KASS +Ashanti Nation Tour
(FRI 3/10)
We left our hotel for KASS (Kumasi Anglican Senior High School) early for a 7 a.m. presentation to 3rd year science students (their seniors). It was a great honor to share with these students. We were able to use one of the science labs and our host teacher made special arrangements for a projector and screen to be brought in and we met in a science lab. Even in this prestigious school, teaching with a projector not the norm.
There were about 60 students in the class. I shared images of my family, life in Lawrence, projects from my classroom, scenes around LHS, etc., I even taught them the Rock Chalk Jayhawk chant! The students were intrigued and curious. I found out later that the students thought it was really weird for me to share pics of my cats! Now they know about me... 😹 Chidi passed around an iPad with some videos from his students and also taught an inquiry lesson about recycling, which required some group work. Our host teacher, Sir Ray, does use a variety of teaching strategies, but the traditional Ghanaian lessons consist of a great deal of copying notes from the board, memorizing the notes, and practicing recitation of that material. The students clearly enjoyed working together on this inquiry-based activity!
We followed the students to the cafeteria at 9 a.m. for breakfast. I was amazed at the how many students there were filling the dining hall. There are 5000 enrolled at the school, but only about 3000 on campus right now since the second year students are on break. Their daily breakfast is a cup of Tom Brown, which is a type of hot porridge made from soy milk and corn meal blended together. Each pitcher served six students.
We also stopped by to check out the school cafeteria which looked a lot different than our LHS cafeteria. The food looked delicious though! They were cooking up the famous jollof rice.
Next we took a taxi to the Manhyia Palace Museum. Kumasi is the center of the the Ashanti region, which is home to the Asante people. Asanti means “because of war,” and this group is known as one the sub-Saharan groups that fought back against the British colonists. Even the Asante women were also known as fierce warriors.
The current king resides on the palace grounds and holds great power, even though there is also an elected president. The golden stool, which is a symbol of royalty, also resides in the palace. Each village in the Ashanti region also has a chief who is a local royal and rules over a local court.
Our next stop was the Central Market, also known as the Kejetia Market. It is the largest open air market in West Africa, with an estimated 11,000 stalls. When we were approaching the market, the street was crowded shoulder to shoulder with people and also cars and motorcycle taxis called okadas. I actually had to watch that my feet would not be run over. In the thickest of market traffic, I did not feel safe to pull out my phone, partially because of the threat of pickpockets, partially because I knew I needed to watch every step. But we did stop a few times when it was a little more open to take a few photos.
We found a nice restaurant for some lunch and then continued on to the Okomfo Anokye Sword Site. This historic location is right in the center of a large hospital campus, which seemed weird to me at first, but I understood later. A small shelter houses an “immovable” sword that was driven into the ground in the 17th century during the birth of the Ashanti state. The famous golden stool ascended from the heavens and landed at the lap of an Asante high priest, who was named the ruler of the nation. When this happened it was predicted that this would be a site of healing, and thus, one of the largest hospitals in the country is built around the sword site.
Fun fact--apparently the famous American boxer, Muhammed Ali, tried to pull the sword out in 1964 and failed. You can see below that Chidi and I are sitting on wooden replicas of the almighty golden stool! Also notice the painting showing the stool falling from the heavens.
