Wednesday was an exciting, surreal, and long day in Dalun as we made final preparations for the grand opening ceremony on Thursday (today).
It was great to see the students' desks installed in the school after a quick trip by the carpenter to a nearby town to buy more sanded wood for the last three desks. Our painter also re-touched the surface of the school after some local children recently vandalized it with various drawings. Finding out that enough water satchels for the opening attendees - likely more than 150 people - would cost 12 Ghana Cedis (less than $9) was a powerful reminder of how far a dollar can go. It's interesting how less than half the fare for a subway ride in New York can buy a decent lunch or several children's notebooks in northern Ghana.
There were also some harder moments in the day, such as when a couple of parents tried to bribe our staff members in order to secure a place for their children at Titagya. The offers were of course immediately rejected, but it's difficult to not currently have enough spots for all the children whose parents are eager for them to come. On the one hand I'm thrilled that we'll be able to help set our first cohort of students on a very positive educational trajectory, while on the other it's too bad that forces largely outside of young children's control (e.g. whether their parents register them in time) may deny them an opportunity to a great early education. Young minds should have access to positive learning environments where they can ignite their passion for understanding and shaping the aspects of reality that interest and/or touch them most.
By increasing the student capacity at the pre-school and building a kindergarten on the same site we will at least be able to meet more of the demand in the community. Beyond Dalun, our vision is that with increased staff and financial support we'll be able to build schools all throughout northern Ghana, give scholarships to bright and underprivileged students, and partner with governmental and other institutions to incorporate aspects of the Titagya model that are most successful into non-Titagya schools.
A recent development that I'm very happy with is that we decided to keep Titagya's classrooms open after our classes are finished, in order to give students from other local schools a brightly-lit place to study. Having such a space is never something I had to worry about when I was studying. I'm glad that we're helping to make it so that future generations of students in Dalun can also take for granted the presence of a good nearby study area.
Thanks for reading!
- Andrew
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Hi Andrew, so nice to read about how things are going on the ground. What is Dalun like? The furthest North I ever got in Ghana was Kumasi, and there were a lot of cacao farms and hills. Is it like that there? And how did you select the kids for the first class? Do they have to pay any small fees at all to attend? Good luck with the rest of your trip! I hope your dad is feeling a little better from the change in diet!
ReplyDeleteChristine
Hey Christine! Dalun is awesome. It has a population of about 5,000 people, and most people farm, trade, work for an NGO, or do a combo of two or more of those. It's an incredibly welcoming place, where people often greet each other with several questions, e.g. "How are you?," "How is your mother?," "How is your son?," etc.
ReplyDeleteThe landscape is fairly flat there. There are many yam gardens in the main village and rice farms and desert dotted with small bushes and acacia trees on the outskirts.
Since life is so agriculturally-dependent, how well people are doing at any given time as a lot to do with how the weather has been. Too much rain in the dry season can wash rice away and not enough rain in the rainy season can result in a small harvest. Just the right amount of rain at the right times can lead to a lot of happy faces.
In terms of the selection process, we chose students who fit our age range and who were registered first by their parents. We also have a 1:1 girl:boy ratio, and wanted 20% of our students to be children who otherwise would have a hard time paying the GHC 5 (~$3.50) per month fee.
My dad briefly got better, but then fell sick again. As you know, the bacteria in each part of the world is slightly different, and that can sometimes cause problems. We'll be flying back to the US tomorrow though, so he'll soon be able to relax and recuperate at home. Thanks for asking.