Back to Tamale!

On May 22 I boarded the plane from JFK to Accra for the third time! I could not wait to return to Tamale yet again! When I arrived two days later I was greeted by many familiar faces happy to welcome me back into Tamale. After a few days of settling in and calling on various chiefs I began work both at Lameshegu Primary School and with Sister Cities.

My first day at Lameshegu I began in the Primary 1 class, which is complied of mainly six year olds. Though I had been told I could immediately start teaching I opted to observe so I could see how classes here were taught. As expected, it is very different than your typical American first grade class. Firstly, there are about 90 children in a small classroom with one teacher, obviously making any kind of instruction fairly difficult. However, the students were well behaved and the teacher did a good job controlling them, at least for awhile. After teaching one lesson and assigning an exercise the teacher left for about 10 minutes. She later returned with her one year old daughter, who she promptly started breast feeding in the middle of the class. After this point no more teaching was accomplished. For the rest of the class the children sat impatiently in their crowded desks anxiously awaiting break, while the teacher graded their exercises, all 90 of them.

After being at the school for a few days I have noticed that this is very common. Teaching is done for a few minutes at the beginning of class, an exercise is assigned and then graded one by one while the students sit there with no further instruction. I have already learned so much about the school system and can't wait to learn more. Tomorrow I will begin teaching english at the first grade level and will progress up to the sixth grade by the end of my time in Tamale!

The British are Coming

By Joanne Lloyd-Triplett
Over the past two months I have met more Brits than the whole 5 and half years that I have been in Louisville and it's all thanks to GLIP: Greater Louisville International Professionals. Through years of working and volunteering in the International Community I know many immigrants from dozens of countries, many have their own groups, associations and support networks, some even their own festivals. As far as Brits though, in 4 years I had met only one. It seems that we are hard to find; I happened to find them down the Pub - it figures.

I volunteer as the United Kingdom Ambassador for GLIP and last month through GLIP, myself and one other Mancunian (that's someone from Manchester) organized the first 'Brits Night Out' in an effort to find our fellow countrymen and women, and out of the woodwork they came. We had roughly 11 Brits that had never before met and last night at the second 'Night Out' even more new Brits showed up, plus 2 Australians and several Americans. I can't possibly explain in words the emotions of finally finding people from your home country after years of trying to 'fit in' to a new culture. No matter how well adapted and content you become in a new environment there will still always be a part of you that enjoys the comfort of the familiar; the need to 'breath out' after 'sucking it in'. To talk to someone with your own accent, to know that they too sometimes can't remember which is the British or the American term anymore - do we say courgette or zuchinni? Someone who can relate to the experiences and challenges you have also faced, to recall things from home and reminisce together. In the same way that a certain scent or taste can have the power to immediately trasport you back to a vivid memory; talking with my new British friends last night made me feel like I was back home, at a pub in Manchester - just for a moment. It fulfilled a craving I didnt even realize I had and I intend to get my fix every month at Brits Night Out.

• Join us on June 12th for the USA V. England World Cup Match at Molly Malone's on Baxter Ave.


• For the next Night Out keep an eye on the GLIP website or Sister Cities of Louisville Events Page.

My Vote My Voice

By Joanne Lloyd-Triplett
Today I exercised my right to vote for the first time since becoming a citizen. It had never really occurred to me previously that my voice wasn’t being heard; after all does one vote really make a difference? Well now that I think about it, yes! And certainly in Louisville where we have a huge international population for a city of our size and it continues to grow at an astonishing pace. I can’t help wondering how many of my fellow immigrants don’t have a voice either. Never has the phrase ‘No Vote No Voice’ meant as much as it did when I filled in my voting slip this morning. There is a big difference between not having a voice and not exercising it, perhaps the lesson here is that you treasure something more if you’ve gone through a difficult process to get it – I waited 5 years for my voice and I intend to make it heard.
As the local Chamber of Commerce steps things up to attract educated immigrants to Louisville through it’s ‘Greater Louisville International Professionals’ arm I am excited at the prospect of true international representation at the polling stations, after all this is ‘Possibility City’!