John's Next Step

Last week was Palm Sunday.  There are many palm trees in the southern part of Ghana that receives a major and a minor rainy season.  But up here with one rainy season and a long dry season on the savannah there are only a few palm trees.  Still, there are enough to celebrate palm Sunday. Palm branch woven for Palm Sunday Palm ceremony under a mango tree by the procession to the mass.  Palms being waved by the people The locals weave the palm branches for use at Palm Sunday mass.  Last Sunday we had mass in the village.  It was nice.  Today there will be Easter Mass in the cathedral.  Happy Easter to all. Tailoring Tailoring is one of the jobs that people do in the area.  There are many tailors and seamstresses in town.  I have one pair of pants and ten shirts made locally. One of Roger’s sons is thinking about training to be a tailor.  The typical way to learn the trade is to sign up as an apprentice.  A lo...

The flip flops above have not been thrown away, just set aside while the child was playing the drums during the recent practice for Independence Day.  Some of the children may not even have something as good as these – they come to school barefoot.  I also notice the frayed and torn cloths worn by children and adults around the village during school, church, and funerals. I’ve lived in Ghana for about 22 months, but obviously I still cannot truly know how it feels to be an African.  To be sure there are locals who have more things than I.  The other three teachers in my compound all have a good size refrigerator, satellite television, motorcycle and other things that make their lives easier than most in the village.  But I don’t say easier than mine. A big difference is that I know I have less than 5 months left in my service.  While this current hot season is difficult, I am not facing future hot seasons for the rest of my life.  I have always ...

This past Sunday, March 6th, was Ghana Independence Day.  The school participated in the marching and other ceremonies on Sunday with other schools in the area. The little kids marched first Our school waiting turn to march.  I took video of our school marching - but could not extract a picture and the file is way to large to upload with my internet.  (Peace Corps joys) World Map Mural Some kind of artist I finished the world map mural this week.  There are a couple of mistakes I will fix, but all in all I’m happy with the results.  A number of teachers and students have come in to see the map and to test their knowledge. Me with the headmaster after the map was completed The headmaster selected a student to work on the next map.  Bismark, and any student he wants to help, will be working on a map of Africa.  Work will be done on Fridays while the other students have grounds work to do. And work begins on the map of A...

Celebrating success is a key component in Peace Corps and community development as in any difficult activity.  This week we had the long awaited commissioning of the ICT Lab and Library in the Junior High School. It was a big deal.  District education officials came to the event.  This is only the second time I’ve seen them in the community – the first time being the handover of the new school to the community.  Of course at that time they gave the new school the primary – despite the original plan for a new Junior High and desperate need of the Junior High students and the relative comfort of the primary in their (relatively new) existing facility.  One of the things I will remember of Ghana and development is the quote that they “wanted the Junior High students to continue to suffer greatly so someone would come and build them a new school” when that was exactly what the government had just done. ICT Lab ready for the celebration Ribbon to be cut ...