Titagya Schools – Ghana

The other intern and I brought all of the expected amenities to Ghana: light clothing, bug spray, flash lights, and our computers, but we also each brought a bag of books given to us by Andrew, to be added to the Titagya library.  Although these tote bags of books proved to be a cumbersome carry-on, the inconvenience was completely worth it when the teachers and students at Titagya saw the new additions to their library.  Titagya School is currently the proud owner of over 70 books, giving us one of the best school libraries in northern Ghana.

Hakim is one of our youngest student, and very excited by his book!

Last week Madame Baraka took some time in her Nursery 1 class to teach the children how to treat the books with care, and allow them each to “read” a book.  We are only in the pre-reading stage with the Nursery 1 class, but most of the books have wonderful illustrations and interactive aspects like added texture to elements of the page or pull out sections; perfect for a beginning reader!  The students were so fascinated by what they were finding in the books, and were excited to show me different animals, numbers, and letters that they were reading.

A particularly memorable moment for me occurred when I sat down with Abiba to read a book with her.  This book uses vivid photographs from around the world to demonstrate different colors.  As I pointed to photos and told Abiba the English word for each object, she began to repeat the English word to me, and then tell me the Dagbani word for the object.  Soon another student, Irene, who knows another local language called Ewi, was telling me the object in Ewi as well!  This moment stands out for me because of the generative exchange that happened so naturally between the three of us, despite all of our differences (including language, age, position in the classroom, culture).  It is not always easy to break down the hierarchy that somewhat naturally exists between teachers and students, but opening a space for the exchange of ideas between students and teachers is very rewarding for both groups.  This interaction while reading exampled a way these hierarchies can be surpassed with positive results.  I was also happy to see the idea reinforced that everyone, no matter what age or background, possesses valuable knowledge to pass on to others.  Although I’m sure none of this was passing through the minds of Abiba and Irene as we continued teaching each other, I could tell that they were also enjoying the moment and that they recognized it as a special one.

On the morning of my first Saturday in Dalun, Habib, Abdul-Azeez, Chris, and I traveled to the river about 25 minutes from Dalun, known as  “Nawun’ni” to locals, or “Wide Volta” to foreigners.  I was excited to visit Nawun’ni for a few reasons.  First, a few students at Titagya live in the village of Nawun’ni, and I was interested to see what this village is like.  Secondly, there is a large water treatment facility in Dalun, which purifies water for the neighboring villages and even the large city of Tamale, and the water is pumped for purification from the river Nawun’ni.

We traveled down a dirt and gravel road for about 25 minutes, passing fields for farming as far as the eye could see, with a few clusters of huts flashing by us every hundred yards or so.  It was a beautiful day, very hot (I think it was 45 degrees Celsius that day, which is way too hot to think about in Farenheit!) but with a nice breeze and perfect blue skies.  We shortly arrived on the main road running through Nawun’ni town, which looked similar to Dalun’s main road but smaller and less busy.  After going down a small hill, we were at the riverfront!

Nawun'ni riverfront.

Nawun'ni riverfront with pumping station in the distance.

Some fishermen were tying up a canoe to our right, taking a break from their work.  Across the river I saw more fishermen, and to my left and right the river stretched for what seemed like miles, curving a bit and bounded by the leafy green riverbank.  Looking to my left I saw a structure sticking out of the water; this is the pumping station that takes in the raw water and pumps it to the treatment facility in Dalun.  We walked back up the hill and headed to the station.

The pumping station was nearby, down a quiet dirt road.  Across from the station were some homes inhabited by those that work for the Water Company.  I’ve learned that working for the Water Company is an excellent job, because your accommodations are fully provided by the company!  Furthermore, it is important and interesting work!

The Raw Water Pumping Station.

We walked across the bridge to see the machines at work.  It was very loud, so it was a bit difficult to hear the water company worker who was explaining what was going on, but the basics are that raw water is taken in from the river, and then pumped to the Dalun treatment facility where it is monitored, purified, and distributed.

Learning about the pumping station.

The loud pumping machinery.

Dalun and the surrounding communities are very lucky to have such good raw water, and such accessible purified water on top of that!  The pipe water here is safe to drink (I have been drinking it and haven’t had any problems at all!) and it is easily accessible around the village, with open fountain type areas set up in strategic areas all around town.

