Students at Ghana National Primary School
Posted by Natalia
Yesterday was our first full day at our service sites! Thomas helped Joél, Alana, Nick, Bengo, and I with the cabs and then we trudged up a steep hill to get to Ghana National Primary School. Nick was carrying his drum and needless to say, the poor bruni was drenched. We spoke to the headmistress, Madam Susana, and then Joél, Alana, and Nick headed to Cape Deaf which is right across Ghana National.
The sun’s rays were beating down on us so I was thrilled when I got to the 5th grade classroom. The kids were as friendly as ever and the teacher, Madam Kate, let met get down to teaching English right away. I taught qualitative words and their comparative uses for a good hour and a half. I played good cop/bad cop by myself. I smiled all the time, but I called on them without warning and told them they could not use the words they resorted to for sentence composition, i.e. pencil, pen, bag, home, books, and cupboard.
Bengo and I left when Joél, Alana, and Nick were done. The teacher said I could teach Math as well as English next time I came.
I was taken aback when Madam Kate struck the children with the wooden switch. She would hit them on the head and on the arm. Kojo, Dr. Fairley’s Godson, said he got hit a lot by the switch when he was younger as he was a trouble maker. Haha, I guess it builds character!
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Later that night we went to Oasis Beach Resort’s night club. Most of us ordered a shot of B52 as well as Opeimu, a local alcoholic shot. The B52 was one of those shots that are lit on fire- my first ever! When I took the shot glass off the tray I must have spilled some on the table and my hand since when I leaned in to blow out the flame, a part of the table, tray, and MY HAND caught on fire! I softly yelled “Ahh” as I was more surprised than scared, really. I later joked with the rest of the crew about how they had no reaction to my burning hand. Haha, none of us knew what to do. Fortunately the only thing burning was the alcohol and my hand is unscathed.
All of us drank, but Kojo was a hot mess. He jumped into different dance circles, laughed a little bit too loud and often, and could not walk straight- such a party boy. Joél said his reason was that he was happy to be a graduate! All of us but Nick and Ben, who were happily chatting, and sipping, danced the night away. I am very grateful that Thomas took the time to teach us how to Azonto as it proved very useful on the dance floor. The DJ played some old American tunes, like “Lean Back” which made us go wild. Ghanaians were a blast to dance with and we even made a friend named PK who we plan to see again very soon.
Ghanaian music is superb and their dancing is even better. I can’t wait to go out another weekend.
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