I jumped onto an
education field trip yesterday, trying to do my bit to integrate the health
sector with others. We visited the district of Savelugu to meet 6 children that
have been out of school for various reasons, and have started a program to
integrate them back into the school system. The program offers 30 children from
each community a place at the community school program which is made up of 3hrs
of classes, 5 days per week. The project I was participating in is to look at
why these children are out of school and try to access more of these kids.
The first child
was knock-kneed, and living with his grandfather. He was ‘useless’ to the
grandfather on the farm as he couldn’t do even basic errands (because of his
disability), so he hoped sending him to school would help him be useful. He
could not walk far, and was missing these classes so the teacher now picks him
up from his house so he could make it to class.
The second child
was a Fulani girl. These are the people of the nomadic tribes of West Africa.
They are heavily discriminated in Ghana, and we went to the family home which
was just out of town, a common occurrence for Fulanis. The 14 year old girl was
the main cook for the family, and over the hour would not talk to us because he
father/superiors were there, and would do the talking. There were many Fulanis
there, however they could not all go to school because the community did not
want the Fulanis to dominate the classroom. So they could only choose a selected
number of children to go to school. This girl was one of the ‘lucky’ ones,
however she was learning in Dagbani, a language she does not speak, so I can
imagine how hard her day was. The Fulanis marry the girls from the household
off young as they are not ‘useful’ to the household. The community is trying to
change this, and the program has been successful, the fathers are waiting to
see if having an educated daughter is worthwhile.
All the children
were really quiet, and respectful of elders. None of them were living with
their parents. It is a Dagmoba tradition to give a child to your mother and
father so they have ‘help’ as they get older. The children leave home aged
about 5 years to work for their relatives, and may never see their parents
again. These children are sent to school if they are lucky, but only when
everyone else in the house gets to go to school, they are the last choice. It
seemed like a tough life, but it is a common scenario in the Savelugu district,
so not the main reason why the kids aren’t in school. It isn’t financial, as
school is free, maybe time at school is time lost working for the family. It
will be good to see the results of the study being done, the adults kept
mentioning how helping at home is more important than schooling, so it is hard
to work around these values.
The diet is SO
basic;
Breakfast: ‘Koko’
- porridge made out of maize – taste pretty bland; Cornflour, water, sugar and
salt.
Lunch: TZ– a glutinous
ball of maize and water and salt. Taken with a soup of some sort- because it is
the dry season it is mostly okro (okra) soup.
This is also
taken for dinner.
No one took any
meat or dairy unless it is a special occasion – maybe once per year. And if
they are given rice or some other sort of generosity they will sell it and buy
maize, it is cheaper and therefore can stretch a lot more for the large
families. Amazingly the families that I saw and the children in the villages
all looked well-nourished and had clean sources of drinking water.
Teachers attend
because the community keeps a close eye on the classes and the teacher will
have to answer to the community if they are absent. This was such a good sight,
as my only experience with government schools has been absent of all teachers.
The school works around the children’s working lives, so it makes it more
accessible for the vulnerable children. It teaches practical things that these
children will use throughout life, and is accepting and understanding of home
commitments.
We were
farewelled by a school song. It wouldn’t be Ghana without some booty-shaking,
and of course the head of the program was dancing away as the children sang and
clapped.
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