"We are the famous Happy Kids School, we never shall die."

I’ve been spending lots of extra time during the afternoon and weekends at the Happy Kids School and boarding house. In the afternoon I help out with whatever chores the kids have to do (usually getting water or collecting eggs from the chicken coop) and on the weekends we’re free to play.

Almost done

Last weekend I was finally able to start the painting in the P5/P6 classroom that we’ve been planning for weeks. After having all of the kids draw a map of all of the continents as a part of a geography lesson a long time ago, they asked if they could color their maps and hang them on the wall. Their classroom was completely bare and lacks any paint or any color at all, so I thought it would be a good idea to paint one giant map on the back wall of the room. Madame Elizabeth was thrilled to hear that I wanted to paint so I told the kids I would take on the project.Two of the oldest boys, Atta Joshua and Kodjo Etornam drew the continents on the wall with chalk and then we started painting. By we I mean me and the 20 kids that eagerly followed me from the boarding house to the school to paint. Keeping 20 kids ages 10 to 16 on task without making a complete mess has been a challenge. I was told to use kerosene to get the paint off of unwanted places, so cleanup is always eventful and usually involves me pouring kerosene into their hands or rubbing their arms with a rag soaked in kerosene. I was concerned at first, but one of the other teachers told me that kerosene is just like paint thinner and always used remove paint. Apparently the kids basically bathed in kerosene after painting the boarding house. I’ve snuck to the school to paint without the kids a few times just to avoid the whole cleanup hassle. We’re almost done, but I definitely underestimated amount of time it would take and the amount of paint we would need to cover the wall. 8 days after starting and a few trips to the store for more paint and brushes the map is looking good. 

Kodjo drawing the continents

Atta painting

Ghana will be celebrating Independence Day tomorrow so Happy Kids (just like every other school in the country) has been preparing for the annual march. On the 6th all of the school kids gather in a local park or town square and march (like soldiers) in a competition to be named the school with the most original and polished routine. Happy Kids has been practicing tirelessly for the last three weeks in order to take the number one spot in the village of Gbi Wegbe for the second year in a row. For the past three weeks, after opening the day with the Happy Kids Preparatory School Song, the kids have spent time practicing their march. I practiced with the girls for a few days before being told by the headmistress that my form was good enough to join in the competition. I now fall in line every morning next to the oldest girl in the school and march around outside of the school under the direction of Felix who has taken on the role of drill sergeant. The “Sir” or as I call him, Felix, orders us to keep our lines straight as we march, lift our arms shoulder level and mark time loudly with our feet. We spend at least an hour every morning practicing and just added in our “style” or dance that will be added to our salute. The 6th March is no joke and all of the students take it pretty seriously so I wasn’t sure if I would make the final cut until the headmistress let me know that I would need a uniform like the other girls. Tomorrow morning I will be ready to go, in my new green and yellow short sleeve pleated dress. I promise to share some pictures.

Prince and Eric on the
tire swing after school
(they're both in the KG class)

Breaking news... there’s a new teacher at Happy Kids. Around the same time he started, the regular kindergarden teacher disappeared. Because the new teacher was hired to teach my P5/P6 class I was bumped... again. I’m not the most patient person in the world and had a solid routine with the older kids, so I was super bummed about the move down to the outdoor kindergarden class with 17 rambunctious 5 to 8 year olds. Happy Kids starts teaching kids English when they’re still in the nursery, so luckily the kids all know basic English. With the help of one of the nursery instructors I was able to quickly establish some solid behavioral expectations and quickly move into their English. We’ve been working through the alphabet day by day with each day dedicated to one letter. The skill level of the class is greatly varied and some of the kids haven’t really been taught how to write yet so we spend the morning reviewing the sound of the letter and doing different reading or writing activities. If I’m feeling fun, we do some sort of arts and crafts activity or word game focused on the specific letter. This is my third week with the KG 1 & 2 class and while it was definitely a rough transition to make, I’m slowly establishing a new routine.

The move to the kindergarden class means that I’ve taught all but one class at Happy Kids. When the headmistress pointed this out to me I also realized that currently I am the teacher at the school with the most seniority. My 7 weeks at the school is longer than all of the other teachers except for the 2 women in the nursery and the computer teacher (who hasn’t taught in a while because none of the computers work). Two of them are the headmistress’ kids and also live in or right next to the boarding house.

