Submitted by: Danielle Dunlap, Central Region
In the spring of 2012 I received information about a book donation program for people abroad that need books for their communities. Darien Book Fund is an American program that has a special process for Peace Corps volunteers. I sent an email telling them who I was, where I was located, who the books were for, and the genre and reading level of the books needed. The email was responded to within a week and in late summer I received a 20-pound box of children’s books and National Geographic for the kids in my town. The one thing Darien Book Fund asks is that you inform them when you receive the package of books and that you take pictures. I did just that along with a “Thank you” video message from the kids.
My counterpart and I have set up a library-esque check out system (the community is currently working on constructing a library) to prepare the youth for obtaining books from a real library. The kids come by my compound and select a book, then sign there name, and are given a 1 week due date. This project was well received in my community and the kids continue to come by and borrow books. The one down side is that you have to educate and motivate the borrowers on bringing them back on time. Some people do and some don’t. Fortunately I have all the names so I can track who checked the book out.
I believe that the Darien Book fund is an excellent idea if you have the patience and time or already have a book borrowing system/library in place. My kids love selecting books every week and I believe that it will help broaden their minds and increase their level of English understanding.
Thursday, 6 December 2012
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
HEY PCV's!
It's time for you to put down the laptop (even though Homeland is the most addicting show ever) and get to work supporting Gender and Youth Development at your site! We love hearing about the amazing projects that volunteers have been working on with their communities, so to help you get started we've compiled a list of ideas for GYD-related projects. And remember, your friendly GYD Committee is always here to support you (financially and otherwise) in anything you decide to undertake regarding GYD!
-School garden
-Tree planting event
-Trash clean-up day
-Business classes
-Canning project
-Reading group/tutoring
-Cooking club
-Painting a mural / world map
-Craft club-recyclables
-Ultimate frisbee
-Bike riding
-Quilting/crochet/sewing club (tap into your inner grandma!)
-Language exchange
-Pen pals/World Wise Schools Program
-Movie night
-Jogging club
-Volleyball
-Yoga
-Singing group
-Dance group
-Basic business skills program for young girls (especially those who are vulnerable to travel on Kayayo).
-Boys & girls soccer camp
-Spelling bee at the local Junior High
-Round table discussion with some female leaders (ex: clinic staff or national service volunteers)
-A Men as Partners program with opinion leaders from the village
-Start an HIV & AIDS/art/reading/cooking club
-Start a women’s Shea or Batik group and teach some skills
-Sit with your local women, men, or children and listen to their stories; take the time to discuss their daily lives
-Watch Harry Potter with the kids (because being a good role model starts with good, fun quality time)
-Sit in on a baby weighing (and hold the cutest nuggety chunky-monkeys in the world)
-Try your hand at farming (or any chore that is made easier with a little bit of chit-chat)
-Learn about age- or gender-specific beliefs in your area (be it rumor, stereotype, superstition or ghost story)
-Endear yourself to the nearest school and offer to help with lessons
-Organize a village clean-up day with the local youth and teach them a bit about waste management
-Hold a nutrition or family planning course for the local mothers and mothers-to-be in your community
And remember, send us your story! We'd love to hear about anything you've done (a lesson learned, a successful project, or just a picture of a cute baby).
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
The Sneaky Teacher
Submitted by Betsy Conway, Brong-Ahafo Region
As
senior school science and chemistry teacher, I am in the prime position for
educating the young people of Ghana about HIV/AIDS. They are just at the right age and education
level to really understand some of the more complex particulars of the
disease. Futhermore, I can give an
HIV/AIDS lesson without them even knowing...
What
do I mean? I mean I am the Sneaky HIV
Teacher! I mean I can sneak in heavy
duty information about HIV/ AIDS, while the students think the topic of the day
is the digestive system. I mean I
routinely educate people about HIV/AIDS without them becoming ever
uncomfortable or burnt out. I mean I
encourage healthy sexually practices wihout ever waving a condom around, I mean I am the Sneaky HIV Teacher!
Here
are some of my recent Sneaks in my Integrated Science class....
