I have had some great teachers in my life. Teachers who really cared about the job they were doing. I have to say that through high school, I received a Catholic education, and maybe that is where the dedication came into play. However, I am friends with some teachers who teach at public schools, and they are wonderful at their jobs, so who's to say, really. I am simply grateful for all the teachers who have helped to mold me, who took the time to recognize who I was and helped me to achieve the best I could.
I have not found teachers like that in Northern Ghana. The grammar school the children attend is for pre-K and kindergarten and has 3 classrooms. I suppose there was to be another school built in Sang for the older children, but no other school was ever built. This school was a Catholic school, but because the government was witnessing the growth of these schools due to good education and discipline, the Bishop of Yendi told me, the government took over all the Catholic schools. Currently in this former Catholic preschool, there are 7 grades... in three classrooms(pre-k thru grade 5). They have few text books, paper or pencils. 4 of the classrooms are outside. I have no idea how they "teach" the children in the rainy season.
There are supposed to be 7 teachers here. 4 of them are paid by the government. Those 4 teachers are currently in Tamale, teaching at another school and being paid for working at both. The 3 other teachers are volunteers who sometimes decide not to come to teach. When Mary Clare and I stopped in for a morning, the two teachers who came in that day and the head mistress of the school were in the office talking, and the students... about 65 of them, were in the classrooms or outside left to their own devices. Yikes!
Mary Clare and I have begun teaching the children here at the orphanage. Mary Clare is a graduate of the Children of Mary Homeschooling Group in Buffalo and has been so helpful in starting our own mini homeschooling group here in Sang. The difficulty is that so many of the children are on different levels. The oldest children, 18 and 14 years old, are at a pre-k level, then some of the younger children are at about grade 3 or 4. The 4 and 5 year olds can't even sit to hear a story, and when I first started reading to them, they began repeating each word I said instead of listening. They have trouble holding pencils, do not know colors, shapes or numbers and a few don't know what the alphabet is.
I do not believe this is because the children are in the orphanage. I believe that life in Northern Ghana is extremely poor everywhere, and parents are not able to take the time to begin any kind of education, be it reading books , playing peek-a-boo, singing songs or learning rhymes, right from birth. Everywhere I look, I see parents, especially mothers, working and children off on their own or working with their moms. And unfortunately, school seems to be a place where moms can send their kids so they can get a lot of work done. That may be the case in some areas of the US too (!) but at least there is actual learning being done inside the classrooms there.
So the question is, how does this cycle end? How can the people of Northern Ghana rise up and demand proper education for their children so they can have a better life? I have no idea... The government here does not seem that interested in raising educated children, and I am not even sure the people here are aware that they are being ignored by a government that cannot provide the proper education for it's citizens and does not want anyone else to be successful at it either.
Here's what I do know. The children at The Nazareth Home for God's Children now love to be read to, they glow when they receive praise for correct answers and are eager to learn. They love the personal attention they get with the small classes we have set up and they are excited to begin class. They are learning quickly and are having fun with "old school" games like What time is it Mr. Fox and Red Light Green Light. It is a challenge to work with kids on so many different mental levels and some with physical impediments, but we are doing our best!!
I know it is not likely that the children in the US appreciate the education they receive there. I wish they could all spend a month here and see the destitution and poverty, see the lack of parental caring and that there are no extra-curricular activities here like girl and boy scouts, dancing, sewing classes or sports. There is just work and chores.
It is a cycle Sister Stan is trying to overcome, along with the practice of abandoning "imperfect, cursed" children. She is a mighty warrior for Christ and for her children.
By the way, I just had to write today that I walked into the dining hall today and it totally smelled like French fries... and I wanted some fast food so much I almost cried. If someone could please send me a cheeseburger, large fries, a coke and maybe a chocolate milkshake, I would be most grateful...
The Nazareth Home for God's Children P.O. Box YD9, Yendi, Ghana, West Africa. Thanks!!!
xoxo
