My first full day in the TOB house was a Thursday. I didn't sleep very well, but, for those who know me, that's not much new. The ocean was quite loud, and the music next door didn't turn off until about 03:00. I could hear the house kids getting up and ready for school about 05:30, and decided I should get ready for the day as well, even though I wasn't sure what the day had in store. I decided to skip the shower since I no longer felt sandy and I hadn't been sweating that much. Brushed my teeth using the rest of the water left in my sachet of pure water, and put my hair up in the ponytail I can finally say holds most of my hair. :) After putting on my skirt and t-shirt, I was ready to go.
Unfortunately, I wasn't quite sure what I should be doing at 06:30. So, I went to the bookshelf in the main room of the house and picked a book to read. Yes, I'm a dork like that. Once Aankit got up, he asked me to wake up the other girls. Kathryn was still asleep, but the professors were up and getting ready already. I'm glad for that, since I really hate waking people up and they were willing to wake Kathryn up. We all trooped out and Aankit said we were going to the school to meet the headmistress, Madame Nelson, and see how we could be of help.
The school is about a two minute walk down the road. Yes, there's really only one road. We went into the headmistress's office and she talked about what the school needed, as well as how things run there. She emphasized the lack of proper resources, and that things are done a certain way so we need to respect that. I volunteered to teach, since they hadn't had a teacher all year for KG1 or KG2 (Kindergarten 1 and 2). Kathryn also volunteered, but the professors were leaving in a couple days, so they couldn't really. Jeff was with us and wanted to know if he could observe and do some research for his project. They apparently don't like that, so he said he'd teach, thinking that he could at least get data from one class then. Aankit told us afterward to be careful with the headmistress, since Ghana is very bureaucratic and chains of power are important. That's why we had to go to district office in Agona - because we needed their approval to teach in Busua.
So, after meeting Madame Nelson, we took the share taxi to Agona. (Share taxis are normal taxis that just go back and forth between places for a set price, once they're full). Agona is where district office is, as well as social welfare. Aankit, Yahya, Jeff, the professors, Kathryn, and I all went to the district office and waited to see the president or manager or whatever he's called. Waiting happens a lot in Ghana, by the way. I learned a lot of patience there. Some of it actually stuck with me even.
The district person we were waiting for came out and introduced himself, Samuel, and he brought another man from Accra. Michael was apparently visiting from the Ghanaian equivalent of the state department of education, whereas district office presides over what we might call a county or parish. So, we met with both of them, where they said they needed a letter from each of us explaining how long we'd be there able to teach, what subjects we were able to teach, and where we were going to be. Then, we would get letters from them saying where we'd be teaching and what level, as well as the rules for what we can and can't do. We were told we weren't allowed in the schools until we got those letters.
After that, we walked over to the social welfare office. Aankit's been trying to get TOB registered in Busua as a legitimate organization. Right now, we just have village permission to help teach their kids, but not governmental permission. TOB is registered in America, and either Kumasi or Medina (both places TOB has worked before). So, we went to go check on that. Yahya apparently applied about a year ago is what it sounded like, but they haven't gotten to the application yet. The man we spoke with said a couple days, that's all. As far as I know, by the time Aankit left, they still hadn't gotten to it.
Then, we headed back to Busua and the house to get ready for after school...my first!
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