Star Gazing in Africa

The rooster crows even if the power is out
usually at 3:30 am.  People don't eat
their chickens, it seems.  I wish they
would make an exception for this one.

September’s full moon was very early in the month so I expect there to be another one before the end of the month. They call that a blue moon, I think. A few days ago the moon was a slim slit in the early evening sky like a Cheshire cat with it’s head tilted slightly to the south. Now the crescent is filling up with moon like a large cup in the sky; in a week or so it will be full again. Electrical power fails almost every night for a couple hours. Two days ago a thunderstorm took it out until sometime after school started the next day.  We have power in the school but we don’t usually use it so it doesn’t affect us much if it goes out. 

I love it when power fails on a clear moonless night. The stars are phenomenal.  The milky way is clear and I think I could see Gemini, Taurus and Draco all lined up.  I wish I had the star mapper that I used to have on my old laptop so I could be sure.  The African sky is amazing, but it's been 50 years since i took the class.  Of cou cannot see the north star.  If it’s not under the horizon, the light from Bekwai obscures the north.

Bicycles

It works fine now.

Last week I bought a bicycle.  One of the teachers took me to Kumasi this morning (Saturday) and we picked out a nice looking used trail bike.  I bought it without riding it.  I would never have done that at home.  But it looked solid.  When I got it home I rode and the shifters didn’t seem to work. I should have stopped and checked them, but I didn’t need to shift so I rode along.  It felt so good to be riding again.  We’ll I didn’t go far and the pedal slipped like it wasn’t connected.  So I stopped and found that one of the idler wheels in the rear shifter had fallen out and though I could find the axle bolt, I could not find the wheel. So I walked it home, the proud owner of a disabled used bicycle. That very nigh, I had not quite finished this writing about this to a friend and my neighbor, James came to my door with a man who fixes bicycles!  He looked at it and said he would come by in the morning and fix it.  Being an Adventist he prefers to work on Sunday. When I got back from church my bike was together, working and oiled.  I rode it every day except  one rainy morning and it feels great! Today i even rode to Bekwai, 5km and 3 hills away.

Teaching and Learning

I taught Beatrice, my neighbor's sister,
to ride. The first time, she stayed up with
almost no help.

I had and interesting science class last week.  The school held an early morning assembly and showed the students a video on malaria. My class was partly superseded by the assembly, but when we went to the Form 1 room, it was locked–both doors.  No one had a key that would work.  I tried to have the student do the study out doors, but they were not doing it very well and there are only about half enough books to go around.  So I gathered some of them at one end of the building and said if they would teach me a Twi song, I would teach them and American song.  So we did that and some of them seemed to enjoy it.

Finally I suggested to the head master that I could unscrew the hasp with my swiss army knife. He said do it.  two screws came out fine, but two were stripped and wouldn’t back out. The head master whacked them out with one of the student’s cutlasses (machete) and we got in for the last 10 minutes of my period.  The HM suggested that we use the sports period for science, but my pupils had already observed that the social studies teacher Madam Frema wasn’t there so we used her period and my kids got their sports period after all.

Madam Frema is teaching Social Studies to my Form 1 students.

Teaching here is interesting.  I’m never sure they understand my American English and a few of them don’t read at all.  They copy the words from my chalkboard, but words like observation, and experimentation, and factorization are not in their active vocabularies.  Few know their multiplication tables and long division seems to be a new topic to everyone.  I teach two extra early morning periods where I try to drill the basics in mathematic. But it’s hard to see improvement yet.  Still it is only the third week and it is their first year in Junior High School. 

Kwame

I enjoy my neighbors, Esther and James, and visiting Kwame, a friend about my age, who is teaching me Twi slowly enough so that I can understand what he says.  He’s been around.  He worked as an clerk in the docks at Tema and learned to speak good English from the sailors and merchants he worked with there.  I get with him almost every evening for practice and some new words.  Friday is Founder’s Day in Ghana, so I taught Beatrice, my neighbor’s young sister how to ride the bicycle and then practiced with Kwame.  Now it’s time to finish my lesson plans for next week. Tests in both Math and Science.  We'll see how we're doing. 

Actually Teaching

Sweeping the school yard on the first day of school, Monday
September 3rd.

