Last Chance to Be…

Thursday 25th January 2006

LIGHTS OFF!

When I was eleven I went down a coal mine. Not to work of course but as a tourist on a school trip. The piece de resistance and clearly the guide’s favourite part of the show was ‘total darkness.’ Everybody turns their headlamps off et voila.

Total darkness is just that – complete blackness, with no light sources whatsoever. It is one of the most eerie things you can imagine. In total darkness you cannot see your hand if you place it inches from your face. You cannot make out the faintest of shapes. Nothing at all.

There are very few places on Earth where you can experience total darkness. A few miles into the Earth’s core is one of them, Abor during ‘lights off’ is another.

Every week or so, we have power rationing. It is supposed to be once a week, but more often than not it’s two or three times. If the power rationing happens in the daytime we run the generator so that classes can continue as normal. If not, we turn it off to save fuel.

Imagine then, if you will, going to bed. Imagine it being so hot that you have to put a standing fan on full blast aimed at your bed. (Ear plugs drown the noise.). You go to sleep.

Then for some reason you wake up. At least you think you are awake for you seem to be conscious. You open your eyes…….nothing.. Hmm did you go blind in the night? Are you dreaming? Why isn’t the fan running? Why am I lying in a pool of sweat? Then as you become more awake, you realise that a ‘Lights off’ has happened, unannounced, in the middle of the night, the heat got to you, and you woke up.

Sometimes in a full moon, or if the Harmattan hasn’t filled the sky with sand, you can make out the dim shapes of the window frame. Most times, even if you let your eyes adjust for thirty minutes, you see nothing at all. There is no light, unnatural or natural for miles in all directions. A monkey could be right in front of me, dancing, and I wouldn’t see it. It is for this reason I sleep with a torch, just to make sure I am still alive when I wake up during a lights off.

There are monkeys here, apparently they hang around the farm, stealing food, but I haven’t seen them.

NOISES

The school runs on a strict schedule, even at weekends and with each part of the schedule come predictable noises.

At 5.30 AM the school bell rings. I make it out despite the earplugs as it is so loud. The students get up and start to clean the school.

For the next hour I hear them shouting and generally being noisy. Even the sound of brooms is noisy. Sweeping here is all about making patterns in the sand and not really about cleaning so the sweeping goes on a long time, for there is a lot of sand.

At 7 AM the students go to mass. They sing and bang drums a lot. I don’t mind this noise too much as it means everybody is in the chapel, as everybody here is a Christian of some denomination or another, except me. Water pressure increases during Church business and I get to have a decent (albeit cold) shower.

At 8 AM there is more noise as lessons start. Any teacher will tell you that students moving between classes are surprisingly loud, wherever you are in the World.

This pattern repeats itself throughout the day with various visits to the Church, more drum banging etc. After school there is more singing and drumming and even a brass band.

The patterns of noise are predictable. Ghana is a very noisy place, even out here in the bush. I work around them and thankfully, at 9 PM everybody sleeps. Only occasionally do you hear the sound of distant drums. This is normally a funeral or feast in a village a few miles away.

The noise travels along way and it really is just like the noise you hear in European or American movies when the intrepid explorers arrive at some place where there are some cannibals or something banging drums in the distance.

Anyway, so the noise is predictable and as I have found out, snakes don’t like noise. So, for the most part they stay away.

About once a week however, the noise pattern is broken when there is a huge commotion and an outbreak of various unusual sounds. It normally starts with SQUEAK SCRAPE BANG CRASH. (This is the sound of tables and chairs moving suddenly).

Then comes screaming and shouting followed by more banging and crashing. After this we have cheering and more shouting but this time it’s more triumphant and less panic stricken.

This is what happens when a snake comes onto campus. I have only seen one tiny mamba (alive) so far. The snakes that normally come into the school are deadly spitting cobras. They disturb a class, everybody screams and runs, except a brave few who batter it to death, before parading round with it on a stick, singing, while everybody else cheers.

