June 27

Monday was a very full day, as we visited five (yes, five!) schools in and around Sampa.

Mr. Brew and his crew put on an extravagant program at Nipaba Brew School.  The staff and students (more than 500) were outfitted in Yo Ghana! school shirts and gathered for a program that featured a sound system and microphone and then a wonderful performance from the school’s dance team.  We could also see the school’s program of expansion, with a second Junior High School building nearing completion, as the school will be offering a full JHS program by September 2017.  If you are ever in Sampa, you absolutely must visit this school, and the hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Brew is unmatched.  They always take such good care of us.

We then had the pleasure of speaking to and meeting with St. Ann’s Senior High School’s students.  This is a very new all-girls’ high school that expects a total of about eighty students in the fall.  Mother Mary, a nun from India, is the headmistress of the school, and despite limited resources the students are very keen and the staff very dedicated.  We met with this school last September, and we are delighted that they are now part of the Yo Ghana! team and will be writing letters to their friends at St. Mary’s High School in Portland, also an all-girls Catholic school.

Then Mr. Albert and the rest of the staff at Morle Junior High School hosted us.  Mr. Essan Weah, who has visited many Oregon schools for Yo Ghana!, was some years ago the headmaster of this school, and its students write excellent and vivid letters.  Though their numbers are small, they are sending four students to the Winneba Conference.

We closed the afternoon by visiting two prospective Yo Ghana! schools, a young Presbyterian primary school and a Catholic junior high school, both public schools.  Like other countries, Ghana is a place of contrasts.  Many of its schools feature ample and modern libraries, computer and scientific laboratories.  Most rural schools feature students crowded into classrooms that are often open to the elements with teachers who rely on the sun for light and principally on chalk for instruction.  What most of these diverse schools have in common are teachers and students who are exceptionally welcoming to strangers dedicated to learning, and our visits to all five schools left us impressed and inspired.