I'm into my second week of teaching.  It's only Tuesday and already i have taught 4 classes–three Math and one science class.  I think it's going better than the first week, but I'm learning and finding that my students will agree with things i say that they absolutely do not understand. Since these are first year (Form 1) junior high school student, my headmaster is very concerned that some of them are not ready for the work.  I gave them a simple multiplication test.  Most did okay, but there are a few who may not be ready yet.  Some of them have already been held back so we probably wont send those back.

Sad Week

Last week was a sad week in Sanfo/Aduam.  On the first Monday of school I was informed that the woman who operated a little store in Aduam where I often bought bread for my morning egg sandwich had died. On Wednesday they told me a young girl who would have been in my Form 1 classes died.  I passed near her home on the way to visit my twi teacher, Mr.  Kwame and met a group dressed in the traditional black and red mourning clothes and greeted them with the “mo nshe den” (transliterated and translated “have strength/endure” and shook hands with each thinking it was for the young girl.  On reaching Kwame I was told that a young man in his 40’s near by had also died very near the same compound.  So I don’t know which occasion these people were “enduring”.  Later in the week I passed another compound in a different place that had chairs an awnings set up for a funeral, and my counterpart, Tim, said that a relative of his too had died and he would miss some of school to meet with the family.

Funeral Awnings for Elizabeth Yaboah, the operator of the store where I regularly bought
tea bread for our breakfast sandwiches. She was widowed and had lived a full life
so I expect there will be drinking and dancing tonight

Funerals tend to be celebrations for people who lived full lives.  They play amplified music all night  and dance, drink and greet.  For the young it is more of a sad occasion.  My headmaster, Mr Bruce, said it has been a sad week in Sanfo.  I asked if he knew the causes.  He did not.

Prefect Elections

Last Friday, my science class was superseded by the election of the school officers (the Boy’s and Girl’s Prefects). That is like a student body president with a little more authority–they actually direct the work for cleaning the school compound and the formation of the morning and after school assemblys.  Mr. Bruce, who  is also Assemblyman for Sanfo/Aduam, wanted to conduct the election like the national presidential elections that will be held in Ghana in December. So three Form 3 boys and three girls were nominated for each position early in the week by the faculty.  They each prepared campaign speeches and elections were to be held using secret ballots.   Friday arrived and all the students assembled in one of the classrooms together with drums.  Only two of the boys stood, but they and all three girls gave excellent speeches.  The students cheered as loudly as if these students were running for national office. Two drums added to the excitement.  The Form 1 students will have to work hard if they want to be as good. Mr Tim (my counterpart teacher) prepared ballots, I prepared a ballot box, and Madam Linda (a colleague) and I judged the proceedings as the students passed through the room one at a time to cast their ballots by marking a secret ballot with their thumb print from an ink pad.  One of the boys won by a landslide.  Two of the girls nearly tied, only two votes different.  I suggested to Mr Tim, that in America, since neither girl had a clear majority a run-off or at least a recount would be in order.  In Ghana they don't mess around.  Two votes are enough, so Sanfo/Aduam Municipal Assembly Junior High School has two new Prefects.  Life goes on.

On to Sanfo-Aduam

“A Peace Corps Volunteer is a person who, finding a cup of water that is half full, will take a bucket bath in it.”  CD Mike Koffman

Headquarters Accra

Luciano and I were driven right to the PC headquarters for our medical work on Sunday morning. We didn’t have to wait for a lorry or anything–what babies we were.  Actually lou is the oldest in our group and I’m second oldest.  People treat us very nice in Ghana.  Monday was a holiday so no tests until Tuesday. Without any thing to do we got an American style breakfast,  I bought some real sharp cheddar cheese at a western style (expensive) grocery/department store, and I bought expensive Ghanaian food for dinner.  I spent over 30 c for food that day (yikes!)  our per diem is 8 c/day!  I reined my spending and don’t think I spent more than 5 c all day on Tuesday–I even skipped the new Batman movie (10 c).

Ghanaian’s are reputed to be genuinely helpful– especially to old people.  Giftie, one of the PC trainers, told us, if we need directions, to ask a child, a woman or an older man.  She said we should be careful about younger men.  They are just as helpful in Ghana and most of them are fine too, but people who might lead you to a place where you could be robbed or worse, are virtually all young men.