Section
|
Topic
|
The
Sneak
|
Classification
in Biology
|
The
Five Kingdoms (Prokaryotae, Protoctista, Animalia, Plantae, and Fungi)
|
"There
are five kingdoms into which all living organisms can be classified... [blah
blah blah] ...But you know something interesting? Viruses don't fit into any of these
categories because they aren't technically "living." And one particularly interesting virus is
human immunodeficiency virus..."
|
Introduction
to Chemistry
|
Mixtures
|
"There
are two types of mixtures: homogeneous and heterogenous. A homogeneous mixture is a mixture which
appears uniform in consistency. For
example, blood is a homogeneous mixture, which in addition to blood cells can
contain all sorts of stuff! Like
bacteria, or the malaria parasite, or HIV..."
|
The
Immune System
|
Leukocytes
(White Blood Cells)
|
"There
is a special type of white blood cells (leukocytes) in your body called
lymphocytes, which play very important roles in the function of the immune
system. And one very important lymphocyte, the CD4+ T cell is this type of cell that gets
attacked by HIV..."
|
The
Circulatory System
|
Blood
|
"The
blood consists of red blood cells (erythrocytes), plasma, and white blood
cells (leukocytes and plasma)... [blah blah blah] ...And leukocytes - do you
remember our class about the immune
system? About the Lymphocytes and the
CD4+ T cell...."
|
Diseases
and Infections
|
Infectious
Diseases
|
"Infectious pathogens can include bacteria, fungi, viruses,
and parasites. Malaria is common
infectious disease caused by the plasmodium parasite, which enters your blood
when a mosquito bites you. HIV is a
common infectious disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus..."
|
I
could go on and on... But you see the point, right? Just sneak it in there when they least expect
it, and they will never feel weird or uncomfortable about discussing HIV/AIDS!
Sincerely,
Ama
"The Sneaky HIV Teacher" Fati
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
GYD in your region!
Hello all! Check out the GYD-related projects that PCVs in different regions are taking part in this month! And remember to submit any of your own stories/pictures/articles to your GYD rep the last week of every month.
Greater Accra
Submitted by Lindsey Hanson
Submitted by Lindsey Hanson
Junior High School students at State School for the Deaf are currently learning Taekwondo. This form of MartialArts is a great way to exercise and have fun; students practice twice a week during their physical education period. They are learning kicks, punches, and karate chops with hand to hand combat. Students are also able to use weapons to defend themselves against predators.
Taekwondo is a great form of self defense. It is especially important for female students to learn about how to escape in case someone is trying to attack them. The female students have learned how to escape from one, two, and three attackers. This training will help them if there is ever a real life event.
Northern
Submitted by Lizzy Lyons
Here in the Northern Region the men complain that to find a wife they must travel to Accra or Kumasi, because that is where all the Dagomba women are. I laughed when I heard this, but as I looked around the village I find that the statement is less humorous and more truth. The women leave. All around me are stories of women who traveled to the south. The young mother across the street left at the beginning of dry season, she left behind her small two year old daughter and her husband. Next to her a small girl dropped out of school and left to Kayayo. My next door neighbors have a young son nicknamed “accra boy” because he was born while his mother was at Kayayo. Here, in my village, almost every woman travels to the south at some point in her life… its not a matter of “if” but “when”.
Will she travel when she is young? Dropping out of school, or maybe never having gone to school, and going south to earn small money for their family to buy fertilizers, foods, and clothes. Will she travel to earn money toward buying her bowls for marriage? Some may decide to travel to earn their school fees during JHS, and if she makes it to JHS 3, she will join her whole class as they all travel to earn their SHS fees, which are very difficult for families in my village to afford—so the children must travel to work and earn moneys to pay for their fees. Others girls travel to the South because it has become a rite of passage and they follow their mothers before them; they go with their friends; and they may go in search of the freedom and adventure away from the normal daily life in the village.
Some women wait. They travel with their new babies, or they leave young babies and whole families at home, and travel to the southern cities to earn money to pay their childrens’ school fees. Or to earn the money they need to buy ingredients to feed their families—as women in the north are required to pay for all milling the corn into flour and ingredients like tomatoes, onions, okra, salt, and Maggie —all the costs associated with feeding their families. In the Northern Dagomba tradition it is only the mans’ job to provide the corn, the women must provide the rest, but have little or no way of earning the money to do so, unless they travel. To Kayayo is seen by many as one of the only ways a woman can earn her own money, unless her father or husband gives land or money to her..
