Dog days in Ghana…in so many ways

Dog days: The hot, sultry summer months – usually July and August in the Northern Hemisphere. Ancient Greeks and Romans referred to these as the ‘dog days’ because the ‘dog star’ (brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog)) would rise just before the sun. This was widely believed to be a cursed time, with the ‘dog star’ to blame for the heat…

...but today ‘dog days’ epitomize the best of summer – the best of the best. By this (my own) revised definition, the last several weeks here in Ghana have been ‘dog days’ in so many ways. 

Here’s a quick recap of a typical dog day in Cape Coast:

Quick run at dawn watching the big red African sun

rise through palm trees and clouds.

Quick second run with Hannah and Rock

I push them, they whine, we negotiate between breaths.  

Porridge (decent) and fresh pineapple (unbelievably good).

Lunch as a family followed by science hour with the kids (or economics or art).

Back at the bungalow after 5pm as the sun turns red again

The kids romp around with friends - jumping, chasing and taunting the bull dog.

Rock has our gloves ready for an evening workout (grounders, fly balls, pitching, hitting).

Overhead hornbills, kingfishers, kites, fruit bats, ‘vultchas’,

and the occasional (rare) toucan.

Around us guinea fowl, chickens, kids hawking (unbelievably good) pineapple,

the dog pack, and an orchestra of unseen insects.

The sun sets quickly and the street light over our red dirt road flickers,

then sparks and hisses and smokes.

Wash feet. Red red water.

Dinner as a family (yes, the third meal as a family).

Stroll with Heather with an entourage of dogs.

Unwind…sometimes by candle light.

In the dark, under a raging ceiling fan,

I lay next to Rock and listen live to an inning of an afternoon MLB game

or next to Hannah and talk and talk and talk.

These are ‘dog day’ highlights from my perspective, but ‘dog days’ for the kids are far more literal:

With real obsession, they observe and endlessly debate the personalities and social dynamics of the neighborhood dog pack. With the slightest whimper or bark – day or night – they spring to the windows and throw open the louvers. 

And in their defense, it is a pretty unique opportunity to observe a dog pack in (almost) nature - a dog pack that can roam freely night and day (mostly night) and play out the Call of the Wild - with very little human interference and no leashes, yards or fences. 

Oh, and it is hot and sultry too.

Homeschool - Ghana-style

Homeschooling via Ghana Mama & Papa:

It's been interesting, this homeschool thing. I mostly like it, and then there are the other days. Upon reflection I feel the same about sending the kids off to school somewhere else. Yet, there are advantages homeschool:

1. A day at the beach watching the tide come and go is considered Science.

after doing the tide lesson, we threw some math in there, just to extend the school day a bit

How Travis spends his sabbatical. Really, he's working, though I know it doesn't look like it.

2. Fresh mango and pineapple, oranges and bananas for snack-time.

mangoes on our tree (side note: Hannah took this photo as part of her photography unit in art class)

sweet girls who stop by often to sell oranges - we happily oblige

more mangoes

artistic photo of banana

3. If  we had a late night the principal/teacher can call in a 'late-start' day.

4. Chores can be counted as classroom instruction & homework (we planted a Ghana garden complete with tomatoes, peppers, cassava, & plantain).

5. If we feel like studying a little more about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, or Charlemagne, or the potato famine (St Patty's Day lesson), or millipedes, or dog packs, or birds, or bridge building or terminal velocity, we can do so, without fear of 'losing a teaching day'.


It hasn't been perfect, but it's been memorable!

Chocolate !!

Home grown cocoa and home made chocolate, using only Ghana's finest cocoa liquor and cocoa butter & a pinch of sugar.


Purity unrivaled.

Lost in translation/Signs of the Times

Weannimix!

KFC ad in Accra

...if only...

at the bottom it states "Expert in Bad Boy Cut, California, Sweat and Many More!"

difficult to see, but on the fascia it reads "The Good Sherp-herd"

ad for 'new mother/baby' photography

??

The only public restroom I've been to in Ghana sported this sign on your way in

This guy takes his desk job seriously.

my favorite part of this business sign is the 'Pampers'

captured this blackboard in the school at Nzulezo - a village on stilts in the middle of a lake.

and as my HS English teacher would add, Intelligent reading leads to intelligence.

My paw-paw lady

My African Butter Queen

Butter is a rare commodity here. In fact, I'm not sure I've seen a single dairy cow here - so it's not just butter, but most dairy products that are tough to find. Rare things have an appeal of there own, but in Ghana, butter's appeal runs even deeper because the alternative, margarine, is completely unpalatable - easily the worst whipped oil product we've ever encountered...anywhere.

So when Heather sees butter in a cooler somewhere, often in our local gas station that also happens to stock Kirkland brand 'foodstuffs' (a term Rock uses frequently), she buys butter. I'm always happy to see butter in the fridge because it tends to be high quality 'foodstuffs' imported from Europe. But while I was away last month, Heather snapped...and did something in desperation that can only be described as culinary lunacy.

She cashed in our 401(k) and took a massive investment position in butter. Not butter futures...butter 'presents'...as in $50 of butter lining our freezer from end-to-end.

At first, I questioned the financial wisdom of this investment...but I'm beginning to see her logic.

