Beginnings

As promised, here’s what’s been going on in the past few days, aka the beginning of my volunteer life:

1) Spelling bee. About two and a half weeks ago I received a call from a volunteer who helps with the national spelling bee. The competitions are school wide for kids age 8-13, and the top two from each school who participate go to the regional competitions. From there the top six go to nationals in Accra, and the winner (I think just one), gets to go compete in America. The schools from my district were practicing in my town, and because the announcers at the higher level tend to be Americans they wanted me to read the words so the children could get used to the American accent. So I spent a few days helping them prepare, and then went with them to the regional competition in Sunyani on Wednesday. There I met two other volunteers and helped to run the bee/do the behind the scenes. It was a lot of fun, although pretty exhausting. It is definitely something I will be looking to involve myself in again, and had the added bonus of introducing me to my district’s education office’s staff. Always good to have connections, and friends in high places.

2) School. School was meant to begin Friday the 14th with a staff meeting, and classes resuming the following Monday. The meeting for reasons unknown was pushed until Monday, and from then until this past Thursday I have been told every day that time tables (with the info about what I would teach) would be completed “today” and classes would start “tomorrow.” I’ve gotten to the point where I just go with the flow, but I must admit that if I hadn’t had the spelling bee to make me feel useful, I may have lost my mind. Anywho, last Thursday I found out that I will not have any classes of my own this term. Instead I will be shadowing another teacher/helping to teach his four classes. I guess in a way this was a little frustrating to me as it makes me wonder if my school really needs me, but it’s also kind of relieving. I get a chance to slowly get used to teaching, the school’s system, etc. Plus the teacher I’m working with, Nat, is really nice and a great teacher. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun this term. On Thursday he took me to a local fufu spot for lunch where I managed to eat two huge balls of fufu (which is quite dense and starchy and filling) in an effort to prove I could hang with the locals (all men). I got to introduce myself to all his classes and chat with the students for a bit and let them ask me questions about science, America, or really anything. My favorite question was when the class got stuck on asking about transplants, a girl asked if you could transplant penises.

3) Science club. I wanted to work with the school’s science club from the start, and since Nat helps to run it and I have less classroom responsibilities than anticipated, it seems like a perfect fit. I was given the honor of the first seminar of the semester this Saturday (never mind that I was given this honor 36 hours in advance with the power out a good chunk of that time). I spoke a bit about neuroscience basics, and the kids seemed pretty genuinely interested. The kids in the club also slit into seven groups to pick research topics they will be presenting on throughout the term, and I will be sponsoring one of those groups. Sounds fun.
4) Miscellaneous. While chatting with students I mentioned that I knew a little Spanish, and they want me to start a Spanish club. I might not do this immediately, but could be fun. I’ll have to brush up on my Español though. I also have taught myself to sew and have made two more water satchet creations (a bag and a computer sleeve). Everyone seems interested in them, so I might teach the students how to make them as a clean-up/fundraise project. We shall see. Another thing I have learned is that opening coconuts can be very difficult and should not be attempted by someone with my gene pool. That said, I’m awesome at first aid.

So that’s the short of what’s been going on here. I’ve actually finally caught the Africa bug and have been kinda sick the past few days. For those PCVs/RPCVs out there, I joined the club (for the rest of you, don’t worry about it). So I’m lying low for the time being, until my body decides to stop hating me.
I have compiled a bit of a wish list in terms of school stuff, so I’m going to post that here. As I said last time I was a big beggar, this is for those asking if they can send anything, so please feel no pressure to do so. And as a reminder, my address is Alana Shein, PCV/PO Box 5796/Peace Corps Ghana/ Accra-North, Ghana/West Africa.
• Colored whiteboard markers
• Spanish resources
• Balloons
• Do-it-yourself chem kits (the ones with the basic experiments for kids to do at home)
• Colored pens
• Any storybooks you might want to donate, middle school level I think would be good
• American candy (bribery works!)