More about Life in Ghana

Last night I was invited over to the home of one of my partnering teachers.  His name is Osman Omar and he is originally from the Northern part of Ghana which is traditionally an Islamic region.  His wife, Amina, cooked us a traditional meal from that part of the region.  Osman is an amazing human being.  HE has worked very hard to become a teacher and is one of the most dedicated educators I have ever met.  At one point, he worked for over 2 years without a paycheck for the school.  This is very common in Ghana.  Below he talks a little bit about the community that he now lives in.

  Below is a short video discussing the food.  This is something that even in the most cosmopolitan cities on the planet, you are not likely to find. The reason it is so dark in the video is that the electricity in the area often goes out for long period of time. 

At school today I had a chance to briefly interview many of the girls at the school.  I asked them about what their aspirations were for the future and to pose questions to my US students.  Below are a few of the responses.  The first is a girl named Sheila and the second is from a girl named Naiipai.

I spent the afternoon today getting a detailed tour of the chemistry lab at the school  One lab for 1800 girls.  I also spent a great deal of time taking a detailed look at the national science curriculum.  In terms of content and theory, the Ghanaian science curriculum is much more intense.  Very similar to an IB Chemistry curriculum back home.  Unfortunately the lab possibilities are greatly limited.  Below you can see the type of equipment they would use to carry out a titration.  Pretty rustic.  As well, you will be hard pressed to find a pair of safety goggles.

 

In the afternoon today I spent some more time discussing questions with various classes about the differences between schools in the US and in Ghana.  The girls had lots of questions that they shared below:

Later in the class the girls wanted to teach me a fairly modern dance that is very popular in Ghana called Azonto.  Here is one girl demonstrating:

Here is my trying for myself.  Notice the fact that most of my dancing occurs from the waist up.  This is an affliction common to white Midwestern males of all ages.