Our day started with a wonderful breakfast at the hotel. Not nearly enough coffee for our American taste, but we managed.....We had a marvelous history and culture presentation by our Ghanaian host, Akem Lartson. He did an exellent job explaining 8 geographic regions of Ghana and their particular specialties, interests and history. To sum up, the Ashanti are the oldest, proudest group of people in Ghana. They still maintain a kingdom and throne, although they fall under the republic of Ghana and its elected president. The entire country is roughly 19 million people whose official language is english, but they speak myriad tribal languages. Nearly everyone identifies as Ghanaian and also the member of a regional tribe. Nearly everyone (68% )are christian,15% are muslim and 8.5% practice traditional religion. It seems that the christian missionaries and Peace Corps have had a very large influence on the culture of Ghana since the turn of the 20th century. So much more to say, but it's getting late.
After lunch, we loaded a very hot, humid van and headed to the US Embassy. That's a pretty impressive place! We met several diplomatic types and had a great discussion with some of our host teachers from here in Ghana. I met both of my hosts, Osman who teaches social studies and Jonathan who teachers biology. They both teach at a girls' schooll nearby. We'll be in the school starting on Friday. We had lots of discussion of the differences between Ghanaian school and American. American classroom are much more colorful and have dramaticallly smaller class sizes, but we also educate EVERY child, including those with special needs and disabilities. In the Ghanaian system, students don't question authority figures such as parents or teachers so having 45-60 students in a class is very different than in the US. It will be interesting to observe.
After our embassy visit, we quickly got ready for dinner and ate. Then were entertained b y the Saakumu Dance Troupe from northern Ghana. What a treat! We clapped and laughed and danced for several hours. I felt totally liberated. If I weren't so awfully caucasian, I think I could easily be Ghanaian! What a warm, welcoming, wonderful people!
Tomorrow is the 55th anniversary of Ghana's independence. We're headed downtown at 8 am for the parade and festivities, so I suppose I should sign off and get some sleep. I'm going to try to upload some photos from today, so wish me luck!
How was the Independence day celebration. I can't wait to see some of your pictures.
ReplyDeleteHope you are having fun and learning a lot.