We walked around the pumping station, taking in the magnificent views of the river.  After taking many photos and asking a few last questions, we thanked our wonderful tour guide and returned to Dalun.  It was after 12:30 pm at this point, the hottest part of the day, and time to head inside!

View of Nawun'ni from the pumping station.

The pumping station.

On the first Friday of my visit we went to visit the Chief of Dalun.  Although he is not the oldest chief in the region, he has reigned longer than any other chief.  He gave his support to Titagya Schools mission and donated the land that the school is constructed on.  In this way he has been a crucial part of the organization’s journey from the very start, and it was important for us to meet him and discuss the work we would be doing in his village this summer.

I was very nervous to meet the Chief, and was assured that he loves meeting the white people that come to Dalun, and that two of his sons are even married to Danish women!

Fatawu, Habib, Chris and I walked to the Chief’s Palace to meet with Baraka and Abdul-Azeez.  The Chief’s Palace is a large compound not too far from Titagya School.  This is where his 10 wives, their children, and extended families live.

Before being received by the Chief, Fatawu talked to one of the elders and informed him of our arrival.  We waited for a bit, and then were called to where the Chief was sitting.  The chief sits in this sort of veranda structure that has three half walls and a roof overhead.  You walk to the front, which is completely open, take off your shoes, and walk in.  To greet the Chief you crouch, bow your head, and clap your hands slowly to show your respect.  He will tell you when you may stop, and after a few seconds of this we took our seats on a wooden bench in front of him.

Just as promised, the Chief was very friendly!  He wore a beautiful matching yellow shirt and trousers, along with yellow plastic sandals that are very popular here.  He is very “down to Earth,” or at least much less intimidating than I imagined a “Chief” would be!  After a short introduction of Chris and me from Fatawu, we were all offered kola nuts.  The offering of the kola nut means that the Chief has officially welcomed and accepted you, so it is quite symbolic!  I have never tried a kola nut before, and bit into it heartily.  I then realized that it has quite a bitter taste and is very difficult to chew, so nibbling would have been a better approach.  Despite this faux pas I was very excited to be accepted by the Chief!

After eating the kola nut the Chief began asking us questions (Fatawu served as the Dagbani to English translator!)  He was very interested to know what we saw as the purpose of our mission here, and how were finding Dalun so far.  I told him about seeing Titagya’s website and feeling inspired to work with the organization, and how I can’t believe I have actually arrived!  He replied that this means I have “long vision,” to be able to see something online and then follow that interest all the way to Ghana.  He went on to say that an important part of our work here is learning from the people of Dalun, and having them learn from us in turn.  Then, when we return to the U.S.A. we will take that knowledge back home with us and continue to build connections and understanding.  I was very moved by this comment, and feel that he has it exactly right; I have learned so much from interacting with the people here, not only about their culture and lives, but about my own.  Being in a new and different place has helped me examine my own life and culture in a new way, and this new level of contemplation has been one of the most rewarding and important parts of the experience for me thus far.

The Chief was also curious to know how our hometowns in the US are different from Dalun, and Chris and I agreed that the people of Dalun have been more friendly than your average Philadelphian or New Yorker, and that life here in Dalun feels much more relaxed.  The Chief inquired about farming in the US, since farming is the main occupation here in Dalun (and the Chief enjoys farming and is known to work his own fields frequently!) and Chris and I explained that neither of us are very knowledgeable about farming because of the highly populated areas we live in!  The Chief pointed out that sometimes the US government will send produce to Ghana if the farmers face a bad season (which I am sad to say I did not know) and he assured us that there are many more farmers in the US than we think!

After talking for a few more minutes and updating him on the construction of the Computer Center and Office (which is currently underway) we thanked him for allowing us to visit and were dismissed.  I felt very elated after our conversation with him; it was wonderful to see how interested he is in Titagya School and the mission of the organization, and how willing he is to continue to support us.  Two of his grandchildren even attend the school!  I left the Chief’s Palace feeling welcomed and inspired to get back to work!

