This Story's Lens:: Me - My Role in Helekpe
I was fortunate enough to be granted the wonderful opportunity to travel to Helekpe, Ghana, through the Notre Dame Center for Social Concerns' (CSC) program, the International Summer Service Learning Program (ISSLP). This program sends students to sites all over the world for 8-10 weeks of service. Sites range in focuses from health care, to education, all the way to microfinancing.
One of the strengths of the ISSLP is the immense support provided throughout the whole process. Of most importance to me and my experience was having a site partner that was with me through the whole processes. I was extremely lucky and had the most amazing site partner I could have ever asked for - Andrew. An economics major also from Notre Dame, Andrew presented a different set of skills than me (as an Environmental Science and Peace Studies major) which gave us a great balance and ability to tackle a variety of projects. Andrew was an incredible source of support and stability before departure, while navigating a new culture in Ghana, and upon our return as I've dealt with reverse culture shock/Helekpe-withdrawal. My experience would not have been what it was without him -- thank you so much, Andrew!
Andrew and I went into the ISSLP knowing that we would have two main roles in the village: teaching at the local secondary school and working with a local education focused NGO, Adaklu Youth Education Committee (AYEC). We quickly realized, however, that we had a very large "unofficial" third role -- jungle gym/reader/giver-of-math-problems/tickler/general-entertainer to a large group of kids from the village that would come hang out on our porch every afternoon and evening. Below I've given a bit more detail on these three roles that comprised most of my time in Helekpe.
TeachingAndrew and I both taught at the local secondary school, Adaklu Senior High Technical. While Andrew taught Economics, I taught level one and level two physics to two different classes.
My level one class had 9 students in it (7 of whom actually showed up semi regularly), and my level two class only had three students in it. For each class, I taught two class periods a week, which were one and a half hours each. Originally the headmaster planned on having me teach English, despite them already having an English teacher in the school. However, upon discovering that I was a science student and had taken Physics, the headmaster excitedly switched me to Physics. Physics had been taught by an assortment of teachers filling in, as the actual Physics teacher went on vacation last year, and then never returned. In my level one class, we covered some basic math, such as how to find the volume and surface area of different objects. The closest we came to studying actual physics was when we studied pressure and Pascal's Principle. My level two class was quite a bit further along, and we covered a variety of physics topics traditionally covered in a typical physics I class. We covered a range of topics from projectile motion to inclined planes. |
A.Y.E.C.The organization that Andrew and I volunteered through is called AYEC (Adaklu Youth Education Committee). Started in conjunction with a Peace Corps volunteer in 2000, the committee has five core members who all live in Helekpe.
AYEC works to create opportunities for kids of the Adaklu region to obtain an education. They work towards this goal with two main initiatives: the Orphan Fund and the Scholarship Fund. Orphan Fund: The Orphan Fund was the original endeavor of AYEC. As four of the five members of the committee are tailors by profession, AYEC chose to tackle children's lack of uniforms. After surveying the villages surrounding Adaklu Mountain, over 400 children with one or both parents missing were identified. AYEC secured funding to purchase the material for junior secondary school and primary school students' uniforms, and then made over 400 uniforms for the orphans, allowing them to attend school. Scholarship Fund: The Scholarship Fund aims to help the "bright but needy" students from nearby junior secondary schools by providing them with a scholarship to attend secondary school. Currently, AYEC has ten students on scholarships. During the summer, Andrew and I each worked on specific projects. We met with AYEC twice a week to discuss our goals for the summer, as well as update the committee on our progress as we worked on the projects. Together we updated the volunteer handbook, as well as the five year plan and budget. We also updated the volunteer fees, which are the main source of funding for AYEC, and have not been updated since the price of food as increased significantly. While Andrew created and put together a budget book, I worked on updating their website with new information on the scholarship students, the committee, volunteer information as well as new photographs. For more information (and to see our hard work in its fruition), visit AYEC's website: http://www.ayecghana.org |
KidsWhen Andrew and I weren't at class or meeting with AYEC, it was a pretty safe bet that we would be surrounded by kids from the village. We quickly realized that this would be an unexpectedly large (and wonderful) part of our day.
When the kids weren't at school, you might find us at the football parks playing some pick up games, working on some math problems with the kids, practicing some English, helping them with their homework, going to the farm with them, or maybe learning the Ghanaian National Anthem. While I wasn't anticipating the extent that the children in the village would impact my experience, the relationships I formed with so many kids are my proudest accomplishment. I miss them so much, and hope to further explore what keeps the kids that I fell in love with from obtaining their education. |