Tales from Ghana 2010: The Village Part 2
By Maire Tejani, Founder and CEO of Yaarah Schools
Alex the local councillor introduced us as customs demand, as the new people in villege to the senior chief and his elders in the first week.
This senior chief governs more than 30 villages in the local area including Aziedukope. At the project site, work started with the foundations of the 3 new classrooms. We also learnt that whenever there was a funeral in a village, the villagers and the neighbouring villages are very reluctant to do work.
This is the culture in this part of the country. Everything except the preparation for the funeral will be at stand still for at least a week. Unfortunately for us within the 2 weeks that we were there, there were 4 funerals! We actually managed to do some work by bringing additional workers from other villages and Accra to help withthe project work. This helped accelerate the progress of the work and the additional hands were wonderful. Read more >>
Respect….!
The theme for this month is Respect and its importance in all that we do. The project in Ghana has brought together two completely different styles of working together. The more relaxed style of the villagers of Aziedukope and the more structured way of working that we have here in the UK. As Yaarah Schools is working in partnership with the villagers to build solid structures it is important that we respect their culture and way of working whilst introducing them to new ideas that could enhance them.
My first trip to Adaklu Aziedukope Primary (part 2)
With the materials now available and the men of the village and some from neighbouring villages ready to start work we began by mapping out where exactly the school would be located. With that decision out the way and class locations marked out, digging for the foundations begun. Although when it came to the work we had to keep encouraging them to actually work and stop chatting away about life. They seemed to have the attitude that ‘when it gets done it gets done so let’s not rush things’, therefore leaving the few dedicated individuals to do all the work until they were ready to chip in. We had to stop the work and speak to them about the importance of teamwork and cooperation and the pace picked up dramatically! Read more >>