Classes begin at 8 am.  Most students begin to arrive around 7:30 am, and they are allowed to play until class begins.  Since Titagya is a private school, the school body is geographically diverse, drawing not only from Dalun but from as far away as Naw’unni, a town situated on the Naw’unni River about 25 minutes from Dalun.  Interestingly, this geographic diversity also contributes to some language diversity.  While Dagbani is the most commonly used dialect in Dalun, some students came to Titagya speaking only Akan, another local language.  Being immersed in the Dagbani and English of the classroom has aided this transition, and these students have learned a lot of Dagbani from interacting with their colleagues, and are learning English along with the other students.

The first lesson takes place from 8 am to 9 am.  At 9 am the students take their first break, during which they eat a portion of the food that they bring to school, and then play until 10 am.  The most popular games that the students play are football, working on puzzles, and pretending they are driving cars or motorbikes.

Students eating during break time.

Washing hands after eating during break time.

The second lesson takes place from 10 am to 11 am, followed by another break and game time from 11 am to 11:50 am.  At 11:50 am students return to their respective classrooms and teachers take attendance, marking the register, and giving the students any reminders before school the next day.

Madame Baraka’s class has covered many topics since I have been at Titagya, most aimed to build pre-reading and pre-writing skills.  Recently the students have successfully mastered Letter Match (matching upper and lower case letters), Colors, Drawing and Painting with Colors, Counting from 1 to 30, Alphabet Search (finding the letters of the alphabet in a picture drawn on the board), and Simple English Instructions (such as “come,” “sit down,” “wash your hands,” “clap,” and many more!)

Letter Match activity.

Alphabet Search activity.

Drawing and Painting was especially exciting because Madame Baraka and I drew different pictures for each student, and they painted the image with the new markers and crayons I brought with me from the USA.  Most of the students had never used a marker or crayon before, so there was a lot of giggling and enthusiasm.  This activity also helped the students to expand their English vocabulary, learning the English names for things like a cup, bananas, a tree, a house, a shirt, a dress, a box, a rake, and a heart, among others.  The name for the object was also written next to it, and finally Madame Baraka and I would write what color they had painted the object, helping the students recognize the spelling for “a red cup” or “a blue house.”

The Simple Instructions lesson (which we began last week and are continuing this week) was another hit.  The students would come to the front of the classroom one by one and act out the instruction, which the rest of the class usually found hilarious.  For some reason the class found the instruction “Go out of the class” the most funny, and would laugh hysterically whenever a student would be given this instruction.  Next, two students would come to the front, and one would give instructions that the other would follow.  Finally, one student would give instructions to the whole class.  It was exciting to see how much the students were enjoying the activity and how quickly they were picking up and successfully using the new English vocabulary.

Ibrahim acting out the simple instruction "sleep" for the class.

The older Nursery 2 class follows a bit of a different schedule.  While Madame Baraka’s class will usually work on one topic for both lessons and take more time for games and play, the older class begins with Mathematics for the first lesson, and English for the second lesson, with slightly less break time after the second lesson. Alhassan teaches the math lessons, and when I first arrived the class was working on Drawing Shapes, and Addition and Subtraction.  A few weeks later they had advanced to Multiplication, then Division, and recently they have been working on Lines and Points.  As someone who has never been very interested in Math, I have benefited so much from observing Alhassan’s teaching methods!  He shows the children how to solve the problem with Legos or drawing on the board, and for the first time in my educative career I have found the prospect of solving a problem to be exciting!  One technique that I found particularly effective was the way Alhassan has shown students how to solve Subtraction problems.  He will first write the problem on the board, 5-3= ____ for example.  Next, he will have a student come to the board, and ask them to draw five circles in a vertical line under the five, and three circles in a vertical line under the three.  Next, the student will draw a line between each circle, and counts how many circles remain that do not have a match on the other side.  Thus, the student can visualize that five circles minus three circles leaves two circles without a mate, and thus the answer is 2, which they will fill in.  While observing these lessons I have been thinking “Wow! I wish my teachers had taught me math concepts in this way!” and I am excited by the swift progress this class of four and five year olds is making!

Alhassan teaching a Mathematics lesson on subtraction.

