Ghana Memories: Riding The Bus!

By Mike Allison

One of my main motivations for traveling to Ghana this past week was to show the people of this area we remain committed to the success of  Semanhyiya American School. More than one parent came up to Barb and me in the weeks leading up to the school opening in September to tell us to stay involved so that the school did not fail. A perception exists in Ghana that if you leave a school to be run by the locals, it will not succeed. Perception is reality, so even though we have an amazing team of administrators and teachers doing incredible work, seeing one of our co-founders at school and in the community sends a very important message. Riding the bus for morning pickup seemed like a perfect way to help accomplish this goal.

With roosters acting as my alarm clock, I woke up at 4:30 am giving me plenty of time to get ready for our 6:00 am departure. Monday morning I rode the yellow bus, the larger of our “fleet” of two. I was joined by Grade 1 teacher, Sylvia, and one of our coaches, Attah, for the ride through Kato, Berekum and finally Senase. Each bus has two adults in addition to the driver to help maintain order and receive each child as the bus arrives and to collect their money for breakfast.

I sat up front to be able to greet the children and parents at each stop. As the you can see from the photos, many of the children wanted to sit near, next to, or on me! Once we had ten or so on board it was time for singing. Imagine my surprise when Sylvia led the group in the Twelve Days of Christmas! I joined in and quickly learned that I need some work on how many maids a milking, pipers piping and geese a laying there are! The kids loved this and the other songs they sang, making the long ride to school (almost an hour for a few) fly by. Parents smiled and greeted me at each stop making my decision to wake up early after my long journey most rewarding, not to mention I will rock the “Twelve Days” next Christmas!