(written on November 17)

 

The strike is over. Nearly all of the teachers have returned to the classroom, and one of them got a bit of a workout at school today.

 

A few weeks ago, a court ruled that the strike was illegal and ordered the teachers back. But they remained defiant for a few days until the government announced that their salaries for the month of October were being withheld. Some remained committed to the strike, but the union officially called it off last Friday.

 

So with two weeks of class left in the term, school has finally begun. The first year students have arrived and teachers seem to be generally showing up for work. The first years (called juniors around here) are abused by faculty and the second and third year students. "Abuse" is probably a term that would be disputed by the staff here. Two weeks of weeding, sweeping, and moving furniture by the juniors is considered normal here and certainly would not be termed abusive. The school could easily afford to hire a few local men to do these jobs (unskilled labor is really cheap), but for some reason the people who run the schools prefer that the students do the physical labor.

 

Various forms of hazing by the senior students are common. Some demand money for phony "school fees" or other scams. Others resort to more traditional forms of physical abuse. This morning I witnessed the punishment for these abuses.

 

The entire school gathered outside one of the school buildings for an "assembly." Each of the twelve classes, which range in size from 35 to 65, was arranged in something like a line. At this assembly, the headmaster lectured the students about discipline. The headmaster is a quiet man, but he can be quite amusing. He talked for about 15 minutes about all of the different types of misbehavior that had been going on at school and in the dorms. Then, the assistant headmaster, an unashamed big fan of the cane, called out the names of about ten students. These students walked out to the front.

 

Meanwhile, one of the teachers went to the administration building to retrieve the cane. Technically, only the headmaster is supposed to cane students and technically each student is supposed to receive only three hits. But those rules are for pansies, and pansies don't grow in Ghana.

 

One at a time, each student bent over making about a 135 degree angle at the waist with their bodies. The teacher caned each student approximately four times in the buttocks and then once in the back. All of this in front of the entire school. Some of the students tried to move with the cane to minimize the pain, leaning in the direction of the hit as it was about to come. Some of them just stood there and took it. A few of the students had an issue with their shorts. Apparently the cloth was a bit too baggy and was interfering with the cane making direct contact with the body. I suppose the teacher who was administering the punishment felt that the pain should be maximized, so some of their hits had to be repeated (do over!).

 

One of the students protested the punishment, claiming that he was not involved but was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. I know this student because he comes to the computer lab almost every day. He's small and probably could not hurt another student even if he tried. The day before he had bought me bananas, and he has repeatedly expressed interest in buying me oranges. Yesterday I also saw him typing that he wants to be a good boy, so he will take good friends like Mr. Ari (that's me). Bribery and brownnosing notwithstanding, he seems like a good kid and I doubt he was beating up any students.

 

Addendum #1: In happier news, I got a cat! He's about two and half months old and is orange. He was carried across town in a boy's arms to my house. He was absolutely petrified when he got to my house and spent the first 12 hours hiding. At 4 in the morning, I got up to feed him tuna fish (I had already fed him the previous night), and this was the turning point of our relationship. He emerged from his hiding spot and instead of hissing at me as he had been, he climbed on my leg. I named him Eish, the Hebrew word for fire, because he's orange and he's got a lot of energy, as kittens do.

 

Addendum #2: I have since learned that my cat is female. This is OK, I guess.

 

Addendum #3: The third member of my Peace Corps group - the 32 other people who came over with me in June - has left the country and will not return.