Notes from Africa - Marlene Barron

Going to churches

2008-04-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

What does one do on Sunday? One goes to church.

I went to Isabella's church, Church of England.

I went to Father Anyomi's Catholic church. I even got introduced and talked for a few moments about the importance of education.

Monkey see, monkey do

2008-04-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

We traveled to the gold coast and visited Elmina Castle and Kakum Park. The rope bridges in the park were very scary! Elmina Castle was sobering.

I feed the monkeys in the monkey reserve.

Being a tourist

2008-04-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

There is no tourist industry... just a few places to visit.

I bought some pottery from Fesi Shed, a woman's cooperative. Theresa and I visited Wli Falls.

Yes, they are doing the wash in the stream that flows from the falls.

KPONDO... the market

2008-04-16T12:58:00.001-07:00

KPONDO MARKET

All clothing, towels, sheets are clean, but used.

Fish is dried. Most stews contain pounded dried fish, which has a distinctive taste... and which I did not enjoy.

Vegetables are very fresh.

Everything is carried on the head, which leaves the hands free.

Did I mention that it was HOT, HOT, HOT??

what did I learn?

2008-04-16T12:46:00.001-07:00

I learned how to find resources when none exist.

We had newspaper, we had glue sticks, we had scissors. We could make collages.

We had jigsaw puzzles. These teachers had never done a jigsaw puzzle before.

We had some plastic donated garages, lego-type materials, stuffed animals. We could build with these materials. We could play with these materials, dramatic play. We could share our stories, and we could become a community of story-tellers.

We had some Montessori materials. We could match and seriate these materials. We even had a set of 3-part cards!

We had some finger puppets that I had bought with my daughter, Leslie, in a market in Mexico. We could dramatize some stories.

There are NO TRAYS available in Kpondo... but there are plastic baggies. I considered substituting these baggies for trays. This would keep the dust and sand off the materials.

Did I mention that dust and sand was blowing everywhere, particularly before the rains.

the rains came...

2008-04-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

The winds came, the rains followed AND there are no windows.

So we huddled together in a corner of the room.

We need to get louvers or shutters or SOMETHING in this school! There are bars on the windows.

The last picture shows the outhouse and the urinals in the rain.

Photos of Donum Dei's children

2008-04-16T12:36:00.001-07:00

School was closed during my workshops ... it was their Easter break.

PHOTOS: Saying the pledge before school,

the 3-6 class,

the 2 year olds,

nap time, and

crammed in the school bus.

Classroom photos

2008-04-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more photos. The first picture is of another school. The second picture is of a typical outhouse at a school. The third picture is of the classroom of one of the participants in the workshop series.

The last 2 pictures are of the children in Donum Dei. The 3-6 class and the 2 year olds.

Your observations are correct. There are no supplies!

Visiting the classrooms of our participants

2008-04-16T12:20:00.001-07:00

There are no resources in these classrooms.

No paper, no crayons, no puzzles, no books, NOTHING... The only supply provided to the schools is CHALK. The blackboards are covered with charcoal.

West Side Montessori School donated full sets of used materials; Samantha Youle Trice from Hamilton Park Montessori School in NJ donated new maps. Brick Church School [thanks to Lydia Spinelli] donated scissors and glue sticks. In fact she donated so many of these items that we could give some to each teacher for their classrooms. Also, some churches in the U.S. had donated books and crayons.

The second picture is of a classroom without walls. Just imagine when it rains and the winds blow.

The final picture is nap time. It is HOT, HOT, HOT ... and everyone takes a nap.

WORKSHOP ... our participants and their work

2008-04-16T12:09:00.001-07:00

We worked with some sensorial materials [donated by West Side Montessori School, New York City].

The participants, for the first time in their lives, worked with puzzles and a lotto activity, created a collage using nature, and seriated the sensorial materials. At first they struggled with these materials... But soon they got into them ... and our workshops, which were due to end at 3pm, often continued to 4:30pm.

These adults were using these materials for the first time. They had never done puzzles, or built with blocks, or made patterns with materials. The workshops gave them opportunities to use these materials.

Discussion of theory was not relevant.

Day 1 of workshop series, March 25

2008-04-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

The SCHOOL, its outhouse, and Father Anyomi and Marlene standing in a classroom. Only the first floor of the school has been built. It is not finished as the floors are rough concrete and there are no windows or electricity or water [you'll hear me saying this over and over].

We began at 9am with 10 adults, by noon we had 15 adults and one infant. They were all teachers in early childhood classes in Kpondo. They had been invited by Father. This group regularly attended the workshops.

There is no electricity, no water, no windows, and no resources at the school... except the few items which had been donated.

I soon discovered that the teachers, themselves, had minimum educational experiences. I would consider their educational levels the equivalent of middle school students in the U.S. Two teachers had attended a Teachers Normal School, which was on the community college level.

I had to rethink everything. Forget theory, forget BIG IDEAS. I had to give these teachers experiences, lots of experiences!

In the late afternoon Father and I went to the lumber yard to get an estimate on building shelf units. For $580 in U.S. dollars, we could get 20 three-foot units built.

We then went to a shop to buy material to make a loose fitting dress... which I wore daily at Isabella's home!! It was HOT HOT HOT.

Ghana Day 1

2008-04-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

Debola Atoyebi came with me to Kpondo. First we exchanged money, bought bottles of water [for me], got gas, and exchanged money again.

The trip took 2 1/2 hours. It was HOT HOT HOT. We arrived at the church and their was a wedding being conducted by Father Apollinaris Anyomi, my host.

