Over dinner last Sunday my friend Theis mentioned that he had been charged with orchestrating "Ghana week" along with two other teachers at the school where he works. I'm unsure of how often "theme week" happens but apparently it's a common thing in Danish schools. For a week kids are mixed up with all age groups together and study a given theme - Theis' school is doing countries, so off they go to Ghana. The two teachers Theis was working with seemed like perfectly great middle-aged ladies but they know precious little about Africa, let alone Ghana. Since Theis lived in Liberia for six months he is essentially the Ghana expert of the group. While he was telling me all this I realized that I actually know a Ghanian living in Copenhagen - from my masters program!
My classmate from Ghana, Festus, agreed to come in today and talk a bit about Ghana and his personal experience growing up there. He was extremely enthusiastic to be sharing about his home, which he hasn't been able to visit in quite a while because of the cost. I came along to support him but also to learn more about him and see a real live Danish primary/secondary school. The biggest differences I noticed had more to do with the fact that the school is in the middle of a city but I went to school in areas with plenty of space and land so nothing was more than one story and the play yards were huge. After the presentation one of the teachers came up to me saying, "I know you're from the US so I hope they are disciplined enough! I know it's different here but it's a special week, project week and we aren't as controlled here - I don't know, was it ok?" Of course I assured her the kids were great - and they were! the little ones squirmed - they're children - but they were all invested in what he was saying, asked specific questions and wanted to hang out with him afterwards.
I learned a great deal about Festus. There's something so raw about the way we tell stories to children - he very bluntly told us that he grew up in poverty becase his father died when he was seven. He is one of eight children and worked hard as a child selling yarn that his mother made to help send himself and his siblings to school. He had a great way of talking about very serious things like children working for their parents - or being forced to work in slavery but keeping it approachable and not-too-overwhelming for kids. Theis was translating the whole thing, which was fun for me to listen along to - I could understand almost all of it since he was speaking clearly and for children. I learned afterwards that Festus has worked in a middle school before. It really showed - he was an amazing story teller and clearly thrived being around kids.
Partway into Festus' talk a fidgety lil guy in front raised his hand and asked a question in way too squeaky a voice for me to understand. I did get, however, that he was pointing to his nose and looking at Festus inquisitively. Theis' translation to Festus was something along the lines of, "Matias here has just noticed that your nose is bigger than his and he's wondering why that is. I told him that it's very normal for some people to be taller, others shorter, some have black hair, some blond....etc" Fetus was so cute about it. He was clearly amused and told Matias that everyone from Ghana is black like he is and lots of people in Africa have bigger noses than in Denmark. I loved it - such an honest, uninhibited little question and open, kind response. Some other priceless questions:
Tech-interested Child: Do you have a cell phone?
Festus: Yes, and research shows there are more cell phones per capita in Somalia than anywhere else in the world!
Tech-interested Child: What kind of cell phone? (later) Can I see your cell phone?
Education-equality minded Child: Is school difficult in Ghana? (Festus has talked about how he had to save money to go to school and it was challenging)
Education-equality minded Child: Why is it that you have to pay for school? How much do you have to pay for school?
Then my two favorites... Festus talked about the uniquely peaceful relations between religious and ethnic groups in Ghana. There are about 69 percent Christians, 14 percent Muslims and the rest traditional paganists. The Christians and Muslims invite each other along to their religious celebrations and both Christians and Muslims have national holidays. One little guy in front who had been a bit distracted throughout the talk got very interested and asked a question that, again, was too high-pitched for me to understand. Theis explained that he said that he is an Arab and he wonders if anyone celebrates Ramadan in Ghana like he does. He looked so fascinated listening to Festus talk about Ramadan in Ghana! Four kids in the class said they had celebrated Ramadan before when Theis asked for a show of hands. It was pretty entertaining for me to watch this whole interaction unfold just knowing Theis' political persuasions and support for multiculturalism - we were both lovin' it. The other favorite moment was an older girl - maybe 11 who asked where in Ghana Festus is from... it turns out her dad is from Ghana and her mom is from Denmark. From the sounds of it her family "acts Danish" in the sense that she doesn't speak any Ghanian language and it isn't as constant a part of her cultural life as Danish things are. She was a bit shy and hesitant talking to him but clearly entranced and so thrilled to meet someone else with Ghanian background.
Afterwards we toured around the school a bit and went out on the play ground. Festus saw a kid who clearly had West African background and shook his hand, asking him where he is from (in Danish). He was about 5 and either didn't get what Festus was trying to ask or didn't want to, saying simply, "I come from Denmark". Festus pushed further, asking where his dad and than mom is from (Guinea and Ghana respectively). It made me instinctively uncomfortable to watch the exchange because I would never ever ask a similar question myself in the US and just from knowing about the barriers to joining society that second generation Danes face. Of course coming from Festus it was a genuine attempt to connect and celebrate commonality. He also asked another little girl if she was from Ethiopia or Somalia and when she said Palestine he wasn't satisfied, insisting she was too dark. I tried to head off the conversation as he continued to ask her where her parents were really from. Luckily the bell was ringing and the kids dispersing. She's darker than we might expect a Palestinian girl to be but there's such a high potential to psychologically damage kids if you tell them they can't be from where they're from. Again, the big take away for me was that I'm used to an extremely different way of approaching race and color than what was happening there. Festus was coming from a place of simple curiosity and engagement and I learned a lot from observing his perspective on the interaction.
Throughout the visit I pondered ways in which Festus and I interact with Denmark and Copenhagen differently. Of course I could have said before that average Danes are more likely to assume I "belong" until I prove otherwise when I open my mouth to speak whereas they might assume he is a new immigrant until proven otherwise. He has certainly made a solid attempt to learn Danish but he also doesn't seem nearly as keen on fitting in as I am. That could have just as much to do with the fact that I fell for Denmark before I found my study program but it also must relate to the ways we're perceived and thereby experience the place.
All in all it was a fascinating and heartwarming visit! I miss being around kids, so that in itself was fun for me. I'm going to redouble my efforts in finding some kids who have parents that will pay for me to teach them English.
