Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Hello again, this will be the last Blog before we go on our ‘break’! Yes time has flown hasn’t it – coming up to 10 months in Ghana! We thought the most appropriate topic to close the first phase would be that of education, as after all, that’s the reason we’re here. We continue to plod along in our respective positions, and hopefully contributing in a constructive way to the Ghanaian Education Service. The expression ‘small, small’ is a constant reminder of how you can’t change the world (or GES for that matter) overnight, and needless to say we’ve had many occasions when we’ve been tearing our hair out… well Di has and I’ve been scratching at my scalp! So rather than explore those issues, we’re going to give you an update on how YOU have helped us to help Tumu and it’s surrounding area – which hopefully is a little more tangible.
In addition to our day to day work, we’ve embarked on a couple of projects. One, quite substantial, the other is to bring a little bit of light relief to students and staff. The main project is to help a local school renovate a classroom. Egala Primary in Tumu is the oldest school in the area. It is a large school with around 550 pupils. Primary schools have six years – P1 to P6 – and Egala currently has two classes for each year. Unfortunately, they don’t have enough classrooms for the pupils. They are presently using one classroom that in all honesty, should be condemned. They wouldn’t let anyone go in to it in the UK even with hard hats on, let alone children taking lessons! Above are a couple of photos to show you what we mean. Cutting a long story short, we have decided to help Egala renovate the classroom. We have received financial donations from many, many people, and we have estimated that they will cover the overall cost (around 60 million cedis – roughly 3,500 pounds), so long as the price doesn’t escalate. The Headteacher, Hassan, is naturally thrilled with our offer, as are the members of staff. The state of play we are at, at the moment, is that we have received a second estimate from another builder called Mr Hard (evidently because he works with concrete), but this is substantially higher than the first Around 40 million cedis), so we have decided to go ahead with the original estimate. Once this has been presented to us in a more detailed format, showing what we get for the money, and barring any hiccups, then we’ll form a building committee and keep a close watch on proceedings
The second project involves distributing the physical gifts that people have been so kind to send over. We presented Egala with some of the items people have sent out to us, including balls and stationery. This was greeted with almost hysteria by the children! We also presented Banu School with some goodies. If you cast your minds back, Banu was the school I visited back in February, when the community treated me a bit like a lord (I can still see the two guinea fowl hanging on the front of the moto on that 50km trip back home to Tumu.) Anyway, we thought we’d reciprocate a little, and we both visited Banu the other day. We had a lovely experience. The acting Head (I’m afraid the former Head has been moved on!) had arranged a welcome dance for us by the children – with one particularly interesting movement by one student! We then showed them the different things we had brought – again absolute delight. After this we had a long question and answer session. They asked questions ranging from how we dispose of our dead to what type of economy does the UK have! Eventually we said our goodbyes and headed back – guinea fowl-less thankfully. These gestures are massively appreciated by the two schools and some things that seem so normal to us, can now happen. For example the children can use pencils instead of having to chalk on the floor (as you can see Di’s art work has not improved), and what’s more they can sharpen them with a pencil sharpener rather than a razor blade! Banu can now have a PE lesson involving a ball, and practice ball sports so they can take part in regional school competitions – which they haven’t done for quite a long time! We know many of you will be thinking, well ‘what about the capitation grant? Why aren’t they using that?’ because they do receive one. Well rightly or wrongly (wrongly in our opinion), much of this has gone on the building of accommodation for the teachers, which pleasingly now has a roof on it – and is quite close to completion. To throw a few figures at you, the school receives 30,000 cedis per pupil, this goes down to 20,000 cedis after GES take their cut for whatever. That’s one pound 15 pence per pupil. From this amount they are supposed to buy all stationery, organize all insets, and contribute to capital expenditure like the teacher’s accommodation! So as you can see your help with balls, pencils, crayons, pencil sharpeners etc is so welcome.
In addition to helping schools, we’ve also been quite heavily involved in helping the local Wildlife Office. We started off by giving them our general thoughts and comments about their set up and offering some advice. This has now developed into us helping try and establish a small resource centre in one of the offices at the building. We have begun labeling artifacts and produced a draft leaflet to help promote the reserve. Interestingly the artifacts are either skulls of different animals or items of ‘juju’. Juju being an old established set of beliefs, with some strange ideas and practices, but nothing to be mocked. It all forms an important part of the traditionalist religions that are still practiced throughout Ghana.
There have been a few other goings on: – we think Brenda the goat’s pregnant (or just very, very fat); the rains and the electric storms are coming a bit more frequently (usually every 4 or 5 days); we saw the Hippo very close up out of the water (marginally bigger than Brenda) … but now the Hippo has moved on (to a the nearby village of Pulima evidently); oh and Ghana has changed its currency! They’ve gone from the old Ghana cedi to the new Ghana cedi, basically they’ve knocked four noughts off the figures. So that building at the school will actually cost 6,000 new Ghana cedis. But it will still be around 3,500 pounds because “the value is still the same” as all the advertising jingles keep telling us! We wait and see, but in our experience of currency changes, prices usually go up. For those oldies amongst you, remember decimalisation? The idea behind it here is to reduce the amount of notes, which it will do, but we’re all going to have to buy purses or have big pockets because there’ll be lots more coins. Unfortunately there’s a distinct lack of new currency in Tumu – the Bank ran out first day! As it can’t give out the old currency either, people are just a tad short of money at the moment – no change there then. We’ve also hopefully attached a photo of one of our house greeters, Bishop, with some new currency he received in his job as local petrol attendant.
