A Brief Summary of Ghana Care

This is my last week in Akropong doing Care and to be honest it's a bit disappointing. Not because its over, but because in my last week I am forced to hop between two schools and an orphanage along with all the other care and teaching volunteers because the others have closed for a six week holiday. A fact that Projects Abroad kindly omitted telling us before we arrived. On Wednesday I embark upon some more traveling and its going to be quite the adventure. I'm going to Cape Coast until Saturday, and then I'll come home and leave on Monday for the other side of Ghana. On Monday we will, hopefully, get on a boat that will take us on a potentially seventy hour boat trip. I say potentially because all the guides say that there is no definitive answer and it depends on the day and the whims of the crew. I say hopefully, because the guide books have told us that we may go there and buy a ticket but that is not a guarantee that we'll get a spot on the boat. The one boat trip that i've had here which was really a canoe ride was only 40 minutes and the whole time i was grasping the sides of the boat and wrestling with the fear of falling into the Volta lake that I was told was filled with barracudas. Also, there was the very high chance of sinking with five of us girls perched precariously in in a canoe that was leaking water so rapidly that one guy instead of rowing devoted his time to bucketing the water out of the boat and back into the ocean. We also had to maneuver it so that us and our bags were in a balanced position so as to avoid the boat capsizing. I can only hope that this boat trip wont be quite so adventurous but with all the indefinite variables and the fact that the boat may very well not have toilets, or space for us I'm sure it will be infinitely more challenging.

Ok, back to the actual content of this blog. Sorry I can't help going off on tangents and I really cannot remember what i have and haven't written in past blogs so forgive me if I repeat myself too much. As I have mentioned in length volunteering over here in care hasn't been what I expected. It hasn't been a bad experience merely an enlightening and somewhat disheartening one. I've spoken about a lot of things to do with care- and the children have been a big focus. But, today as i think about the children that have made this experience worth it, my heart breaks a because i think of the lives that lay ahead of them and it is beyond bleak. These futures aren't dictated purely by the constraints of poverty or inequality but because of the appallingly substandard system of education over here. Many children are left behind because education is not compulsory and if you can't afford it then so be it. Even for those in school the hopes are not much better because they are forced to memorise things rather than learn. I never really thought about it before but one of the most valuable things i've been taught within my entire existence as a person is the ability to learn. The differentiation between having knowledge and using knowledge. These children are being forced to memorise the alphabet, numbers, colours. But if you give them a number out of sequence they seem perplexed. They learn to say yes to everything even if they have no idea what you are saying. They can't do simple things like colour, or put building blocks together because they've never been given that opportunity. They are missing out on so much development because the value of play and exploration is ignored. This is why I'm not so angry at the teachers when they insist upon colouring in, or joining the activities that I've arranged for the children. They too have suffered through the severely lacking education system of Ghana, and activities like colouring, beading, bubbles or balloons is as exciting for them as it is for the children. Which is really a morbid reality.

Children miss their childhoods because they are are so afraid to make noise, play or have fun because of the threat of the cane. The issue of smacking or hitting children remains one of contention everywhere. Some people are for it and others are against it. I have always been adamantly against the use of it but coming over here has only exacerbated my original opinions on the matter. Seeing children, who are sitting rigid, quiet and blank in a classroom because they are paralysed by the idea of being hit makes me utterly infuriated. One little girl, Princessa, is possibly the most gorgeous little girl I've ever met. She is vivacious, and as most children are, a little bit naughty. But when she smiles, or plays there is a twinkle in her eyes that shows the immensity of her joy and the infinite innocence of childhood. A lot of the other children have already lost that twinkle, especially the eldest children in a family who bear the brunt of responsibility and sadly the beatings. Princessa, however, often greets me in the morning with eyes sparkling with happiness and mischievousness, and i enjoy that right up until he point that the teachers bellow her name and she shuts down. Her entire body changes, she sits blankly, her eyes go dull and her smile fades and seeing this is one of the hardest things i've had to struggle with. So, while beating might be a very successful means of discipline it steals a lot more than it could ever be worth. It steals the light and happiness from children and that is one of the saddest things that can happen to children.

One of things that makes me saddest about these schools and Ghana's education: is that in Africa Ghana is supposed to be one of the more developed and better educated countries. Think of the children in the world who suffer these indignities and worse. Think about what you can actually do about it. Diddly Squat! That's what. The government has an obligation to it's people to do better, but the people bear the most responsibility because it's up to them to demand more. Unfortunately though, over here parenthood isn't as much about love as an obligation to have chidlren. So some parents- not all- but some are more pathetic than the teachers. Nobody wants to change, they seem content to live like this and that is their decision. I came here thinking that people would want to live better but lacked the opportunities to have those better lifestyles. Yet, over here it is more a matter of apathy: people don't want to change.