Goodbye Sunyani, Goodbye Friends – August 1

Packing this morning was pretty hectic!  We had to get every last item out of our dorm rooms in Sunyani so we could check out and head to Kumasi for the night.  Once we had everything packed into the cars, Mike and Clayton headed to Kumasi immediately to work on troubleshooting the generator for the Kwame Yeboah Krom.  Mollie, Chelsea, and Helena stayed with Emmanuel in Sunyani for much of the day completing last minute errands. 

First we dropped Chelsea off at the hospital so she could get information from him about the medical needs of the region, as well as to collect Mollie’s medical report from her stay at the Sunyani hospital.  Then we dropped Helena off in the main market for her to pick up a few items.  Finally, Emmanuel and Mollie visited the District Assembly to deliver the shipment allocation to the director and to receive reimbursement for the shipment costs. When we were all done with our errands we all went to meet the Regional Minister (similar to Governor of a state). 

We had been trying to fit our schedules to a time he could meet with us since our arrival, and we finally got it right.  After waiting about half of an hour for his meeting to finish up, we got to finally greet the Regional Minister on behalf of the team, and all of Pavlis.  We took a picture with him and the Sunyani MCE and then went across the street to have lunch with them. 

Emmanuel, Helena, the Regional Minister, Mollie, the MCE of Sunyani, and Chelsea

During that time Mike, Clayton, Peter and Govina were nursing the truck back to Kumasi with the generator. We switched trucks in Kumasi, so that Govina could get his truck properly fixed and we took off into the magazine. After fighting the usual stop and go traffic, we were directed to another electrician within the magazine who could check the health of our generator. After a few test the electrician told us that our problem was actually much simpler than we thought. The generator salesman told us the wrong neutral wire, and we had been using two live wires to check the voltage with light bulb, giving twice the required voltage. After seeing the generator light up a bulb using the correct wires, we knew everything was okay, and we set off to buy Peter a voltmeter so that he can check the generator at the site with more than a light bulb.

That night we were all in Kumasi again and as it was our last night there, Emmanuel and his family put on a party at their house with the whole family as well as some of Emmanuel’s students.  There was a delicious array of Ghanaian dishes including jolof rice, fufuo, goat soup, chicken soup and plain rice with a red sauce.  For dessert, Mollie baked an apple crisp because we found out that Adjoa’s (Emmanuel’s wife’s) favorite American food is apple pie.  It went very well with the vanilla ice cream and fresh mango slices that were also being served!

After dinner, dancing was the theme of the night, and with our friend Govina as DJ, it was hard to keep from tapping your toe to the music.  Luckily we had some help form the Ghanaian youngsters in learning the newest dance style in Ghana, Azonto.  The stars of the night were Emmanuel’s four kids though, because they were all getting in on the fun of dancing, even Kwaku at only 13 months of age!

Kwaku

Mike, Clayton, and Yaw eating ice cream

Mike and Clayton, with their electrician friend, Peter

Written by Mollie and Mike

Nsawkaw - July 22

Chelsea, Helena, and Mike were met in the morning by Godwin, one of the drivers from FORIG, who would accompany us on our trip to Nsawkaw. In Nsawkaw, we needed to visit the Tain District Hospital to discuss the needs of the hospital with Dr. Rockson, and if still applicable, to get the necessary information to arrange a shipment of repurposed medical equipment in the coming year. We also planned to visit the senior high school where last year’s group donated several netbook computers and other supplies.

Chelsea, Godwin, and Mike at the back of the tro-tro to Wenchi

Helena in the tro-tro to Wenchi

We had to take a few taxis to get to the right transit station in Sunyani from which we could take a tro-tro to the town of Wenchi, followed by another tro-tro to Nsawkaw. Tro-tro rides are always interesting- at one point, our tro-tro had overheated, so the driver just flipped up the front seats (where the engine was apparently just underneath) and poured water on the engine- filling the tro-tro with steam- until it was cooled enough. All the Ghanaians in the tro-tro turned to grin at us at that point, and said “Welcome to Africa!” At the transit stations, we were also on the lookout for Ghanaian donuts, which are a really common food sold on the streets here, and they normally consist of just a ball of deep-fried dough. At one of the stations though, Mike and Chelsea spied what looked like sugar-covered donuts, and we searched for them throughout the day after that, without success.

In Nsawkaw we were greeted by Mr. Brobi, a man who has worked with Pavlis in the past.  Mr. Brobi facilitated our day’s meetings at both the hospital and the school. First we went to his house, a nice place where future Pavlis students would be welcome to stay if they needed to be in the area multiple days. Then we visited the Tain District Hospital- a very nice place with a TV in the waiting area (a Chelsea soccer game was on while we were there) and several green courtyards. Most of the hallways were open-air. We were led to Dr. Rockson’s office, where we discussed the state of the hospital’s needs, previous obstacles to effective communication, and his (and the hospital’s) interest in working with MedWish, an organization that repurposes medical equipment for the hospital’s in need.