Abdul-Azeez teaches the second lesson in the afternoon, focused on English reading and writing skills.  The students have been working on their handwriting, along with reading, spelling, and writing two and three letter words.  A popular activity is Dictation, where Abdul-Azeez will give each student a piece of paper, have them write the numbers one through five, and then dictate five two or three letter words that they have to spell.  This is certainly one of the more challenging activities, especially considering how odd some English words are spelled, but I have noticed improvements each day.  The students in this class also love to practice their writing and spelling on the board, and some spend all of their play time at the blackboard!

The school day ends at 12 pm and most students walk back to their homes.  The afternoon is a time of rest for most people in Dalun, as it is the hottest time of the day and it is difficult to work outside in the heat.  Students are instructed to greet their parents “Good Afternoon” when they get home, and then wash their uniforms.  Everyone rests up and prepares for another day at Titagya!

My first full day in Dalun began with breakfast.  Habib brought me Ghanaian Porridge, which is darker in color, spicier, and has a smoother texture than the porridge I have had in the USA.  Porridge, locally called “coco,” is popular not only for breakfast but any time throughout the day.  Most locals also take tea with their breakfast, accompanied by tea bread, butter bread, or sugar bread.

After breakfast Fatawu and Habib showed me around the Simli Center.  It is a much larger compound than I had perceived from our nighttime arrival, and the smaller compound where I am staying is conveniently located near the kitchen, offices, and the rec room where there is a TV (although I haven’t had time to watch TV there!)  There are other areas for guests to stay, and finally, the radio station, which transmits its signal throughout the region!

Simli Radio Station at the Simli Center.

After meeting some of the people that work at the Simli Center we headed down a dirt and gravel road towards Titagya School.  I was immediately taken by the expanse of fields stretching out on either side of me, and marveled at the large water treatment center just down the road, which purifies and provides water for Dalun and all of Tamale!

Soon I spotted the white and purple building that I have seen so many pictures of: Titagya School!  Situated along a quieter road amongst mud huts and fields, the school stands distinctly from the rest of the landscape and is a beautiful sight to behold.  The building currently has two classrooms, and a Computer Center is under construction as I type!

Titagya School!

I entered one of the classrooms and met the teachers: Abdul-Azeez, a male volunteer teacher who teaches the older class comprised of about 15 four and five year olds, Alhassan, a male trained teacher who specializes in mathematics and computer lessons, and Baraka, a female volunteer teacher who teaches the younger class comprised of about 25 two, three, and four year olds.  I instantly felt welcomed by their warm smiles and greetings, and sat down to observe a typical class.

Students in the older class.

Within the first few minutes of the lesson I was already impressed; the students in Abdul-Azeez’s class were spelling and reading three-letter words, in English!  I recalled my five year old self, who was maybe beginning to recognize similar small words, but considering that English is the second language of these students, and not often used at home, I found their English abilities to be very impressive!

The younger class impressed me equally.  Madame Baraka instructed them in an activity called “Letter Match” where they would draw a line to match upper case and lower case letters on the blackboard.  Although her class has many students, they are enthusiastic and engaged, and the cries of “Madame me! Madame me!” when she asked for a volunteer to complete the assignment were ear splitting!

Students in Madame Baraka's younger class.

Over the next few days I explored more of Dalun Town, led by Fatawu and Habib.

Dalun Town

The main street of Dalun Town.

Particularly memorable from the early days of my visit are the Mango Grove and the Football Park.  The mango grove has ethereal beautiful, and the shade of the trees provided for a nice drop in temperature for me!  All of the fruit has been harvested by this time of year, but I learned that you can pay the grove owner to “pick your own” in season.

The mango grove.

The football park is a very popular place to socialize, and Dalun and most of Ghana for that matter is very enthusiastic about football.  Dalun has an organized team for younger boys, and a team for men.  At 4 pm footballers begin to gather to run laps and begin training, which involves inter-team scrimmaging.  This goes on until 6:30 pm, the boys scrimmaging first and then the men, and I enjoy watching and playing with the children that live nearby (some of whom attend Titagya!)  I am not the only spectator, as many people young and old sit on the ground or perch on motorbikes to watch the training each day.

Football training at the park.

Spectators at football training.