So I left HQ bright and early Wednesday morning to go to my station. Lou stayed back for another test. so  I left with Jenn a PCV who offered to carry one of my bags.  She balanced it on her head and we walked to catch a cab or lorry.  She negotiated a 2 cd ride for both of us to the lorry stop and helped me get on a lorry to the central station. 

The central station made no sense at all.  I couldn’t even see where the buses parked.  So I asked a young woman how to get to the VIP bus station.  She insisted on taking one of my bags on her head and showed me where it was.  It was across a very busy divided road, so she negotiated a 3 cd ride with a cab, who took me through two very long traffic queues to the station.  In the second, he pulled up on the right to the second car in the left turn lane and spoke to the other driver who let him cut in. I asked if he were a friend and the driver said yes, but Ghanaians tend to answer “yes” to most questions unless you ask them to reduce the price.

The ride to Kumasi was in a large comfortable bus.  There was a lot of construction until we reached the eastern region, close to my homestay town (Anyinasin). But it was smooth thereafter.  In Kumasi, I had to find the Bekwai lorry stand.  A young woman asked me where I was going, took my bag on her head and said “follow me”.  She asked at three rows of lorries in a packed station and we had to cross a busy road (not too hard when traffic is jammed), but finally she found the ticket guy and we bought the ticket.  My counterpart met me in bekwai and helped find the line cab  to Sanfo.  He drives a drop cap himself so he had to go back to work.  Line cabs follow a route and are cheap, drop cabs take you exactly where you want to go and are more expensive.

The Net's up the room is sparce but large.  I'm good.

Anyway I made it to my house, my neighbors were gone and the room was locked so I walked into town and bought some oranges and bread without speaking English. I didn’t bargain much because the prices were better than accra or new tafo, but I felt good because on the way my Ghanaian women helpers did all the bargaining for me. My neighbor, madam Esther (She also teaches at my school), soon arrived and helped me sweep it a bit and put up my net.  It is good to be here.  I will shop for some things for my room and see if I can make it feel more like home and a place where a visitor might want to stop on her or his way to the Cape Coast.

Ghanaian Folk & Spider Stories

Kwaku Anansi and Ghanaian Folk Tales

The many Ghanaian cultures use folk tales to instruct the young and the old in good conduct and acceptable behavior.  Animals replace humans in the stories to make them more humorous and acceptable to people of all ages.  Every story contains a moral so that mothers can use them to guide their children as well as entertain them and enrich their imaginations.  Elephants, hippopotami, hares, snails, ants and tortoises figure in the stories, but the most famous of all is the spider, Kwaku Anansi (or Ayiya in the Ewe regions). 

“The role ascribed to this creature is always ignoble.  He is permanently trying to trick and deceive his way through life but despite innumerable attempts to defeat him, he survives all the snares laid for him.  He is the true trickster figure, the one we love to hate who appears in various guises (aka br’er rabbit) in folk tales all over the world.”[1]

---

[1] Anna Cottrell, Once Upon a Time in Ghana, Troubadour Press, 2007, pp xxii,xxiii

Kwaku Ananse and the Glue Man

Once upon a time Kwaku lived with his wife and 3 children.  Kwaku Ananse was a farmer and had a big farm where they plant vegetables and yams. Kwaku Ananse did not like to share all his food so when the food was ready Kwaku Ananse pretended to be sick.  He then told his wife and children that he is going to die, and if he die they should bury him in his farm.  They should use cooking utensils like pots and pans and spoons and mortars and pestles when they bury him. About a week later Kwaku Ananse died. When he died, his wife and children did as he told them to do.  After the death of Kwaku Ananse, in three days time, Kwaku Ananse’s wife and children began to realize people have been stealing food from their farm. The wife and children think it was a thief who was stealing their food, not knowing that Kwaku Ananse himself had been eating the food.  So one day, someone told Kwaku Ananse’s wife to make something called a “glue man” to catch the thief. They carved a tree so it looked just like a man and poured glue on the tree and they put the glue man in the farm. 

