Tamale Day Two

Tuesday, July 14th.

We headed back to the Polytechnic right after breakfast. We were told yesterday that our timetable had changed and the Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning were to be flipped. So Pascale started the day with a lesson on Digital Media and its use, both good and bad, for teachers, students, and families. She talked about cyber bullying, texting and all of the issues. After snack Obed presented a workshop on the professional responsibilities of the teacher. He is a very confident man and during his lesson he was very firm about what he expected from his audience. He raffled off a prize at the end. Diane, Eric and I left over the lunch hour to buy some supplies. We went into the city and wandered about the streets. We were directed from one MTN shop to another in a vain attempt to buy two modems for our computers that would let us hook up to the internet. We finally gave up and went shopping. We bought some mangos and bananas, which turned into a long ordeal as the woman at the stall had her daughter peel the mangos while she wandered off. We were left there for a long time and were about to leave but we didn't realize that she had gone to find styrofoam containers for us. It was really sunny and hot wandering around and we were sweating profusely. Finally we went to a filling station to buy some groceries. We bought some roasted peanuts, cookies and FanIce. There is a very limited selection of stuff to buy. Back to the polytechnic where Vanda had arranged for the headmasters to join our group of new entrants for a workshop on mentoring. She had them change jobs and participate in role playing in order to see each other’s perspective. The headmaster became the new teacher and another student became the mentor, lots of fun. I went to the resource centre to talk to Ernest and found an area at the end of that building where there was a group of shelters and small shops that serviced the needs of the university students, printing, photocopying, etc. There were also big pots that were obviously cooking something. It turned out to be the place where the students of the college could buy lunch. I wandered around looking and found some round shaped buildings that were student residences. I talked to a couple of men and students around there. They were interested in the white man and what he was doing. I went back to our group just as they were just finishing up. Back at the hotel Diane and I had dinner early because we had to go back for the evening program. When we got to the polytechnic we had a chance to talk to Thomas, Thomas and Ernest about Canada Day night and our trip to Mole National Park on Saturday. Both Thomas Musah and Ernest are going to Accra on Thursday for meetings (Ernest is applying for Thomas Baafi's job as he is retiring and maybe Thomas Musah is applying too) so Thomas Baafi will come to Mole with us. Eventually about fifty of the participants arrived for the program on HIV and AIDS. It is Ramadan and the Muslims are fasting and therefore most of them did not come to the workshop. This is a very Muslim area. They invited a local chief to talk to the group about AIDS. He was a very entertaining and dynamic speaker but although he did give some good information and advice I think he used some inappropriate humour and had some information wrong, but it was hard to tell as his accent was quite thick. Diane and I felt we could not top him so we did not add anything for the sake of time, as it was already long enough. Thomas also forgot to tell the group about the gender equity drama presentations they are to prepare. Eric took us back and we headed off to bed straight away.