i know most of you can't actually come and visit me here, but i've heard of a way you can come close.
on the 31st of july is ghanafest, held in chicago.
now, i've never been, so i have no idea what this will be like, but it says it transforms washington park into a ghanaian market, with colorful african dress and wonderful crafts.
those of you who can go should.
let me know how it is.
eat fufu if they have it.
http://ghananationalcouncil.org/ghanafest2010.htm
01 May 2010
22 April 2010
teenage pregnancy
in ghana, i suppose women do sometimes get married and have children very young, and it is normal.
but i am really sad that one of my p2 girls (second grade) is pregnant. she is an older student (14 years old), but that is still too young for a baby. and it almost certainly means the end of her education, at the level where she can barely spell her own name.
last term, a jhs2 (9th grade) girl got pregnant, and that made me sad too, but she at least got some amount of an education first.
but now these two girls, audette and lika, are probably just beginning a really hard life. so sad.
but i am really sad that one of my p2 girls (second grade) is pregnant. she is an older student (14 years old), but that is still too young for a baby. and it almost certainly means the end of her education, at the level where she can barely spell her own name.
last term, a jhs2 (9th grade) girl got pregnant, and that made me sad too, but she at least got some amount of an education first.
but now these two girls, audette and lika, are probably just beginning a really hard life. so sad.
koko
my new favorite food in ghana is koko. it makes me laugh that i now like this so much, because when i first saw it and first tasted it, it was disgusting.
it is served in a clear plastic bag, and it is a brownish-gray color similar to that of dirty dishwater. and it is thin and runny like dirty dishwater too.
koko is made out of millet and has ginger and i think even some hot pepper to flavor it. it is a breakfast food, add a little sugar and eat it like porridge. and it kinda burns your throat a little bit because of the spice, but it feels so good on a sore throat.
it is SO good. i find myself craving it for breakfast.
it is served in a clear plastic bag, and it is a brownish-gray color similar to that of dirty dishwater. and it is thin and runny like dirty dishwater too.
koko is made out of millet and has ginger and i think even some hot pepper to flavor it. it is a breakfast food, add a little sugar and eat it like porridge. and it kinda burns your throat a little bit because of the spice, but it feels so good on a sore throat.
it is SO good. i find myself craving it for breakfast.
20 April 2010
totally worth it
there might be some very civilized, very polite way to eat a mango, but i have not discovered it.
whenever i bite into the wonderful, juicy sweetness of the mango, right away my teeth fill with the fibrous pulp. as i try to pick the bright yellow vampire-like fangs of mango threads from between my teeth, the juice starts dripping into my hand from the piece i'm still holding. then it starts dripping down my arm. if i'm lucky, i can catch it before it gets to my elbow, and i lick the juice back all the way to my hand. then, when i've eaten through the peel, the insides get so slippery that it slides all over and i almost drop it several times, all the while picking at my teeth and licking to my elbow.
i know every time that this will happen, but i just can't resist the mango. i need to start hiding in my house when i eat them, i think.
12 April 2010
i have good news for you
thanks to the massive rainstorm last week, the field i burned down a few months ago is now starting to sprout new grass!
i'll try not to burn it down again this time.
i'll try not to burn it down again this time.
07 April 2010
30 March 2010
seriously?
this term, for my jhs classes we studied calabash art. calabash art is using decorative gourds for different purposes. we focused mostly on the theory end of it for the term, taking a lot of notes and doing a lot of reading.
so after an entire term of calabash everything, notes every week, quizzes almost every week, i finally gave my exams this week.
and one boy called me over and pointed to the word calabash on his paper and asked me what it meant.
so after an entire term of calabash everything, notes every week, quizzes almost every week, i finally gave my exams this week.
and one boy called me over and pointed to the word calabash on his paper and asked me what it meant.