Let go of my hand or I'll hit you
with my foot

The next night Kwaku Ananse wake up to prepare some food and eat it when he saw glue man.  Kwaku Ananse ask glue man: “Who are you and what do you want on my farm?”  Glue man didn’t mind Kwaku Ananse so Kwaku Ananse told glue man “Go away from my farm or I’ll hit you!” Glue man didn’t mind Kwaku Ananse, so Kwaku Ananse used his right hand to hit glue man and his hand stick.  He said to glue man “Let go of my hand or I’ll hit you again!” Glue man didn’t mind so Kwaku Ananse hit glue man with his other hand and his other hand stick.  He told glue man: “Let go of my other hand or I’ll hit you with my leg!”  Glue man didn’t mind Kwaku Ananse so he used his leg and that leg also stick. Kwaku Ananse said “Glue man, let go of my hands and my legs or I will hit you with my head.  Glue man didn’t mind nothing Kwaku Ananse say so he used his head and it also stick. 

The next morning Kwaku Ananse’s wife and children come to the farm, they met Kwaku Ananse hanging on glue man, so they hoot at Kwaku Ananse and Kwaku Ananse was  ashamed. When they freed Kwaku Ananse he ran away and hide in the corner of the house.  That is why spiders always hide in corners.

The lesson is not to be so selfish with your things that you do not share them with your wife and children.  

Stories by Ama Ago, Illustrations by Melissa Rudge

Kwaku Ananse and the Six Children

Long, long ago there lives Kwaku Ananse and his six children in a small village. One day Kwaku Ananse heard there was going to be a feast in the four villages near him. Kwaku Ananse knew there was going to be food in all of these four villages and Kwaku Ananse wanted to eat all the food in the four villages.

All four children pulled their rope at
the same time

So Kwaku Ananse sent two of his children to go and visit the villages and tell him the food they are preparing.  Then Kwaku Ananse give four ropes to each of the four remaining children. Kwaku Ananse told the four children to tie the ropes around his waist and take the rope to go to each village. Kwaku Ananse told them when food is ready they should pull the rope so he would first know food is ready in that village before anybody else. But Kwaku Ananse was unfortunate. All four villages got food ready at the same time and all four children pulled the rope at the same time.  So Kwaku Ananse couldn’t move to any of the villages.  He stand in one place and all four children pulled him so he died.

If Kwaku Ananse was not so greedy, he could have gone to one village and had plenty of food to eat.

Ama & Melissa

The Animal’s Kingdom-a Ghanaian Story

Once upon a time there lived all the animals.  All the animals sin against Nana Nyankopon,  so Nana Nyankopon decide to punish them. Nana Nyankopon decide not to let the rain fall. So there wasn’t rain for so many years that all the trees in the forest started dying.  The animals did not get water or food to eat so most of the animals die.  So they pray to Nana Nyankopon and Nana Nyankopon told them he would forgive them. But in order to let the rain fall, there is a big tree on the big mountain. They should go and climb the mountain and ask the mountain the name of the tree.  If the mountain tell them the name of the tree they should climb down the mountain and shout the name of the tree and then there would be rain for them.

So the animals were glad.  They decided to send the fast and brave animal to go and find the name of the tree. So the king of the animals asked them to gather under the big tree in the kingdom. The king of the animals announced to them whoever would go the mountain and get the name of the tree would be king and he would be dethroned.

So Lion told them he was brave and strong and he would go and bring the name of the tree.  Lion run up the mountain and he ask the mountain the name of the tree and the mountain told him. He run down the mountain but unfortunately he forget the name of the tree.  The other animals were unhappy. Hare was fast and smart so hare decide to go to the mountain and get the name of the tree.  He run up the mountain. The mountain told him the name of the tree and he run down the mountain, but unfortunately he also forget the name of the tree.

High Five

Then Tortoise and Snail say they are small and slow but they would go and bring the name of the tree.  All the animals laugh at them because they know that Tortoise and Snail can’t even climb the mountain. Tortoise and Snail walk so slowly it take many years to reach the mountain.  They ask the mountain the name of the tree and the mountain told them then they walk slowly down the mountain.  It took them so many years all the animals forget about them; they think they are dead. So one day the animals were thinking about themselves and all of a sudden Tortoise and Snail appear and they shout the name of the tree: “The Wishing Tree”. All the animals were surprised and happy.  It then rain so there was enough food and water for everyone to eat and drink. They make Tortoise and Snail king of the animals.

