Teaching in GhanaTeaching in Ghanahis blog details our day-to-day lives, thoughts and ideas, and observations and challenges during our year at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, West Africa. If you are planning an extended trip, a semester abroad, or are just curious about life Articles
Fresh vs. available
2007-11-02 11:22:00 I have been far too accustomed to walking into a grocery store and finding pretty well everything I want. If I feel like spinach, there is usually some sitting around, if I want to try something different, there is usually a vast array of unfamiliar greens to choose from. What I now realize ... More About: Travel , Food , Author , Fresh , Terri
Furniture
2007-11-02 11:20:00 I’m finally ready to say that I love African furniture. I’ve always been impressed with the wood work, but our cushions when we got here were really worn and uncomfortable. Since we were new, we just thought that was just how things were…except everywhere we went, they had more comfortable cushions. More About: Travel , Photos , Furniture , Author , Stephen
The Pineapple Lady
2007-11-01 18:22:00 As much as possible we try to buy our pineapple from Ama, our local pineapple lady. Although there are others in the market, Ama has been very nice to us from day one and she?s so energetic that we really want to patronize her. Her pineapples aren?t always the best, but we buy ... More About: Travel , Food , Photos , Pineapple , Lady
Too much electricity?
2007-11-01 17:20:00 October was a good month for light. Except for a one-hour glitch yesterday afternoon, October was almost a “golden check mark” — a full calendar month of light. With light, there are much fewer problems with water. There was a weekly 24-hour dry spell for some maintenance or another, but it was otherwise stable and ... More About: Travel , Electricity , Author , Stephen
Happy Halloween
2007-10-31 19:42:00 I nearly forgot about Halloween . It has been so refreshing living in an environment that?s not all about consumerism. There are no candy displays here tempting obesity, or aisles upon aisles of costumes beckoning me to spend money for no particular reason. It is so nice to get away from the commercialism that is constantly ... More About: Ideas , Happy , Author , Terri
No smoking
2007-10-31 19:41:00 One of the best things about our visit to Ghana is that practically no one smokes. When we were in Paris, the “culinary capital of the world”, we ate take out for every night but one — the smoke in the restaurants made it impossible to enjoy the food. Transfering planes in Europe is always ... More About: Travel , Smoking , Author , No smoking , Stephen
Print Media
2007-10-30 15:12:00 Freedom of speech is such a beautiful thing. In Canada, we have freedom of speech but getting your word out is usually prohibitively expensive as all print media is controlled by a handful of people. In the U.S., speaking your mind can get your CD?s burned in the town square. For a time in Ghana, ... More About: Ideas , Media , Travel , Print , Author
Postal service
2007-10-30 14:12:00 OK, we finally got around to sending the post cards. I have no idea how long it will take, so please let us know when you get them! More About: Travel , Service , Postal , Author , Stephen
My Chosen Causes
2007-10-29 18:09:00 It has been nearly three months in Ghana and I believe I have finally found a way to meaningfully contribute to this country. At first it was tough to look for projects that resembled fishing rods as opposed to fish. My feeling is that charities are actually counterproductive to the development of these societies. Instead ... More About: Ideas , Author , Volunteering , Terri
A good semester?
2007-10-29 18:05:00 I have always said that if you could find one student who was willing to go beyond what you were teaching and actually do some learning, then it was a good semester. Well, I have found that student. He is a programming sponge, and he is soaking up everything I have to teach him. More About: University , Teaching , Author , Semester , Good
Theatre in Africa
2007-10-28 14:00:00 The music and theatre students at UCC have been putting on a series of plays in the past few weeks. The first play was about an American woman who married a Ghanaian, and it presented her trials and tribulations of adapting to her new family in Ghana. I enjoyed it immensely and ... More About: Travel , Events , Africa , Theatre , Author
Steamy or Rainy (October weather)
2007-10-28 14:00:00 Weather seemed to alternate between two extremes for the past month. Mostly, it was steamy - highs around 28C/80F and lows around 24C/75F with a dew point over 20C/70F. Even in the baking midday sun, the relative humidity was often over 80%. Thankfully, the sun tends to get a strong convection going ... More About: Weather , Travel , Author , Steamy , Stephen
Classroom Priorities
2007-10-27 12:47:00 I?d hate to complain so bitterly about the education system here given the fact that they have such limited resources. However, I find it an absolute shame that those resources are not allocated with the students needs first. I dare not imply all of Ghana is problematic, but I can honestly say that in the ... More About: University , Teaching , Author , Terri , Highschool
Screw the students, let?s make some money!
2007-10-27 12:31:00 According to the semester schedule posted on the wall calendar hanging in my chalet, semesters here at UCC are supposed to have 13 weeks of teaching and the students are supposed to get a one week study break between classes and exams. I was looking forward to that extra week of classes for more in ... More About: Money , University , Students , Teaching , Author
My Ghanaian Dress
2007-10-26 06:02:00 When I went to Accra, my friend had her aunt sew a proper Ghanaian dress for me. Finally I had occasion to wear it (to meet our High Commissioner), only to discover I really can’t walk in it. Well, I can walk, just not the tomboy shorts kind of walking that I’m used ... More About: Travel , Clothes , Dress , Author , Terri
Take your vitamins
2007-10-26 06:01:00 After a few months, Terri and I have settled into a reasonable diet. By African standards, I’m sure its luxurious — high in protein because we can afford it and lots of fresh vegetables because we have access to the university farm. Even with these advantages, the only way we keep a nutritious ... More About: Travel , Food , Vitamins , Author , Stephen
Where Does the Buck Stop?
