winding down the day looking at images from home.

OK - week 2 over and done with. Here's to week 3 and hopefully some improvement in the kids.