July 12

Today Mr. Frank got us safely to L & A Academy.  I think it is the first time in my many years of

coming that we arrived on time, and it was a pleasant surprise to see that the very rocky and pitted road on the way to the school is being graded.  I had a good long visit with Mr. Kankam, the school staff—who had some excellent suggestions—and several classes.  L & A was again one of our work-horse schools this year, and Mr. Kankam is the first teacher in Ghana I met, some five years ago.

Then it was off to Angel’s Academy, not far as the crow flies, but a bit of time over the crowded and at times rough roads.  Mr. Justice, founder and proprietor Mr. Ernest, and the rest of the staff game me their usual warm welcome, and the students sang me a lovely song and then stood in the hot sun for one of my “short” speeches.  Some of my African friends tell me that I am perhaps becoming a bit too much of an African man inasmuch as my short speeches are not as short as they might be, but the students were either too engaged or too polite to complain.

Then we tried a grand experiment, as the school’s staff had expressed great interest in having an oral-history workshop.  I’ve done this sort of thing at the university level long ago, but not with students ranging from grade four to eight, or in Ghana, but it was a lot of fun.  The students practiced asking each; other open-ended questions, their teachers were extremely helpful in explaining to them more clearly than I could what it was all about, and on Friday we shall get back together to see what they have come up with, as each are going to write a paragraph or so on some aspect of an elder’s life based on their interviews.  I can’t wait.

Tonight I get to catch up with Miss Dorcas, a recent Ashesi University graduate I met two years ago while doing research on that remarkable institution.  She was very active in an organization devoted to helping rural schools in Ghana that were struggling, and I’m excited to hear what good work she has been up to lately and plans to do in the future.

So it’s another day hanging out with passionate idealists.  Sure beats laying around at the beach!