With Mr. Brobi (left) and Dr. Rockson (middle)

In order to better familiarize us with the needs of his workplace, Dr. Rockson then took us on a general tour of the hospital. We took several pictures and listened to Dr. Rockson’s explanation of the different areas of the hospital. Finally, we shook hands (as always) and left the hospital to walk to the senior high school to meet with the headmaster (we couldn’t see any students since it was a Sunday). We walked about fifteen minutes outside of town to a school surrounded by a huge open field. The classrooms were open-air, but the current, as well as the former, headmasters who greeted us ushered us into an enclosed room, where we discussed how the supplies they received last year are working for them, and what their other needs are.

They really appreciate the ten or so computers which Pavlis gave them last year, because they can use them to teach the students basic computer skills, which many students in Ghana can only learn theoretically because they don’t have the computers to try it out themselves. The books and other supplies were given to the students, and were also appreciated. The headmasters explained that the senior high has not only switched from being a private to a state-run school this year, but they will also soon be moving to a new building on the other side of town. What they would really like to have near the high school is a community center filled with more computers and books, and they would need whatever assistance they could get, not only with the supplies for filling the center, but with the building materials as well. We emphasized that although we will pass on this information to next year’s group, whether or not they can help will depend on their resources. We wrapped up the meeting by signing the school’s guestbook, and had the excitement of seeing the signatures from last year’s Pavlis students who visited.

The guestbook at the Nsawkaw High School

Finally, we walked back into town to make our way back to Sunyani, taxi and tro-tro style. The only hiccup was that our tro-tro in Wenchi had a broken headlight, so we had to wait a couple hours until it was ready to go. The driver was pretty fast though, so that made up for some time! ;)

Written by Helena and Chelsea

Mollie Goes from Sunyani to Kumasi - July 20-21

On the 20^th, Mollie, who was feeling much better, was released from the hospital.  She waited with Helena and Chelsea keeping company until the evening when Emmanuel, Mike and Clayton arrived from Kumasi.  That afternoon they received a visit from Lawrence from Babianeha along with his brother Williams.  It was great to see Lawrence, who helped us out a lot in Babianeha when Mollie first got sick.  Later that evening, we got a visit from Tony and Ben, both friends from the dorms, which was also very nice. 

Lawrence visiting Mollie

When Emmanuel arrived, Mollie went with him and spent the night at Emmanuel’s mother in law’s house in Sunyani, along with Chelsea.  The next day, Mollie drove to Kumasi with Emmanuel to have some time to rest at his house, with his family.  The whole family was very welcoming and accommodating!

Kwatre - July 17

 We started the day with an early meeting with Obeng Kwaku, the Sunyani Department of Education supervisor.  We were then taken to the office of the West Sunyani District (the district in which Kwatre, one of the schools we hope to support with our shipment of school supplies), where we were formally introduced to their supervisor.  What we had hoped would be just one more office and one more introduction to the West Sunyani District Supervisor of Education, turned into a slightly longer visit.  We were finally able to greet appropriate officials and were given permission so that Kwaku was able to accompany us to the Kwatre District Assembly School.

The Kwatre District Assembly School, which was first opened in the 1950s, houses two KG classes in addition to classes 1-6 and a Junior High School.  One of the primary challenges the school faces is supplying its very full classrooms with adequate materials to allow for effective and convenient learning.   Government schools, like Kwatre, are designed to facilitate classrooms of 20 to 35 students.  In visiting the school, however, we learned that almost all of Kwatre’s classes contain upwards of 45 students.  Accordingly, the government support for the school is stretched is extremely thin.  Without a central library, each classroom has a cupboard to house both books and other teaching and learning materials. 

The Kwatre District Assembly School has many ideas and hopes for future progress.  Their interests range from improving computer literacy, to procuring a school library and support staff, to improving their teacher accommodations (living quarters for the teachers on campus).  Their most recent development is a computer lab (or, as they call it, an ICT center) in which students have access to sixteen high-functioning computers).  The ICT center is the direct result of community involvement; the community pooled together to purchase four of the desktop computers, and later petitioned parliament for a grant to provide the additional twelve.  Of course, they continue to seek additional resources to provide for their increasing enrollment.  We were extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to briefly visit each basic classroom, observe the Junior High School students taking examinations, as well as tour the ICT center during our visit.

The West Sunyani District Supervisor of Education on the left, showing the ICT center

Students in a classroom in Kwatre

The unfortunate news from this day was that Mollie was still in the hospital, taking medicine for malaria, but the upside is that she got a very nice private room at the Sunyani hospital and it even had a hot shower to enjoy!

