The Peace Corps mission statement consists of 3 goals. Today I accomplished each these 3 goals, even if only in little ways. :)
[Note: Adilla is the female student who helps me a lot around the house. Eman is the male student who comes to help Adilla make fufu. James is my counterpart/ bff]
GOAL I. Build man power. Today, I taught Adilla how to use a laptop.
Due to lack of funding, the computer classes here at Menji are taught with a chalkboard and a single virus-ridden desktop PC at the front of the classroom. James is the ICT teacher and bless his heart, he does everything he can! But because of this, Adilla hasn't had much practical instruction/ experience on a computer. She said she has used a desktop PC a few times before, but is usually too shy to visit the internet cafe, because she's unsure about computers.
We started from step 1: turning the computer on. Then we went through the organization of the Windows operating system. We talked about the desktop, the start menu, shut down/restart/sleep mode, My Computer, the Library, the Recycle Bin, etc. We talked about MS Office, particularly Word, Powerpoint, and Excel. [Side note: I keep my chemistry grade book in an excel spread sheet, which Adilla thought was neat. Unlike the in America, students here in Ghana rarely know anything about their grade before report cards release] Then, we did a little internet tutorial... how to connect to the internet using a USB modem, the different browsers available, Favorites, History, Tabs/ Bookmarks, search engines, Wikipedia. I even told her a little bit about torrents, which she seemed to get. By afternoon, she was looking up information on squids and playing Minesweeper. All while jamming to my music collection. She and Eman both really enjoy Basshunter. Swedish, sorta techno/ dance party music.
In America, kids learning computer science is taken as a given since virtually every child has access to a computer lab at school and a PC at home. Even my little hometown elementary school had a computer lab when I was there 15 years ago! Here in Ghana though, only a handful of high schools have computer labs. Even fewer middle schools have labs. And I have yet to see a primary school with computers. Ghanaians learning computer technology is integral to their development as a nation.
Adilla will use computers throughout the rest of her life. Now she can go to the internet cafe with confidence. And the information won't stop with Adilla. She mentioned that she is excited to share the things I taught her with her younger siblings.
GOAL II. Share American culture with Ghanaians. I love banana bread - Ghana has a lot of bananas - I have an oven. Therefore, I decided to make banana bread this morning. James, Adilla, and Eman all thought the idea of bananas in bread was strange, to say the least. Eman, the nicest boy ever, just nodded and said, “Oh that is very interesting.” James didn't say much, but the look on his face clearly said “That sounds weird and gross.” And Adilla, whose blatant honesty frequently cracks me up, exclaimed, “Ah! If I eat that, I might vomit!”
Despite their initial reactions of aversion, when the banana bread had finished baking, I took each of them a slice topped with a little butter. It is now evening, and every last crumb has been finished. In all sincerity, I had one piece of banana bread today. Upon finishing about half the loaf, James declared, “Yes, we will make the banana bread often!”
Food is an important aspect of Ghanaian culture, as it bonds families and communities. Although precious, food is always shared, and is thus a symbol of both prosperity and unity. Families and friends often eat with their hands from one communal bowl. Furthermore, when eating anything, at any time of day, if there is anyone even vaguely nearby, you invite them to your food. Just the other day, a clearly under-nourished little boy blithely invited me to his dinner. His large, bright eyes glanced down at the small bag of rice and red sauce clasped in his left hand. For some unknown reason, I had put a blue lifesaver in my pocket that morning.. I was happy to remember it was there, because he liked it a lot more than I would have.
Anyway, James, Adilla, and Eman were quite pleasantly surprised by the banana bread. They were so happy that I had shared not just food, but American food with them. They were even more delighted when I told them banana bread is a tradition in my family. I explained that while growing up, I was always so excited to see brown bananas in the kitchen.. It meant Mom would make banana bread! When I was little, my job was mashing the bananas. But as I got older, Mom allowed me more and more responsibility, until one day I was baking all on my own. So thank you Mom for teaching me this delicious American tradition, so that I could share it with Ghanaians.
GOAL III. Share Ghanaian culture with America. Paragraph 2 of GOAL II just accomplished this goal. Ok, well, that's assuming SOMEBODY back home reads this thing :)
Alright I am going to bed. Good night everyone!
B
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