After a bit of confusion, and with Father conducting the wedding, we went to Isabella Paku's home. The middle picture is of Isabella in front of her home. She is very proud of her plants and flowers.

Isabella's home is large and filled with boxes ... her adult sons' books and childhood stuff.

Father showed up with Theresa [school principal] about 2 pm. When we discovered that Isabella had no extension cord for the fan for my room, Father drove home to get one. Thank you father!! It was HOT HOT HOT.

Oh, did I mention that there is NO air-conditioning in Kpando...

We went to see the school, Donum Dei. The first picture is of Debola, Theresa, and me [in the middle],

The picture on the right is of Theresa and Isabella in their Sunday church dresses. They are standing in front of Isabella's home. Please admire the flowers and plants. They were collected by Isabella during her travels in Africa.

Easter Sunday and an uneventful flight to Accra

2008-04-16T11:38:00.001-07:00

Where would a nice Jewish girl spend Easter Sunday? In church of course.

Nigerian women wear gorgeous head pieces. The middle picture is of the choir.

I met Debola's children who were home from school in the U.K. I spent the afternoon at their house in Lagos munching on fried banana chips.

We got to the airport in time.... flew to Accra, Ghana .... spent the night in Debola's home (see photo above). Of course, we went for Chinese food for dinner.

In the morning, Monday morning, I took my last hot shower for two weeks.

March 21-22 workshops plus a glass of wine

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Over 55 participants attended the 2 days of workshops in Lagos. They were open to ideas, participatory, and lots of fun. The hotel had a computer technician who made sure that the technology worked. The youtube video, Did you know III, was a hit.

I had my first glass of wine the first evening... boy, that tasted good. I also got on the hotel's lobby computer and went through my emails.

Two days of workshops in Abuja

2008-04-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

About 25 people attended the workshops in Abuja. Some were Montessori teachers, some were government officials, some were school heads. All were interested in Montessori education.

On the evening of the second day we again raced to the airport... and made the plane... because it was late.

Back in Lagos, we met with traffic traffic traffic. I had dinner and collapsed in bed.

Oh, who needs wheels on their luggage..... as my mom used to say, "Just use your head."

March 16 Traveling to Abuja

2008-04-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

March 15 was a 'work on my presentation' day.

On the 16th I visited Debola's church and the Montessori school that she had built for the church.

We dashed to the airport for the 4:30pm plane, but because of traffic we missed the flight and ended up taking the 6:30pm plant to Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.

Discovery House school photos

2008-04-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

These photos are from Discovery House. The Head of the school, Bola Kalejanje, is standing next to me. Debola is on the far right.

Visiting Montessori Schools

2008-04-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

On March 14, I visited ..

Bluebells Montessori School, Lorraine Murray-Bruce was the Director.

Absorbent Mind Montessori School, Alero Ayo-Kasunmu, Director.

Greenspring School, this is a CITA accredited school with over 1,000 students in 2 sites. Howard Bullock, Head of School, gave us an extensive tour of the early childhood division. The school was founded as a Montessori school, and the early childhood division remains Montessori.... although it has drifted a bit.... and now has single age groups.

HMS Montessori Centre has a special program that works with 6 autistic children.

Discovery House, in Lekki Estates, Bola Kalejanje is the Head. She is the Montessori teacher with NCME and AMS credentials. She currently is doing a self-directed internship for the 6-9 course [Houston]. See next entry for the pictures.

Day 2 in Lagos, March 13

2008-04-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

Classrooms in Heritage House Montessori School

Playground

AMEN meeting

After a breakfast of yogurt, cereal, freshly squeezed orange juice, and coffee, I went to Debola's school, Heritage House Montessori School ... which was across the street from her center. I felt the impact of the British culture in this school ... and in other schools too.

I also discovered the impact of instability in the delivery of electricity which results in the use of generators... very, very noisy generators. Even the cushioned generators sound like jet engines.

About 2:30pm we went to the AMEN meeting, Association of Montessori Education in Nigeria. I spoke about Montessori education -- 100 years and continuing. I met a teacher who had both infant toddler credentials from NCME [Myle Vo] and AMS early childhood credentials from Houston [Betsy Coe]. The photos of her school, Discovery House, are in another blog entry.

I had a Chinese dinner with Debola and her husband, Fermi. Joining us was a lawyer and his wife [Seyi & Ifueko Thonkis] from Fermi's law firm. The firm specializes in maritime law.

I'm in Nigeria!! WOW!!

2008-03-13T08:44:00.001-07:00

After a long, long flight [11+ hours], I arrived, and slipped easily through customs.

At the baggage area I was met by 2 men in military uniforms. They had my name on a sign... so I gulped and went with them. They handled my luggage and walked me outside. I was met and hugged by Debola Atoyebi, my host. We went into her SUV and into traffic. I'm in Lagos, Nigeria. Wow!!

At the Protea Hotel I unpacked and gave Debola materials... all the extra weight that I had carried... I gave her 100+ copies of the WIRELESS [West Side Montessori School's magazine] to distribute to workshop participants.

She wanted me to rest, but I wanted to see her center [or should I say centre], her school.... I could rest that evening... I was wired!!

Off we went to the Heritage House Montessori Centre where I met her staff and faculty -- Blessing Aburime, Ebi Esiri, Stephen Obadjere, Ronke Okonrende, Tosin Awoleru, and Joy Ajima. I also toured her facilities. There were lecture rooms, a Nienhuis showroom, and offices.

Debola, Ebi, and I went back to the hotel for a late lunch ... it was now 4pm. I had Pepper Soup [very very very peppery!] and a pasta.

I was in bed by 7pm and after waking up a few times, I slept through to 7am.