Week Two (at the GNAT Institute)

It's tricky to find new things to write about since this trip to Ghana is almost the same as last July! I feel both savvy on Ghanaian culture (esp. in Education) and so I'm good to go! But I also feel like staying for a long time, continuing to help Ghanaian partners succeed in improving the conditions of their teachers and especially wanted to help improve the quality education for all Ghanaian children. Simple things mean so much. Oh my, what I take for granted in Ontario......

I worked with my dear friend Lord again this year for the first week. This week I am working with Justice who is also very lovely, with a humourous style that puts the participants at ease. I have noticed this year, when the participants have come from the four northern regions of Ghana, that they are hungry for the offered professional development. They are engaged and enthusiastic--which of course is contagious! I look forward to each class, digging in to talk shop with other teachers.

Our "Inclusivity in Education" crew

Our hosts from GNAT have taken us touring to three museums which have been excellent. On the first weekend we went to the National Museum of Ghana, where we had an excellent guide that gave us the history of Ghana from a variety of viewpoints like societal structure, clothing, food practices, warrior history. We then went to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park (KNMP) and Mausoleum and were in the care of another excellent guide. I couldn[t help but feel a little national pride. This weekend we went to the Kente Museum where we learned the history of kente fabric.

The most popular story about the origin of Kente cloth involves

The story goes......two farmers, Kurugu and Ameyaw, who were hunting in the forest and were inspired by a spider weaving its web. They meticulously studied the spider's intricate weaving and returned home to experiment with their own weaving techniques, eventually creating Kente cloth. This story, while widely shared, is a simplified version of a richer history rooted in the Ewe people's weaving traditions, which predate the Asante adoption of Kente.

My teammate, Laun, gave the loom a try--authentic looms and weavers are working at the Museum, allowing us to see the craft in its traditional form.

One new thing I can share is that Laura (my roomate while here in Kumasi area) and I have a pet lizard we named "Pinkie" living in our room. Neither of us mind him living with us, so we don't really know where he is right now. I wonder if I'll arrive in Waterloo with a pinkish lizard in my suitcase!

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