For those who don’t know, spitting cobras are the ones who spit lethal venom into your eyes and make you go blind or worse. We also have large fifteen feet long pythons here but they tend to hang around the farm. The mambas are also deadly but they tend to hang around fields where, get this, they actually leap great distances from tree to tree.

I have been quite lucky in that most of the snakes I have seen so far have been dead ones, battered with a stick normally. Most have only been recently killed so I am sure my time will come.

The attitude towards these deadly snakes is more than blasé, it’s cavalier. There is a new building being put up at the moment and a few have been found hanging around it. One of the Brothers went to kill one the other day and it spat in his eyes. He told this story at dinner. He told how he washed his eyes out with water and it ‘stung a bit’ but afterwards he was ok.

Another one of the farmers told me that mambas were ok as long as a big one doesn’t bite you. He said most people survive the bites anyway. That’s ok then as long as most people survive there really doesn’t seem to be any point taking preventative measures does there? I mean who needs anti-venom when you have water to wash your eyes out. I was laughed at the first time I asked where the nearest anti-venom was located.

Strangely, despite not being particularly taken by meat in Ghana, I do quite fancy trying a bit of snake. One of the farmers feels the same so we have made an arrangement that next time a suitable snake is killed, I will try some if he does.

Your average Ewe finds the thought of eating snake repulsive. I have only one thing to say about that. Kittens.

VSO

Friday 26th January 2007

It’s been two months since I arrived. In that time, I haven’t really talked about VSO, or my work, at all. It is after all the reason I am here.

In truth, I haven’t had too much contact with them. My position is far removed from what VSO is about in many ways.

In the past VSO traditionally sent teachers, and various Voluntary workers, out and about with the idea of helping, where help was deemed to be required. In the last few years, things have changed. VSO are trying to make more efforts towards sustainable development. This means that there are fewer teachers and more development type jobs. Most of my peers work as advisors or in management at various NGOs (Non Government Organisations). Of the list of around sixty Volunteers currently in Ghana, there are around four teachers.

My role is easily defined and hard work. Most other Volunteers are working hard at finding out exactly how to help, finding ways of making a difference. They need more support than me. For this reason I have just got on with it. VSO have phoned me twice and sent a few emails that are out of date by the time I get them. It suits me to be left alone in this way.

In terms of sustainability, I was told there was a local teacher here who needed to be trained in IT. This is true, however, he has no intentions of staying here, or even working as a teacher.

My job has no direct sustainability. I realised this within a few weeks of being here and talking to the teacher in question. When I leave the job goes with it, unless another VSO comes to replace me.

For me the sustainable aspect is making sure that my students retain some of the things I teach them and help to change their country for the better. It has become obvious, that this also won’t happen.

This is because the level of education, that my students have, is too low. Most of them are around twenty years of age and have had around five years of schooling. Their literacy level is poor. Teachers here are paid a pittance, around $2 a day. As such, their motivation and technical level is also poor.

So, I am not going to train a disabled student to become a network engineer, or web designer or anything close. Instead I am teaching them the basics of computer literacy. I am unsure how this is going to achieve any level of sustainable development. There is a lot of good in what I am doing, but it is not particularly VSOesque.

There are some opportunities to change attitudes towards disability however, particularly in Abor. I should at least raise my students’ general level of education, which sets a good example to other, more able students. Also, I have the feeling that just being here, showing the kids that they are just human beings like the rest of us, does them the world of good.

The students love to carry my things and do good deeds for me. I take great pride in telling them that I am human, they are human, and as such, we should respect each other, that we are equal. They do no need to carry my things or wash my clothes. This confuses them at first but I think over time I can have a very positive influence on the way they see their own disability.

The teacher who I am unlikely to train in IT, has also shown a great deal of interest in advocating the rights of disabled people in Ghana and instead of teaching him boring stuff like TCP/IP, I have been giving him all my notes from my disability training that I had at VSO in Birmingham. He is lapping it up.

