By Margaret Mayo
1. What motivates me to volunteer? (Why did I join Peace Corps?)
I joined the Peace Corps because I had an inexorable desire to give back. The idea began to form in my mind when I reflected back on my childhood, where so many opportunities had been placed neatly in front of me. This made me realize that I wanted kids in other, less fortunate parts of the world to have some of the same opportunities. I wanted those kids (and the generations before and after them) to benefit directly from the skills I’ve gained throughout my educational career.
Other factors that motivated me to join the Peace Corps included the aspiration to experience new cultures, languages and ways of life, and the desire to break out of the bubble of suburban America. I was tired of living the same old life, even though it was a safe, healthy and productive one. I wanted to get out and experience the world in a manner that would also allow me to give back and do something for a community which I could call my own. Peace Corps seemed like the perfect way to do this, so I signed up and put my whole heart into the application. I was willing to go anywhere in the world and do anything Peace Corps needed me to do: no job would be too distasteful, no needy neighborhood too unimportant.
Now that I’m here, I’ve discovered a whole new set of motivations I didn’t even know I had before arriving in Ghana. I’ve only been teaching for a few weeks, but already I have a new sense of what I want to accomplish: I want to impart in my students a love of science. I’ll try to teach them everything I know about my subject—Integrated Science—and hope it will benefit them in their second, third and fourth years of high school and beyond. I wish to instill in them a thirst for knowledge, a curiosity that is based in science. I want to equip them with the skills to find out what they want to know so they can then go on to contribute to the betterment of their own country and community.
I also want to encourage my students to dream big, especially the girls. Female students in Ghana still don’t receive quite the same encouragement to stay in school and achieve their dreams as male students do, and I want to change that. I want to teach all my students not to be satisfied with just the information that is presented to them, but rather to go out and look for new information. I want them to challenge what they know and what they think they know, to always keep improving upon and striving to increase their store of knowledge. Like I said, I didn’t even know I wanted to do these things before I got here—but now that I do, I’m glad I’ll be spending two years in a place where I can put my best effort into achieving those goals.
2. How does volunteering affect me on a personal level?
One of the most profound effects that Peace Corps volunteer service has had on me is the new perspective I have gained on my own former life in America. Living outside the U.S., even for only seven months, has drastically changed how I view the way I used to live.
I’ve learned so much about African culture—not just Ghanaian culture, but about cultures all across Africa, and this makes me feel like I can see so much more of the “big picture” of life all over the planet. Before I left America, I had never realized that the way of life there could be thought of as a distinct culture. I’d always assumed that since we were known as a melting pot of people and cultures, it would be too difficult to characterize Americans in one specific manner. But now that I’ve been exposed to a totally different way of life, and to a steady source of journalism written by non-Westerners, I am beginning to see America through the eyes of someone else. One of the books I brought with me to Ghana was A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. In this book, the narrator leaves America to become a Canadian citizen and can’t leave behind his disdain for American politics. The first time I read this book I didn’t pick up on much of the criticism toward America, but now that I’ve been living outside the U.S. it makes much more sense. It seems that the simple fact that I’ve relocated has enabled me to get so much more out of that literary experience than I would have if I’d read this book again while in the States.
The other most profound gift that Peace Corps service has given me is a new handle on the concepts of patience and tolerance. Most of my life I’ve never agreed with the saying “patience is a virtue,” but here that statement is beyond true. Patience is by far the most well-worn of the virtues or skills I’ve picked up here in Ghana, and now I’ll expand a bit on what I mean.
When the new school year officially began on September 15th, 2009, only the second- and third-year students had arrived on campus. The first-year students were still awaiting placement by the Ghana Education Service, or GES—they didn’t yet know which senior high school they would be sent to. As I was assigned to teach integrated science to all the first-year students, I couldn’t start; I had to wait. I thought the delay would only last for two or three weeks, and was happy to occupy myself with other things during this time. I had hoped the students would be showing up in the first or second week of October, but when October 1st rolled around and the placement lists still hadn’t been released, I began to get discouraged. Finally they came out on October 7th, and my hope was renewed. At last, I thought, soon the students would be arriving and we could get down to business! There is a lot of material to cover in the first-year science syllabus and, knowing it would be a challenge to get through it all, I was eager to start. But a few days later, the headmaster posted a sign next to the placement list that said “Senior high school (form) one opening date: 26 October 2009.” Once again, I was dismayed. I had to wait two more weeks?? I resolved not to let this get to me. Then, some conversations I’d had with volunteers in their second years came back to me: “The first-year students don’t show up all at once; for a while there’ll only be a few.” So it was likely that I would have to wait still longer before I could start teaching real material. You can’t jump in and start covering the syllabus when there are only five kids in the classroom. So before the official opening day, I wrote three days’ worth of “backup” lesson plans regarding my expectations for the class, good study and homework habits, and HIV/AIDS (a subject all Peace Corps volunteers are required to address many times over). I hoped I wouldn’t get through all the backups before enough students showed up to start real classes, but I was prepared to do so if necessary.
