Goal!

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, everyday, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.” – Christopher Morley

I have completely and totally fallen in love, all over again, with reading. I’m finding myself immersed in books for hours at a time. Not having television is turning out to be quite blissful actually. Currently enthralled with Memoirs of a Geisha. Now, hopefully, I am able to instill this same level of enthusiasm in at least one student here in Ghana.

Fresher Games yesterday and today here at the college, which are comprised of soccer and volleyball competitions between the different houses. The students here are d

ivided into dormitories, and then each dormitory is its own team. Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green. The comradery among teammates is so inspiring to watch, and these gentlemen are stud athletes. I’m talking Olympic-style volleyball matches and super intense soccer games. Though the competition level is exceptionally high, so is the level of respect for teammates and opponents. To prepare for competition, each group of students marched around the field in military formation chanting and pumping themselves up. When victory occurred, the team was in an uproar, hoisting fellow teammates up and running around with their hands in the air. It felt like I just watched a World Cup soccer match – so much fun. While watching the games, I looked out over the horizon as the dark storm clouds passed over and thought to myself how awesome it is that I am in Africa. When I’m 80, I am going to look back on this time in my life and be so glad that I decided to do this. Yes, it’s tough, but I know that ultimately this experience will absolutely enrich my life.

This past Thursday I visited a local secondary school with my friend Ameyaw. Very nice facilities, but massive amounts of students, and due to a delay in the placement system, the first year students have yet to even arrive! The staff common room was full of teachers grading assignments. Each student has a notebook to complete assignments in, and a teacher will collect all of the notebooks from his/her students to grade each week. I was introduced to Ameyaw’s friend Kwame who is a science teacher there. He teaches 10 classes each week with approximately 50 students in each class, which makes for 500 assignments to review! That is completely insane. And unfortunately, few of the students are female. Even here at the college, there are also fewer female students than male. It seems that as the level of education gets higher, the number of females who persist goes down. I was told this is a concern of the Ministry of Education, but that some families simply do not make it a priority to fund their daughter’s education. Along these lines, I find myself immersed in a male-dominated world. Though there are female teachers here at the college, I rarely see them in the staff common room. The discomfort from the stares has subsided and I feel more at ease around the staff. However, I do miss having a good girlfriend nearby to chat and hang with. Luckily, as Mr. Enchill told me, “You Americans are all about technology!” He is the man in charge of the resource center where I work part of the time, and he likes to speak to me in a rather aggressive tone, but I’m not sitting back and taking it from him any more! I’m giving it right back to him right along with a side of sarcasm. ☺

So Saturday morning at 4am I have a date with the P.E. teacher and the Matron here at the college to go jogging. I am going to start doing this several times a week. It’s damn early, but I usually hear a rooster around that time anyways. I’m excited about getting out and about with some locals.

Goodbye crazy Libyan dictator! Hooray!