06 November 2009

caning

in ghana, a perfectly acceptable punishment in school is caning. this is something we talked about over and over in training, something we were warned about, something we were advised on how to handle appropriately.
as much as we had talked about it and learned about it, i only just saw my first caning last week. two old boys, both probably in their 20's, had gotten into a fight the night before. in front of assembly, each received three lashes on their back from a green stick from a tree. the sticks broke with each lash. it was intense, but the boys barely flinched, keeping up a tough exterior in front of all their classmates.
the second caning i witnessed, this week, was so much worse though. two little p1 boys had gotten into a fight. one had a big cut above his eye. the teachers considered his cut to be adequate punishment, so they spared him, but the other boy... oh, the poor little guy.
first, he was made to kneel in the gravel in front of assembly. a teacher gave him two huge stones, one in each hand. he was made to hold them with his arms extended straight out. they were so heavy he couldn't do it, and each time his arms dropped, he was scolded again.
when that was finally enough, the caning happened. i don't even know how many lashes this little guy got, but it was way too many. he was wailing and sobbing so much the teacher had to hold him by his shirt to keep him from running away or falling down.
when it was finally over, he ran off and screamed and cried in the corner for a long time. it was horrible.
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4 comments:

  1. AmyJNovember 6, 2009 at 3:58 PM

    Oh my goodness! I thought you were writing about canning at first (like boiling fruit and putting it in a can) and then I realized what you meant. It sounds horrible, but they did stuff like this in my school in Morocco too.

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  2. Hi! My name is Janet.November 8, 2009 at 1:57 AM

    that's so sad :( how did the PC say you should handle it?

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  3. Favorite Aunt PattyNovember 9, 2009 at 12:58 AM

    You are really experiencing a different culture. It's interesting that this is such a public matter. I remember when I was in the third grade. Mrs. Richardson took a yard stick to Steve Sperry. He was caught eating glue. She had him stand in front of the classroom bend over and grab his ankles and then struck his behind with the yard stick. Smack! Smack! Smack! On that third smack the yard stick broke. The next day Steve came to school with a new yard stick for the teacher.

    I never ate glue.

    I think this was harsh punishment for glue eating.

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  4. Sarah A.November 14, 2009 at 5:45 PM

    Oh, Joy.
    This made me cry out loud (at work) when I just read it.
    I thank you for sharing, even though it is so very difficult to hear about--let alone to witness.
    I'm sorry for all who had to witness, the teacher who "had to" exact the punishment and especially for the little boy.

    Is there any medical or psychological attention for his wounds and his humiliation?

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