And while there are many economic pressures to motivate women to migrate both seasonally and for short and long times… some also leave to escape more difficult reasons—domestic violence or child abuse in their homes; difficulties with their husband’s other wives; they may be a modern slave as some young girls are trapped in “slavish” conditions due to family abuse of the “small girl” tradition; and the break-down of the family due to divorce or death.
These girls face many different threats to their health and safety when they reach their destination cities. They pay for their housing and may find themselves living in dirty, overcrowded and hazardous places. Housing in the city is more trash and sewage filled, with high exposure to diarreahal infections and malaria. Life is challenging in the city for young women who have never lived without the support of family in the village. They face the risk of theft, assault, and rape. And they often find boyfriends who “help” with their housing or give them small money for food—a sexual exchange—which exposes them to HIV and STI infections and unplanned pregnancies.
What is Peace Corps Role and GYD doing:
The Northern Region, in the beginning of July, had a one week training with PCVs and community partners, which also included a day of networking with NGOs working on Kayayo programs in Accra, Kumasi, Tamale, and Bolgatanga. We came up with lots of information, lists, and projects—to see more information on Kayayo see the information which is located at each Sub Office’s GYD folders, the partner agencies information is also located there and is digital on the computers at Sub Offices, information is also available from our NEW GYD “Kayayo” COMMITTEE LEADERS: Megan and Rachel.
There is new funding available from the Gender Challenge Fund, which is for projects focusing on Kayayo, Income Generating Activities to reduce the pressures on girls and women to migrate to cities, and programming with focus on reduction of gender based violence. Talk to Omane about this if you are interested.
Also, a great project which focused on this issue of Kayayo occurred during the Peace Corps’ National STARS Conference last month—a Street Children’s Day March. It involved 15+ volunteers, a group of our STARS students, and partner NGOs in Kumasi… along with hundreds of young Kayayo girls and boys. The march went through the main areas of the downtown Kumasi and involved signs, drumming and horns, and Tess on a megaphone! Fun was had by all, as well as an opportunity to educate the community on the rights of children and the rights of women workers to respect.
Here are a couple more pictures of the march:
Brong Ahafo
Submitted by Caitlin McGuire
Many students learn better through hands on activities. Due to a lack of vocabulary, deaf students can understand concepts easier through demonstrations and practical experiences. The goal of the school farm is to provide practical work for students that will directly correlate to theory classes given at the junior high school level.
All term the students have been hard at work. They have successfully created a nursery in which they germinated cabbage. The students cleared the land and prepared beds for their crops. The students have been watering and weeding the baby carrots and onions. We also planted okra and groundnuts, in which we continue to battle away stubborn grasshoppers. Recently the students transferred the cabbage from the nursery, which with the help of mulch is off to a great start. In the future we hope to invite agricultural volunteers to give presentations of organic fertilizers and natural pesticides.
This holiday break from school I have hired four students to care for the farm. One boy in particular has been abandoned by his parents, so he is forced to reside at the school every vacation. A deaf couple at the school are now providing for him. With some extra funding from my PCPP grant I will be able to pay him for his farm work, so that he can have money to buy school supplies for next term. He will be working alongside two deaf girls and another boy who live in town.
I have seen the students slowly start to realize the value in growing your own crops. There cooperation amongst one another is inspirational. I have this image ingrained in my head of a group of junior high school girls carrying a huge pile of mulch with raking sticks going in all different directions. After much struggle they were able to move the great heap as they all collapsed laughing together victoriously.
Eastern
Submitted by Kyndra Eide
Since I have arrived in Ghana to start my service as an agriculture volunteer I have wanted to start a school garden. After speaking with several PCVs who have participated in this project, I felt that it would be a great way to integrate and get to know my local school, despite what might go wrong; many volunteers felt it to be a waste of time and that the students don't usually take responsibility, causing it to fade away. About 6 months into my service I decided to go for it, so I began working with the JSS science students in my community.
