Day 15: Omega One Cedi

This morning Elisabeth and I realised we were no longer tro pros when going the other direction to school, as we failed to push our way to the front or get involved in the morning tussle and bussle work run. Instead we waited patiently in what we thought was a typical British queue, to realise it was actually a free for all, and had to settle for a 2 cedi taxi to our required destination.

Oblogo school, the heart of Omega school sport, winning both the girls and the boys football tournament between the Omega chain. Having a large football field next door to their school must give them a slight advantage on the other schools’ mere dusty concrete courtyards. Having seen both trophies displayed purposefully and proudly in the school managers office, i was intrigued to find out how football fitted into the schools routine. And after a few interviews it was clear that Mr Isaac was the man to go to, as he took football training at 5am(yes 5am!) on a Saturday morning for the kids at Oblogo. From my questionnaires, it was clear that the majority of the boys and girls enjoyed having access to the football field, and regarded football as their favourite sport.

The road home from Oblogo was lengthy, which allowed the many street dwellers to call on the Obrunis for a small chat. The local hairdresser wanted to give us her baby, and naturally wanted the oh so sacred ‘invitation’ to Britain, claiming she had many white friends to visit. We were also called over to what seemed the British equivalent to ‘ladies who lunch,’ to explain to them what we were doing. After speaking with them, it was clear ‘Omega one cedi’ was a household name in this area, as although we had walked a fair distance away from the school now, each lady knew all about the promising low-cost private school. The African way clearly involves word of mouth and the opinions of the general public, because that is how people will find out about the school and that is how it can grow into a competitive school within the vast market.

On the long walk to the main road, we also passed a large government school, and decided it would be excellent for our dissertations and our general perceptions of schooling in Ghana to have a look around and hopefully undertake some questionnaires. As we entered the school it was unclear where the headmaster/headmistress’ office was, as there were several classrooms, some with teachers, some without. We soon asked one of the teachers sitting outside, and were showed into a small room at the back of the older classes.  The headmistress seemed fairly strict, but agreed to letting us come and interview children tomorrow at 7.30am, so as not to disturb lesson time. As we were leaving i noticed a board on the wall with the names of all the teachers and their qualifications, having not seen that before in any of the omega schools i was intrigued, perhaps the teaching standards would be higher? We will have to wait and see tomorrow.