Today was my first day at WAAF! Leigh and I were supposed to meet Belynda, our boss, at 9:30 this morning, and shortly before arriving at WAAF after an hour of commuting a total of two miles, we got a call from Victor, the internship coordinator at NYU, telling us Belynda had an emergency meeting and that we’d meet her at WAAF at noon, instead. After a bit of frustration and grumpiness from the heat, Leigh and I made our way back home, but not before buying some fabric from the tro-tro station (weird place to buy fabric, I know, but it was cheap and good!). Long story short, we finally met Belynda at noon, and got started right away digging into the curriculum manual that we will use to teach the workshops at the five schools. Essentially, we do one workshop for one school for one week. The workshop is broken into three days, each day for about three hours. Leigh and I will work together, and have split up the topics we’ll be discussing and teaching the children. My assigned topics are Basic Facts on HIV / AIDS, Stigma, Assertive Skills/Sexuality, and Peer Education. Leigh’s topics are Basic Facts on STIs, Positive Living and Adolescence. We will alternate turns presenting the information to the students, all while having them engage with activities and group work to help them stay interested and have some fun. There are 20 children per Passion Squad, and their ages range from 3rd grade to 8th grade. They are selected by their teachers and serve as peer educators for their entire school. They are encouraged to keep a log of all the fellow students they’ve talked to about HIV / AIDS related issues, and have those students sign a log to show they’ve been educating their peers.
Today at WAAF we went through the manuals with Belynda and discussed what we’d be doing this week. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we are going to visit the five schools we are working with to re-establish relationships with them, and to find out times and availabilities for us to conduct the workshops. After we did this and talked about some restructuring we’d be doing within the workshops, Leigh and I were told to write a letter to the newest school we hope to have participate in the program. I wasn’t sure what exactly what to write, and in what format, but Belynda just let us write the letter we thought would be best. Similarly, the interns aren’t given much structure, and I work much better with structure and clear direction. I’m not used to this way of kind of just sending us out on our own to do these clubs however we want and to write letters however we feel best fit. I guess it’s great because she’s so trusting of us and our ability to do the work, but it’s also nerve wracking because I can’t judge my own progress or success in doing something when I don’t have a set goal or standard that I’m being held to.
Anyway, I am super excited about going into the schools and working directly with the kids. Gillian and I were talking about the program and it is just such a great thing that they do, because as much as funding for research and medication is important, nothing solves the problem of spreading the disease but educating the youth and enabling them to make educated sexual health decisions at an early stage. There’s no room for ignorance, and WAAF makes sure to educate as early as possible to help prevent future generations from being inflicted with the disease.
After work I stopped by the Acorn Tree, the store on WAAF’s grounds, and bought an AWESOME batik satchel bag for 9 Cedi that I’ll use as my book bag from now on. I met the woman who made it, Rebecca, and am very happy with my purchase!
After WAAF I had my Media and Society class at Legon, which was good but still quite frustrating because the students don’t seem to have much respect for their professor. If he makes a comment they find even seemingly controversial (and I honestly didn’t think he made any controversial comments) there would be an uproar of screaming and fist pounding and talking over each other. At one point, when the professor mentioned a fact about Ghana’s new president, a student stood up, turned around and stuck his butt up in the air. It just doesn’t make much sense, especially since it’s a 400 level class; I guess I expected a greater level of maturity. It’s quite frustrating, especially when Marykate and I seem to be two of very few people in the class that want to learn and hear what he has to say. Anyway, patience patience patience patience patience.
Tomorrow I have two classes, and afterwards Gillian, Marykate, Marika and I are going to the Togo embassy to get our visas for our trip to Togo in a few weeks. A few of us are going to cross the eastern border into Togo and spend the day visiting its capital, Lome. We also hope to spend a day climbing a mountain, apparently it’s beautiful and quite the experience.
Time for bed, I have class early!
love love love
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2 comments:
Good morning EJ and congratulations on completing your first day at WAAF. Your work with the children sounds exciting and of course your education efforts will make a huge difference in saving lives. I understand your frustration at just being "thrown out there" with very little direction, but unfortunately the work world can sometimes be like that, even back here in the USA. EJ, you are a brilliant, creative, wise, practical, and confident woman, so I know you will make very good decisions and create a terrific learning experience for the children. It may be challenging, but you have a history of turning challenges in to opportunities. So you go girl! Sorry to read about the imaturity of some of your classmates. Interesting that they don't get asked to leave the class for some of this behavior. I wonder if this is typical student behavior at University in Ghana or if this class is just an abberation. Doesn't quite fit with the respectful nature of much of the culture as you've described it. We miss you so much and love you even more. Stay healthy and safe and have a super day. Love you sweetpea. Ish
Good Morning/Afternoon, Honey,
Thank you for filling me in on what all you did at WAAF - enjoyed very much our im visit about this yesterday and I appreciate all the details in your blog entry. As I said, you will quickly be in a leadership position and be structuring much of what needs to be done yourself. What important topics you will be addressing with these impressionable young minds. I love that you were able to buy fabric at the tro tro station! It seems to be a highly regarded, appreciated and sought after commodity - and I'm sure the patterns and colors are beautiful everywehere. Do you think your fellow classmates are showing off? What a difficult thing for your professor to have to deal with. Hope you like the class aside from that distraction. I will write you more in a personal email and let you know about the spreadsheet and flight receipt. I love you very much honey. Stay Super Safe and Head Up, Darling Girl. Have a blessed and happy day. Momma
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