Life here is simple but also unpredictable. With all the vicissitudes of life in Ghana - unreliable power and water (we're going on 7 of 8 days without water) - there is one comfort, one luxury that now no one can take away from us.

That's a bit of financial wisdom from my African Butter Queen you can take to the bank. That is my kind of self-reliance!
 

Abeka Deaf School - Asekuma, Ghana

We have received many requests for more information about the deaf school in Asekuma.

As many of you have heard, we have been helping to salvage a school for the deaf here in Ghana. This has been an enlightening, thrilling and moving opportunity for our family. Several of you have expressed interest in assisting with this project. We are grateful for any moral support you can provide. If you are interested in providing financial support, we welcome your support via the Lynne Lybbert Children's Fund. You can either PayPal your donation (llchildrensfund@gmail.com) or write a check and send it to:

Lynne Lybbert Children's Fund
1366 E Skyline Dr.
Bountiful, UTAH
84010

All donations are 100% tax deductible; donors will receive a letter to document their donation. 

A photo journey around the school, the students, it's staff, and it's fun:

The Abeka School for the Deaf

Our first parent meeting in December 2013 - we are sitting in the one-room school.

most of the students - bored with the meeting, until

Rock rallied them with a game of soccer, and...

Hannah and the girls taught each other games.

This week, we visited the school again, to solidify our partnership with the teachers and staff, and to secure parent involvement.
 

Every student was represented by a parent!

Upon arriving, Hannah pulled out the jump rope, which was a hit, for students and teachers.

The new textbooks that now match the 'hearing' curriculum in the rest of Ghana.

No curriculum is complete without a soccer ball and puzzles.

This little guy was showing off his letter and number skills

.

Rockwell started this exciting & dangerous game.

Madam Ata - the cook - in her kitchen, preparing lunch.

These boys were excited to teach Rockwell the ASL alphabet.

A friend of Hannah's sent Skittles to share - crazy for candy.

The proud students of the Abeka School for the Deaf.

Madam Ata serving lunch: rice and sauce.

Madams Agnes & Ruth - the devoted teachers.

The ABEKA Deaf School was founded by a Ghanaian couple who, previously, had also started a primary and secondary school. In the village of Asekuma, and its’ surrounds, there are approximately 70 school-age deaf children. Their hearing loss is due to varying circumstances: a small percentage of them have been deaf since birth, but most lost their hearing due to illness (in most cases, we’re told, malaria). The parents could not afford medical care so the children suffered dearly – losing most, if not all, of their hearing. 

Our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS Church), has signed a 5 year lease with the owner of the property. The headmaster, due to leave the country this year for an opportunity in Canada, was able to find other locations for the primary and secondary schools.  However, the deaf school has been more difficult to find a home for. Our church, and the property owner have agreed to allow the deaf school to remain on the premises for a 6 month trial period, in hopes it will either become a more permanent and formative institution, or find a different location.  

An LDS missionary couple, Elder and Sister Ivie, here from New Mexico for 18 months, is working closely with the headmaster and a retired teacher from the deaf university and his deaf wife. They are collectively well-educated and experienced with hearing loss, education, teaching, curriculums, and school administration. 

The coordination of this salvage is exciting and challenging. The physical structure of the school consists of wood posts and a roof of corrugated tin, truly an open class room. Four students each share a rickety old wooden desk. There were no textbooks, or just plain old ‘fun’ books to read! Very few supplies, and of course, the teachers and cooks have not been getting paid for the last several months. So far, appropriate textbooks have been purchased, the teachers have been back-paid, desks are being built and we hope to have a concrete slab laid soon and enclose the school shortly thereafter. We are working with Elder and Sister Ivie helping to restore and even upgrade the facility to make it a more functional and inviting learning environment.  

The Abeka Deaf School is home to 22 registered students (with hopes of recruiting more), about 20 attend regularly. There are two teachers (one is deaf, the other hearing) who are paid ~$50 month and there are 2 cooks who are paid ~$25/mo. Tuition is free. Lunch is one cedi (less than .50 cents). For a while many students wouldn’t come because they couldn’t afford the cost of lunch.  With the headmaster leaving, this school would be closed permanently, as he has been paying for expenses out of pocket. If the school changed to a tuition-based institution, the children would not come. Their families could not afford it. 

Additional costs include the purchase of more textbooks, supplies, food for the children’s lunches, wood for more desks, a few renovation supplies, concrete for the floors, installing a functional stove/cook top, etc.

***Just last week we had a meeting at the school with teachers and parents. As the meeting commenced we realized that EVERY SINGLE STUDENT WAS REPRESENTED! This thrilled us to no end!  We challenged the parents to take up responsibility for this school and their child’s education; to commit to sending their child to school every day, to contributing to the renovations either with labor or materials, and to commit to asking their children about their homework and assisting them when and however necessary. They nodded their agreement, applauded, and my heart soared. These are parents who are committed to their children, who see the deaf teacher at this school attending the University for the Deaf and think that is marvelous, who have heard of friend’s children who have become skilled in a trade or a profession and are working throughout Ghana, Europe and some in the U.S. Without saying it, they have high hopes for their children. 

They are grateful for the help in keeping the Abeka school open and seem committed to making it work long term.