26 March 2010
something to think about
i was recently reading a document discussing poverty in ghana. some of the statistics in it really shocked me. i mean, i live here, and i see "poor" people, but i had no idea even that what i see is as extreme as it is.
poverty in ghana is defined as having less than 90Ghc (about $60) per year. Extreme poverty is defined as having less than 70Ghc (about $45) per year. PER YEAR.
when i read those numbers, i thought maybe they are just being extreme in their definitions, but then i read on.
the prevalence of poverty in my region is the highest in ghana, which i knew, as i am in a very rural, very poor area of the country. but this article defined the prevalence as 88%.
that means 88% of the people in the upper west here earn less than $60 a year.
wow.
poverty in ghana is defined as having less than 90Ghc (about $60) per year. Extreme poverty is defined as having less than 70Ghc (about $45) per year. PER YEAR.
when i read those numbers, i thought maybe they are just being extreme in their definitions, but then i read on.
the prevalence of poverty in my region is the highest in ghana, which i knew, as i am in a very rural, very poor area of the country. but this article defined the prevalence as 88%.
that means 88% of the people in the upper west here earn less than $60 a year.
wow.
19 March 2010
juluis
p2 is one of my favorite classes to teach, both because it is my last class of the week, and because the kids are well-behaved and so darn cute. it is a small class, so i am able to get the know the kids better than p1 and p3, which are huge classes.
one of my first weeks teaching p2, i came early and observed the classroom teacher for a while before my class began. they were working on spelling, simple words like "dog" and "ball." students were taking turns coming to the blackboard to spell the words. one little boy named julius had an especially hard time, repeatedly spelling "bog" and "dall." as much as he tried, he just could not understand the difference between "b" and "d". the teacher made him stay at the front of the class, over and over making him rewrite the words, but little julius could not get it right. the teacher grew frustrated, but julius just kept trying and trying and never gave up.
and that's just how this little guy is. he's deaf and also has vision trouble. one eye is clouded, so he probably can't see out of it at all. since his only method of communication is visual, and he probably only has half vision at best, he obviously has a lot to overcome. plus, it seems that he has a learning disability.
but he never gives up. he spends at least twice as long on every assignment as the other kids do, but he keeps trying.
i noticed that he tends to misspell his name on a lot of assignments. he transposes the "u" and "i." i corrected him a couple times, but then i figured out why he was getting it wrong. he can't remember how to spell his name, so when he went to write his name on is paper, he flipped the hem of his shorts up, and stitched upside-down on the hem so he could read it right side-up was "JULUIS."
so that's just what he writes on every paper.
juluis.
one of my first weeks teaching p2, i came early and observed the classroom teacher for a while before my class began. they were working on spelling, simple words like "dog" and "ball." students were taking turns coming to the blackboard to spell the words. one little boy named julius had an especially hard time, repeatedly spelling "bog" and "dall." as much as he tried, he just could not understand the difference between "b" and "d". the teacher made him stay at the front of the class, over and over making him rewrite the words, but little julius could not get it right. the teacher grew frustrated, but julius just kept trying and trying and never gave up.
and that's just how this little guy is. he's deaf and also has vision trouble. one eye is clouded, so he probably can't see out of it at all. since his only method of communication is visual, and he probably only has half vision at best, he obviously has a lot to overcome. plus, it seems that he has a learning disability.
but he never gives up. he spends at least twice as long on every assignment as the other kids do, but he keeps trying.
i noticed that he tends to misspell his name on a lot of assignments. he transposes the "u" and "i." i corrected him a couple times, but then i figured out why he was getting it wrong. he can't remember how to spell his name, so when he went to write his name on is paper, he flipped the hem of his shorts up, and stitched upside-down on the hem so he could read it right side-up was "JULUIS."
so that's just what he writes on every paper.
juluis.
16 March 2010
long time
i just realized that it has been almost a month since i last posted here, and i do apologize to all my loyal readers for that.
i don't have much new to say right now, except it is hot. that's the only news over here.
for the recipe i posted last time, there were a couple questions. on the ginger, get a couple pieces of the root. they should be the size of a couple fingers maybe. also, i think i overestimated the rice amount, so cut back on that.
please let me know if you make it; i am so curious what americans will think of this dish!
i don't have much new to say right now, except it is hot. that's the only news over here.
for the recipe i posted last time, there were a couple questions. on the ginger, get a couple pieces of the root. they should be the size of a couple fingers maybe. also, i think i overestimated the rice amount, so cut back on that.
please let me know if you make it; i am so curious what americans will think of this dish!
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