Word to the wise, saying to a Ghanaian man, "You're full of shit. Yes, s-h-i-t, shit." is not the best way to make friends or influence people. Yes, I did it. No, it did no good. I told it to the teachers. These teachers are teachers only in title not in reality. The school day begins at 8:00 and teaching should start by 8:20 after assembly and attendance. The bums rarely start before 8:45. The 1/2 hour break
at 10:00 is usually 45 minutes. The 1/2 hour break at noon lasts until 1:30 when the school day is over. I was in the second grade class where 25% of the students
could not write their name. In this same class 100% of the students do not recognize the lower case letters of the alphabet. But still telling the teachers who keep asking me to "motivate" them (give them money), that they are full of shit was not the best move. I would love to motivate them the way my dad always said, "with a good swift kick in the arse". So, I'm probably not welcome back at the school. Oh well, I've been kicked out of school before!
On the bright side, the work on the bathroom has started. It was scheduled to be done this weekend but the contractor got sick. Also the students have all been given 4 exercise books. I'm so glad Rose wasn't there when the children got their books. I practically cried and Rose would have been balling her eyes out. Then, I wouldn't have been able to hold back the tears. The children were so excited and so happy to get their books for writing their lessons. First the whole school clapped for me, then they said, "God Bless you" three times and finally each student thanked me individually when they got their books. But the biggest impact was the look on their faces and the joy they showed at having received their exercise books. These are the books they will write their lessons into --- math, English, writing not something good. Luckily, this happened before my proving to the bums that I know how to spell. There is a picture coming of the students and the exercise books to come at a future date, hopefully before I get home!
It has taken 40 minutes and I'm still not logged into the blogspot, so I don't know if you will get to see any of this. I hope so. I walked to the internet cafe, got to talk to Mark for a little bit when my phone crapped out. I haven't been able to check
my email so don't be angry if you are waiting for a reply. I'll try my email again next week. The response right now is so slow, I'm going to try this and then head back home. Today is not my day for electronic gadgets.
5 comments:
Hi Flo
Besides offending the teachers, what do you during the day? :) Are you teaching as well? I'd love to hear a description of an "average" day for you.
Love,
Pamala
I have just been SameTiming with Mark. I just wanted to let you know how very proud of you I am for what you have gone and done!! What an inspiration for many you have become. Oh, and yes I am back at work and have been for just over a year. Retirement and my recent marriage made sitting around just very hard to do. Like the job and enjoy the young people that I work with. But much of what goes on is the same old bull crap. The more things change the more they stay the same.
Will keep my eyes on your blog and will keep in touch with how you are doing. Will keep you in my prayers.
Clark
Flo,
Bumped into Mark in the parking lot at the factory. I wanted to show him the new vehicle that Carol and I just acquired. He thought it was pretty neat but not as neat as his amazing wife who went to Ghana to help some kids. He's very proud of you. I'll be sending some cash as soon as I see how much we have left after buying the van. Keep on making it fun for you and those around you.
Wayne
Sounds like those guys need a good swift kick in the arse.... We've been thinking about you over there, Austin, Carrie & I are doing well. Carrie is realy showing now, the baby is growing fine and she hasn't had any more problems since the first trimester. I wanted to know if there is anything I could send to help out? Let me know. My e-mail is nclark@finleybeer.com
Love,
Nate
Sounds like those guys need a good swift kick in the arse. We've been thinking about you back here in Tucson. Austin, Carrie & I are doing fine. Carrie & Conner are both growing just fine according to the doc. I want to know if there is anything we can do here to help out. Please let me know. Keep up the good fight.
Love,
Nate Clark
P.S. I apolagize if this a repost I'm still learning how to post comments on a blog.
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