Speaking of teachers, I feel like I should properly introduce all of the Happy Kids staff members.

Frances

Madame Elizabeth is the headmistress at Happy Kids and one of the women who started the school in 1995. While she doesn’t have an education background, she lives in the boarding house with the kids and is basically raising all of them. She is super friendly, but strict. Sister Pat is Madame Elizabeth’s daughter who works in the nursery (or teaches kindergarden when they’re left without a teacher) and handles most of the administrative duties of the school. She’s the voice of reason at Happy Kids, which is great because she’s hilarious and the kids love her. Immanuel is Madame Elizabeth’s son and the ICT (Information Computer Technology) teacher at Happy Kids. They used to have a few nice Dell computers, but they all died recently so Immanuel just fills in for whatever teacher is missing when he’s there. Makafe is the main nursery ‘instructor’, but spends most of her time just watching the 40  2 to 4 year olds in the nursery. She’s 22 and very quiet, but always lets me steal kids from the nursery and is willing to help me figure out how to properly tie the fabric to carry a kid on my back. For the past few weeks I've been heading into the nursery to take one of three kids into my classroom. Mommy, Kofi and Frances are all new to Happy Kids and seem to enjoy getting out of the crowded nursery every once in a while. Frances is only 18 months old and loves sleeping on my back while I’m with the kindergartners.

Mommy

Kofi

Felix is the teacher who was hired to take over my original P3/P4 class. He’s 25 and recently graduated from a teachers college here in Ghana. He’s a trained teacher and knows what he’s doing which is good, but he is quite the character. He’s a bro and the kids think he’s great even though he always seems to be making them run errands for him, canning them with a stick, or embarrassing them in some way. He makes the kids dust off his shoes when they get dirty and his favorite response to a wrong answer or silly outburst is, “Oh, you’re a fool!”. I’ve seen him hit kids with a Bible during Wednesday worship service and his favorite punishment is making kids kneel in the front of the room or in the dirt outside of the school. On Friday, all morning classes were cancelled because he bought a net to setup a new volleyball court at the school. He made the boys trim the grass and clear all of the brush and palm tree leaves out of the way and then made them play in order to “build their physical education”. He sounds horrible, but we get along great and helped me tailor a few English lessons to the small P5/P6 class. I think he’ll be a great source of stability for the school.

David is the newest addition to the Happy Kids team and is now teaching the P5/P6 class. He’s very quiet and pretty much just doing whatever Felix tells him to do for now. 

Due to Independence Day, the school is closed tomorrow and Wednesday, but I’ll probably spend both days with the kids. Tomorrow for the march and Wednesday just hanging out at the boarding house. Friday is my last day at the school and I’m sure that saying goodbye to the kids will be the hardest part about leaving. 

Random Things I’ve Noticed/Learned:

• I wake up early some mornings to walk around the neighborhood and am always surprised at how busy Hohoe is at that time. Everyone seems to have been awake for hours and well along in their daily routine. People are always friendly but usually seem confused as to where or why I’m walking that early. I’ve noticed that the guys on their way to work with machetes tend to be the friendliest and they always wish me a fine morning. 
• I let the kids take turns using my ipod while painting if they were well behaved. It was a great way to keep them from painting all over each other, but they were disappointed to see that I don't have any Beatles songs on my ipod. Their favorite artists seem to be JayZ and Cee-Lo Green.
• Everyone calls each other “Chalie”. It’s like bro or buddy and has slowly made its way into my vocabulary.
• Someone sent a box of toys to the boarding house last week. The toys that the kids are most excited about are the Sing-A-Ma-Jigs that sing weird songs and talk to each other. The young kids are kind of scared of them, the girls think they're strange, but the older boys love them. 
• The best way to add a dramatic effect to any statement in Ewe is to start or end it with ‘oh’ or ‘la’. 
• If someone wants a coconut at the Happy Kids boarding house, one of the boys just climbs a tree and throws one down. I’ve thought about suggesting that someone just throws down a bunch at once to store in the kitchen, but their way just seems to be more fun.

The Sing-A-Ma-Jigs

Atta going up the tree for a coconut