Farming is the main occupation in Dalun, and I am lucky to be here during the rainy season, which is when fields are readied for planting and crops begin to grow.  Thus, I have been able to watch the landscape change drastically.  For the first few weeks the ground was very dry and dusty, but swiftly the fields have become moist, and I have been able to see how farming is done here in Dalun.  There is a tractor that is shared between many farmers for plowing the fields to get it ready for seeding, but many farmers use cows to drag the field.  After the soil is readied holes are poked into the dirt and seeds are planted by hand.  After a few rain showers (which have been more frequent and have a cooling effect that I enjoy!) small green tufts begin to show, and over the past two weeks these small seedlings have sprouted into distinct corn, rice, and pepper plants!  My walk to school is especially pleasant as I get to walk through the Chief’s corn and rice fields, accompanied corn stalks growing higher each day!

Corn field that I pass through on my walk to school.

More corn fields on my way to school.

I cannot emphasize enough how friendly everyone here in Dalun has been to me!  Within the first few days I had been introduced to more people that I could count, and everyone seemed very excited to meet me and learn about my internship with Titagya Schools.  I began writing people’s names in a notebook, and am proud to report that I learned them soon enough!  Many people also want to help me with my Dagbani skills, which is the local language of this region.  My knowledge has expanded beyond the greetings and replies, and I can now inform people where I am going, where I have come from, as well as a few disciplinary phrases like “Go and sit down!” which have been useful at school!  After only a few days in Dalun I was already feeling at home, and dreading August, when I will return to the USA!

The STC bus with passengers getting ready to board.

By 6:30 am on Monday morning I was sitting at the STC station, ready to take the bus from Accra to Tamale.  As departure time came closer I realized how important it was to come early; as people arrive luggage is arranged into a queue for the destination.  Since I was relatively early, my large bag was towards the front of this queue, and thus was weighed early on.  After your bag is weighed you must pay for it, and then an STC attendant will load it into the bus’s luggage space (for a small price, of course).  I watched in amazement as refrigerators, fans, and bags bursting at the seams all miraculously fit in the storage space under the bus.  I truly did not expect everyone’s luggage to fit, seeing as many people had brought many more than the 2 suggested bags, but somehow the STC attendants had all the bags tucked away and doors closed around 7:45 am.

Next, everyone boards the bus and a STC official tells you which seat you are assigned to.  I felt very lucky to be in seat number two, right behind the driver, with a spectacular view out of the front window of the bus.  In the next 10 minutes we were on our way!  I quickly picked up a few things about driving in Ghana: 1. Typical traffic rules don’t apply.  Most drivers will simply honk and then move into the opposite lane to pass anyone they deem going too slow. 2.  Honking is used very commonly, for the aforementioned reason, and to get people, animals, bikers, anyone or anything, out of your way.  3.  Many of the roads are not paved, which makes for a very bumpy ride, so brace yourself!

Despite the bumps and the honking I fell asleep for some of the 12 hour ride to Tamale.  When I was awake I took in the gorgeous lush landscape, very jungle-esque in parts, and less so in other parts.  Many villages looked quite similar, appearing on the road side all of the sudden out of nowhere: mud huts with thatch roofs, people hunched over cooking pots or sitting on benches would wave as goats and chickens ran from the road.  As quickly as they appeared, they would disappear, as the STC bus moved along at 80 kph+ speeds.  Passing through the city of Kumasi was particularly memorable, in part because of the children in bright school uniforms walking home from school, and also because of how busy the city was.  Kumasi is in the Ashanti region, and home to the Ashanti King.  We crawled through the busy traffic, and I noticed scenery very similar to Accra; many shops along the road selling everything from tires to toasters and all that falls in between.

The in-bus entertainment was a series of Nigerian Films (which are very popular because they are in English).  I was particularly intrigued by “Worlds Apart 1” and “Worlds Apart 2,” a series about a Prince who falls in love with a woman from the bush, a sort of Nigerian version of “My Fair Lady” if you will.