So, back to my students. I have a small problem here. Eventually the Internet will come to Abor. Eventually one of them will type Abor into Google and find this site. For this reason I will not write about them anything I haven’t said to them already. So you will have to wait until I have said to them, everything that I want to say to you. Suffice to say, they are a really nice lot, but we have our difficulties when it comes to teaching.

CHEW, POUR, PASS, FORGET.

This little phrase is some kind of mantra, which the students talk about in class, and I have discussed with them at great length. It basically means that the teacher gives them notes, they chew it up, spit in out in the exam and then promptly forget everything they learnt. For them, and for a lot of teachers, lessons here involve copying out the contents of the only available and outdated textbook onto the board, writing it down and learning it parrot fashion.

I strictly forbade this attitude in my lessons from day one. I have tried everything to remove this way of thinking from their minds. It is a constant, uphill, struggle.

I refuse to give them notes and frequently give them work which is too difficult for them in order to get their brains working.

Questioning the teacher is also forbidden by many. Showing a lack of understanding or asking a question is seen as disobedient. I have spent the last three weeks drumming this, and other equally daft misconceptions out of them. At first they thought I was mad. Pair work, for example, was completely foreign to them. They are timid and afraid to speak, afraid to ask questions or to tell me when they don’t understand.

A typical session may go like this.

Detailed Explanation by me …..followed by….

‘Class do you understand’

YES (in unison)

‘Student X’ Do you understand?

‘YES MASTER’

Don’t call me master, do you understand?’

‘YES SIR’

‘Ok explain it to me then’

‘I CAN’T SIR’

‘But you said you understood’

‘I DO SIR’

‘Explain it then’

‘I CAN’T’

‘Why not’

‘I ERRR I ERR I EEERRR DON’T UNDERSTAND?’

‘Why did you say you did?’

‘ERRRR SAYING NO IS BAD SIR’

Repeat various combinations of frustratingness ad infinitum.

Slowly, however, I am making progress. If the students do stumble upon my site one day, I am sure they won’t find this too offensive, as we have at least got to the point when we chat and laugh about ‘Chew and Pour’ even if I haven’t got rid of it yet.

SUNDAY 29th January 2007

INTERNET IS OFF!

The chances of the Internet coming to Abor took a massive turn for the worse today. My mobile phone broke. Like a lot of things here, the electricity supply is poor. It has a habit of spiking and blowing things up and this, it seems, is what happened to my phone while it was on charge.

Without my phone we can’t test the GPRS connection. Without testing it we can’t justify the expense of buying the kit required. My mobile phone was capable of acting as a conduit between my laptop and the GPRS network. Bugger.

The feeling of disconnection from the rest of the world was bearable with the glimmer of hope that was GPRS. Now I no longer have that I feel rather down.

Since I have been here I have been sent two bars of chocolate and a chocolate flapjack by some kind souls. One bar of chocolate came up shortly after it went down during my malaria episode. Two chunks remained of the other bar along with the flapjack. They were being kept for emergencies. I deemed the phone disaster an emergency and ate them both this afternoon.

For the brief moments while the chocolate was actually in my mouth, I forgot about my problems. I spent the rest of the day wishing I had just done the two chunks of chocolate and saved the flapjack.

I have a spare phone so I can still use text, but unfortunately I lost all my phone numbers. If anybody who cares is reading this far down, please text me so I can recover all my contacts. Don’t forget to tell me who you are.

Since I have been here I have learnt something quite important about my life in the UK. For those who don’t know me too well I should explain that I used to spend a fair amount of time playing games on the net and generally hanging about online with other like-minded souls. When I told people in real life about this I could tell they thought I was ‘sad’. I always defended the lifestyle, but at the same time, deliberately withdrew from it due to the stigma attached. Strangely, it is one of the (many) reasons why I am here.

Having come all this way I actually miss talking to my Internet friends more than I would have imagined. Being so far away and disconnected I can say this with the comfort of not having to worry about being too embarrassed, I hope you are well, friends.

Friday 2nd February 2006

UPS AND DOWNS

As I am sure I have said before, and as I am sure many VSOs will tell you, life as a Volunteer has ups and downs.