Finally, October 26th arrived and I headed to one of the three first-year classrooms first thing that Monday morning. There were six students. Not just from that one class (the Business students) but from all three classes combined (Agriculture and General Arts as well). This wasn’t unlike what I had expected, so we began my backup lessons. I kept hoping that the next day, or maybe the next, there’d be a significant number of students and we could start for real—every day that passed was one fewer day that I could spend preparing these kids for the end-of-term exam, which was preparation for the standardized exam they would ultimately have to take. High school students in Ghana must pass WASSCE exams (which are administered to the majority of West Africa) in every core subject in order to graduate from high school. So one can see that it is critical to get the ball rolling as early as possible in order to cover the maximum amount of material.
As of November 17th I’d been teaching real, genuine syllabus material to my fifty-plus students for just over two weeks. Classes are going well, but I have to go slowly to make sure the students understand what I’m saying and to patch over the holes in material that they should already be familiar with. We won’t get to nearly everything I had hoped to cover in this term, but we’ll do the best we can before final exams start on December 10th.
In short, it can be frustrating when the end of October rolls around, with barely six weeks remaining in the academic term, and you’ve still only got 13 students (out of 136) in your entire first-year class. But being frustrated doesn’t do any good: you have to make the best of it, and that’s another big lesson I’ve learned here in Ghana. I’ve had to constantly revise my plans and look for new, better ways to do things and to get my to-do list accomplished; as a result, adaptability would be second on my list of most-practiced skills (after patience).
I am, however, glad that I will be able to help these kids build a foundation for a science education in a place where such things aren’t always a guarantee. The results of the WASSCE (West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination) tests from the graduating third-year students at my school this past May were by far the worst in integrated science, chemistry, and math. I have my work cut out for me, but it’s nice to know where I’m starting from and to have a tangible goal: to see those exam scores rise.
3. What impact are volunteers making in Ghana?
Teaching and non-teaching Volunteers alike are making great strides in areas Americans probably take for granted, like education regarding HIV/AIDS, sanitation, and nutrition. Many adults and young people in Ghana have no idea how to properly use condoms because that information is not taught in schools or otherwise made widely available. Condoms here don’t usually come in neat drugstore boxes with printed instructions like they do in the U.S., although they are subsidized by the government and are available for 1 pesewa each (less than one U.S. cent). The lack of existing information means that the frequent condom demonstrations done by all types of PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) positively affect and educate a lot of people.
Challenges faced by education volunteers include the fact that many Ghanaian teachers in rural or deprived areas of the country show up for class late, don’t show up at all, or treat their students with disrespect. PCVs set a good example for both students and teachers by being in class at the proper time and trying hard to treat students fairly. One could say that PCVs tend to set an example by bringing their American work ethic to the table.
I personally look at my school here in Ghana and, though I try not to, cannot help but compare it to the schools I attended in the U.S. It’s hard not to point out shortcomings every time they arise, but I am constantly hit with new ideas for something that can be improved. Already my list includes painting over the graffiti adorning many classroom walls; having the school provide desks instead of forcing students to bring their own; making sure that all students, even the ones who can’t pay fees in full, receive textbooks; establishing a computer lab that won’t be ruined by the dusty dry season; making the cluttered, outdated chemistry lab into a usable and effective learning space; organizing and shelving books that have been sitting in boxes in the library for years; and painting the chalkboards with a long-lasting, nontoxic coating (as opposed to used battery acid, which is utilized currently).
Volunteers in the Omnibus sector (health/water/sanitation, environment and small enterprise development) are making great strides in educating rural citizens about proper sanitation and the need for hand washing, disease prevention and other important health guidelines. There is no infrastructure in place to take care of sewage disposal in the vast majority of Ghana; the exceptions are a few small areas within the larger cities. There is currently no way to provide running water to most homes in rural Ghana, either. Townspeople must do the best they can with KVIP (Kumasi ventilated improved pit) latrines and soak-away pits, but even this most basic level of sanitary facilities is often absent in deprived areas. Some rural citizens are still not aware of the mechanisms by which disease spreads, and flies and other insects are not often kept under control. In fact, many of my first-year senior high science students were unfamiliar with the basic concepts of bacteria, viruses and parasites.
Margaret Mayo is a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Ghana and a guest blogger.