Hi's and Low's and Prayers at School
Since many of the volunteers in our group are Quakers, Kwesi has instituted a kind of spiritual practice for all of us each evening, in which we begin with a moment of silence and then in turn we tell about our "highs" and "lows" of the day. I have begun to look forward to times when the electricity is off; somehow, this quiet sharing seems even more meaningful by candlelight.
Speaking of clocks, one of the greatest oddities I've ever seen is the "Jesus Clock" in the headmaster's office (see picture). It runs on batteries and on the hour it plays different songs with the tonal quality of the worst musical greeting card you've ever heard. I was dumbstruck to hear it play "Oh, Susannah!" at noon one day.
On this particular evening, we had fufu and light soup for dinner, and our housekeeper and cook, Theresa, brought a birthday cake she had baked for Kwesi at home (the guesthouse doesn't have an oven). Our planned Koomson Festival didn’t happen because the lights were off once again. Electricity is rationed throughout Ghana, and no one knows when it will be our turn to lose power, nor for how many hours it will be off.
My Hi was that a boy named Gabriel asked me for my phone number – first time anyone hit on me in 50 years! Everyone had a good laugh. Melissa’s Low was having a mouse run into her classroom. One of the children chased it, stepped on it, and carried it out. Rick made the comment that when he was reading The Magic Locket with a group of boys, he asked if anyone had ever given them a gift, and the only thing they could name were gifts (of school supplies) given to them at Heritage Academy.
In the middle of the night I woke and began to think about John’s expressed Low on Tuesday – how hopeless it all seems. I began to understand what he means; there is so much privation that it is impossible for most of the children ever to realize their dreams. I remembered having asked Kwesi what he thought about Oprah Winfrey’s school, and his measured reply that, while it was a wonderful thing, he didn’t believe it was sustainable. Now I was beginning to understand what he meant. Heritage Academy takes small steps forward, but when problems arise (such as the school bus breaking down), the people can fix them on their own, with intuitive knowledge and local resources. With a dedicated man like deGraft Tawiah as headmaster, as well as a faculty of locally trained teachers, Heritage Academy is a grassroots school capable of profound influence over other private schools in the Central Region of Ghana.
Thursday, 2 August
Today, we began our class by asking the children to write for 10 minutes about anything they wanted. Here are two excerpts:
Charity Hammond
My Teachers
Madam Bonnie and Miss Rosie they have round eyes and round cheeks. They are white women with good mind and have no bad ideas with any one. They talk about themselves. That is why I love them. They are Madam Malisa’s friend.
Also they both teach one subject which is writing. They have spectacles. I think both have saving eye.
Samuel Arthur
I Like Learning and Attend Church
I like studies in class room. I dislike gossiping because it is not good. What I like best is learning books like libray books, mats, English and science. This are the things that I like.
I want to be like a respectful boy at USA so that everyone will take care of me. I like studies very hard and I dislike playing too much.
I want to be like how you studies hard so that me too I will be like you and have chance to teach writing.
I like church very much because if you go to church God too will open your mind to studies very hard and as for that every book that they will give it to you, you can easy read it and every work that they will give to you, you can easy do it. And I attend church of Pentecost in Ghana. So me too I want know your church that you attend at USA.
The clock seemed to stop at the end of the class period on this day. Desperate to fill the last 10 minutes, we asked the children if there was anything they would like to know about us. One of them asked us to teach them a song. Rosie and I looked at each other, at a complete loss. We settled on “Row, row, row your boat,” and we sang it together. The children asked us to write the words on the board. Then they sang it with us. When the bell rang at last, we left the classroom, headed toward our lunch of peanut butter sandwiches. The children remained behind, copying the song into their notebooks.
In the middle of the night I woke and began to think about John’s expressed Low on Tuesday – how hopeless it all seems. I began to understand what he means; there is so much privation that it is impossible for most of the children ever to realize their dreams. I remembered having asked Kwesi what he thought about Oprah Winfrey’s school, and his measured reply that, while it was a wonderful thing, he didn’t believe it was sustainable. Now I was beginning to understand what he meant. Heritage Academy takes small steps forward, but when problems arise (such as the school bus breaking down), the people can fix them on their own, with intuitive knowledge and local resources. With a dedicated man like deGraft Tawiah as headmaster, as well as a faculty of locally trained teachers, Heritage Academy is a grassroots school capable of profound influence over other private schools in the Central Region of Ghana.
Thursday, 2 August
Today, we began our class by asking the children to write for 10 minutes about anything they wanted. Here are two excerpts:
Charity Hammond
My Teachers
Madam Bonnie and Miss Rosie they have round eyes and round cheeks. They are white women with good mind and have no bad ideas with any one. They talk about themselves. That is why I love them. They are Madam Malisa’s friend.
Also they both teach one subject which is writing. They have spectacles. I think both have saving eye.
Samuel Arthur
I Like Learning and Attend Church
I like studies in class room. I dislike gossiping because it is not good. What I like best is learning books like libray books, mats, English and science. This are the things that I like.
I want to be like a respectful boy at USA so that everyone will take care of me. I like studies very hard and I dislike playing too much.
I want to be like how you studies hard so that me too I will be like you and have chance to teach writing.
I like church very much because if you go to church God too will open your mind to studies very hard and as for that every book that they will give it to you, you can easy read it and every work that they will give to you, you can easy do it. And I attend church of Pentecost in Ghana. So me too I want know your church that you attend at USA.
The clock seemed to stop at the end of the class period on this day. Desperate to fill the last 10 minutes, we asked the children if there was anything they would like to know about us. One of them asked us to teach them a song. Rosie and I looked at each other, at a complete loss. We settled on “Row, row, row your boat,” and we sang it together. The children asked us to write the words on the board. Then they sang it with us. When the bell rang at last, we left the classroom, headed toward our lunch of peanut butter sandwiches. The children remained behind, copying the song into their notebooks.
Speaking of clocks, one of the greatest oddities I've ever seen is the "Jesus Clock" in the headmaster's office (see picture). It runs on batteries and on the hour it plays different songs with the tonal quality of the worst musical greeting card you've ever heard. I was dumbstruck to hear it play "Oh, Susannah!" at noon one day.
And while I'm writing about spiritual matters (!!), let me mention the closing exercises each day at school, which never fail to bring a lump to my throat.
The children line up in forms; they close their eyes and put their hands together and recite the Lord's Prayer. Then they sing a hymn, and sometimes - at the direction of Kwesi - they recite a psalm before them are dismissed.
One of the elements of the written test at the end of each year is to write the Lord's Prayer. Kwesi showed me one student's version: Our foder who art in heaven, hello be thy name. Die king don't come Die will be done... Give us this day our jelly bread...
I think I'll never recite that prayer again without thinking what a great name "Hello" is for God!
posted by Bonnie at 4:26 PM
1 Comments:
This is just too precious!
Thank you for sharing this with everyone.
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