Here is a little story I want to share with you

On August 22, the day before we started the seminar, we all (with Franklin and Victoria the Babysitter) went to visit the GMI training center and meet the trainers. After a short conversation and a tour around, Kamila called me aside and told me that there was no place in the center to accommodate Baby Franklin and his sitter in their premises. She had not realised there would be a baby and a young girl with us. They are doing construction work around here. And, in any case, it would be against the law to keep baby and sitter alone, all by themselves, without adult supervision. She explained and apologising profusely, she left. I told the group when we walked out and there was silence. But after a few minutes, ideas started flowing. Maybe, in the morning we could find a food vender close by who would agree to let Victoria and Franklin stay with her while Mary attended classes. Check out homes with small children (drying nappies, etc around), and find out if any of them would agree to take in the Baby and Sitter. David Awala suggested just knocking at the first house, entering and exposing our problem; if no solution, move to the next. That is exactly what happened the next morning. We arrived around 7:30 a.m. at GMI center. David asked that he and I go to the house, just opposite and try our Luck. Two young people were sweeping in front of the gate, and after greeting them, David asked if we could see the Landlady or Landlord of the house. It was a Landlady they confirmed, and one of them called her as we followed to the courtyard. Wow! A large, beautiful, well manicured garden greeted us. Mrs Salormey came out of the room, and invited us to the veranda. She greeted us most warmly and waited patiently to hear our mission. David explained our predicament and we wondered if she could help. We were so taken by surprise, when with no hesitation at all she said, “Of course!” She showed us the summer hut (gazebo) in the garden and said it was all ours. The whole group could come and relax there until it was time to go for our lessons. The rest came in and we all sat around reflecting on what had just happened. Mrs Solormey came to the gazebo, offered us tea and told us to feel at home. She is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Marshall, of the Roman Catholic, an order known of charitable spirit. We could not have asked for more for little Franklin and Victoria! Franklin cried so much that first day that Victoria also began to cry. Mrs. Solormey took the baby and comforted them both. She advised Mary to come out every 30 minutes to check on Franklin. Yes, “and the angel appeared, out of nowhere, and spread her wings over us!”

Update on GMI training

On Monday, August 20, we all converged in Walewale, and began a 13 hour bus ride to Accra together, arriving the following morning. David helped arrange accommodation at the GNAT (Ghana National Association of Teachers) hostel where professional teachers pay Ghc8.00/person and double the amount for the rest of us.  It is quite comfortable; 2 people /per room with common toilets and showers on each floor. We had a day and a half to scout out the route to the centre, food venders in the area and transport to the center every morning. All worked well except the food matter. We even got a beautiful home for Mary’s baby and babysitter to be while she is in class. That was a miracle I'd like to share with you later. The first day of training was focused on the key elements of a Montessori classroom, i.e. the prepared environment, including the teacher! The next day was devoted to the teacher, positive discipline and the activities of daily living (practical life), in the context of educating the whole child. The third day was a lesson presentation, and extra time for everyone to practice with sensorial materials. Kamila Kirpilani and Karine McVeigh seem to have a lot of experience in a 3-6 classroom and are able to provide concrete examples to illustrate the principles behind the Montessori approach. Kamila co-founded a Montessori education initiative in a rural area in India, and has lived and worked in Ghana for the past 18 years. Karine has lived in Tamale before, and is familiar with Northern Ghana. First impressions from team members at the end of the 2nd day:
  • I am happy because I have learned new and better ways of presenting lessons.
  • I learned that concentration is the key to learning, and I should not interrupt or make the child lose it.
  • It is lovely because the facilitation is clear and understandable.
  • I am happy because it will change my own character. It is like she (the trainer) is speaking to me directly.
  • It is a transforming period for me. For example, how to handle distractive behaviour in my class, and increasing child concentration.
  • Beginning to understand the full meaning of the Montessori philosophy and approach.
  • It will change my life drastically, e.g. I will not shut a child down in the house or in the classroom.
 

Let’s be sure we back up all our files regularly

I think even people who are not Christian can appreciate this humour. I did and hope you do too. Jesus and Satan were having an on-going argument about who was better on the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly, God was tired of hearing all the bickering. Finally fed up, God said, 'THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours, and from the results, I will judge who does the better job.' So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away. They moused. They faxed. They e-mailed. They e-mailed with attachments. They downloaded. They did spreadsheets! They wrote reports. They created labels and cards. They created charts and graphs. They did some genealogy reports. They did every job known to man. Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell. Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured and, of course, the power went off... Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld. Jesus just sighed.... Finally, the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming: 'It's gone! It's all GONE! 'I lost everything when the power went out!' Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work. Satan observed this and became very angry. 'Wait!' he screamed. That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don't have any?' God just shrugged his shoulders and said, JESUS SAVES ... (Author unknown) Speaking of power outages, those of us who have electricity all the time are very fortunate. Many in Northern Ghana do not.  The complications of day to day life in this part of the world can make educating our youth more challenging, yet also give those of us with a mission to educate greater resolve each day to devote ourselves to the task.  Perhaps the self-confidence and creative problem solving skills we strive to provide our young students at La’anguum Learning Center will allow one of them to someday, help make electricity available to everybody, and power cuts a thing of the past!!

I am Back!

I cannot believe we are at the end of the 2011/2012 school year, and the 4th promotion of students at the La’angum Learning Center (LLC) has just completed!  The 3rd and last term of the academic year ended on July 26, 2012.  The 2012/2013 school year will begin on September 4th,  with a teachers’ work week from 4– 7.  Classes begin on the Sept 11th.  In addition to end-of year and next school year preparations, we have been engaged in a series of annual reviews with close collaborators during the past few weeks.  The results of these reviews will feed into PAMBE Ghana strategic planning session during my next visit to Oklahoma City in November.  So far, we have organized and held day-workshops with administrative staff (Executive Director and her assistant), the Bumboazio and Bantambari community (i.e. the two villages directly involved in the La’angum Learning Center), and staff of the LLC. We are preparing one for the PAMBE Ghana Advisory Committee. There are so many exciting things happening out here in the field. I am currently in Accra finalizing preparations for a week Montessori training from Aug 23 – 29 for staff and volunteers of the La’angum Learning Center, offered by the Ghana Montessori International training center in Accra. This training could open up opportunities for collaboration in other areas. We shall see! That is all for now. Come back same time next week. I will keep you posted!

Donate Today

Your Donation Today Will Help PAMBE Ghana Provide:
-- Teacher's salary
-- Children’s health insurance
-- Montessori materials
-- Teacher education

PAMBE Ghana is a 501(c)(3) registered charitable organization.


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