Final Closing and Ghana Night

Friday August 1^st 

Today is the last day of school. When we got to the high school in our new GNAT clothing we were mobbed by the participants in a photo frenzy. As the participants were filling out the surveys, I showed Eric and Julius the Kilimanjaro photos they wanted to see and some of the African animals. They were amazed.

When I had the opportunity to present my time capsule idea I gave out prizes of my Canada headband, sunglasses and bracelet to the people who answered questions correctly. Our final activity was designed by Lyle to demonstrate how you can use a simple square box (in our case a podium) to allow the students to perform a drama. He played the host of the TV show and then invited Barb, Cindy, me and Angela to give our final thoughts to the participants via the TV. He was the announcer who made up commercials between our little speeches.

The last session before lunch was the little plays by the participants that were to demonstrate gender equity. This is a big issue here, but the union is addressing it and making it a major focus, although we noticed that there were no women in the upper echelon of the union.

Before lunch Cameron, Owen and I went for a walk off the campus to pick up a shirt Cameron was having tailored. Right after lunch we were to amass in the big hall for the closing ceremonies. They were delayed for about an hour as we were waiting for the union president. The actual ceremonies were really long and lasted for over three hours! They paid tribute to CTF, us and the partnership between us. They presented bolts of kenti cloth to us. There were also union people talking about the possibility of a strike and what to do if there is. They also lectured the participants about absenteeism (apparently there is a fair number of teachers not showing up to work, especially in rural areas).

After the ceremonies we had a final reception on the stage with all the union people and co-tutors where we had a beer and some snacks. Shortly afterwards Ghana Night commenced. I wore my new black Africa shirt and my multi-coloured pants. At one point I asked Peter if I looked African or like a stupid tourist, he just diplomatically laughed and said he liked the outfit. Ernest was the MC and worked the crowd for a while until a drum troop showed up. They were excellent with drummers, dancers and a trumpet player. It sounded like we were off to the races in Africa. Ernest said that the Canadian teachers all wanted to learn to dance. So we all got up and entered the conga line between the dancers. They showed us the steps and we all moved slowly bent over in a line, shuffling and waving our butts in the air and our arms to imitate a bird, like an ostrich. Again all the cell phones came out to take pictures and videos. After it was over Ernest said he had an app to delete all the files so that the Canadians wouldn't be embarrassed! It was another excellent evening of cultural exchange. We left about 10:00 and Angela, Owen, Barb and I went to the bar for another nightcap.