The rest-stops were also very interesting.  We stopped at four, all very similar except for one crucial variant: the bathroom facilities.  At the first rest stop I learned that before entering you must pay (I think it was 20 pesewas) and you are handed a small roll of toilet paper.  This bathroom was very large with many stalls, and not so bad for a rest stop bathroom overall.  The last stop, however, was a bit intimidating.  I would not call it a “bathroom” and it was not really advertised as such, instead it was a “Urinal” and if you don’t think there are some key differences between a “bathroom” and a “urinal” you are mistaken.  The “Urinal” (which I have seen frequently in the villages and towns here in the Northern Region) is made of cement walls, and basically, you walk in behind a wall and take care of business.  Meanwhile your head is usually bobbing above the wall and for the inexperienced and embarrassed traveler, like me, it can be a very intimidating experience!  Besides the differences in bathroom facilities, the rest stops were similar in that they had places to buy food, some having a more extensive market area than others.  Since I was nervous about getting sick on the bus I ate trail mix I had packed along for most of the day, but a lot of the food at the rest stops looked like it would be delicious if I wasn’t so nervous!

Soon it was pitch dark and we were hurtling closer and closer to Tamale.  Finally the street became lighter and lighter and I realized we were entering a city.  Before I had time to fully process where we were, we had stopped at the STC station in Tamale!  I got off the bus and was instantly bombarded by taxi drivers asking “Taxi? Taxi?”  Luckily, Fatawu and Habib were there to pick me up, and quickly found me and my bag and took me to a nearby restaurant.  They had been driven from Dalun to Tamale by Mr. Daout, a very friendly and funny man I met a few moments later, who works for the Simli Center Radio Station.  After I ate, we got in the Simli Center truck to head back to Dalun.  Although the journey probably took at least 45 minutes it felt like no time at all, and around 10:30 pm we had arrived at the Simli Center.  The Simli Center (formerly known as the Ghanaian Danish Community Program) is an initiative between Dalun and an organization in Denmark.  The Danish are highly involved in multiple efforts in Dalun, the GDCP or Simli Center being one of them, and thus, one of the primary functions of the Simli Center is to house and feed guests to Dalun.  Arrangements had been made for the other intern and me to stay in a small compound with three huts, a bathroom, a shower, and a kitchen area.  It was very dark and I was so tired I would have slept anywhere, but I was very pleased when Fatawu showed me my hut, complete with a wardrobe, two beds, a desk, a chair, and most importantly, a ceiling fan!  After the long multi-day journey I had finally arrived in my new home!

On May 28^th I flew out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in NYC on a 6:30 pm flight.  When the day came I was thankful to be flying out in the evening, since the airline advises you to arrive at least 3 hours prior to your international flight!  I was also relieved to have the company of my Mom and my younger brother (especially the younger brother, who helped carry my luggage!)  I was checked in and had my boarding pass by 2 pm, but decided to have a late lunch with my Mom and brother before saying final farewells.  We had to go to another terminal to access the food court, and I noticed signs for the gate I would be flying out of.  I tried to go through security at this gate, but they told me I had to go back to the original terminal I was in, go through security there, and then I would be shuttle bused to this terminal, where I could finally access my gate.  Quite a circuitous route!  After returning to the original terminal, I said goodbye to my Mom and brother (they were teary!) and proceeded through security: my trip was really beginning!

I flew out on a Delta flight, operated by KLM.  First, I would fly from JFK to Amsterdam Schiphol.  From there I would go to Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana.  On the first flight I was next to a very nice British woman who grew up in Mali and she was very encouraging.  She told me that from her experiences in Africa, Ghana was a fantastic choice for my first trip.  Ghana certainly is well regarded by many travelers, known for being a welcoming and friendly place.

The plane landed in Amsterdam around 8 am local time, which made it very early in the USA.  My cell phone was no longer working, so I called my Mom from a pay phone to let her know the first leg of the trip was over, and had gone well!  I spent a few hours in Schiphol Airport, which is very interesting architecturally and has a bright and modern design.  I got a bite to eat, and was very impressed by the food court staff, who I heard speaking English, Dutch, French, Danish, and many other languages!  I people-watched for a while and then headed back to my gate.

Inside the Amsterdam Schipol Airport

Before boarding the plane our passports, visas, and boarding tickets were all checked again, and then we went through security again as well.  I was surprised by the number of American students who were also taking the flight.  In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been so surprised since I now know how many volunteers come to Ghana, but it was nice to talk to some other American students preparing for a summer in Ghana!  A large group of students were from Fordham Law School, and from what I gathered they would be taking part in different seminars pertaining to different types of Law and also working with Ghanaians.