We will say our goodbyes to you all, and hope that we will retain your interest in our adventures following a summer break back to good old blighty. Our second phase here in Tumu will start again at the end of September. We hope you will continue to hold us in your thoughts and keep on supporting us through the next year in Ghana.
In addition to our day to day work, we’ve embarked on a couple of projects. One, quite substantial, the other is to bring a little bit of light relief to students and staff. The main project is to help a local school renovate a classroom. Egala Primary in Tumu is the oldest school in the area. It is a large school with around 550 pupils. Primary schools have six years – P1 to P6 – and Egala currently has two classes for each year. Unfortunately, they don’t have enough classrooms for the pupils. They are presently using one classroom that in all honesty, should be condemned. They wouldn’t let anyone go in to it in the UK even with hard hats on, let alone children taking lessons! Above are a couple of photos to show you what we mean. Cutting a long story short, we have decided to help Egala renovate the classroom. We have received financial donations from many, many people, and we have estimated that they will cover the overall cost (around 60 million cedis – roughly 3,500 pounds), so long as the price doesn’t escalate. The Headteacher, Hassan, is naturally thrilled with our offer, as are the members of staff. The state of play we are at, at the moment, is that we have received a second estimate from another builder called Mr Hard (evidently because he works with concrete), but this is substantially higher than the first Around 40 million cedis), so we have decided to go ahead with the original estimate. Once this has been presented to us in a more detailed format, showing what we get for the money, and barring any hiccups, then we’ll form a building committee and keep a close watch on proceedings
The second project involves distributing the physical gifts that people have been so kind to send over. We presented Egala with some of the items people have sent out to us, including balls and stationery. This was greeted with almost hysteria by the children! We also presented Banu School with some goodies. If you cast your minds back, Banu was the school I visited back in February, when the community treated me a bit like a lord (I can still see the two guinea fowl hanging on the front of the moto on that 50km trip back home to Tumu.) Anyway, we thought we’d reciprocate a little, and we both visited Banu the other day. We had a lovely experience. The acting Head (I’m afraid the former Head has been moved on!) had arranged a welcome dance for us by the children – with one particularly interesting movement by one student! We then showed them the different things we had brought – again absolute delight. After this we had a long question and answer session. They asked questions ranging from how we dispose of our dead to what type of economy does the UK have! Eventually we said our goodbyes and headed back – guinea fowl-less thankfully. These gestures are massively appreciated by the two schools and some things that seem so normal to us, can now happen. For example the children can use pencils instead of having to chalk on the floor (as you can see Di’s art work has not improved), and what’s more they can sharpen them with a pencil sharpener rather than a razor blade! Banu can now have a PE lesson involving a ball, and practice ball sports so they can take part in regional school competitions – which they haven’t done for quite a long time! We know many of you will be thinking, well ‘what about the capitation grant? Why aren’t they using that?’ because they do receive one. Well rightly or wrongly (wrongly in our opinion), much of this has gone on the building of accommodation for the teachers, which pleasingly now has a roof on it – and is quite close to completion. To throw a few figures at you, the school receives 30,000 cedis per pupil, this goes down to 20,000 cedis after GES take their cut for whatever. That’s one pound 15 pence per pupil. From this amount they are supposed to buy all stationery, organize all insets, and contribute to capital expenditure like the teacher’s accommodation! So as you can see your help with balls, pencils, crayons, pencil sharpeners etc is so welcome.
In addition to helping schools, we’ve also been quite heavily involved in helping the local Wildlife Office. We started off by giving them our general thoughts and comments about their set up and offering some advice. This has now developed into us helping try and establish a small resource centre in one of the offices at the building. We have begun labeling artifacts and produced a draft leaflet to help promote the reserve. Interestingly the artifacts are either skulls of different animals or items of ‘juju’. Juju being an old established set of beliefs, with some strange ideas and practices, but nothing to be mocked. It all forms an important part of the traditionalist religions that are still practiced throughout Ghana.
There have been a few other goings on: – we think Brenda the goat’s pregnant (or just very, very fat); the rains and the electric storms are coming a bit more frequently (usually every 4 or 5 days); we saw the Hippo very close up out of the water (marginally bigger than Brenda) … but now the Hippo has moved on (to a the nearby village of Pulima evidently); oh and Ghana has changed its currency! They’ve gone from the old Ghana cedi to the new Ghana cedi, basically they’ve knocked four noughts off the figures. So that building at the school will actually cost 6,000 new Ghana cedis. But it will still be around 3,500 pounds because “the value is still the same” as all the advertising jingles keep telling us! We wait and see, but in our experience of currency changes, prices usually go up. For those oldies amongst you, remember decimalisation? The idea behind it here is to reduce the amount of notes, which it will do, but we’re all going to have to buy purses or have big pockets because there’ll be lots more coins. Unfortunately there’s a distinct lack of new currency in Tumu – the Bank ran out first day! As it can’t give out the old currency either, people are just a tad short of money at the moment – no change there then. We’ve also hopefully attached a photo of one of our house greeters, Bishop, with some new currency he received in his job as local petrol attendant.
We will say our goodbyes to you all, and hope that we will retain your interest in our adventures following a summer break back to good old blighty. Our second phase here in Tumu will start again at the end of September. We hope you will continue to hold us in your thoughts and keep on supporting us through the next year in Ghana.