Written by Chelsea

Biochar at Babianeha and Meeting Dr. Jacob -July 16

Today, Helena, Mike, and Clayton went to teach some science lessons at the school in Babianeha near Emmanuel’s family’s house.  The students we were teaching were junior high-aged kids, and we had a class of about 40-50 Form 3 students (similar to 8^th grade). First, we met with the headmaster, Watuza, to explain what we were interested in doing with the students. Since both we and the headmaster want to have the students carry out a biochar garden experiment (where they will measure the growth of plants with and without biochar in the soil in order to see the effects biochar should have on increasing crop yield), our plan was to start them with a lesson on the scientific method, and then we would have them discuss the different aspects of the experiment in groups in order to develop their experimental plan.  After Helena gave a brief explanation on how to form a hypothesis, how to determine variables, and how to measure and observe data, Watuza divided the class into three groups (with Mike, Clayton, and Helena each leading one group) and we headed out to the garden plot that the school had fenced in for the students’ use.

Explaining how to set up an experiment

The teaching method in Ghana is mostly a lecture and memorization style where the answer to a question is just regurgitated, so during the classroom lesson, the students seemed to have difficulty understanding what were trying to tell them; much of the time they couldn’t answer quiz questions without looking at their notes, and our American accents didn’t do anything to help them understand either.  However once we got out to the garden and began asking them how they would plan their experimental garden, they were bursting with ideas about weeding, crop variety, planting etc.  They clearly knew a lot about growing and farming, a lot more than any of us did. 

We all had a lot of fun interacting with the students in our respective groups. Clayton had a little bit of a smaller group and tried to make a game out remembering all of their names, some of which were easy (one kid went by the memorable nickname “Noble Rasta”) and some of which were a little harder to say right (Adymaya). In Mike’s group, his students offered him a red pepper to eat. It was lucky that Mike declined the offer, though, because the students then told him that this pepper was so strong, that if he ate it, it would make his throat swell up. Helena was amused by her group when they got into a heated five-minute argument about whether or not it was possible to count all the okras on an okra plant, and how some students would help her out by keeping the rowdier ones in line.

Clayton's group

Helena's group

Mike's group

At the end of the discussion session, all the students wanted pictures with us, so we obliged. Watuza wrapped up by letting us know that the garden would be cleared and prepared in a few weeks’ time in order to start the garden, and that they would also like us to come back sometime so we could be there when they make biochar in the community. We said we would do our best, and then as a parting gift, we gave the junior high a digital camera with which they could take pictures to further document their garden.

We then stuck around the school another hour or so to do science demonstrations with the other classes at the junior high, and Clayton and Mike did a great job explaining and demonstrating how molecular interactions allow a skewer to be poked through a balloon without popping it. This demonstration was made difficult though, by the fact that Ghanaian balloons appear to be a bit different in material from American ones, but we were still able to get the demonstration to work, and the students enjoyed it. Lastly, we were led into some other classrooms just to say hi to a few groups of students who had been displaced from their regular school building due to damage from a storm.

Clayton and Mike demonstrating some polymer science

It was then time for us to travel back to Sunyani to meet up with Chelsea and Mollie. We waited at the taxi station in Babianeha for a while (the taxis don’t leave until there are enough people to fill them) before riding to Dormaa, where we had a pleasant journey on the bus ride to Sunyani. A group of school kids snuck up and sat by us on the bus, giggling about having had the nerve to come sit next to the obronis (white people/foreigners). We had some fun conversation with them about snow, each others’ names, and whether the trees in Michigan have leaves like they do here in Ghana.

When we arrived in Sunyani, Clayton, Helena, and Mike joined Chelsea to meet with Dr. Jacob Abrebese, the Medical Director of Sunyani Regional Hospital as well as an assemblyman for the village of Nsawkaw.  Dr. Jacob, or Jacob, as he insists on being called, has been extremely instrumental to groups in the past and his ideas and interest in the Pavlis program are as strong as ever.  Some of the first words out of his mouth upon introduction to our group were an emphatic, “When will you come to our village?” Chelsea explained to him the efforts we made to collect information in order to ship re-purposed medical equipment to the Tain (pronounced Tine) District Hospital throughout the past fall and spring semesters.  However, due to an inability to sustain adequate communication with our medical contact there, efforts were put on hold until further communication could be achieved. 

In discussing the proposed project with Jacob, however, it became very clear that the Nsawkaw community would be perhaps more interested in a joint shipment of supplies involving collaboration between their education and health boards.  That is, while they think medical equipment may serve good purpose, books and educational (especially related to Information, Communication, and Technology—or ICT, as they commonly refer to it) support are of equal or greater need.  Jacob insisted that the time to act should be soon, as upcoming political elections may drive politician financial support in shipping items.  Further, he was especially intent on Pavlis having more direct interaction (i.e. doing lessons in schools, etc) with the community.  While we were unsure to what end we would be able to facilitate Jacob’s high hopes (as from here on out, our schedule was filling up pretty quickly), we did already have plans to visit Nsawkaw on the upcoming weekend to get a better idea of how future Pavlis cohorts can have a positive impact there. 