Moral: Two heads are better than one.  Lion was strong and brave but couldn’t make it.  Hare was fast and smart but couldn’t make it.  Tortoise and Snail were able to make it even though they were small and slow.  Nana Nyankopon is God.

Story by Ama Ago, Illustrated by Melissa Rudge

Meet my Peace Corps Homestay sister Ama, the author of the Ghanaian Stories in my Blog.

My name is Cecilia Ago Asantewaa.  I will begin Form 2 (Grade 8) in Anyanisin Presby JHS in September.  I like school and church, and I like to play ampe and volleyball.  I want to study to become a journalist.  I am a member of the 4H club at my school. The crops I grow in the school garden are carrots, cabbage and lettuce. I love my friends and my family.

(by the way, Ama was the #1 student in her Form 1 class.  I have 5 of her stories which I hope to use for part of my training here.  Most of them are about the famous spider, Kwaku Anansi, but not all.)

ghanaian folk stories

Why Hippo-po-ta-mus Sleep in the Water

Long, long ago, all the animals were living together in one place.  Every year Hippopotamus organize a feast for all the animals. During one of the feasts Hippopotamus ask all the animals his name. But none of the animals was able to tell Hippopotamus his real name.  So nobody knows Hippopotamuses name except his six wives.  So Hippopotamus told all animals to leave without eating their food.  They were very sad.  But when they were about to leave, the ant asked Hippopotamus what he would do to them if he mention his name.  Hippopotamus promise to leave the land and go live in the sea with his six wives.  So when all the animals leave, the ant climb on Hippopotamus’s wife and bite her on her ear. The moment the ant bit her she shouted “Hippo-po-ta-mus, I am bit!” So the ant was very happy and run quietly to his house.

At the next feast, Hippopotamus ask the same question, and ant shout “Hippo-po-ta-mus!” with joy.  So Hippopotamus went together with all of his six wives to live in the bottom of the sea.

That is why Hippopotamuses all live in the water up to this time.  (Ama)

Back to PST

Spencer has a house-Two Bedrooms,
Two Baths.   Oh my Gosh!

This week was spent with Spencer Campbell a PCV teacher in Wonoo, near Kumasi. Although it was the week for District tests to be administered, the tests came in a day late so Spencer “gave” me the opportunity to teach them a lesson on percentages. No lesson plan or much time for even an outline.  Fortunately, I had prepared for that lesson during Practicum teaching and didn’t get to it because of a school holiday.  So I was able to teach the material and the students seemed to understand it better than they did during my first week of practice teaching.  Also it was nice not having a Trainer in the back of the room checking boxes while I taught.  Spencer is just finishing his first year teaching and it was great to watch him.   In the evening of the first day,  Jessica came down from the upper west region to join us.  And two other nearby volunteers came over and we fixed American style hamburgers, with guacamole and tomatoes in olive oil.  I ate two of them.  The first large amount of beef since I came to Ghana 7 weeks ago.  I got the runs!  The first time since coming here.  It lasted only a day and a half but I was reminded of a saying we had in DaNang: “Happiness is a dry fart!” I will try to stick to Ghanaian food except in small-small amounts.  Jessica and I returned late Friday and my lovely homestay mom, fixed me banku with pepe sauce.  My all time favorite!

Kente Weavers-The Legend.

A Kente Loom in Wonoo

When the world was new the spider, Kwaku Ananse, was wise, cunning and clever.  Whenever you needed an animal to be clever you choose Kwaku Ananse.  One day a hunter in Bonwire saw Kwaku Ananse making his web. He decide to study the pattern which Kwaku Ananse was making in the web.  So when he came home, he describe to his friends how Kwaku Ananse makes his web.  So after the discussion, they decide to try to see how Kwaku Ananse goes about it and do likewise.  That is how kente cloth weavers began.

You have to be clever to be cunning.  (by Peter, a teacher at Wonoo, a weaving town in the Ashante region.)

Peter arranged for me to have two sashes made
in less than a day.  They are fast.