Monday morning I began my volunteer work at Beacon House orphanage, assisting the teacher from 8am-12pm.
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| From Beacon House orphanage |
This was quite an experience to say the least. Considering I’ve never been in a Ghanaian classroom I am unaware of how things are done here, or what is considered the “norm”. Since this orphanage was founded on Christian beliefs they have a Bible teaching every morning, as well as a memory verse they must learn each week. This is the first thing that happens every morning. This particular morning the kids were learning about forgiveness. “For it is when you forgive that you are forgiven”… I felt the teacher explained this concept pretty well but what happened throughout the rest of the morning was a bit confusing to me. What I learned that day is that it is customary for teachers in Ghana to threaten their students with a cane (or stick) if they don’t “act right” or do as they are told. Several times throughout the morning the teacher would shout at the students saying “I will beat you!” while waving her stick in the air. I was horrified! As a side note, I have been doing a study on the Book of James and chapter 3 talks about “taming the tongue” and how teachers have a great responsibility that should not be taken lightly. Their actions should reflect what they teach to others. But the verse that came to my mind immediately was verses 9-10; “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come prise and cursing.” I now understand that it is the norm here in Ghana to hit, or at least threaten students with a stick, but I feel it sends mixed messages to students as they learn about God’s love and forgiveness at the same time they are being hit for punishment. It seems so contradictory. The director of the orphanage said they always like feedback and any suggestions someone might have for the classroom or activities in general, but I’m not sure how to go about approaching this subject, especially if this is something that has been done for generations… The following day I was listening to BBC on the radio and heard a story about three students who died in India because they were so severely beaten by their teacher with a stick. My heart sank. Now I don’t believe for a second that this would ever happen at the orphanage, but it just made me realize how common this is all over the world. I am amazed that school systems and governments would allow this to happen. It’s so heartbreaking to me.
The class is taught from 8am-12pm so the teacher only has a limited amount of time with the students each day. She is also trying to teach ages 3-13 all in one classroom. I find that this can be challenging since some students are more advanced than others. At 10:30am the children are separated in two groups, the younger and the older. This gives the teacher an opportunity to focus on more advanced exercises with the older kids, and more beginner level exercises with the younger kids. Even with this division of classes you still see some students that are more advanced than others. There is one girl, Rebeca (7 years old) who lived in the US for a year with her future adoptive parents and during this time she started First Grade. She just recently came back to Beacon House and will have to be here until the adoption papers are finalized, but I see how she sits in the classroom almost bored to tears. She is way more advanced than the other kids and since she is being held back from advancing, I’m afraid she will be behind in school when she goes back to the US.
So I’ll end here with a funny story…
My first day at the orphanage I was playing with the younger ones outside. We were all sitting on the front porch and one of the girls who was about 7 or 8 years old came up to me. The first thing she said was “can I plant your head?”. I was puzzled… my response was “do you mean play with my hair?” She repeated, “No. I want to plant your head.” I started laughing and asked how she was going to “plant my head” because usually only trees, flowers and produce were planted, not a person’s head. She tried to gently explain to me that planting someones head means to make cornrows or braids. I started laughing even harder! I had NO IDEA that this was called “planting”. I guess you learn something new everyday! 
October 14: After this posting my friend Shannon told me that it is actually called “plating”, not “planting”. Thanks for the clarification!
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