We boarded the plane, and once again, I found myself in a middle seat.  I was sitting next to a British man who grew up in South Africa and a man from Accra.  I was very exhausted at this point, and slept most of the way to Accra.  Every now and then I would wake up and realize “I’m almost in Africa!” and as the sun moved lower and lower in the sky my nervous excitement grew!  It was dark when we landed in Accra, and I couldn’t see much until we got off of the plane.  We walked right onto the tarmac, and I breathed in African air for the first time.  It was very warm, but not humid.  There was a dry freshness to the air, and we were emerged in an orange glow from the lights of the airport.  We walked into the airport and headed right to Customs, where we were separated into Nationals and Non-Nationals.  I was very nervous at this point; I had heard before that sometimes you have to pay your way through Customs, but I went through without more than a word or two from the customs official.  The airport seemed well organized, as I moved right from customs into a larger room for baggage claim.  I had to chase my large bag for a bit, but finally managed to grab it, only to find some bubbles I had brought for the children at the school had exploded and made some of my things very sticky.  Oh well, I had more important things to think about, like getting a cell phone, getting some Ghanaian cedis, and getting to my hotel!

I walked down a ramp, very nervous and feeling very alone, but was surprised and excited to see a security official holding a white piece of paper with the name “Alison” written on it.  “Could I be the Alison they are looking for?” I questioned, and a bit fearfully, I went up to the man and told him that I was an Alison, although maybe there were more than one on the flight.  He pointed to his right, and another security official ran over, arms outstretched, exclaiming “Alison!  I am so glad you have arrived!  I am Bright!”  At the mention of this name I remembered the conversation I had had only a day earlier with my Haverford friend Adrian.  Adrian’s Aunt lives in Accra, and he had called her to see if she could pick me up at the airport.  She in turn called Bright, a family friend who is one of the security officials at the airport, and arranged for him to meet me and escort me to my hotel.  I almost cried with relief, and gladly took the seat Bright offered me.  After thanking him profusely for meeting me, he asked what I needed and promptly ran out of the airport to exchange money and purchase a new Ghanaian sim card for me.  A few minutes later he returned, and I called my Mom right away.  It was so wonderful to hear her voice, and she was so happy to hear I had arrived safely and was being taken care of!  Next, we called the guesthouse I had made reservations with, and verified that they would have room for me.  Finally, we were ready to leave, and walked outside to the busy street.

Andrew and others had made me aware before the trip that the Taxi system in Ghana is different from the one I am accustomed to in the US.  The first thing to do is looked for a uniformed driver, who has the appropriate license and stickers displayed on his car.  Second, especially as a tourist, you should know how much you would like to pay before you take the taxi, because there are no meters.  Locals know exactly how much they should pay for different rides, but if you are not a local and do not play tough for a certain price, you will overpay.

Luckily Bright took care of everything.  After arguing with one driver for a few minutes, and then pretending to walk away to find someone else, we got the price we wanted and set off for my guesthouse.  I felt like a dog with its head out the window as we drove through Accra; I was trying to soak up everything!  My guesthouse was located near “Circle,” the shortened name for the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, which is a very busy area of Accra named for the man who led Ghana to independence in 1957 and became the country’s first president.  Circle was bustling with people selling things, others just strolling and making noise.  We dropped my bags at the guesthouse and then found something to eat, which gave me a chance to walk through Circle for the first time.  I was reminded of busy areas of New York City, like Chinatown; everyone had something to sell, and my eyes were kept busy with all of the brightly colored shoes, different foods, fruits, toiletries, clothing, everything you can imagine.  We walked through the market, which had two sides comprised of different stalls stacked on each other side by side, and a trench running through the middle of the dirt road.  I was weary of the trench, which was maybe 10 feet deep and had water and trash in it.  Every few feet are a few wooden slats over the trench would serve as a walkway over which to cross to the other side of the market.  There was a distinct smell to this part of Accra for me, a mix of dust, dry air, trash, and car exhaust (another reason that I was reminded of New York City!)  Bright and I ate at a restaurant where I had plain rice and chicken and he had a Ghanaian dish called “Fufu” which is a soup with meat (or fish) and a sort of doughy cake that is made of pounded rice and very soft.  I was weary of the ever-feared Traveler’s Diarrhea that I had heard so much about, but delighted by the buttery rice and chicken.

