Tuition

Right now the school is open for the third and fourth years. It's the
final push for the fourth years and an opportunity for catch up for
the third years. The sessions are theoretically mandatory, but since
several students cannot afford their school fees, they are not allowed
to attend the lessons. The program is called remedial tuition; I agree
with the remedy part, although this is not exactly what I think of
when I hear tutoring. Also, some of the staff are not coming back for
this, which is increasing my workload more so. (I've even started to
describe it as being hosed again, since I feel as overworked as I did
in university.) Still, things are much more flexible right now, so I'm
trying to use that to my advantage.

I finally decided to give a lesson about the birds and the bees to my
students. I made it completely optional and only vaguely defined the
subject matter. Four girls came, so I started talking for a bit until
they felt comfortable and the questions started flowing. "Is it true
that you can't get pregnant if you have sex with an uncircumcised
man?" "How many types of virginity are there?" "I heard that if a man
doesn't shave his pubic hair, it will give the woman cancer." The
small group made the students feel more comfortable about asking
questions, but I hope that this information will spread to more
students.

Also, last night I went to the nearby restaurant and taught the cook
there how to make peanut soup (Ghanaian style). He really liked it,
and is considering putting it on the menu. I'm hoping to encourage him
to plant some peanuts, since I think they'd do well in this area.
(Don't I always have an ulterior motive?) I've been told variously
that the crops are threatened by the goats, squirrels or rats in the
area. Sounds like I need to learn a bit more about fences now.