DAY 5
Today we continued painting the school. We finished white washing all of the classrooms and started designs on the walls of two. We painted on the alphabet above the black boards of two classrooms and painted numbers on the side wall. The artists of the group drew human body parts and domestic animals on the back walls while the rest of the group filled in their sketches with paint.
At around 11:00 we gathered in the Partner Ghana Office to cool down and prepare for sports day. The school children prepared the pitch by collecting the stones and drawing lines in coal. We then started the sprint races which was very hard because there were so many young children and it was difficult to communicate through the language banner. As the kids were all really excited. They were all really excited, they all wanted a go straight away so it was very hard to keep them in order.
We played tots of different race and the lean bag race. Overall the day was very successful and the children were all happy with their prizes of stickers and ribbons.
DAY 6
Today we carried on with painting. We finished the alphabet above the blackboard and the numbers on the side walls. We also managed to finish the human body and animals in two of the rooms. We have 2 more painting sessions left and we have decorations to do on the the third classroom and some of us got to go and observe some of the lessons at the school. It was interesting to see the differences from here and in England like when students answer a question they have to stand up and when they answer question right the other students clap for them. Also if someone talked and paid less attention in the lesson, they had to stand up for the whole lesson period.
In the afternoon we ad a drama workshop which taught the buddies about teenage pregnancy. It was very moving because we got to hear personal stories from our buddies of how people they know became pregnant at a young age. Tomorrow we are performing a short sketch to the women of the community about the consequences of teenage pregnancy. When we got back to stumble Inn we discovered that the water mains in the town had burst so none of us had been able to have a shower and we all feel very dirty after a very long at the school (08:00 – 16:00).
When we were getting ready for bed, Mo Husselbury called us out of our rooms to come and see the stars. They were so clear and bright and we actually managed to see the Milkey way and Venus. It was such an amazing experience because we don’t get to see these things in England.
DAY 7
In the morning we performed our teenage pregnancy awareness drama to roughly 200 pupils of Bantuma school. We hoped it would be really useful as there were 6 pregnancies that year in the school. We tried to make the performance interactive and thus more memorable so we invited members from the audience to come and take the role of the protagonist and see if they would react differently. For example when the girl was told by her friends she could get the money to pay for her school fees by having a boyfriend, who was the son of a rich banker, the audience member would decide that the girl wouldn’t listen to the friends and find other positive ways to get the money.
After the demonstration, we had lunch and then carried on with our painting. Through the humidity and the heat we managed to finish completely two classrooms and also broke the back of the last. This classroom had numbers along the hindrance two letter words around the blackboard and a labelled plant and computer at the back wall.
All the teachers were very grateful for our help with one saying that it will really encourage the young kindergärtners to stay in school. It was common, that they wanted to run home early away from school, but the bright paintings could spark interest and even creativity in them; while also educating then in English words.
DAY 8
Today we got to have a lie in because we didn’t have to be at the school until 9:30, so we woke up at 07:30 rather than 05:45. When we got to the school we discovered that the buddies had arrived at the school at 07:30 and finished painting the whole of the outside of the kindergarten block. We felt bad that they had got there so early but we were very grateful for their help.
Once we had finished painting all 3 classrooms, we took lots of photos while members of the community examined our work. We then had a bead making workshop where everyone made necklaces, bracelets, anklets and earrings.
The SWPS girls then walked to the hotel next to Stumble Inn, Coconut Grove Beach Resort, to use their swimming pool. We went back to Stumble Inn and waited for our buddies to arrive and then ate dinner while African fire dancers performed for us.