Teaching in Ghana by Donielle DeToy

We walked across the tree tops!!!

This was wild!!! Kakum is a large forest region in central Ghana (not far from Cape Coast) after hiking up a steep climb the adventurist visitors arrive at the Canopy walkways. These are seven bridges connecting tree tops that are 130-150 feet above ground. (think football field)

Afraid of heights??? Then never look down….

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As I was flying to Ghana, I looked out the window of my plane down onto the radiantly lit east coast of America. Here in Cape Coast we lose electricity often…a few times a week. Sometimes briefly, but other times for several hours. Did you ever wonder about the lack of electricity in Africa? According to an article in the London Independent “More than 640 million people, two-thirds of the continent’s population, do not have access to electricity. The African Development Bank estimates that Africa’s power outages sap up to four per cent of its GDP growth from its economy every year.”

Not sure what that means in real life? Look at this map of Africa at night…

Have you ever wondered HOW BIG is the continent of Africa?? It has 54 different countries and more than 3000 languages or dialects. The largest land area is Algeria (10^th largest country in the world) – it is more than the size of both Texas and Alaska together!

The African country with the largest population is Nigeria- with over 200 million. The US has over 329 million.

Ghana is one of the medium sized countries and rich in history. (it is about the size of NY & PA together!)

But what if we compared land area of the entire continent? Here is a fascinating map that will help put it in perspective:

Every Friday the citizens of Ghana wear Traditional dresses…yesterday I decided to join the fun…here are some pictures taken with various teachers at Mary Queen of Peace. Enjoy!

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Hello and greetings from Ghana!

The internet here has been fickle, so I am going to provide a short post every day. (I will try to complete the other pages soon)

What am I doing here?

I teach a kindergarten class at Mary Queen of Peace Catholic School. It was founded in 1994 by the SSND (School Sisters of Notre Dame). The school has students from toddler age all the way through Middle school- they call it Junior High School. Our day begins at 7am and dismissal is at 3pm, the students call us by our first names but with the pre-fix “Teacher”, so I am “Teacher Donielle.” Today my lesson is about snow! (part of a unit on weather) None of the children have ever experienced it- So I am bringing in ice cubes, pictures, and videos.

Ghana is close to the equator- the suns sets very quickly. Cape Coast is on the ocean and it is often hot and humid. Most homes and buildings do not have air conditioning- but there are ceiling fans everywhere! If you don’t like warm weather or tropical creatures- you won’t like Ghana- but I love it! I have met some of the friendliest and nicest people here. There is a phrase “Akwaaba” which means “you are welcome” or “happy to have you visit.” Ghanaians definitely “Akwaaba” visitors and make you feel very relaxed.

As for the tropical creatures- I share my room with 4 (probably more) Geckos and no they don’t have funny Australian accents. I have learned to live with them (I didn’t really have a choice) I’m outnumbered AND there is an advantage of having roommates who eat bugs.

On my next post I will talk about my classroom and where I live.

Thanks for joining me!

This blog is to bring my internship experience to you!

I arrived in Cape Coast, Ghana on January 12th and began teaching in a Kindergarten classroom. For the next four weeks I will be sharing life at the Mary Queen of Peace Catholic School.

Here is one of the “pets” I see on the school campus everyday! He  is an Agama Lizard and has been nicknamed “Charlie.”