And now for something completely different……

First of all I want to assure you that what you are about to read has not been edited in any way. As one travels along the roads of Ghana many towns are passed through. Both sides of the road very often are lined with kiosks or old railroad car containers turned into stores. Here for your entertainment are some of the names of these establishments. Ponder them and have yourselves a chuckle.

Jesus is My Manager Butik

By the Grace of God Electrician

Don’t Mind Your Wife Chop Bar

God Will Provide Salon

Jesus Cares Motor Parts

By His Grace Electrician

God’s Way Fried Yam

More Blessings Brakes

New Lovers Trading Company
(HMMMMM)

Live Fast Food
(Do you have to catch it first?)

Perceptions Change When You Get the True Story

I have made some observations and somehow along the way my view has evolved. When I considered the following:

Housing…at first I was shocked, then I accepted, now I understand

People….. at first welcoming, then humble, now I respect

Schools... at first I was appalled, then I accepted, now I am hope-filled

I am in awe at the way the land keeps thriving as do the people.

Children need nurturing and they barely get enough nourishment.

People need to live and see other people’s conditions and then take action not pity.

Ghana needs: sanitation, literacy, ecology dedication and elevation of education and JOBS!

Latest Headlines from Ghana

Japan Pledges More Support
The Japanese have pledged to assist Ghana in their continued efforts to improve its infrastructure especially in the road sector.

New Petroleum Prices Out Today
Increases in petroleum prices are between 9 – 13% Premium petro is now 34,850 cedis/gallon while gas oil is now at 32,000 cedis /gallon. This is the equivalent of about $4 and $3.55/GALLON. Any more complaints America????


Today is World Press Freedom Day (5 May)


President Inaugurates MRI Centre at Korle-Bu
First MRI equipment has arrived in Ghana at a teaching hospital in Accra. Kumasi should be in line next to receive similar equipment. Famous bacteriologist, Dr. Hideyo Noguchi conducted research in yellow fever in the laboratory at Korle-Bu.

Moves to Prevent Cholera in Kumasi
The main focus of the latest efforts will be to intensify public education campaign agencies and train community based surveillance teams. These teams will report cases ASAP. I still find it difficult to believe that there are places in the world where diseases we have eradicated in America still exist.

Mamfe-Adenta Road Takes Shape
This area of Ghana is well developed. They have prestigious schools, potable water, electricity yet the roads are AWFUL! I have had the uncomfortable experience of riding along this road and my spine has yet to fully recover.

Harsh Realities

April 16 (this was written in my journal Easter Sunday evening…..)

Tonight as I walked along a dark city road we came upon a young woman asking for money for food. As I turned to look closer my eyes and my heart fell to see her young child tied to her back – my hand grabbed cedis and put them in hers as I said, “God bless you and your beautiful child.” I then stroked that baby’s cheek and asked God to let this child grow up healthy and strong. We then proceeded to a taxi and a restaurant- I had lost my appetite.
It’s not uncommon to see crippled and deformed people – an old man, legs crossed Indian style frozen in position, arms extended with flip flops on his hands for they are now his feet; a neck scarred, fused to a face where a chin used to be before the fire melted it; a hand bent backwards from polio; a foot twisted sideways from a break never properly mended.
A day’s work is tiring, people sleep wherever their weariness overtakes them: on narrow wooden benches; on cement walls, underneath their broken down truck where it is shady and safe (?); on the road with the curb as your pillow- these can be seen any time, day or night.
In the dark night a candle burns lighting up the expressionless face of a young lady selling the last of her food- wares of the day- one child tied to her back, one child sleeping on her lap and another on the ground-her feet his pillow. Her job is not a 9 to 5 one.
As challenging as daily life is, I have never heard anyone complain or say they deserve better-they live each day and pray for the light of the next. For most there is no thought of future- it takes enough to get through one day without thinking of the next. This is a developing country; a country moving toward middle income status by 2015. I pray they make it. I pray they muckle on to their values and bring them along into a comfortable way of life- a life of enough.

Reflections

April 21
I have opened my arms wide and embraced this opportunity. I have shared my knowledge, my compassion and my encouragement.
I have received grace to renew and reignite my spirit. I have made friends. I have acquired memories to cherish.
I have learned so much about this culture, these gracious people; their unwavering faith, their day to day existence.
I have strengthened my spirituality. I have renewed my faith in education.
I have grounded myself in the present moment for that is what matters; that is where one has an effect.
I have seen the earth dry and burnt; that same earth thrusting renewed growth from its fruitful soil.
I have opened my arms wide and I am enriched for having done so.

Talk ABout Dedication

Written end of April
April 29
Today over 900 Ghanaian teachers left our campus, they will have three days with family before getting back to work. For the past three weeks, whole all other teachers and students were on break, they have been attending classes eight hours each day. These people are known as pupil teachers; they are untrained, some with only a middle school education. Yet they applied, interviewed, got accepted and have found the means to pay necessary fees to learn and earn a teaching diploma. They were here in December and will come again in August. In fact, for four years, they will come to campus during every school break they have. The Ghana Education Service began this program last year in the Northern Region, have extended it to Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions this year and will include other regions next year. The program is a solution to an ongoing problem not without flaws.
These people are completing the same course of study Teacher Training College students do. Teacher Training Students have completed Secondary School (high school) and have acquired academic skills and knowledge. Very often the UTTDBE student has poor English, speaking and writing skills; has only completed Junior Secondary School (middle school; is paid in fruits, vegetables or animals; has a family to care for; teaches in an over-populated classroom; teacher in areas no trained teacher would dare to go.
This program is necessary They say the UTTDBE stands for Untrained Teacher Diploma in Basic Education. I think it is more like this:
:
Unrelenting
True Teachers
Thriving
Desire to learn
Beautiful
Essential

This program is Ghana’s solution. Ghana cannot stop educating children while they remedy the teacher shortage problem. I can’t help but wonder is a little education better than no education at all?