*&$#@!^&*!! LIGHT OFF!

You think loosing power in New England during a winter storm is frustrating try loosing power randomly for no explained reason. Remember temperatures here are running between 22 and 35 degrees Celsius daily. So no electricity means: no fans, no office equipment working on campus and no refrigeration during the day and at night it is DARK. Now to top it all off the Volta Region 2 weeks ago (6 Jan) had a huge problem which caused a chain reaction throughout the country. Ghana was without power for most of a weekend! Now in Sunyani, they are building a new transformer which under normal circumstances should take 6 months. They are working round the clock to get it done by the end of January. As a result we have light off daily for 12 hours or more. Initially the rumor was we would have light for 2w days, dark for 2 nights. That is not how it has worked out. Tonight is the first night in 2 weeks we have had light so I am quickly creating e-mails and writing this update to put on my flashdrive in the hopes I can get to an internet café in the near future during a time when there is power. There is another phenomenon known as water off…yep tonight(17 Jan) no water coming from the indoor taps so I got my bucket and off to the outdoor spigot I went…

So, here's what I have been up to lately....

The work I do here on a day to day basis seems to have no impact. Upon reflection I know differently. I arrive on a school campus and the youngest students come running to touch my white skin in awe. Elementary students run from school every day to visit the center and play with some games or listen to a story. Older students want to talk with me to better their English skills. Teachers ask me when I am coming to visit their classroom. They want me to see them using the materials and information I have shared with them. I even have them begging for more workshops. Tutors on this campus are coming to meetings on time and some are beginning to borrow materials too. Two projects I am developing are being positively received and not looked upon negatively as more work but enthusiastically as ways of helping them accomplish more for their work.
One project is with the Science Department here. Due to an article shared with them stating that Ghana’s science and math performance was pretty low we have developed a questionnaire to share with local science teachers to discern how best to help them improve their science education. Once the data is collected and reviewed they are committed to assisting area teachers through workshops and adopting colleagues in local schools to improve the work they do with the children!
Another project is to compliment the mentor training that has recently completed. After 2 years on campus, students are attached to local schools for a full year. The teachers they have mentoring them very often have not been as well trained as our students. Students are often wrongly criticized for not doing things the way the teachers do them which in fact is probably not the best way. We brought training to them during the past 3 weeks and will follow it up with the program I am developing entitled: Bridging Theory & Practice: creating support for Ghana’s new teachers! WE will offer a session for all Head Teachers on campus here as well as 3 regional sessions including mentors, head teachers and circuit supervisors so all stakeholders are on the same page. This all for the benefit of Ghana’s future teachers and ultimately Ghana’s true Gold, its children!