I arrived at the primary/JSS school to choruses of "blafono" and “obruni” which alerted the entire school that a white lady had come. Most students kept their distance but a brave few came up to touch my arm or say “good morning". One JSS girl even offered to take my bag and lead me to the staff room to great the headmaster. After a short conversation about why I am in town and what I would like to do at the school, I was whisked away by the only science teacher to watch as she delivered the days lesson to the Form 2 students (equivalent to 7th grade). She started by reviewing the biology of plants and then let them work together to draw the anatomy of a flower. This was the first time I got to walk around and talk to the students, ask them questions and answer some of theirs.
As we walked back to the staff room after class I asked more seriously if they would like to start a school garden. The teacher was so grateful that I wanted to help that she went straight to the headmaster and asked for land at the back of the school to start on. Only two weeks later, a once garbage dump for the school had been turned into a cleared dirt area just waiting to become a garden. One bed had already been raised as an example for the students to make their own. As classes began for the day a stream of Form 3 (8th grade) students came out to the garden to start their work. All we had was a hoe, a couple of cutlasses, and some sticks, but I guess that’s all you really need because an hour later two more beds were raised. This was a wonderful thing to watch happen as you could see the natural leaders take command of the situation. These were different leaders from in the classroom, so seeing the different types of learners getting a chance to shine was great.
There was one boy that really got into it. He was working up a sweat as his fellow students just looked on. I asked the other kids to follow suit and start working but after 5 seconds of acting like they were participating they went back to watching. There was, however, a group of about 5 girls that made a game of picking up the trash that was in the soil. They would all pick trash up with the sticks and toss it into a bucket, when they made it they jumped and celebrated. The whole time I was astonished that none of them got a bit dirty, which is even more impressive when you consider their pressed white uniforms!
The seed was sown a week later after all the beds had been completed. Lettuce, hot peppers, sweet peppers, onion, watermelon, cucumber, carrot, and tomato were all planted. Although it was getting to be the end of the term and the end of the growing season, I was promised that the students that live nearby and those who attend summer classes would take care of the garden. I have returned to the garden many times and each time I am impressed once again at what a little push in the right direction and some seeds can do.
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Meet Your Reps!
GYD Ghana is very excited about the upcoming year! We have some wonderful projects planned and as always, we are ready to support YOU in any GYD-related projects you want to do in your community!
The regional representatives and position holders for GYD are as follows:
Lizzy Lyons- Northern Rep / President
Kevin Nascimento- Western Rep / Scholarships Coordinator
Sarah Wein- Upper West Rep / Scholarships Coordinator
Kate Stalter- Central Rep / Fundraising & Treasurer
Melissa Obenchain- Upper East Rep / GYDLines
Caitlin McGuire- Brong Ahafo Rep / GYDLines
Stephen Hall- Ashanti Rep / Take Our Daughter To Work Day (TODTWD) Coordinator
Andie Yost- Eastern Rep / Women's Book Coordinator
Lindsey Hanson- Greater Accra Rep / Training
Lauren Neubauer- Volta Rep / Child Trafficking and Human Rights Coordinator
The regional representatives and position holders for GYD are as follows:
Lizzy Lyons- Northern Rep / President
Kevin Nascimento- Western Rep / Scholarships Coordinator
Sarah Wein- Upper West Rep / Scholarships Coordinator
Kate Stalter- Central Rep / Fundraising & Treasurer
Melissa Obenchain- Upper East Rep / GYDLines
Caitlin McGuire- Brong Ahafo Rep / GYDLines
Stephen Hall- Ashanti Rep / Take Our Daughter To Work Day (TODTWD) Coordinator
Andie Yost- Eastern Rep / Women's Book Coordinator
Lindsey Hanson- Greater Accra Rep / Training
Lauren Neubauer- Volta Rep / Child Trafficking and Human Rights Coordinator
Drop us a line!
GYD wants to hear your voice: how have you supported the mission of GYD in your communities?
Submit any stories, pictures, articles, videos (ANYTHING!) from projects or events to your regional rep by the LAST WEEK of every month.