After feeling down after the mobile phone affair, I have been feeling quite content the last few days. I am not sure why. The same problems exist with food and isolation but for some reason they aren’t such a problem at the moment. I think the constant exposure to the sun may be the reason. Perhaps it is because I am, for the most part, a happy person. Who knows.

I am also starting, after a few months, to finally find some hidden gems in Abor. Today, for example, I found baked beans. The other day I found a lady selling runner beans and carrots. I rushed home and made pasta, beans and carrots and it was divine.

It may also be because I received about seven parcels in one day. I had to go to Aflao and pay off customs to receive a few of them but I didn’t have to bribe anyone, just a small 50p importation charge.

While I was there I bought a television. It cost me two weeks wages but it was worth it, even if the picture sucks donkeys. Maybe I can buy a booster or something. For now anyway, I have a snowy picture of one TV station, GTV (Ghana Television). It’s awful but at least it’s there.

I also received various bits of food, including two parcels, which I sent to myself nine weeks ago, before I left Britain. Most of the stuff was ruined or infested with ants but I was able to salvage some squashed Jaffa Cakes and Coffee Mate. Bonus.

I think another reason I have been feeling great is because of the books I have been reading, Papillon and Banco. I can’t even begin to explain how totally inspiring Henri Charriere is to read when you are a VSO volunteer in an isolated location. The guy is a complete legend. He died the year I was born, 1973, aged 66 after an extraordinary life. If you haven’t read either of these books, I urge you to do so and read them both. Most of the books I have read over the last few years have been recommended by a good friend, Jonathan Cleveland, so if you’re reading this, cheers.

I have quite a lot to write down but have been quite busy lately. Today for example, was very full, a PTA meeting took up most of the day.

A ward of one of my students also happens to be a VSO, so he came to the school today and I was able to chat and swear and use complicated words without worrying, it was great.

Tomorrow I am going to the shite café, with a Ghanaian friend. This is my first real outing with a Ghanaian as a friend since I got here, so I am very pleased.

My relationship with the students is also improving daily, to the extent where they ask questions freely and I also get less frustrated with them. This is far from utopia, however. Indeed next time I update I intend to write about Britain and what a beautiful and free country it really is. I have also decided that the adventure in Ghana, whenever it ends, will not be the end of this site.

For now, at least, I plan to see out my two years but I am also starting to daydream about my trip home. Money is not an issue here, so the cash I set aside for emergencies is likely to still be available when I finish. I have decided to do something with it to keep the spirit of adventure alive. I am still toying with ideas but coming home on a motorcycle sounds like fun, through Burkina Faso, Mali and Algeria, across the Sahara and over the Atlas Mountains, or perhaps not. I have no idea if that is possible, crazy or what.

If you have any ideas please let me know. Travelling around the West Coast is not really an option as there are too many political problems on the route. Getting on a plane and simply coming home seems all too boring!

GEEK APPEAL UPDATE

So far I have received nothing! This is not really a surprise, as your average geek doesn’t really like to be called a geek. Also they are perpetually lazy. Come on guys look around you. Even a floppy disk round these parts would help! (since I wrote this I have received word that somebody sent me something :))

In fact the whole online community I was a part of has sent me nothing. No TV shows, no DVDs full of useful stuff. If I had real Internet access here I would have a party. You all have it and haven’t sent me a bean. Even my BSG sponsor has gone quiet since he found love. Yes ERMO I’m talking to you. Wake up! Remember, I am doing this so you don’t have to. Pikeys. (This is a term of affection in the IT community.)

My family and a few REAL friends, (:p) have been relentlessly amazing and have sent me things to keep me going (I am now the proud owner of a box of All Bran – yes have it – All Bran in Ghana! Winner – thank you my lovely sister!)

Ok that’s all for now, back in a few weeks. Love and kisses to everyone. I hope Britain is treating you all well and don’t forget how lucky you are. Every piece of cheese you eat, every Coke you drink, every Burger King you scoff is something the majority of the world’s population never experience. Savour every mouthful.