Days at the Cocoa Research Institute

It’s now Saturday and we’ve had a brilliant few days with Dr Isaac and his friends at the Cocoa Research Institute (CRIG).

On our first day we had breakfast in the restaurant at 7am which really wasn’t to our taste so we hurried through it and started our tour of the institute. First we saw the coffee beans, cocoa pods and beans. The beans go through a drying process. The moisture is used as a by-product, while the beans are divided into good and bad. The sub-standard ones and moisture are used for cosmetics, alcohol and jam.

The Cocoa Research Institute is a massive complex which was built in colonial times and still operates in much the same way as it did in the past. It exists to carry out research on cocoa plants to reduce disease and find the best varieties, as well as to create other products. 1000 people are employed there and there is a clear hierarchy of scientists, catering staff, security staff and drivers. Scientists are at the top of the pile.

We were treated exceptionally well and assigned a driver named Kwasi, as well as various hosts to look after our needs. After we had toured the institute our host for the day – a PR man named Richard – came over to take us to Dr Isaac’s wife’s school, The Royal Ascot Montessori School, which is on the CRIG site.

This is a private school owned by Gertrude who is the ‘proprietor’. She has a governing body and employs a headteacher and the teachers. We found it difficult to work out the difference between Gertrude’s job and the headteacher’s job, but in the end we decided she probably does the finance & admin, while he concentrates on the curriculum and teaching. The children ranged from 1 year to 12 years, but the school has capacity to go up to 14 years. We were disconcerted to find that even the youngest children were seated on chairs in rows. They were being taught in English and were being encouraged to be very polite. The headteacher or Gertrude would say ‘Hello children, how are you?’ and they would reply ‘I am fine, thank you and how are you?’ The children were remarkably well behaved, but really unusually quiet. This may have been because of our presence as they were clearly overawed by us, or maybe because of the culture of the school, or even because of the canes the teachers were holding.

We met the chair of the PTA whose son is in the school, and who is a teacher in the local secondary school. The PTA had recently raised money for new toilets for the school. All through our tour our PR host, Richard, was worrying about the time as we had a drive ahead of us, so after about an hour we headed off towards our car. Suddenly a dear girl of about 11 years appeared beside us. She had special needs but was clearly accepted into the school and the staff seemed fond of her. One of our tasks when working with our schools is to encourage an inclusive approach to children with special needs so this seemed very positive.

Next we headed off to the big Volta dam at Akasombo. The creation of the dam in the 1960s on the huge Volta River resulted in the creation of the Volta Lake, one of the largest artificially created lakes in the world. The power of the dam’s water is used to produce 65% of Ghana’s electricity. The lake submerged nearly 740 villages and displaced about 80,000 people, 70,000 of whom were moved into newly constructed settlements. The total cost of the project was $196,000,000 of which $14,000,000 came from the UK.

Richard’s tour continued on to the Boti Waterfalls. Unfortunately because it is the dry season this usually magnificent sight was virtually dry! After taking a walk down to it we moved on and looked at a palm nut tree which had grown unusually into three trunks, and a rock formation which was strangely balanced.

We had some very funny moments that day too! We stopped to buy some mangoes from a seller at the side of the road. We looked and said we would like three large mangoes and three small ones. We clearly didn’t make ourselves understood because the lady started packing loads of mangoes into bags, but we assumed the Richard and Kwesi were also buying some. Turns out they weren’t and in fact the mangoes were in piles and they thought we wanted three large piles and three small piles! So we had mangoes coming out of our ears for several days! Later we saw vultures laying in the sun warming themselves and had to stop to take pictures – to the amazement of our hosts!

On our second day a gentleman who’s name we cannot recall became our host and Kwesi drove us all to see two schools in Jamasi which is just north of Kumasi. First we dropped in to a ‘kente’ factory. Kente is the woven fabric native to Ghana with all the bright colours. There is single weave, double weave and treble weave – each becoming thicker and better in quality. There were several people working looms and others selling. I bought some sandals, Janet bought a tie and a bag for her notebook and Michelle bought some strips of fabric for school displays. Just outside the store in the village were some adorable small children!

The two schools we were to visit were Michelle’s ‘partner schools’ – ie her school already has links with them. Alfred, who we joined for lunch on Monday, is the teacher who organises the international links for his school, the Jamasi Methodist Junior High School. This is where we began. When we arrived the children were having a break and we walked though the primary school meeting the younger children. Then we moved on to the staff room and met the staff, including the headteacher, and another teacher who was nicknamed ‘Sly’. Finally we were shown to a classroom full of children from several classes, aged between 11 and 14 years. Here we had an open forum where the children were able to ask us a range of questions. These children were noticeably cheerful, lively and friendly, and clearly interested in us and what we had to say. Most were wearing yellow uniforms, while some wore red as it was Friday and they could wear national costume.

After the forum the children sang the National Anthem and then recited the pledge. Michelle asked a boy to record a video for us and he was thrilled to do it. When we went outside the children flocked to see us and have their photos taken with us. As we walked back Janet asked if there was a toilet we could use. They called a boy over (coincidentally the same one who had recorded the video) and asked him to lead us. We thought we were going to the school toilet, but it seemed there was only one and the key was lost. So the boy led us to his house which was next to the school. His very surprised Mum organised for us to use the toilet but to do this had to send someone out to buy toilet roll, as well as preparing water for the flush. Meanwhile, life in the house courtyard continued as normal; somebody was drawing water from a well, a baby was being bathed, and maize was drying on the flagstones.

Before we knew it, it was time to move onto the other partner school up the road – The Seventh Day Adventist Junior High School, also catering for 11 – 14 year olds. This also had an attached primary school, and again the children were excited and friendly, and keen for photos. Alfred and Sly accompanied us and introduced us to the staff. They showed us the ICT suite. This had about six or eight computers in it, which were second hand from the UK. Some of them were broken but others working; none of them was switched on while we were there.

Again we had pictures with the children and staff, several times causing a scrum with the younger children as they tried to be in the photos. As we left the younger children ran after us waving, whilst the older ones stood back – being far too cool for that!

On the way to Kumasi to drop our host off (he lived there) we stopped to buy some plantain chips off a street seller. These are like large banana chips but are savoury – delicious!

On our third day we had an early breakfast before bidding farewell to Dr Isaac and Gertrude. To our amazement Gertrude had organised for a seamstress to stop by and said she wished to make us each a gift of a traditional Ghanaian outfit. We were asked to choose a design from some pictures and assured that the finished clothes would be delivered to Accra during the week when somebody from the institute was around on business. We have been amazed at the generosity of the Ghanaian people. They are so proud of their country and wish to show it off, but also they just love meeting new people and helping them out.

We arrived back at the villa in Accra before lunch and took some time to check emails and do some washing. Then Janet and I were off to the mall to sort out her internet at the Vodafone store, before heading to the Accra craft market. We had such a laugh there with the sellers! We bought plenty of wooden crafts and trinkets and enjoyed bartering. Janet is an expert at this whilst I have much to learn! As we left a young man tried to sell me some bracelets and then proceeded to tell me he wished to marry me and take me out tonight! Luckily our canny driver, Darlington, drove off at just the right moment....