Every month the GYDLines blog will post GYD projects
from each region- share your story with us!
from each region- share your story with us!
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Creative Small Grants
Thanks to GYD small grants, I was able to start a vocational program at State School for the Deaf, Batik! The past term has been filled with many experiments, a few mistakes, and a lot of learning. Students from Primary 6; JHS 1, 2, and 3 have been coming in two days each week to learn about and practice the batik making process.
Currently they are trying their hand at stamp making, learning different ways to apply the wax design, and how to mix chemicals for the dying process. You may have seen or purchased some of our design at the All Volunteer Conference in Bunso. Our next batch is promised to the staff here at State Deaf, but you should feel free to call me with personal orders or ideas for a new design.
We also welcome visitors to the campus to watch the process and design some of their own batik. Thanks again to GYD for helping make this possible with the small fund grant you donated to my school. We are having a blast and learning a ton!
Monday, 19 March 2012
Witchcraft: A Lesson By Emmaline Repp
What does it mean for a society to believe
in witchcraft in the 21st Century; and not just some superstitious tic, but a
deep-seeded belief that (for those who commit and bear witness) justifies,
completely, countless assaults and murders?
The reality of living in Ghana, a country
with at least 6 witch camps in the Northern regions and uncontrolled brutality
against accused victims, is still something I find shocking. Though kept
relatively quiet, it is a truth I’ve struggled to come to terms with for the
better part of two years.
Many people, people I know and respect;
well-educated people who know more about international politics that I do;
Ghanaians I consider close friends tell me stories of witchcraft – stories they
whole-heartedly believe. At night, there are witches in the trees; witches
steal human souls and hide them in animal sacrifices; witches kill and eat
people, make their children witches through food.
Joke as they may, laughing at my
incredulous looks, it isn’t really a joke – their unforgiving, often strong
reactions to my inquiries tell me that this is a real threat for them; death by
beating, poisoning, (in one case in Accra, burning) and banishment are all seen
as necessary. It’s all so perpendicular to what I’ve come to know about Ghana,
it doesn’t seem real even now. The ease of accusation, the lack of
representation, the test and trial, the punishment – it all seems to happen so
fast.
So I started asking questions, seeking to
probe the belly of the beast, to begin to understand such a dark undercurrent
in a culture I consider myself very much a part of. I wanted to talk about the
complexities of such beliefs within a society that touts a culture of ju-ju men
(their billboards litter the highways). We all see at least one witch movie on
the long, TV-equipped trips, but do people really believe in it? I wanted to
know more. What I found created only more questions (and a sense of urgency
that something needs to change).
“If witches and magic are bad, why is a
ju-ju man different? He’s using magic to find magic, isn’t he? Isn’t he a
witch, too?” No, they told me, that’s different; plus, a ju-ju man never
lies. “Never?” Never. Well, that
would certainly explain why some women are devastated to find out they’re
witches – they strongly believe in the myths, too, in the power of the ju-ju.
It all sounded so complicated, so
contradictory – Witches can’t see each other, but a community of witches exist
that must make blood sacrifices to their Witch King; witches can only affect
and curse their own households, but a stranger can level the accusation against
a witch; different levels of witchcraft exist, but one can’t tell the
difference unless by special circumstance. All of it involves ju-ju.
“What if it’s just jealousy or hatred?
People are mean-spirited sometimes.” Oh,
they agreed, if it was a natural hatred,
the village would know the difference – the ju-ju magic would see. Yes, but
it all depends on one man, one ritual, I wanted say; sometimes
small incidences like a birth defect, or being unable to balance water on one’s
head is considered proof enough. “What if he’s wrong? What if it’s a lie or a
misunderstanding? This happened in America a long time ago; people lied.” He
isn’t wrong; there’s no lie. They exist.
In a world where witchcraft exists, there
can be no room for failure or mistaken identity; doubt throws the entire belief
into the question. It is a dangerous world to live in. In extracting the
confession of a witch, it doesn’t matter the circumstances of the answer – the
threats or steps taken to get there – it only matters the confession itself.
