at Lotus Children’s Center, Accra, Ghana
By Benewaa Dadzie and Didi A’nanda Gun’amaya
The journey begins by sharing personal experiences; the children are asked to observe themselves (what makes me angry/happy?). They make an “All about ME” booklet where they draw and decorate themselves, their favorite things, places they like to go, etc. It is a time to start understanding oneself, then gradually move on to the nuclear and extended family; how everyone matters in our community; the appreciation for the different languages of the ethnic groups in our area, etc.
We invite natives to dress up in their traditional style to tell stories in their traditional way (as it is still done in the villages); teach some sentences in their language (some which will be the same mother tongue of some of the pupils); explain about their different festivals and foods, teach their songs and dances and so on. Children are encouraged to ask things which make them curious – that is a big achievement in a society where to speak or even look at the eyes of elders can be viewed as disrespectful.
The children make a mural where they will paste a representative for each of the groups that they study.
Each child gets a space to add the members of her Universal Family
A native explaining about their festival to the children
The “OUR WEALTH” unit
Smart phones brought much open mindedness to our community, some which helped to remove stigmas towards our NHE educational system which includes yoga and vegetarianism. However, the influence of the Western advances quickly disrupts the local Pran’a Dharma, as many people tend to replace their ancient customs with foreign ways, without even pondering which of them is better. Sadly, there are families who do not allow their young to talk in their mother tongue even at home. Recently, a mother of one pupil warned the teacher to speak only in English to her child, refusing to accept our explanation that the mother tongue would help the child to gain confidence. Now and then the mother would complain that the child uses her mother tongue to sing her tribe’s songs at home!
As there are a wide range of ethnical groups in Accra, English is used as the official language to communicate. However, to forbid one to cultivate his/her own language at home is likely to be an expression of the inferiority complex inherited from colonialism (and kept alive by neocolonialism). Thus, to counter act that, it is important to create a feeling of positive identification for one’s roots. Towards that end, we introduced the unit “Our Wealth”, which includes experiencing the local culture – language, music, art – of the various ethnicities present at our school. For each tribe they learn about, they will also learn a traditional dance. In the villages, those are part of the life of people but in big towns like Accra, that knowledge is waning making people alien to their roots. One of our students believed he did not belong to any tribe, and would not respond to any local language. In the process of learning about the festivals, and by participating in the tribal chatting time, he started to be interested and curious to learn his native language (Ga). He already graduated from Lotus, however he continues to practice on his own and nowadays he can speak Ga.
The children get the help of an Atlas to research about the animals and plants and landmarks they should place in the different regions of their map (the teacher reviews and corrects them when necessary). There is also awareness about the natural resources of the land, such as minerals and even medicinal plants. We also tell them some subtle stories which warn about neocolonialism.
The children practicing a new tribal dance
Enjoying traditional food
CHOOSING WHAT YOU WANT TO STUDY
In addition, we develop their sense of decision making by introducing the various themes they can study and letting them select one of them. For example, when introduced to the native grains (using youtube videos) they chose millet as the crop that they would like to explore. This subject is quite important because some grains like Fonio, are on the verge of extinction as most of the population prefers to eat imported Asian rice!
Usually the young children are attracted to colorful objects – they voted the millet by its beauty. The children used their senses to experience the raw kinds of millets and eat dishes made with the cooked one. They learned how to make crafts from different parts of the plant. They identified the places where millet can grow on their map. They also learned about some of the health benefits of millet. Indeed, we started to provide free breakfast in the school as we saw the poor choice of food the children had. We have reintroduced nutritious local dishes. Surprisingly, there was resistance from some parents who insisted that we should feed their kids in the “UK” style, i.e. white bread with tea, instead of the local porridge we serve, which is made of groundnuts, soya, millet, local rice and other nutritious ingredients! Parents accepted this better when they saw the photos of their ward really relishing our local breakfast.
Meditation time
SELF-ANALYSES
To experience one’s real being, meditation the children get more attached to their Divine nature, meditation helps them to see that they are not their weaknesses. However, for those children who are not surrounded by a sentient environment, only meditation may not be enough. So, in order to help to build the pupil’s character, our teachers take opportunities which arise during school time to lovingly guide the children to listen to their inner voice. Once we have explained the concepts of morality regularly to them, we just help the child to connect with the love within and find solutions in difficult situations. Indeed, their heart already knows everything – how to apply those concepts, i.e. how to do good for others and to oneself.
Thus, from the introduction of “Myself” unit henceforth, the educator is alert to raise awareness about how emotions can help or impair one’s character.
DESCRITIVE INQUIRY