*Note: This post was written by Clayton, Helena, and Chelsea

Duasidan with a bit of Babianeha - July 14 and 15

When the girls’ second morning in Babianeha dawned, the Opuni household had once again prepared us a generous breakfast. Mollie wasn’t feeling too well that morning though, so to be safe, Chelsea and Helena (as well as our friend Lawrence from the Opuni house) accompanied her to the hospital in Dormaa in the afternoon. They just missed Clayton and Mike, who arrived in Babianeha shortly after the girls left, so unfortunately we weren’t able to be reunited that day.

On Sunday the 15^th, Mollie was doing fine, but Chelsea and Emmanuel went with her to the hospital in Sunyani where she could be more comfortable. Meanwhile, Helena, Mike, and Clayton went to the village of Duasidan to talk to the community about the monkey sanctuary. Kwadwo, one of Emmanuel’s brothers and the assembly man for Babianeha, had contacted Jacob Obiri, the assembly man at Duasidan, to set up this meeting for us. We had actually been expecting to just meet with a handful of people, but when we arrived, we were ushered into a courtyard where about thirty community members sat all the way around the square. Formalities in Ghana are all about hand-shaking, so we shook all their hands, and vice versa. Then we (along with Kwadwo, who translated for us) sat on the elevated side of the courtyard, and our discussion with the community could begin.

First, we explained our purpose for being in Duasidan: to help further the mission of the monkey sanctuary, that is, to promote the protection of this habitat for the monkeys and the biodiversity of both the plants and animals in the area. We would like to help by providing the community with resources for advertisement, but we need the community’s opinions and input. We showed the community members the draft of the brochure for the sanctuary, which had been designed by the marketing department at FORIG. Everyone around the room was nodding in satisfaction as they saw the design, and seemed to agree with our idea of distributing the brochures to hotels and other locations in Sunyani, as well as keeping copies at the visitor’s office. We also explained that we planned to design a poster for the visitor’s office, as well as a few road signs to be posted at convenient intersections near Duasidan. The community gave us a few suggestions for places where the signs should be located.

We then established that Jacob, the Duasidan assembly man, would be the English-speaking phone contact for the sanctuary, and the community also decided on which days of the week and during what hours the sanctuary would be open for tours. Our entire interaction with the community was very interesting for us, because we would start by telling Kwadwo what we wanted to ask, then Kwadwo would approximately translate our question for the community, and then the community members would debate heatedly, back and forth, for up to ten minutes, and then Kwadwo would again translate the verdict for us. People were especially passionate about the question of what the open hours for the sanctuary would be, since they are a farming community, so it is important to work around the schedule of the sanctuary guides who farm to earn a living. The discussions were interesting in that people would always say times and numbers in English, but the rest would be in Twi. So we would hear “somethingsomething 10am somethingsomething” and so on. Needless to say, it was a great experience to be able to sit in on this community meeting which was so different from how these things work in our hometowns.

Eventually, the community was hesitant to discuss more, due to the fact that the Duasidan chief (who actually resides in Dormaa) was not yet aware of our presence, so we said we would make plans to contact the chief and come back another day in the coming weeks to wrap up our questions for the community. We also needed to get information from the chief about the history of the monkeys in Duasidan, because the chief has a document, which details a study done by the Ghana Forestry Commission about ten years ago, which has the monkeys’ history in written form (so far we have only heard it orally, so we want to make sure we have a consistent story before it is printed in the brochures).

As the meeting wrapped up, we asked the community if they had any other needs they wanted to address. The main issue which came up centered around education. Like many rural communities, Duasidan schools lack books, computers, and other resources for students as well as the greater community. The community members expressed interest in next year’s Pavlis students working with Duasidan to bring in supplies for a community center, similar to how Pavlis worked with the community in Babianeha two years ago. At the very end of the discussion, the lone woman in the room stood up to say that if possible, we should return to Duasidan before school lets out on July 26, so that we can visit the school and meet the students. We said we would certainly try, and with that, the meeting ended with us going around and shaking hands with everyone twice (again), and then we rode back to Babianeha. The driver who drove us and Kwadwo was a very assertive driver who sure got going pretty fast down those dirt roads!

When Helena, Mike, and Clayton got back to the Opuni house, dinner was waiting for us, and we happily dug in. We were also able to check in (over the phone) with Mollie and Chelsea (who were in Sunyani by evening) before turning in for the night.

(Written by Helena)