Sometimes there are trials, but sometimes the confession is proof enough; as my
Ghanaian friends told me, there will always be a confession if there is a witch.
No confession: no witch, no problem.
Of course, that’s not always the case. In
some children born with physical defects, the proof is obvious – no trial or
ju-ju necessary. If not banished, these children are certainly punished and
often abused. I met one such girl at the Gbeogo School for the Deaf. Born with
her tongue attached to the roof of her mouth her father, suspecting her of
being a witch, cut most of it out with a machete. In fact, her face is littered
with machete scars, cigarette burns mark her body and, until her parents died,
the school feared for her life every time she returned home.
How many other cases like hers occur? Not
to mention accidents and unexplained medical afflictions. It stands to reason
that a woman accidentally serving spoiled food is open to accusations; or if a
child visiting his aunt gets some unknown infection, she is likely without
protection – vulnerable to a pointed finger and banishment from home. It can
happen without warning and if the ju-ju proves her guilt, she could lose her
life. It’s the lucky ones who find themselves in witch camps.
Not only women and children are
accused, sometimes men are too, but it seems more likely for a man to be
proceeding over the ju-ju than at its mercy. Women, having more contact with
children and the duty to prepare food can more easily pass it along. Because of
this separation, because a father doesn’t deal in cooking (and witchcraft is
often passed through food), it is women and children that are most vulnerable.
It is the aim of Ghana to abolish witch
camps, but in communities so strongly rooted in tradition and so far removed
from the influence of Ghana’s modern government, one suspects the answer will
not be so easy.
With no government run rehabilitation centres, no safe houses
or refugee camps, local witch camps – controlled by the same mystic beliefs and
presided over by ju-ju chiefs – are the only options for safety. Removed from
their towns, many believe in the neutralising ju-ju of such sacred places and
fear leaving them because they truly believe they have bad magic. The ju-ju men
have spoken; they have no other choices in the matter.
Though the mystical aspect of this both
fascinates and infuriates me, it is the human part that makes it so hard to
accept. The stigma against witches, the belief in them is so strong, that it
cripples the most vulnerable, especially the children – many of them find no
reprieve. In this they have no option but to forfeit their right to education,
to a better life. The young and elderly, alike, experience such abuse, both
immediately (physically) and as time progresses (mentally); it must be
terrifying and heartbreaking for them. The amount of trauma they endure, the
guilt and confusion associated with actually believing in their fate (or their
denial of it), must leave them with such sadness. I am sure PTSD and depression
exist in excess in camps such as Gambaga in the North. To be forced into exile,
unable to defend oneself, and survive the way these men , women and children
have is about as brave and strong an act as one I can think of, but they
desperately need a voice. And though discretion and graceful acceptance are
necessary in the Peace Corps, these victims need desperately to not be ignored.
Not rooted in just traditional beliefs, but
religions too, it’s hard to control or stop such fervour. The relatively
shallow reach of the law, the secretive nature of such beliefs and trials make
them even harder to control and influence. In Northern regions like the Upper
East, a lack of widespread education works against a system meant to protect
its people. With only a handful of NGOs and the limited reach of government,
it’s likely the only true solution will be outside pressure on Ghana’s
seemingly lax stance on such abuses.
Watching these things happen from the
perspective of a long history in the same mistakes has been difficult for me
(and many volunteers). The need to write about it, to acknowledge it, and offer
a voice against something so quietly accepted locally has existed in me for
quite some time. Sometimes finding the balance between a misguided local belief
and one’s own heart is the hardest battle of service; it often seems
contradictory, especially when human rights are involved. After hearing of two
local stories, I decided to respectfully break my silence on the issue. As has
always been my way, I wanted to open the discussion with Americans and
Ghanaians alike.
More importantly, I’ve come to realize that
sometimes the path of quiet acceptance is the wrong one; sometimes the largest
lesson in a Peace Corps experience is coming to accept and face the truth of
the world around you – a world you come to love in all of its parts, even the
ugly and the difficult – and bring it into the light. It is the only way
forward, after all, and I have faith in Ghana.
I would like to thank Lauren Corke and
Dawn Rostad for sharing their stories with me and allowing me to use them in
this article.
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