Happy Ghanaversary to Me!

Today’s post has nothing to do about teaching… in America, that is! One year ago today, I was in Ghana, Africa preparing to spend three weeks teaching kindergarten. As I sit here on my comfy couch drinking iced tea, it’s hard to believe that I was in Africa one year ago. The trip has made a lasting impact on my life and I hope to be able to go back someday!

I went to Ghana with an organization called Cross-Cultural Solutions. Thankfully, my teacher friend, Holly, was able to come on my adventure with me. Going to Ghana is something that has always been on my heart, but it took me awhile to take the plunge and finally commit to going for real. A lot of friends and family supported me financially, which made the trip seem much more realistic (buying airfare to Africa is quite expensive)! I had some major fears prior to this trip, including getting multiple shots at the creepy health department, not knowing what strange foods I would have to eat in Ghana, and the fear of being dirty for 3 weeks. I had serious doubts how this all would work out for me, but God came through big time.  I could probably write about my trip for hours, but to spare you, I will simply post a lot of photos!

For three weeks, I taught KG2 (5 and 6 year olds) at Rise Preparatory School. Rise is a private school founded by Eunice, a woman with a disability, who also hired other teachers with disabilities (people who have disabilities in Africa are generally treated as outcasts, so Eunice is pretty amazing). Rise has three classes: creche (pre-school), KG1 (4 and 5 year olds) and KG2. All three classes are inside of an old, abandoned church. There is no electricity... just a lot of natural lighting! The school has VERY limited resources (only a few pencils and pieces of chalk), but many of the kids were doing very well academically! The students loved writing, singing songs, and dancing!

Here is our school!

Here are our kids! School attendance varied due to the weather and whether or not it was a market day. On some days, there were 30 kids, and on other days, there were 70!

Here’s my classroom! The kids had amazing focus… no clip charts, no gimmicks, no prize boxes… they just focused.

We were working on writing simple sentences. The pencils and paper were from my home base.  Generally, they did not have pencils and had very limited paper.

I love this photo. Here are some of my students working on writing, while two of the little ones from the creche slept on the table! {this is a normal occurrence}

This is Richard… most definitely my favorite student… shhh!

So precious!

One of the headmasters asked me if I could hold this baby for a bit. Umm, yes please!

We taught the kids how to play London Bridge! 

They loved it and probably would have played it for HOURS.

Hmmm can you spot my classroom trouble maker?!

Really makes you rethink how much you love your SmartBoard, doesn’t it? I had to go back to my classroom two days after I came back to America. It was very hard to unpack supplies and start redecorating. I had a very different perspective.

Sweetest kids ever. When we arrived each day, they would literally jump all over us. They loved my hair and were fascinated by my freckles… they kept trying to pick them off of me like they were dirt!

We were really fortunate to be in Ghana at the end of their school term and were invited to be a part of their end of term celebration. All of the students in the community dressed in traditional Ghanaian clothing and paraded through the town led by a marching band! Each class performed their skills in front of a huge crowd of family members, community members, and local chiefs. Our kids performed an ABC chant, Bible verses, and none other than…. wait for it… Tooty Ta! {The community thought it was AMAZING!} There were a lot of speeches, dancing, and drumming. At the end of the ceremony, students received their end of the year awards and got a plastic drinking cup and small package of cookies… it was like Christmas. Throughout the ceremony, the teachers were served beer! In Ghana, they drink Guinness like it is soda pop!

Here are our girls in their traditional dresses!

One of the chronic problems at Rise is that students’ family members were not able to pay school fees. Students held these heart breaking signs during their parade through town. One of the goals of the ceremony was to raise more money for schools and people put money in an offering container throughout the performances. We were told that because there were Americans in town, attendance and donations were likely to increase!

Here we are parading through town.

After the ceremony, the community took a TON of pictures of us with the kids. 

Basically, we were the village superstars. It was too funny.

When we arrived to teach the day after the ceremony, we were a bit surprised. Apparently, once the term is over, school turns into playtime! They dumped one box of chalk onto the floor and the kids went to town! Pure craziness, but a lot of fun!

If you haven’t traveled or taught internationally, I would definitely recommend it. It will change your life. My trip was better than I had imagined it to be. During my first week in Ghana, I felt God’s presence stronger than I had ever felt it before. From the friendly people on the streets, to the children who would jump up and down when they saw me, to the amazing scenery... Ghana was perfect.