2007-10-25 19:28:00 I found out yesterday that the form 1 science students had not begun a single math class as of yet. The teacher has been too busy preparing for the new Internet Communication lab to lecture them. Instead, they were to read on their own and get from their school mates in other classes what their ... More About: University , Teaching , Author , Stop , Buck
Classroom Teaching
2007-10-25 15:00:00 I miss my high-tech classrooms with quad black boards, twin LCD projectors, acoustic tiling, and climate control. Its tough teaching with only two white boards — especially since more and more permanent marker appears on them throughout the term. Its tough to teach technology without technology — how am I supposed to show ... More About: University , Teaching , Author , Stephen
A day at the beach
2007-10-24 15:00:00 A great way to get away from the heat is to spend a day at the beach. There are a large number of beach “resorts” about a half hour west of Cape Coast. Some are actual resorts in the sense that they offer accomodations, but many more are little more than ocean front ... More About: Travel , Food , Events , Photos , Beach
The High Commission
2007-10-23 18:56:00 I had the pleasure of meeting the Canadian High Commission er to Ghana today. FYI ? High Commission = Ambassador, but for Commonwealth Countries. He stopped in to meet the senior administration of UCC and they thought it would be nice to have the visiting professor from Canada along. Nothing interesting transpired but I wanted to ... More About: Ideas , Author , Terri
Project Proposals
2007-10-23 18:42:00 I have to give the students credit for their ambition — half the projects they proposed would be multi-year, multi-million dollar projects. At least they were relevant… More About: University , Teaching , Project , Author , Stephen
Ghanaian Entrepreneurship
2007-10-22 19:09:00 I feel weaseled and I?m mad about it. There are so many things that are absolutely beautiful about this country, yet there are so many things that can only be described as annoyances. An entrepreneur weaseled a dollar out of me today. As I took my bicycle through the convocation ceremony, several tried to pin ... More About: Entrepreneurship , Travel , Author , Terri , Rene
Racism gone backwards
2007-10-20 12:01:00 In the streets, children watching far too many Kung-Fu movies have approached us with arms poised Bruce Lee style and shouting ?ching chow? at us. A few times I?ve been tempted to just stick out my foot and trip them, but so far I?ve just kept walking. At first I interpreted these gestures as racism, ... More About: Ideas , Racism , Author , Terri , Backwards
Our budget
2007-10-20 11:50:00 I admit it, Terri and I are over budget. We wanted to experience Africa and live a local lifestyle, so we tried to live on $5/day…in the beginning. For sure, it can be done, and you can live quite well…provided nothing goes wrong, you have everything in place, and you don’t mind being ... More About: Travel , Food , Author , Budget , Expenses
A matter of significance
2007-10-19 22:49:00 A rather trivial yet significant thing happened in the classroom that sadly made me realize that there?s a bit of the blind leading the blind syndrome going on in the system here. The instructor for the form 2 math class (science stream so these kids are potentially heading into fields like medicine, engineering, etc) did ... More About: University , Teaching , Author , Matter , Terri
African Voodoo
2007-10-19 16:17:00 A while back, we were having a conversation with a friend, another lecturer who lives in the chalets. As per usual, we were discussing African development and/or the lack thereof. Looking back, I would have to say it was one of my favourite conversations that I’ve had here — he certainly had the best explanation ... More About: Travel , Author , Stephen , Voodoo
Beer
2007-10-18 19:15:00 So I finally sat down and tried the Star beer my friend Daren has been raving about. I?m not too much of a beer fan in general (except for the Biergartens of Munich ? don?t laugh Sarah), but the taste of the Star beer didn?t offend me. In fact, it was pretty good. ... More About: Travel , Food , Beer , Author , Terri
Cell phones
2007-10-18 19:02:00 If you think you can’t live without your cell phone now, try doing it in a place with neither land lines nor reliable email/internet. The first thing we did here was buy a cell phone. After a month of trying to live on just one, we bought a second. Without a cell ... More About: Travel , Cell Phones , Phones , Cell , Author
Maybe a holiday, maybe not
2007-10-17 17:15:00 Clearly the rigid Anglo-Saxon society I came to adopt isn?t meant for a place like this. Things are a little more flexible here and life takes its own pace. People aren?t worried by the ticking of the clock and time has a whole new set of meanings here. The phrase ?Please wait a minute, I?m ... More About: Travel , Holiday , Author , Terri
No lateral movements
More articles from this author:2007-10-17 16:17:00 In Canada, those that graduate from the program that they started are probably the minority, but here it is everyone. In Ghana, there is no such thing as transferring programs part way through university. Secondary students who have no idea what this vague notion of Engineering, Computer Science, Economics, Art History, or even ... More About: Ideas , University , Author , Terri 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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