Exhausted, Bright escorted me back to the guesthouse and after a few short phone calls, I was fast asleep.  Early in the morning I heard singing and a lot of commotion coming from outside my window.  I realized it was Sunday morning and I was hearing Gospel Music!  Bright had to work at the airport that morning, so I set off alone, in search of food.  In the lobby of my guesthouse I talked to the owner of the hotel next door, who worked in NYC for 20 years as a taxi driver.  We had a very interesting conversation about the differences between NYC and Accra, and about education in Ghana.  I was interested to hear his perspective on education in Ghana; he expressed that in the South of Ghana public education is inadequate, the teachers are not being supervised by superiors, and the students are not being supervised by the teachers.  He said that if you want your child to have a real education you have to pay for them to go to private school, which is very expensive.  His perception of education in the North was that the free public education was much better, but families do not push their children to go to school and do not take advantage of the “free” education.  He also mentioned that he has never been to the North before, and asserted that all of the white volunteers pass through Accra quickly and head to the North; “We need help here too!” he exclaimed, leaving me very interested to see how his opinions of the North fit with my experience of it.

Walking along the road in Accra.

Note the Mercedes Benz in the foreground, and the yellow trotro steadily speeding towards it!

Next on my agenda was to take a taxi to the STC station to buy my bus ticket for the trip to Tamale, which I intended to make the next day.  After arguing for my price with the taxi driver, I arrived at the STC station (which was only a few minutes down the busy highway from my guesthouse) and bought a ticket.  I was advised to arrive an hour before departure time (official departure time of 8:00 am) and to bring one bag to stow under the bus and one to carry onto the bus.  Ticket in hand, I returned to my guesthouse, consolidated my three bags into two, and went to sleep early so I could wake up and make my bus to Tamale.

Hello from Ghana!  I have officially been in Ghana for a month (as of June 29^th!) but have had very limited internet access, so get ready to be bombarded with blog posts!   I’d like to use this first post to introduce myself and the internship that has brought me to Dalun, Ghana.

My name is Alison Crawford and I am a rising senior (!) at Haverford College.  I am an English Major and Education Minor, and it was primarily my interest in Education that led me to this internship.  This summer I am spending 10 weeks as an intern for Titagya Schools in Dalun, Ghana.  Titagya Schools is a young NGO co-founded by Haverford Alum Andrew Garza ’08.  Titagya’s primary mission is to offer affordable and excellent pre-primary education to students in the small village of Dalun in Northern Ghana.  Pre-primary education is not as easily found in Northern Ghana as in the Southern region of the country, and furthermore, is usually very expensive.  However, research shows that pre-primary education serves as a fundamental building block for more success once the student reaches the primary level.

I first heard of Titagya from Professor Alice Lesnick in Spring 2009, in her class “Empowering Learners.”  At the time she spoke of a young alum who was starting a school in Ghana and I recall thinking “Wow, that sounds incredible!  But can he really pull it off?!”  This bit of cynicism was eradicated when I spoke with Andrew for the first time, after being connected to him through Alison Castel in the CPGC.  I went to Alison expressing an interest in an internship involving education, somewhere in Africa, a country I had read a lot about and was very curious to visit.  Alison mentioned Titagya Schools rights away, and I left our meeting feeling like the serendipity of the opportunity was a definite sign that this was to be my internship project.

Andrew and I talked over the phone a few times in November/December 2009, and I was delighted to hear that I was selected to be one of the two Titagya Summer Interns in late December.  Thus began my sixth month preparation for the trip!  Preparing my CPGC application for funding was a long but rewarding process.  Professor Ruti Talmor aided me greatly in independent study of Ghana, and provided me both academic and essential practical knowledge garnered from her research experience in Ghana.  All the  while I was a bit in shock: I’m going to Ghana!  It was very real, but also a dream, and I had the feeling that it wouldn’t feel actualized until I set foot in Ghana.

Alison Crawford ’11 will be the CPGC intern at Tiagya Schools in Dalun, Ghana this summer.